Dear founders and friends,

As I write this from somewhere very far from home, it’s hard to realize another year around the sun is coming to a close. Still, no rest for the wicked as it’s the most important time of year for all our founders and friends part of the Igloo Community.  

We’re getting a lot of questions on Meta’s ‘Andromeda’ but does it affect the way in which we actually run our ads? Not so much — like you’d expect Meta’s been somewhat vague and on the surface it’s quite clear Meta’s doing it’s absolute best to push their creative enhancements and newest features, as they try and catch up with Google and OpenAI on the race for good creative. I’ll be writing a piece on this closer to year-end.

I also had the chance to spend some time with the wonderful athletes at the Deaflympics, and I can safely say I’ve never seen a more welcoming and friendly bunch in 15 years of competing on tour. Coupled with the fact the Japanese, as you’d expect, executed every detail of organization to such high levels, I think the next Deaflympics (Greece or Croatia, TBD) will have a lot to live up to! Here’s a quick roundup, including an interesting new feature on a wonderful startup called Duckbill, who’s combining AI and people to form the ultimate executive assistant!

News roundup:

🤖 Meta Andromeda: Next-Gen Ad Personalization
The future has arrived with a personalized ads retrieval engine that leverages the NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchip. This enables cutting edge machine learning innovation in the Ads retrieval stage to drive efficiency and performance. In short - it’s a pretty big deal. Learn more about how this moves the advertising industry forward & how you can best leverage it.

🤯 TikTok Shop Is Now As Big As eBay 
Since its launch in 2024, (yes… it’s hardly been a year) TikTok Shop is growing fast and already rivalling the 30-year old ecommerce platform. This is just part of a growing trend for live shopping & social commerce, but what does it mean for your brand?

📦 Tariff Turbulence for Temu
As the ‘de minimis’ tax loophole closed recently, Temu has had to re-think it’s business model, forcing it to source all US products from local merchants. Will this change have a meaningful impact on your business? It depends…

🤑 The First $1 Trillion Holiday Shopping Season
That’s right…trillion with a ‘T’! While this bodes well for all brand owners, consumers are growing more selective and they’re focused on discounts now more than ever. With ongoing tariff impacts and increasing job cuts, will this prediction hold true? Take a look at more trends for this busy season ahead.

Venture capital spotlight:

Live & Social Shopping Come Into The Fold.

Whatnot Lands $225M at $11.5B Valuation
Whatnot, one of the live shopping platforms across the U.S., UK, and Europe is proving that live shopping is retail’s new normal. They have doubled their valuation in just a year. But is this all just fad, or a true paradigm shift?

ShopMy Raises $70M at $1.5 Billion Valuation
The new age of affiliates/influencers is here and ShopMy is taking a huge bet that it’s more impactful on consumer spending behavior than algorithmic ads. If you’re a premium brand owner (or consumer), this is worth the read.

Ecommerce Funding Hits a Low in 2025
For all the positive news, investors are still putting far less money into ecommerce startups this year, even as digital buying remains one of the most entrenched behaviors in the consumer economy. But does this really matter?

Tools that rule: Duckbill - The AI that can

Duckbill is a unique (and very much improved) take on the AI assistant. AI handles the busywork, and seasoned specialists hustle on your behalf in the way only humans can. It blends the precision of AI with the persistence of real people who get it done. And after trying it…I’m hooked.

It all starts in the Duckbill portal, where you can create “tasks.” For example: Find me a nice Middle Eastern restaurant in Soho for December 12th, 6 people. The system might then ask a few quick questions like “Do you have any dietary requirements?” or “What’s your price range?” Or you can simply click Just get it done. Once the task is active, Duckbill coordinates with the people behind the scenes, acting as a true personal assistant to carry out your request. Before you know it, you receive an email notification confirming your table.

I did a full write up of my experience with Duckbill here, where I interviewed Elysia Mann, a wonderful member of the their team. Read More >> 

Want to give Duckbill a try for yourself?
Just tap here to head to their site and get started.

Hear it from our Igloo brand - Duradry

"The Amazon team at Igloo's been amazing to work with. Hitesh as an operator and former founder has a really pragmatic and analytical approach to media buying. He's brought in helpful tools, reporting and works extremely hard to deliver."

Visit Duradry »

Nano Banana, VEO 3 and the AI engines changing the game for e-commerce brands

E-commerce brands are racing to find the perfect way to create content, while designers and artists wait to see if nostalgia alone can keep their craft alive… And while AI is still far from perfect when it comes to graphic generation - for smaller e-commerce brands, it represents a huge leap forward. Our industry is genuinely changing and will only continue to change more rapidly moving forward. Tap here to read more about our journey to the ‘Great Creative Reset’ >>

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