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Most brands don’t fail because they lack content. They fail because they’re creating for algorithms instead of actual human beings.

In this episode, we sit down with Mike Payne, co-founder of Arcade, the marketing agency behind Matty Matheson’s food brand, John Krasinski’s Some Good News, SmartLess Mobile, and some of Canada’s most culturally connected brands.

We unpack what digital audiences actually want in 2026, why the brands chasing virality are just telling you they’re impatient, and how a futurist practice called signal scanning is helping Arcade spot cultural shifts before they become trends and turn them into content strategies that move the needle.

This isn’t a conversation about social media tactics or content calendars.

It’s about understanding people, celebrating effort over efficiency, and building brands that audiences actually want to follow back.

You’ll hear:

-Why brands that only chase virality are just impatient brands

- The 5 cultural trends shaping what audiences crave in 2026, from improvisation to analog to camp

-How Apple TV’s logo went viral not from the reveal, but from the behind-the-scenes

-Why Gen Z women are booking up convents for summer and what it signals about digital fatigue

-The Matty Matheson story: how Arcade got rejected twice, then used Cameo to close the deal

-How John Krasinski’s Some Good News grew more after the show ended than during it

-Why a content piece about features and benefits with a CTA does absolutely nothing

-The case for “to be cringe is to be free” — and why camp is the trend brands keep underestimatingIf you’re a founder, marketer, or operator trying to figure out why your content isn’t connecting, this conversation will reframe how you think about every post, every campaign, and every audience you’re trying to reach.

Timestamps

00:00:00 Trailer

00:01:10 Dad life, Mexico trips, and why Calgary is a brand city worth studying

00:05:20 From Arcade agency to Scan Club: how a futurist practice became a newsletter

00:09:40 Signals, trends, and drivers — how to spot what’s actually moving culture

00:13:45 Why brands that chase virality are just impatient brands

00:17:10 Substack as the anti-algorithm: Tumblr meets MailChimp meets old Twitter

00:20:15 The 2026 trend report: why this year feels like the new 2016

00:23:00 Effort as content: why Apple TV’s BTS outperformed the actual logo reveal

00:25:30 Pizza 73 x Calgary Flames x Sora: when AI is the punchline, not the shortcut

00:28:00 Trend 1 — Improvisation: Bob’s Smoke Break, Duolingo’s Bad Bunny crash course, and unscripted moments

00:32:00 Trend 2 — Analog: cassette cafes, bed nesting, J. Cole’s trunk sale tour, and convents

00:36:00 Trend 4 — Camp: Lego clogs, maximalism, and to be cringe is to be free

00:40:00 The Matty Matheson saga: two rejections, a Cameo video, and finally getting the work

00:45:00 Content without the celebrity: how to inherit a founder’s tone without relying on them

00:48:00 John Krasinski’s Some Good News: how a pandemic side project became a global movement

00:52:00 SGN global correspondents: the creator strategy that grew the audience after the show ended

00:55:00 Retainers, lo-fi content, and how Arcade prices its workGuestMike Payne, Co-founder of Arcade, a marketing agency based in Calgary, Canada. Arcade’s clients include Matty Matheson’s Matheson Food Company, John Krasinski’s Some Good News, SmartLess Mobile, Monogram Coffee, UCLA Health, Pizza 73, and more.

Id. d’épisode : 1000760046296

GUID : 4cf45571-48dd-48b5-b0db-cdbb4d08f0ef

Date de publication : 7/4/2026 à 15:00:00