September Fresh Press. AI Holidays, Meta Moves & TikTok Trends

We’ve just dropped the September edition of Fresh Press. If you spotted it in our LinkedIn newsletter, you’ll know the drill: the biggest stories shaping retail, tech, and growth, with Juice tips to help you turn noise into action. And if you missed August, you can catch up on the August Fresh Press.

Here’s what stood out this month:

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Winning the AI-powered holiday season

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Google’s Think Retail 2025 laid out the roadmap for peak season.

- Consumer journeys are complex — five online touch points on average before a purchase.

- “Ambient shopping” is rising — purchases spread out from October through New Year, not just on Black Friday or Boxing Day.

- AI + video are clear winners — whether for targeting, recommendations, creative production, or YouTube search integration.

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Juice Tip: Invest in video. Use AI tools to keep costs down and content personal. Plan your campaigns to stay top-of-mind all season, rather than posting in bursts.

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Business rates reforms threaten large UK stores

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The British Retail Consortium warns that government reforms could push up rates for big stores — risking up to 400 closures. Rising costs in wages, energy, and packaging taxes only add pressure.

Juice Tip: If you rely on large retail partners or run big-box stores yourself, model out how cost increases could squeeze margins and distribution. Plan contingencies early.

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Meta expands Reels & Threads ads

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- Reels Trending Ads: early tests show ~20% lift in brand awareness.

- Threads upgrades: Carousel, video, and catalogue ads available — even without a Threads account.

- Better targeting: new value-based audience rules and smarter landing page optimisation.

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Juice Tip: Combine Reels’ cultural pull with tighter targeting. Test Threads ads early while competition is lighter.

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Meta boosts attribution accuracy

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Meta’s new incremental attribution estimates which conversions your ads actually caused, not just those in a time window. Early adopters are seeing clearer insights and better optimisation.

Juice Tip: Test incremental attribution ahead of peak season. It helps direct budget towards channels and creatives that truly drive extra conversions.

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TikTok doubles down on search-driven sales

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- TikTok search volume is up 40% YoY, with billions of queries daily.

- Search Ads drive higher purchase lift compared to non-search campaigns.

- TikTok is rolling out “Shared Collections,” “Comment with Image,” and new Layout posts with up to six assets.

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Juice Tip: Add TikTok Search Ads to your holiday mix. They’re discovery gold for launches and seasonal pushes.

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Beyond the big 3: platform shifts worth watching

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Telegram: You can now pin audio tracks to your profile, creating personal playlists from your chats.

Snapchat: 930M+ monthly active users, one trillion selfies in 2024, and a new Snap OS 2.0 powering next-gen AI Spectacles (due 2026).

AI: Huawei unveiled new infrastructure to rival Nvidia, while OpenAI rolled out more guardrails for under-18s plus updates to ChatGPT personalisation. Microsoft 365 Copilot agents are live across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Meta: At Connect, Mark Zuckerberg teased a move beyond smartphones — smart glasses that restore “presence” in human connection.

X: Elon Musk says X will be fully AI-powered by November 2025, with open-sourced algorithms every two weeks and hyper-personalised feeds. Downloads are climbing, MAUs hit 600M, and xAI just launched Grok Teams at $30/user/month.

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Final sip

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From AI-powered holiday shopping to TikTok search dominance and Meta’s attribution shake-up, September is full of shifts founders can turn into opportunity.

Stay tuned for next month’s Fresh Press — and if you’ve got questions on how to turn any of this into practical growth moves, reach out.

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