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A daily recap from Web Summit 2025: Turning authenticity into action

Web Summit 2025. Photography by Paul Devlin, Lisbon, Portugal

Keily Blair, CEO of OnlyFans, Web Summit 2025, photography by Sam Barnes, Lisbon, Portugal

Rob Weston, VP of Marketing at Loop Earplugs, Web Summit 2025, photography by Florencia Tan Jun, Lisbon, Portugal

Portugal – Authenticity was the buzzword on day three of Web Summit 2025, as leaders from Loop, Fizz and OnlyFans revealed how community-led models are reshaping brand trust.

In The Cult of Community, Rob Weston, CMO of Loop Earplugs, said brands often make the mistake of trying to manufacture community. Jeff Berman, CEO at WaitWhat, added that ‘it’s easier to catch a wave than ride one’. Weston urged brands to ‘understand the anthology of your customer’ and ‘champion their agenda, not yours’ to build authentic loyalty. ‘You decide what you want your brand to be, but your community decides what your brand is,’ concluded Berman.

Elsewhere, Teddy Solomon, founder of student social app Fizz, highlighted the value of direct communication with customers. When users began to turn to Fizz for reselling, his team built a marketplace feature within 72 hours – now one of its most popular tools.

Later, OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair described the platform as a ‘mission-driven company’ that ensures no ‘bot’ accounts or underage users. ‘I don’t see the label of adult content as a stigma,’ she said, ‘but something to be proud of.’

Emphasising the importance of creator equity, she highlighted that OnlyFans has an 80/20 creator/brand revenue split: ‘A lot of tech companies create wealth for themselves but never for other people.’

Strategic opportunity

Create structured ways to listen to and engage directly with your customers by using their insights to co-shape brand identity and solidify community. Fostering authenticity and loyalty can futureproof your business

Foresight Friday: Maria Blanco, project manager

Every Friday, The Future Laboratory team offers an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, project manager Maria Blanco dives into fan-fic printed receipts, Rosalía’s genre and language-bending new album and how Pinterest is protecting its users from AI slop.

: Chinese bubble tea chain Mixue is printing a serialised fanfiction novel on its sales receipts and customers are loving it. By reimagining the receipt – a utilitarian item that’s typically quickly discarded – the company turns an everyday transaction into a moment of storytelling, drawing customers into a wider online conversation and fostering community and world-building.

: Speaking of putting a spin on things, Rosalía’s latest album, LUX, does exactly that. Featuring 15 songs, 14 languages and a range of musical styles, it unquestionably stands out in today’s music landscape.

Pinterest GenAI controls, Global

The album provides a nuanced, and more authentic, expression of globalisation, embracing cultural diversity through its many languages and references, and resisting the typical idea of ‘global’ as synonymous with Anglo-Saxon culture. In an age when AI and algorithms favour the familiar, Rosalía is opting for the opposite, demanding open-mindedness and full attention from her listeners.

: Indeed, desire for genuine, human content is on the rise, as social media users grow tired of AI slop and mindless content. Pinterest is responding by adding tools that let users limit how much AI-generated content appears on their feeds, particularly in categories that are prone to AI-generated imagery, such as beauty, art, fashion and home décor. For more on the need for regulation around AI-generated content, head to the Blurred Realities section of The Synthocene Era macrotrend.

Quote of the week

‘The beauty of art is putting things on the table and proposing questions and probably finding more questions than answers’

Rosalía, singer, speaking to The Guardian

Stat: China’s push reconfigures the global EV manufacturing map

Robo-EV by PIX Moving, Switzerland

Global – Chinese electric vehicle (EV) and battery manufacturers invested more than £109bn ($143bn, €123bn) globally between 2014 and 2025 as they work to secure dominance in the EV supply chain and market, according to new analysis by Rhodium Group.

These investments extend far beyond China’s domestic market, with Hungary and Indonesia emerging as key hubs. Hungary has attracted major players with favourable industrial policies and is now on track to be the second-largest battery producer outside China. Meanwhile, Indonesia has capitalised on its vast nickel reserves – a critical material for EV batteries – to position itself as a growing manufacturing powerhouse.

This expansion has not been without challenges. Chinese firms face higher cancellation and operational risks in foreign markets than at home. Nevertheless, they continue to push outwards, restructuring the global EV ecosystem around their industrial capabilities, resource access and long-term strategic interests.

This shift signals a future in which China will set the pace for EV innovation by influencing design, performance, aesthetics and brand culture. This echoes our recent report, Six Chinese Brands Redefining Global Expansion, which explored how Chinese companies are overturning outdated perceptions and cultivating global influence at speed.

Strategic opportunity

With Chinese firms increasingly setting the pace of EV manufacturing and design, companies in other countries can differentiate by becoming cultural translators: pair China’s production agility with locally resonant aesthetics, experiences and community-led brand-building