On most marathon mornings, the stories we tell are heroic. Grit. Endurance. Personal bests chased across 26.2 miles. What rarely makes the highlight reel is something far less glamorous but brutally real: friction. At the 2026 TCS London Marathon 2026, Vaseline has chosen to centre that quiet discomfortand turn it
But for a few surreal hours in Bangkok, it did. In a city known for spectacle, KFC Thailand managed to turn heads with something both absurd and oddly strategic. Giant branded containers floated down the river, packed with what the brand claimed was 91 tonnes of cheese. Commuters paused. Phones
Not the top. Not the bottom. The middle. It sounds harmless enough. Even sensible. A place of balance. A place where things are steady, where risks are managed, where nothing tips too far in either direction. But spend enough time there, and something begins to happen. Edges soften. Decisions slow.
The world does not feel steady anymore. It hums at a different frequency. Louder. Closer to the surface. News breaks not in cycles, but in waves that overlap and erase one another before they can be fully understood. Leaders harden their positions. Markets flinch and correct in the same breath.
You can always tell when a room has been taught how to behave. It settles into itself too easily. The smiles arrive on time. The slides move in neat succession. Even the applause feels rehearsed, as if it knows exactly when to appear and when to disappear. Ideas pass through
Everyone says they want to be fearless. Until the moment arrives. Until the numbers don’t quite add up. Until the room goes quiet. Until someone asks, carefully, whether this might be too much. That’s when the word begins to change shape. Because fearless is easy to admire from a distance.
The announcement arrived without fanfare, but with quiet authority. The kind Cannes Lions has perfected over the years. No theatrics. No overstatement. Just a clear signal that, amid all the noise in marketing today, the fundamentals still matter: influence, ideas, and what you choose to do with both. This year,
For years, brands have been built on the language of affection. We spoke of love, loyalty, connection. We crafted stories meant to stir something emotional and enduring. The mood has shifted. Not dramatically, not overnight. More like a slow tightening. Prices inch up. News cycles grow heavier. There is always
Google says it blocked or removed more than 8.3 billion ads in 2025, with more than 99 per cent of policy-violating ads stopped before they were served. At first glance, that sounds like a victory for enforcement. Look closer, and it also reads like a measure of how much fraud,
There’s a familiar ritual across Asia’s financial districts. The laptop shuts. The shoulders drop. The lift doors open. Somewhere between the 28th floor and the lobby, the day begins to loosen its grip. In Singapore, Heineken decided that this in-between moment wasn’t just dead space. It was prime real estate.
