Social media trends: Stop-motion animation, holiday campaigns & viral pop culture | The weekly feed | November 9th

Welcome to The Weekly Feed, your weekly download of social media trends, viral creator moments, and platform updates shaping brand strategy. Whether you're tracking shifting algorithms or auditing cultural hooks for your next campaign, here is what moved feeds this week.

Go ahead and get click-happy, send it to your work bestie, and use these trends to inspire your brand's next move.

Cultural discourse & strategic brand breakdowns

The anti-AI playbook: Handcrafted stop-motion animation takes over 2026 holiday campaigns

If there is one definitive takeaway from the wave of 2026 holiday marketing campaigns hitting digital feeds, it is that stop-motion and traditional animators were booked and busy over the past few months.

From legacy luxury houses to mainstream retail giants—including e.l.f. Cosmetics, RIMOWA, Levi's, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Prada, Chewy, Strathberry, Loewe, Bottega Veneta, Anthropologie, Farm Rio x Barbour, Starbucks, and Nordstrom—brands across consumer categories are rejecting synthetic aesthetics in favor of tactile production.

In a cultural climate marked by pushback against generative AI (Artificial Intelligence), the commercial response has arrived with absolute clarity: the creative industry is taking a deliberate stand against machine-generated media. Yet, what makes this pivot so intriguing is how quickly an organic artistic push has evolved into a formulaic launch template:

• Release a long-form, labor-intensive creative spot that was visibly hand-crafted.
• Follow up immediately across social media channels with raw behind-the-scenes (BTS) footage to prove human effort.

While the strategic instinct is sound—audiences inherently crave authentic human craft as an antidote to artificial content—the sheer volume of brands executing identical rollouts risks creating a new sea of sameness. When every brand runs the same play, consumer attention shifts from narrative storytelling to the mechanics of production. The real competitive test for marketers is moving beyond formulaic proof-of-human-work and focusing once again on resonant, distinctive storytelling.

Tips for brands:

• Storytelling must outshine the process: Authentic BTS (Behind-The-Scenes) documentation is a powerful social media validation tool, but process cannot replace narrative substance. If the audience only remembers how an advertisement was built rather than the core message, the creative equity fades quickly.
• Resist the uniform playbook: When an entire vertical adopts the exact same visual language, standing out requires unexpected tension. Pair traditional, tactile craft with unconventional storytelling formats rather than defaulting to predictable seasonal tropes.

Emerging social media trends & trending audio clips

Viral audio hooks, post-Halloween roundups, and millennial lifestyle trends leading user engagement across TikTok and Instagram Reels:

• NYC (New York City) Marathon hopecore continues with tear-jerking crowd reactions, finish-line moments, inspiring women, and fun run demeanors.
• Millennial optimism is SO back. Early 2010s earnestness continue its algorithmic renaissance across short-form video.
• Post-Halloween costumes that broke feeds:
  • Heidi Klum as her own severed hand.
  • Lisa Rinna as Kylie Jenner.
  • Turkish Hair Implant implants.
  • Pedro Pascal and Robert Downey Jr. swapping Marvel Cinematic Universe roles.
  • The two Napoleon Dynamites.
  • The NFL (National Football League) Challenge Flag outfit.
  • The chaotic "Third Wheel" duo.
  • Nostalgic throwbacks to Nickelodeon's CatDog.
  • Little Debbie and "Big Deborah."
  • This family as the cast of The Office.
  • Sabrina Carpenter and Paloma Elsesser x Hairspray.

Viral videos dominating feeds

Organic hits, hilarious family roasts, luxury unboxings, and relatable workplace humor securing high-volume shares this week:

• What do you mean not everyone dresses up for school on Halloween anymore?!
• An authentic, community-run Willy Wonka installation that put the infamous Glasgow disaster to shame.
• This adorable "careoke" moment.
• Tatum on the Jennifer Hudson Show is filling the cute kids on TV void Ellen left behind.
• If I could sing like this, this would be me every day
• This wedding speech vs. this ICONIC funeral speech (and this reaction).
• The OG "Floor is Lava."
• Merecedes and their silly F1 (Formula One) content.
• Exactly how not to ride a horse.
• This child might actually float away.
• Unsure if this dog is happy or not about his new puppy.
• The SKIMS Advent calendar is, as someone said in the comments, $150 for the stuff you find between your car seats.
• The happiest "just divorced" couple I've seen in a long time.
• Has anyone told you that you're doing a good job today?

Social platform news & algorithm updates

Desktop tool rollouts, e-commerce app launches, and television live-stream partnerships reshaping platform ecosystems:

• Edits launches desktop capabilities. It might be my millennial showing, but idk how the kids edit on their phones!
• Roku phases out the "Aquatic Life" screensaver and the people are DISTRAUGHT.
• TikTok officially dropped it's own, separate, TikTok Shop app.
• Snap and Meta have officially settled before the start of the Teen Addiction trial...Which makes me think that things were REALLY bad if they didn't want them going public.
• NBC's The Voice Partners with TikTok for companion livestreams. Could this be the future for these reality / competition TV shows?
• YouTube is working on a new, secret project that is sounding more and more like it's own "social media" app.

Viral releases in music, film & television

Biopic announcements, prestige streaming spinoffs, franchise press tours, and nostalgic reading sequels moving digital culture:

• Millennial American Girl girlies—we're getting a perimenopause Care And Keeping Of You, You Part Two, by the same author!
• Keke Palmer dropped a new song, Keke Frankenstein, for Halloween.
• Olivia Rodrigo dropped her first holiday song, take me home. And while it might sound familiar, don't worry, she got full support from the band.
• We're getting a Snoop Dogg biopic.
• Will this Justin Timberlake docuseries save the tour? The world tour?!
• Netflix was bantered with Conformity Gate conspiracy theorists (and The Weather Channel) all week... just to announce a Stranger Things prequel show, coming in 2028.
• As predicted, the Hunger Games press tour and premiers continue to absolutely KILL it in looks and content. Mckenna Grace is a STAR.
• After Julia Stiles got eliminated from DWTS (Dancing with the Stars) this week, her and Ezra dropped this BEAUTIFUL video, and wow, what a show.

Sports & gaming moments shaping social feeds

Championship legacies, console crossovers, viral cleats, and international soccer retirements setting sports discourse:

• XBOX is dropped a competition to win the most insane Florida console in partnership with GTA (Grand Theft Auto).
• Just like Messi announced earlier this year, Ronaldo is also retiring from international football play.
• Like we talked about last week, Caddix is continuing to capitalize on all of the hype of the Caleb William's fine.

Celebrity social culture & high-profile stunts

Hollywood side-quests, unexpected entrepreneurial launches, and viral facial hair tributes sparking watercooler discussion:

• Emma Roberts is starting her own trading card empire. Celebs—they're just like us. 
• Matt Damon and David Letterman just doing side quests like cameos in HBO shows
• A moment of silence for Benito's facial hair. 

Creator economy spotlight: top influencer moves & collabs

Long-form streamer acquisitions, global endurance journeys, and creator entertainment deals disrupting traditional Hollywood:

• Influencers are still getting deals left and right outside of social. Druski being the most recent—scoring a deal with Netflix.
• After 28-years, the man who wanted to walk around the world is finally home. 

Viral brand campaigns, creative stunts & retail collabs

Early Q4 (Fourth Quarter) commercial debuts, endurance race activations, fast-food menu rollouts, and holiday parodies:

• Brand Activations at the TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) NYC Marathon: Consumer brands capitalized on the marathon footprint, proving high-energy endurance events provide prime experiential and earned media returns.
• And in non-"hand crafted" holiday campaign news. I swear, this year's drops are feeling very Super Bowl...
  • Sol de Janeiro got the Mariah Carey defrosting collab this year.
  • Kay Jewelers had some fun with Colin Jost and the Odyssey for their holiday ad.
  • Gap, once again, had all the people sing.
  • Martin Short and Meg Statler for Verizon.
  • Meg Statler and Alan Cummings for Old Navy.
  • And Meg Statler with Marc Jacobs—she is THAT girl.
  • This John Lewis Christmas ad, received some backlash for being out of touch during economic hardship.
  • Starbucks x Magnus Ferrell.
• Smoothie King with the QUICKEST collab with Connor Wood and the "Paid Me No Mind" smoothie.
• Brands are prepping for Doomsday with... some very interesting menu items.
• But Dave and Busters is going to become Doom and Busters for Doomsday.
• After having one of the worst spots in last year's Super Bowl, Svedka is letting you make a better spot.
• Chipotle dropped Smoked Brisket.
• PF Changs is capitalizing on the DWTS popularity of Harry Shum JR.
• Grillos dropping pickle ornaments.

Upcoming cultural moments & social trends to watch

Prestige fantasy streaming releases, unscripted reality television spinoffs, iconic gaming remakes, and historic late-night debuts:

• Lord of the Rings season 3 drops on Prime this Wednesday.
• More and more gameplay from the new Zelda, Ocarina of Time re-release will likely infiltrate feeds this week as people.
• The new Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County drops on Thursday and it'll be interesting to see how this cast performs compared tot he OG.

That's all from this week's feed! Until next time.

Xoxo,

Brendan Antonacci, Geli Hornewer, Jordan Warren, Makenna Winner, and myself (Hannah Grubow).