Brand Waves This Week

Welcome to The Brand Waves, your weekly snapshot of the most innovative marketing campaigns from around the world. In this edition, discover stories, strategies, and creative ideas that are redefining how brands connect with audiences.

This edition is in partnership with Tracksuit, the affordable, always-on brand tracking dashboard that helps marketers and agencies make insights-backed decisions and prove the impact of their boldest brand work.

Today’s newsletter includes: Gant celebrating the festive season with a cinematic mood; lululemon unveiling the Team Canada kit for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games; Giorgio Armani Neve presenting the Autumn/Winter 2025/26 collection; Nike and Jacquemus launching the new Après Ski collection; Aldi closing the Kevin and Katie the Carrot holiday saga; Aimé Leon Dore presenting the Holiday 2025 collection; Amazon relaunching the 2023 Joy Ride ad; Kith Kids and Nike launching their first collaborative collection for children; McDonald’s UK turning the Grinch into the mischievous saboteur of Christmas; and Sweetgreen celebrating farmers with the new episode of Faces of the Farm.

Gant presents The Holiday Gateway

For this holiday season, Gant has launched The Holiday Gateway, a campaign that, with a cinematic mood and storytelling full of warmth and humor, celebrates the power of presence.

Set in a remote winter hotel, the campaign reinterprets the holidays in the Gant spirit, where dressing well, spending time together, and the art of gifting are all central.

As part of the campaign, Gant also presents The Gant Gift Edit, a carefully curated holiday gift guide featuring reimagined classics as the perfect companions for the cold season.

lululemon unveils Team Canada kit for Milano Cortina 2026

lululemon, in collaboration with the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC), has presented the new athlete kit for Team Canada ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

This multi-year partnership marks the third Olympic Games in which the brand officially outfits Team Canada, strengthening its role as a benchmark in sport and high-performance sportswear.

The kit is the result of close collaboration with Canadian athletes. Every detail is designed to ensure optimal comfort and performance during ceremonies, medal presentations, travel, and daily life in the Olympic Village.

Tracking The Brand Waves – lululemon

In our weekly newsletter, we often highlight lululemon because we admire their communication activities. But how can we really tell if they’re effective?

This question became particularly relevant after the brand’s founder, Chip Wilson, who left in 2015, published an ad in the Wall Street Journal titled lululemon: in a nosedive, claiming the brand had slowed down in recent years.

Data from Tracksuit over the past six months shows no significant change in lululemon’s brand health metrics. Overall awareness remains strong, trailing only behind major competitors like Nike, Adidas, and Puma.

Consumer perception of innovation, however, confirms part of Wilson’s claim: only 22% agree that lululemon “is innovative”, placing the brand below the competitive average. While the brand maintains a strong presence, it faces the challenge of reinforcing its reputation as an innovation leader in activewear.

Become a better brand builder by signing up for Tracksuit’s fortnightly newsletter, Shorts, which is jam packed with marketing advice, consumer insights like these, and case studies from around the globe.

Giorgio Armani Neve presents the Autumn/Winter 2025/26 collection

Giorgio Armani Neve unveils its Autumn/Winter 2025/26 collection, continuing to strengthen its presence in the ski-luxury segment, an increasingly strategic area for the fashion system.

First launched in 1995 to offer clothing and accessories designed for every moment of mountain life, the Neve line was created with the promise of bringing the same aesthetic that has made the maison recognizable worldwide to the slopes.

In the new collection, the combination of technical fabrics and enveloping textures such as cashmere and long-haired shearling creates a dialogue between performance and comfort.

Additionally, the collection includes pieces from the Giorgio Armani x Poldo Dog Couture line of clothing and accessories for dogs.

Nike and Jacquemus launch the new Après Ski collection

Nike has launched a new Après Ski collection with Jacquemus, where ski slopes and mountain chalets meet runway-ready style.

The collection is designed to offer winter sports performance and style for skiers, snowboarders, and all athletes who embrace the mountain lifestyle.

At the heart of the collection are triple-layer GORE-TEX jackets and pants, engineered to withstand snowstorms, après-ski moments, and everything in between.

Completing the collection are a women’s jumpsuit, stirrup leggings, and a bralette, alongside a mountain-ready reinterpretation of the classic Jacquemus men’s shirt and a long-sleeve top that can be worn alone or as an insulating layer.

Aldi presents the grand finale of Kevin and Katie the Carrot story

Aldi presents the finale of its Christmas campaign, turning its holiday ad into a true TV-style “season finale”.

After the ad in which Kevin the Carrot proposes and the second featuring his bachelor party adventures, the couple finally returns in a special wedding that closes a narrative arc developed over time.

In this finale, as with all great Christmas stories, there is one last twist that could jeopardize Kevin and Katie’s chance to say “I do.”

Everything is ready – until best man Kelvin receives a phone call from the “veg-istrar”, who has found himself in “a bit of a pickle.”

As Katie begins to spiral into despair, Kevin declares that all is not lost. In a fantastical musical performance, Kevin serenades his soon-to-be wife with a personalized song, proving that love truly is all around.

Aimé Leon Dore presents the Holiday 2025 collection

Aimé Leon Dore unveils the Holiday 2025 Collection, reaffirming its positioning as a true lifestyle label. The capsule includes holiday home decor, decorative objects and gifts, as well as a line of classic Unisphere and MLB styles designed for kids.

Home decor and decorative items are not merely secondary products but storytelling vehicles, bringing the Aimé Leon Dore aesthetic into living spaces and strengthening the sense of community and belonging the brand has cultivated over the years, rooted in New York, ’90s nostalgia, and sports culture.

The decision to include a line of classic Unisphere and MLB pieces for children works on another strategic level: intergenerational connection. These references – from American sports to urban symbolism – are part of ALD’s DNA and, translated into kids’ sizes, allow the brand to speak to families who want to pass the same aesthetic on to the next generation.

Amazon relaunches the iconic 2023 holiday campaign Joy Ride

This Christmas, Amazon brings back one of its most iconic ads from recent years, Joy Ride, first launched in 2023.

The ad tells the story of three lifelong friends sitting on a bench, sipping hot drinks and nostalgically watching children and teenagers sledding down a hill.

As the world around them moves on, the lead character notices her friends’ longing looks and opens the Amazon app, adding padded seat cushions to her cart.

The next day, the delivery arrives, and the friends, back at their special spot, discover the contents of the box. After climbing the hill, they place the cushions on the sleds and join the crowd on the snowy slopes.

Laughter, cheers, and a flashback to their youth bring the scene to life, as the vivacious trio speeds down the hill with arms raised, admired by the younger generation.

Kith Kids and Nike launch their first collaborative collection

Kith Kids and Nike have unveiled their first collaborative collection, a project that brings some of the brand’s most iconic silhouettes – Footscape, Air Force 1, Air Max 95, and Swoosh One – to Kids and Baby sizing.

Alongside these sneakers, the collection includes a full apparel offering, featuring coordinated sets, outerwear, and co-branded Kith and Nike Swoosh pieces. Essentially, the language of sneaker hype and collectibility is translated into the children’s segment, speaking both to the kids and their passionate sneakerhead parents.

This mix of Nike heritage, Kith’s design expertise, and technical functionality creates a strong narrative where children become protagonists of a precise aesthetic, designed to endure over time and live both in daily life and on social media.

McDonald’s UK launches McDonald’s Christmas Grinched

McDonald’s UK, in collaboration with Leo UK, presents McDonald’s Christmas Grinched, turning the Grinch into the mischievous saboteur of the brand’s Christmas.

With an integrated, cross-channel approach, the campaign disrupts McDonald’s festive plans with the launch of the Grinch Meal, placing the Grinch at the center of all activities.

OOH, DOOH, and printed materials have been customized with the character’s claws, handwriting, and doodles, reimagining classic holiday menu items such as the Grumble Pie.

The playful tone is reinforced by messages like “Grinched for adults”, “Disgustingly good”, and “Grinch Approved”, supported by radio, in-store, and digital in-app promotions, where the Grinch lowers prices and offers daily deals to fans.

Sweetgreen presents the new episode of Faces of the Farm

Sweetgreen has released a new episode of Faces of the Farm, the series celebrating the farmers behind its fresh, authentic dishes.

This time, the focus is on Freitas Brothers Farms, a fourth-generation coastal farm known for its high-quality vegetables, with cauliflower taking center stage as both a creative and narrative protagonist.

The episode coincides with Sweetgreen’s Late Fall Menu, which features cauliflower in every dish.

The story of Freitas Brothers Farms becomes the “behind-the-scenes” of the seasonal menu, turning a single ingredient into a story to tell and share.

“When we started Sweetgreen 18 years ago, our mission was simple: source better ingredients from local farmers and growers, and connect more people to real food,” said Nicolas Jammet, Sweetgreen co-founder and chief concept officer.

If you’re looking for even more inspiration, check out last week’s edition of Brand Waves This Week for more standout campaigns and unmissable creative ideas!

The wave doesn’t stop here.

We’ll be back next week with more stories shaping the future of brands, tech and culture. Catch the next one with us.