On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of September, with a twist. This month ‘The Committee’ (Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Emmy Liederman) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight most interesting back-to-college campaigns and activations. In this month’s episode, Committee members Analyst, Arielle Feger and Senior Director of Content, Becky Schilling will defend their list against Analyst, Rachel Wolff and Senior Analyst, Blake Droesch, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

The news: Klarna might push its IPO date up as late as September, per a report from Bloomberg. Our take: Whenever Klarna schedules its IPO, it can bank on the strength of its partnerships—like DoorDash, Walmart, Stripe, and Walmart—to sustain its growth. Fintechs have faced a tough environment for IPOs ever since the high-water mark of 2021. Firms are now required to demonstrate better pathways to profitability before going public. However, despite tariffs and geopolitical disturbances, fintechs have the ability to outperform expectations: Take Circle’s blockbuster IPO back in June. With investors hungry for AI-focused companies, Klarna may be well positioned to ride the wave of its peers’ earlier success in the market.

US advertising sector added 3,000 jobs last month: Reflecting a broader resilient US labor market despite global challenges.