We are back for What's Up This Week from the Do This, Not That podcast. This is our short episode - a breakdown of what's going on this week in marketing, business, and life. Let's get into it.

So I saw some data that just came out this week from Digital Applied, and it's kind of interesting. Basically what they're showing is that across AI overviews in Google - or the AI answers in any of the tools you use, like ChatGPT or Claude or whatever - content that starts with an actual number is getting picked up at the highest rate of any content type.

For example: "The 7 Questions to Ask Your Cloud Security Provider," or "9 Hiring Criteria for Your Next Fractional CMO," or "4 Ingredients in Your Face Wash That Are Actually Drying Your Skin." If your content starts with an actual number, AI overviews are picking it up roughly 21.9% of the time, according to their new data.

Now, this shouldn't be shocking - we've known about listicles forever, and we know about putting numbers at the start of subject lines. But now there's data to support starting your blog titles, your content titles, everything with a number, because it's helping you show up in AI more.

Probably the strangest new tactic we saw come out this week - from my team at World Data Research - is actually related to subject lines and email marketing. And I bet you've never tried this test. It's starting your subject line with one of these three words: "And," "But," or "Plus."

This is actually increasing email open rates by about 15%. It's bizarre. It creates the most poorly written email subject lines, but it's so different and it catches people a little off guard - there's a curiosity there. So what would that look like? Your subject line would literally start with "And" - like, "And this beat our best campaign ever." Or, "And yes... this skincare routine actually works." Or if you're using "But" - "But your pipeline problem is fixable." Or "Plus" - "Plus your early access starts now."

These are the things that make you stop the scroll in your inbox. And if you really want to see the lift, capitalize the whole word - AND, BUT, or PLUS - all caps, and you'll see a nice bump.

Another thing related to showing up in AI - I saw this data from Bradley Bartlett. One tactic that's working really well and reportedly increasing your show-up rates in AI answers by 45 to 60% is comparison-style content. X versus Y type content. It's radically changing your visibility.

When AI overviews and LLMs are looking for stuff, comparison queries are one of the top things they're looking for. So if your content speaks to that, it will get pulled up. What does that look like? "HubSpot vs. Salesforce - Which CRM Actually Drives Pipeline in 2026." "Email Marketing Compared to SMS - Which Delivers Higher ROI in B2B." Or "Skims vs. Spanx - Which Is Worth It for Everyday Wear." Of course, we all know the answer to that one. I have absolutely no idea what the answer to that one is.

Anyway - other randomness. I know the 1990s have been having a moment for the last couple of months. I lived through the nineties. I was in high school in the nineties. They were all right. I don't know why everyone's so hot on them. But now it's actually turning into revenue.

It all sort of came out of the TV show about the love story of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette - which was a great show. Terrible, tragic, horrible - but very well done. So Levi's just reported their revenue for the quarter and saw a massive increase in sales. They're partly attributing it to the renewed interest in nineties lifestyle and the popularity of that show. Their 517 jeans - an old-school style that Carolyn Bessette wore - saw a 25% increase in sales just this quarter for that style alone.

I'll tell you, there are other things from the nineties I'm not into. Coachella just happened and I didn't go, but I was very into following it - there were a lot of great performers. Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins was there, which was so cool.

But then people were doing things like Kylie Jenner - who I generally don't have a problem with, she's one of the Kardashians - she posted herself smoking a cigarette on social media. Listen, if you smoke a cigarette, you do you. But I don't think this is a trend we need to bring back. When someone with hundreds of millions of followers posts a photo of themselves smoking because it was cool in the nineties, that's not something we need to revive. Not cool.

Here's what was cool - and people are giving him heat for it. Justin Bieber was at Coachella and he did the coolest thing. He went on YouTube on stage, pulled up all of his old songs, and sang along with them. Baby, all of it - it was awesome. Anybody calling him lazy? You stink. I don't know what to tell you.

Before we get to the ridiculous portion - I want to tell you about the sponsor: NAK. My company uses NAK for building and executing our emails and landing pages. Here's the truth, and this is different from the ad copy they gave me: if you're using the same tool to send your email marketing as you are to build it, you are not using best in class. NAK is the ultimate email and landing page builder. You don't need to know how to code. You don't need to go back and forth on Slack 400 times trying to get your emails designed properly. Go to nak.com/demo - it's worth a few minutes of your time.

Alright, the ridiculous stuff. XO Kitty season three is out. I don't care. None of you care either. I watched season one - it was okay. Season two was unwatchable. And now it's the number one show on Netflix. Forget about it.

I also never got to talk about Artemis Two. We went to the moon and came back - awesome, so cool. But then I went on social media and saw a bunch of people saying it was staged. Listen - if you think Artemis Two was staged and they didn't really go to space, please unfollow me. Unconnect from me. You are ridiculous.

And I won't be watching Euphoria season three on HBO - not because I have any issue with Sydney Sweeney or Zendaya. It's just a lot. And apparently Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney don't get along in real life, and I don't like watching shows when I know the stars don't like each other. Something about it takes away from the whole thing for me. What a weird thing to say, I know.

Anyway - follow the show, Do This, Not That. And go to JaySchwedelson.com - there's a button in the upper right corner that says "Partner." We're working on our collabs for the rest of the year. I want to partner with you. Want my agency to work with you? We'll see you at the next one.