This week in Our Take: Soap operas shrink for the scroll, Decathlon celebrates the humble beginnings of sport, Faith gets a Gen Z remix, and Hinge rewrites modern romance.
Soaps Shrink for the Scroll Age
Once the star of the living room, trashy soaps are now stealing screen time on apps built for the scroll.
Named after the soap brands that sponsored them, these dramas are finding a new home on mobile-first platforms like ReelShort, FlickReels and DramaBox. The ingredients haven’t changed – scandal, affairs, love triangles and betrayal – but the recipe has. Gone are hour-long episodes and months-long arcs. Now it’s 60-second chaos, served in hundreds of bite-size clips you can’t help but binge.
These soaps are cast cheap, shot fast, and cut perfectly for the algorithm. Plot lines that used to stretch across seasons now get burned through in 30 minutes. The soap hasn’t died. We’re still hooked on drama. We just want it shorter, sharper, and done before our coffee gets cold.
If you want us, we’ll be catching up on Fake Married to My Billionaire CEO.
Zoom In, Gear Up: Decathlon’s Microscopic Masterpiece
Decathlon France just dropped a campaign that throws a curveball at the sportswear playbook, and we’re here for it. Forget airbrushed action shots and slow-mo goal celebrations. This one’s all about the unsung heroes: fuzzed-up tennis ball felt and the humble hoodie seam.
Crafted by CHEIL Chile, the campaign magnifies the often-ignored textures of sport, the ones you feel before you even start playing. That fuzzy green felt? It’s not just tennis ball fluff, it’s the grip that makes your backhand lethal. That perfectly stitched seam? It keeps you looking and feeling sharp through a thousand warm-up stretches.
The bold tagline “All roads lead to Decathlon” anchors it all. It’s a reminder that every match, marathon, or muddy hike begins with the right gear, and that Decathlon is where your journey quietly kicks off, long before the whistle blows.
There’s something deeply democratic and disarmingly poetic about it. By ditching the elite athlete worship and spotlighting the kit itself, Decathlon positions itself as the brand of beginnings. Of effort, not ego.
It’s not about glory, it’s about the gear that gets you there. This campaign whispers what others shout. And in doing so, it lands a punch.
Subtle? Yes. Smart? Undeniably. Sometimes, the most powerful moves happen before the game even starts.
GEN Z TO GENESIS
A new wave of spiritual curiosity is sweeping through Gen Z. From TikTok testimonies to alt-Christianity aesthetics, the world’s younger generations are rewriting what faith looks like. And it’s not about Sunday best and sermons any more. It’s more reflective, remixy, and culturally attuned than ever before.
While many assumed Gen Z would be the most secular generation yet, a surprising shift is emerging. According to fresh data from the UK and US, nearly half of young adults now believe in something bigger than themselves – a shift from 29% to 48% in just a few years. That’s not just a vibe shift, it’s a revelation.
Part of this is almost certainly reflecting a general, conservative shift. But for many, religion is re-entering the chat, not as a rigid institution, but as a source of ritual, healing, and identity.
Why Is This Happening Now?
Post-Pandemic Soul-Searching: The pandemic yanked Gen Z out of their teenage years and threw them into existential freefall. With rites of passage cancelled and the future feeling fragile, many began craving something deeper than content cycles and career hacks. Faith offered structure, or at least, a story to hold onto.
Digital Disillusionment: After growing up in the hyper-curated, hustle-hyped landscape of social media, many are burnt out. For some, faith feels like a rebellion against performative online culture, and prayer is the new wellness routine.
Reframing Religion as Personal, Not Patriarchal: Forget fire-and-brimstone sermons. Gen Z is approaching religion as a pick-and-mix of spiritual tools: some lean into liturgy, others ritual.
This isn’t a mass (pun intended) return to church pews. It’s a cultural remix – faith on Gen Z’s terms. For some, that means reinterpreting Christianity through a wellbeing lens. For others, it’s about reclaiming rituals and identity.
Either way, it’s a generational shift worth noting.
No Ordinary Campaign
Hinge’s No Ordinary Love is back, and it’s sexier, smarter, and more emotionally available than half your dating app matches. This five-part Substack series pairs actual Hinge couples with literary cool kids like Hunter Harris and Jen Winston, who’ve lovingly immortalized their messy, magnetic romances complete with all the misreads, micro-decisions, and mental spirals that define real-life love.
From flings that turned into flights across continents to the awkward glory of dating someone still entangled with an ex, this campaign dishes the drama by letting both partners tell the tale, capturing their vulnerability through inner monologues worthy of Nora Ephron.
The genius? Hinge taps into Gen Z’s appetite for emotionally fluent, slow-burn storytelling in a culture that’s (finally) learning to romanticize the real. With Substack collabs, BookTok hype, and a hardcover that looks like it belongs in a Wes Anderson set, No Ordinary Love proves that romance is all in the details. So if you’re looking for love, or a great example of marketing, you might find some at no-ordinary-love.co.