Good morning from Atlanta,

Ugly-turned-cool kid Crocs has nailed its TikTok Shop formula, and it brought it to life on stage at Brandweek with an IRL livestream and an appearance from a very stylish Wisdom Kaye.

Crocs’ brand chief Terence Reilly shared how a willingness to experiment has helped turn the company into TikTok's top footwear seller.

Also in Atlanta, Gold House’s Bing Chen argued that brands should stop chasing monoculture and start investing in the niche communities that can become their biggest advocates.

And amid doomsday headlines around AI, OpenAI's Sam Altman took to the stage at Dreamforce in San Francisco to talk about how mistakes are an inevitable part of developing the mind-bending tech. Elsewhere, Goodwipes is putting a much less existential spin on the conversation by bringing AI to the toilet. You'll have to keep scrolling to see the "future of butt wiping."

Let's go.

Rebecca Stewart, brand editor

Must Reads

1. How Crocs Became One of TikTok Shop's Top Sellers

Fashionistas might be divided on Crocs, but TikTok Shop isn’t.

The platform crowned Crocs its Seller of the Year in May, an accolade the brand earned through a test-and-learn approach to social designed to engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha, long before they hit the Buy button.

Speaking at Brandweek, Crocs EVP and chief brand officer Terence Reilly gave a behind-the-scenes look at Crocs’ journey to the top.

2. The Monoculture Is Dead. It's Time for the Rise of Niche

Also on stage in Atlanta was Bing Chen, co-founder and CEO of the AAPI advocacy and cultural platform Gold House.

Like Crocs, Chen knows about the power of niche communities—and how brands can speak to them in ways that they’ll listen.

Talking to our editor-in-chief, Ryan Joe, he explored ways for brands to show up in culture authentically.

Sam Altman Says AI Accidents Are ‘Regrettably’ Unavoidable

While some of us are in Atlanta, Trishla Ostwal is on the ground in San Francisco at Salesforce's annual Dreamforce event.

Yesterday, she attended a session where OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said AI companies should expect accidents as increasingly capable models are deployed. Altman also urged the industry to build a culture of openly reporting and learning from them, adding that he is confident the industry can police AI safety.

Read Trisla's account here.

Goodwipes Uses AI to Spoof OpenAI's Astra Ad, With a Butt-Wiping Twist

Speaking of OpenAI, remember its divisive ad for its new Astra model from a few weeks back, where it depicted a sort of Wall-E-esque future where people can instruct AI companions to order takeout and create video games, all from an armchair.

Now, Goodwipes is taking that idea to the toilet, with a little help from AI itself. Enter, Asstra.

Inside Wikipedia's Plan to Survive the Answer Engine Apocalypse

At least Wikipedia has a plan to survive the AI (or answer engine) apocalypse.

Read Mark Stenberg's conversation with Zach McCune, the global head of brand marketing at the Wikimedia Foundation, about how the organization is responding.

The Round Up

Brand partners are set to be stars at Bravo Fan Fest 2026, (ADWEEK).
After 15 years of pro, Politico finally launches a second subscription, (ADWEEK).
Judge orders data sharing and other fixes to solve Google’s ad tech monopoly, (NYT).
Microsoft AI chief warns Anthropic’s humanlike Claude is risky, (Bloomberg).
Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James and Levain Cookies on evolving, (ADWEEK).
Kim Gravel wants to make live selling the new appointment TV, (ADWEEK).
The marketer’s creator game plan, (Brandshare from Kantar).

Revolving Door

Former Criteo exec Tod Parsons joins Prodege (ADWEEK).

Ryan Joe will be back in your inbox tomorrow.

1. How Crocs Became One of TikTok Shop's Top Sellers

2. The Monoculture Is Dead. It's Time for the Rise of Niche

3. Sam Altman Says AI Accidents Are ‘Regrettably’ Unavoidable

4. Goodwipes Uses AI to Spoof OpenAI's Astra Ad, With a Butt-Wiping Twist

5. Inside Wikipedia's Plan to Survive the Answer Engine Apocalypse