Marketing Moves of the Week: Marc Jacobs, Lay's, Coach, Aldi, Birkenstock x Kith
Marc Jacobs – Summer 2026 campaign and brand identity refresh
What it is: Marc Jacobs released its Summer 2026 campaign, part of a platform the brand calls ‘Question Marc,’ alongside an updated visual identity. The campaign runs as a series of short-form video vignettes built around friends, conversation, and the brand’s Scene bag, released in episodes across social and video platforms rather than as a single drop. WWD reported the summer chapter under the theme ‘the Girls Room.’ The work was led by Marc Jacobs.
Why it is good: Releasing the campaign in episodes gives the brand repeated moments to post against through the summer, and it matches how its younger audience watches short video. Anchoring each episode to the Scene bag keeps a sellable product inside content built for reach, so the entertainment carries a specific item. The episodic format raises the production and planning bill, because the brand has to feed the channel for months; it works when there is a content team and a product line ready to sustain it.
@marcjacobs A peek behind the Scene. Find your Scene at marcjacobs.com
Lay’s – ‘No Lay’s, No Game’ World Cup platform
What it is: Lay’s, the PepsiCo snack brand, is running ‘No Lay’s, No Game‘ through the 2026 World Cup, the fourth year of the platform, with the tournament’s group stage opening on June 11. The campaign features David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, and Alexia Putellas alongside actor Steve Carell, and centers on an ‘Epic Watch Party Channel,’ a WhatsApp group the brand says has more than 4 million members, where fans see exchanges from the player lineup. The platform reached the World Cup at the same time PepsiCo rolled out what it describes as the largest redesign of the Lay’s visual identity in close to a century.
Why it is good: Running the campaign through a WhatsApp channel puts it where fans already follow the tournament and message about matches, so the brand reaches them inside a daily habit rather than a single broadcast spot. Casting retired players, a current women’s-game star in Putellas, and a comic actor widens the audience across the men’s and women’s game and beyond core fans. A messaging-app community has to be fed with content fans actually want or it goes quiet, and a group of more than 4 million members sets an expectation the brand has to keep meeting for the length of the tournament.
@lays You heard it here first from @davidbeckham – the FIFAWorldCup is officially HERE 🔥⚽️ Are you ready? Comment which country you’re rooting for 👇 WeAre26
Coach – ‘&Coach’ always-on content platform
What it is: On June 16, 2026, Coach launched ‘&Coach,’ an always-on content platform built around Gen Z creators and culture figures and run through dedicated Instagram and TikTok accounts at @and.coach. The brand describes it as a storytelling platform co-created with its contributors rather than a fixed-end campaign, with posts centered on personal, unfiltered moments. The launch roster includes Charli XCX, Malala Yousafzai, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Toni Breidinger, PinkPantheress, Yasmin Finney, the K-pop group KiiiKiii, and singer-songwriter Lilas, with more contributors planned over time. Coach developed it with United Talent Agency’s Next Gen Practice and the creative agency Marcel. The launch follows a 31% YoY revenue rise for Coach in parent company Tapestry’s fiscal third quarter. Coach CMO Joon Silverstein said the generation “want[s] to shape identity for themselves.”
Why it is good: Running ‘&Coach’ as an always-on account with its own handle gives Coach somewhere to keep posting as new contributors and cultural moments arrive, which fits how its Gen Z audience follows accounts more than campaigns. Building the posts with the talent and Gen Z collaborators as co-authors, through UTA’s Next Gen Practice and Marcel, means the content carries each contributor’s own voice and reaches their followings, so part of the distribution comes from the people in the work rather than from paid media alone.
@and.coach Nerves, dreams, us &Coach – @KiiiKiii with their Tabby Bags at their first-ever fan concert, Seoul, May 15, 2026. #AndCoach Image and video: Elaine Constantine
Aldi – ‘Dave’ Father’s Day fragrance spoof
What it is: Aldi UK released a tongue-in-cheek fragrance ad timed to Father’s Day on June 21, built to mimic designer perfume commercials with dramatic close-ups, a booming voiceover, and a sweeping score, before it reveals the leading man as ‘Dave,’ an Aldi store colleague lounging in a stockroom trolley. The film supports three new Lacura men’s fragrances, priced at 4.99 pounds for 50ml, in stores from June 11. It was devised by PR agency Taylor Herring with Aldi’s in-house production unit St Mark’s Studios.
Why it is good: Borrowing the visual language of luxury fragrance ads and then undercutting it with an ordinary store colleague lets a discount retailer enter a category built on aspiration while staying in its own value position. Tying the film to a 4.99-pound product and a fixed gifting date gives it a reason to run now and something specific to buy at the end. The joke relies on the audience recognizing the genre it parodies, so it works for viewers fluent in perfume advertising and lands flatter for those who are not, and a spoof has a short shelf life once the reference is spent.
Birkenstock x Kith – Summer 2026 collaboration
What it is: On June 12, 2026, Birkenstock and the retailer Kith released a five-style Summer 2026 collaboration, part of Kith’s ‘&Kin’ Summer 2026 program led by Kith founder and creative director Ronnie Fieg. The collection reworks two Birkenstock silhouettes: the Amsterdam clog, in three colorways carrying a Kith script logo, and the Zurich slip-on, in two pairs with debossed all-over Kith branding, both on Birkenstock’s cork-latex footbed. It went on sale first through Kith stores, Kith.com, and the Kith app across the retailer’s New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo locations on June 12, then opens exclusively on Birkenstock’s 1774 platform at 1774.com on June 22.
Why it is good: Pairing a heritage comfort brand with a streetwear retailer that sells through scarcity gives Birkenstock reach into Kith’s drop audience without altering its own product: the cork-latex footbed and the Amsterdam and Zurich shapes stay intact, and only the branding and the release plan change. Splitting the launch into two windows, Kith first on June 12 and Birkenstock’s own 1774 site on June 22, lets each company sell to its own customers in turn instead of routing one drop through a single channel. A collaboration of this kind pays off when the partner brings buyers the brand does not already reach and the run stays small enough to remain scarce.
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