She described a New York pop-up with creator MyFam, who built a meticulous bonsai-themed space that drew lines around the block. For her team, these projects are a chance to explore new worlds and keep Shopify’s creative work fresh and unexpected.
Shifting to a daily media model over a seasonal campaign
The biggest shift happening is the move away from long-tail campaigns toward a high-velocity “shipping” mentality. In a world of fleeting attention spans, trying to sustain a single moment for months is a waste of resources.
“Honestly, we don’t try to make campaigns last that long—the moment is the moment,” Williams admitted regarding celebrity partnerships. “It’s the consistency and the reps for Shopify that matter most.”
Monson agreed, comparing the new necessary workflow to a newsroom rather than a traditional ad agency. “It’s much more like a media model where you’re shipping something today, and you’re going to ship another thing tomorrow, and you’re going to ship another thing next Monday,” Monson said. “It actually doesn’t have to last that long. You just have to capture the enthusiasm in that one moment.”
That speed requires trust—and a willingness to embrace imperfection. Following a pop-up event with Nicki Minaj, a typo on social media could have been a PR nightmare. Instead, it became a win for brand recall.
“When Nicki posted about it, she called us Spotify instead of Shopify,” Williams recounted.
Now, while traditional instincts might scream “crisis,” Williams shared that the community reaction was immediate and engaged on the post, with numerous people responding: “I think you mean Shopify.” “That was enough for us to say, ‘best partnership we’ve ever had,’ because no one’s going to forget who we are after that,” said Williams.
