Marketing Just Hit a New Level of Self-Awareness

Cheetos sold the mess. Domino’s engineered a sound.

The Ordinary called beauty a scam while selling it. This week on BRANDED, Ben Kaplan (Founder + CEO, Top Agency) breaks down how brands turned irony into influence and self-awareness into strategy.

He breaks down how emotion, irony, and algorithmic storytelling are reshaping the attention economy. From absurd stunts to sensory branding, these campaigns prove that authenticity now means admitting the performance.

We unpack:
 Cheetos & Vogel’s — turning snacks and bread into fashion statements.

 Ramp — B2B marketing that made pain a spectacle (literally).

 Domino’s — rebranding taste through sound design.

 The Ordinary — exposing beauty’s biggest lie while cashing in on it.

 OpenAI — redefining category ownership as ChatGPT becomes shorthand for AI.

Plus, a deep dive into how nostalgia, dopamine, and self-awareness became the ultimate growth hacks in 2025’s marketing landscape.