Mediastreet
Author

editor

Browsing
In News

From Symbols to Systems: Designing brands that hold under pressure

No Comments

Sourced from CREATIVE BOOM

Creative Director Daniel Irizarry of Athletics argues that the most resilient brand systems aren’t built on exhaustive rules – they’re anchored by a few essential elements, and designed to move.

Most brand systems don’t fail because they’re poorly designed. They fail because they’re overdesigned — too many rules, too much rigidity, too little room for the people using them to actually think. In a world where culture moves faster than any guidelines document can keep up with, the brands that hold together won’t be the ones with the most elaborate systems. They’ll be the ones who got a few essential things right and gave themselves the freedom to move.

That idea has sharpened for me over the past few years as AI has started reshaping how quickly creative work can move. If the flexible layer of brand identity — photography, video, illustration, 3D — is being asked to respond to culture faster than ever, then the question of what stays fixed isn’t just a design question anymore. It’s an existential one. The core elements of a brand have never mattered more, precisely because the pace of everything around them is accelerating.

Start with the why

Before we design anything, we need to understand what we’re building for and who we’re building for. That means market analysis, brand audits, and — critically — culture and audience. Not culture as a trend report, but culture as the living context in which a brand has to earn attention. And not audience as a demographic spreadsheet, but as real people with preferences, values, and ways of moving through the world. The goal is to connect business objectives with cultural relevance. When those align, you can tell stories that are emotionally resonant and strategically sharp — a genuine connection between what a brand stands for and what people care about.

We also need to understand how an organisation currently delivers its branding. What’s already in place? Where are the friction points? A beautiful identity that an internal team can’t execute is a failed identity. And every category has its visual codes — shorthands rooted in culture that help audiences place a brand’s purpose and position. Which do we reinforce to make a brand legible, and which do we subvert to make it distinctive? The craft is in reading the landscape clearly enough to know where to play within conventions and where to break them.

The anchor matters more than ever

From this foundation, we build the core identity — the symbols that become a brand’s essential markers. Logo, colour, typography, graphic language, sound, motion. These are the elements that do the heaviest lifting for recognition and consistency. In a moment of accelerating change, they need to be more polished, more singular, more resilient than ever. They’re the anchor. If the anchor doesn’t hold, nothing else matters.

This is the part where the industry’s instinct to systematise everything gets backwards. As the world speeds up, the natural impulse is to add more rules — more guardrails, more specifications, more pages to the toolkit. But the brands that will thrive aren’t the ones with the thickest guidelines. They’re the ones who planted a few stakes in the ground so firmly that everything else can move around them.

Volume control

I think about this as volume control. A brand, like a person, can’t always be at eleven. Depending on the situation, context, and audience, you need to modulate—and the ability to do so well is becoming the defining capability of a resilient brand system.

Working across multiple Google product brands has made this vivid for me. Google understands the difference between fixed and flexible at scale. The core ingredients are remarkably lean: name, logo, colour, shape, form, product experience, UI. That last part matters — for many brands today, especially in tech, the product itself is the primary brand surface, where the brand lives at its quietest and most constant volume. But what holds everything together isn’t just the ingredients — it’s personality. There’s a consistent tone and emotional register that make something feel Google, whether you’re looking at a Circle to Search campaign or a Chrome Browser onboarding screen. The individual products modulate depending on the audience and context, but the personality and a few key signals remain constant. That coherence comes from a team that deeply understands its brand and partners willing to push each other toward the best work.

That’s volume control in practice. Not a rigid system applied uniformly, but a clear core expressed at different intensities — meeting people where they are without losing the thread.

Pressure-test everything

Here’s the thing about core elements and volume control: you can’t know if they work until you’ve stretched them. As the media landscape evolves, brands have to show up on more surfaces, in more formats, in ways that didn’t exist two years ago. A logo that looks great on a website might fall apart in a spatial computing environment. A type system that sings in editorial might go flat in motion.

This is why R&D isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s essential. Experimentation with code, 3D, motion, AI — these aren’t finishing touches applied after the system is locked. They’re how you pressure-test whether the brand can live in the real world and discover the edges of what your identity can do, which is exactly where differentiation lives. The brands that feel truly unique aren’t the ones that stayed safe within their own guidelines. They’re the ones that pushed their core elements into unfamiliar territory and found out what held.

Systems that empower, not constrain

If you’ve been in this industry long enough, you’ve lived the other version. A client asks for comprehensive guidelines, the team delivers an exhaustive system, and somewhere along the way, you realise that even you — the person who helped build it — are second-guessing every move against a two-hundred-page document. The rules intended to create consistency end up creating paralysis.

The most important thing a system can do is answer two questions: what are the non-negotiable elements that must retain their integrity, and where is the creative freedom?

Our work with Okta has been the strongest proof of this. We’ve partnered with their brand team for over four years — genuine collaboration built on honest feedback and mutual trust. The system we developed together has real depth and range, and it thrives because Okta has an exceptional internal team with the skill and ambition to take it further. They’ve extended the work far beyond what we initially created, and our partnership continues to evolve as the brand grows. Define the core, establish the volume control, and then trust talented teams to bring their own ingenuity and creativity to the work.

Holding under pressure

The brands that endure won’t be the ones that try to control every pixel. They’ll be the ones who understand what to hold onto, what to let breathe, and what to push into new territory.

That’s what it means to design a brand that holds under pressure. Not rigidity — resilience. Not more rules — sharper instincts. The symbols give you recognition. The volume control gives you range. The collaboration gives you longevity. And the judgment to know when to turn it up and when to pull it back? That’s the part no system can automate.

Sourced from CREATIVE BOOM

Read More
By
In News

AI translator turns English into LinkedIn speak

No Comments

By Chris Taylor

Excited to announce participatory parody by premium search service! #GrowthMindset

If you’ve spent more than a day on LinkedIn in your life, you may have noticed that the networking service has developed a language all of its own. If you were a tad unkind, you might say LinkedIn users self-promote every tiny career moment in such a cliched way, it’s a wonder that their words aren’t written by AI.

Or, if you wanted to turn that last sentence into more, uh, proactively positive LinkedIn speak: “We’re seeing so many thought leaders lean into the hustle, celebrating every micro-win with such a growth-oriented narrative that you’d swear it was automated. It’s all about that personal branding and staying humble while scaling your impact! #GrowthMindset #PersonalBranding #HustleCulture.”

And in a smart marketing move worthy of a LinkedIn update, Kagi has introduced more humorous internet subculture “languages” among its translation options. LinkedIn, launched Wednesday, is only the latest: there’s Reddit speak (lots of “weird-ass,” “cringe” and “banana for scale”), Pirate Speak (“tis a wonder their words aren’t written by some mechanical ghost”), and complete fictional languages like Klingon (you’ll be glad to know Klingons hunt for work on “LinkedInDaq.”)

But it’s the LinkedIn lingo making waves on social media this week. I can see why, because this is more than a novelty — it’s a hilarious and actually useful translation service. When it comes to human-style AI speak taking over our digital lives, the LinkedIn translator is touching the same nerve as Your AI Slop Bores Me — not to mention George Orwell’s Newspeak.

There’s a game-like aspect to the translations, and the game is: is there any human activity that couldn’t be made to sound doubleplusgood in a LinkedIn post? If there is, I haven’t found it yet.

Wasted the afternoon in bed? No, you “decided to prioritize a strategic recharge to optimize cognitive performance and long-term productivity.” Started injecting heroin? Call it “a high-intensity, daily commitment to a specialized chemical routine” that taught you about “supply chain consistency” and “a relentless focus on personal objectives, no matter the cost.” Murdered a co-worker? Nonsense, my friend, you “successfully offboarded a team member … to optimize long-term headcount.”

The translation works the other way around, too: LinkedIn speak into plain English. That’s right — the next time your boss writes a 10,000-word LinkedIn epic that could have been a three-line email, there’s no need to Google all the obscure marketing or management jargon. Just Kagi the whole thing.

And if you need to write a comment in response, know that “I hated this and I am dumber for reading it” can also be rendered as “’While I’m always looking for ways to challenge my current mindset, this particular content reminded me of the importance of being intentional with the information we consume. Grateful for the learning opportunity!”

Hey, maybe AI will save white collar workers’ jobs after all.

Feature image credit: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

By Chris Taylor

Chris is a veteran tech, entertainment and culture journalist, author of ‘How Star Wars Conquered the Universe,’ and co-host of the Doctor Who podcast ‘Pull to Open.’ Hailing from the U.K., Chris got his start as a sub editor on national newspapers. He moved to the U.S. in 1996, and became senior news writer for Time.com a year later. In 2000, he was named San Francisco bureau chief for Time magazine. He has served as senior editor for Business 2.0, and West Coast editor for Fortune Small Business and Fast Company. Chris is a graduate of Merton College, Oxford and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a long-time volunteer at 826 Valencia, the nationwide after-school program co-founded by author Dave Eggers. His book on the history of Star Wars is an international bestseller and has been translated into 11 languages.

Sourced from Mashable

Read More
By
In News

Brand Before Marketing: The Strategic Sequence too Many CMOs Ignore

No Comments

By 

Performance campaigns can drive quick wins, but without a clear brand foundation they rarely build lasting customer loyalty.

The Gist

  • Brand defines the strategy; marketing executes it. Organizations that clarify their purpose, values and narrative first give every marketing channel a clear direction, reducing fragmentation and inconsistent messaging.
  • Performance marketing alone cannot sustain growth. Companies that focus primarily on acquisition tactics often compete on price or features, weakening loyalty and long-term customer retention.
  • Strong brands multiply marketing ROI. Clear brand identity aligns teams, simplifies campaign decisions and strengthens customer trust, turning each marketing investment into a longer-term relationship builder.

The pressure on CMOs to deliver immediate, measurable results has never been higher. With real-time dashboards and attribution models at their fingertips, the temptation to lead with high-performance marketing tactics is significant.

However, a critical question remains at the center of the C-suite table: Does the brand build the marketing, or does the marketing build the brand?

This article examines the fundamental sequence of growth and why establishing a robust brand identity is the necessary precursor to any successful marketing deployment.

Table of Contents

Defining the Corporate DNA

For a CMO, the distinction between branding and marketing is the difference between a company’s soul and its voice. Branding is the internal realization of a company’s “why”—its values, its mission and the emotional resonance it aims to strike with its global audience.

Marketing, by contrast, is the strategic execution of that identity across various channels to drive specific actions. Some say organizations fall into the trap of “tactical sprawl,” where marketing activities are launched in a vacuum.

Without a brand anchor, these activities often lack cohesion, leading to fragmented customer experiences and diminished ROI.

The Cost of a ‘Marketing-First’ Approach

When marketing precedes branding, the result is often a high volume of lead generation with a low rate of long-term retention. This “performance paradox” was a recurring theme in recent leadership summits.

Marcus Thorne, a veteran CMO in the technology sector, described the dangers of neglecting the brand foundation.

“We observed companies in hyper-growth phases pouring millions into customer acquisition,” he said. “Because they hadn’t defined their brand narrative, they were forced to compete solely on price or features. As soon as a cheaper competitor emerged, their ‘loyal’ customers evaporated.”

A study by McKinsey & Company highlighted that companies with strong, consistent brands consistently outperform their peers in terms of total return to shareholders.

This suggests that the “brand equity” built early on serves as a multiplier for every marketing dollar spent later.

Related Article: The Top Challenges Facing CMOs in 2026

Bridging the Gap From Identity to Execution

The consensus among global marketing leaders is that branding must act as the “North Star” for all departmental activities.

This is not merely an aesthetic choice; it is a strategic necessity that simplifies decision-making.

When a top executive advisor emphasizes the efficiency of a brand-led strategy and narrates that when the brand is clearly defined, the marketing team doesn’t have to guess. The tone of voice, the visual language and the target personas are already set. It allows for faster execution and more authentic communication.

The logical progression for a CMO-led transformation typically followes this framework:

  • Audit and Alignment: Ensuring the internal culture matches the external promise.
  • Narrative Development: Crafting a story that transcends the product or service.
  • Omnichannel Deployment: Using marketing tools to amplify that story to a segmented audience.

Practical Steps for CMOs Building a Brand-Led Marketing Strategy

Marketing leaders increasingly recognize that sustainable growth starts with brand clarity. The following practices help ensure branding guides marketing execution rather than reacting to it.

Practice What It Means Why It Matters
Establish brand guidelines as governance Treat the brand book as a strategic filter for every campaign, not simply a design reference. When campaigns align with clearly defined brand values, marketing remains consistent and avoids fragmented messaging.
Measure brand health, not just leads Track indicators such as brand sentiment, recall and Net Promoter Score (NPS) alongside conversion metrics. These indicators reveal how the market perceives the brand and whether marketing efforts are strengthening long-term loyalty.
Unify the customer journey Ensure the promise made in marketing is fulfilled across product experience, support and service interactions. Breakdowns between brand messaging and real customer experience are where trust erodes and loyalty declines.
Invest in emotional differentiation Focus on creating emotional resonance and brand affinity rather than only building awareness through campaigns. In an environment saturated with automated content and AI-generated ads, human-centered brand identity becomes the key competitive advantage.

Conclusion: Marketing Without Branding Is Noise

The debate over what comes first is settled by the reality of the marketplace.

Marketing without branding is noise; branding without marketing is a secret. However, for every CMO seeking sustainable, long-term growth, the blueprint must always be drawn before the ground is broken.

By prioritizing the brand foundation, marketing efforts become more than just transactions. And they become milestones in a long-term relationship with the consumer through enhanced customer loyalty.

Feature image credit: MelissaMN | Adobe Stock

By 

Umesh Panchal, a seasoned sales and marketing professional with over 24 years of dynamic experience, emerges as a visionary leader propelling organizations toward unprecedented success. His robust career spans various industries, including SaaS, IT hardware, education, security, manufacturing and retail, consistently delivering exceptional results.

Sourced from CMSWIRE

Read More
By
In News

Small publishers hit hardest by search traffic declines

No Comments

By Sara Fischer

Smaller web publishers, with 1,000–10,000 daily page views, are experiencing the most precipitous traffic declines in the AI era, according to new Chartbeat data provided exclusively to Axios.

Why it matters: The data suggests larger publishers with better brand recognition and stronger direct-to-consumer products are more insulated from declines in traditional search traffic.

Zoom in: Over the past two years, referral traffic from traditional search engines has declined by 60% for small publishers, compared with 47% for medium-sized publishers and 22% for large publishers, per Chartbeat.

  • Medium-sized publishers are outlets with 10,000–100,000 daily page views, on average. Large publishers are those with more than 100,000 daily page views on average.
  • Chartbeat aggregates that data from thousands of client websites that use its revenue and analytics tools globally. It’s been tracking internet traffic trends across its network for nearly two decades.

Reality check: Traffic from AI-driven search experiences and chatbots isn’t close to offsetting declines from traditional search, per Chartbeat.

  • Page views from Google Search and Google Discover — the two biggest referrers of traditional search traffic globally — fell 34% and 15%, respectively, from December 2024 to December 2025.
  • While page views from ChatGPT referrals have increased by more than 200% during that period, chatbots still account for less than 1% of all publisher page view referrals.

Yes, but: Overall web traffic isn’t plummeting, even though search referrals are declining.

  • The average number of weekly page views across all global publishers measured by Chartbeat dropped 6% between 2024 and 2025, which is normal and can be attributed to factors outside of shifting search trends, such as an off year for elections and a shifting news cycle.

The big picture: The data suggests bigger and more sophisticated publishers are finding new ways to mitigate search traffic declines, which has helped temper the overall rate of page view declines on the internet.

  • Search traffic for news and media sites, in particular, is being partially offset by new referral channels, such as direct traffic and internal traffic, or traffic that comes from a different page on the same website.
  • Referrals from email, apps and instant messages are also growing as a share of overall traffic among news and media publishers.

What to watch: As AI chatbots continue to grow in search traffic, news and media publishers will need to find ways to offer value to readers outside of breaking stories and incremental updates.

  • The Chartbeat data finds that news and media websites receive the highest overall number of page views from AI platforms, but the lowest engagement per individual article, suggesting readers rely on those sites to offer fact-checks or context within chatbots, but not deeper analysis.
  • Utilitarian sites, or ones that offer things like health advice or gardening tips, tend to see more page views per article on average from chatbots.

The bottom line: The Chartbeat data suggests smaller publishers can no longer rely on search engine optimization to deepen and expand their audience relationships.

  • They must focus on building stronger direct relationships and brand recognition with audiences by investing more in their owned and operated channels.
  • It also suggests news and media publishers must find ways to solve problems and serve as a utility for readers if they want to drive deeper engagement from AI chatbot referrals.

By Sara Fischer

Sourced from AXIOS

Read More
By
In News

Why Social Capital And Human Networks Are Important In The Age Of AI

No Comments

By Cathy Hackl

In an era where artificial intelligence is reshaping industries at an unprecedented pace, the value of human connections and social capital has never been more critical. Take the story of retired Army Sergeant Major, Michael Quinn, a former senior military leader who transitioned into a successful entrepreneurial and executive career. Leveraging LinkedIn, Quinn built a robust network that not only facilitated his remarkable transition from the military to the private sector but also skyrocketed his success and positioned him as one of the world’s leading experts on leadership and social capital. His story is a testament to the transformative power of social capital and human networks in today’s fast changing digital landscape.

The Essence Of Social Capital And Why it Matters

Social capital refers to the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively. In the professional realm, social capital is the currency of influence, built through trust, mutual respect, and shared experiences. It’s what turns a simple introduction into a long-term professional relationship and a casual conversation into a lucrative business opportunity.

The Relevance Of LinkedIn

In this digital age, platforms like LinkedIn have become indispensable tools for building and maintaining social capital. LinkedIn offers a dynamic space where professionals can showcase their expertise, connect with peers, and discover new opportunities. It’s a platform that has proven its worth time and again, not just for job seekers but also for thought leaders and executives looking to expand their influence and impact.

“LinkedIn is no longer just a networking tool. It is the most powerful personal branding platform in the professional world,” highlighted Maha Abouelenein, Founder & CEO of Digital and Savvy and personal branding expert . “ We’re entering a world where job titles matter less, AI can mimic expertise, and a single moment can define or destroy a reputation.”

For Abouelenein, the real currency isn’t visibility. It’s credibility, and the leaders winning on it aren’t necessarily the most experienced in the room. They are the clearest, the most consistent and the most intentional.

With more than 1.2 billion members across over 200 countries and territories, LinkedIn remains the world’s largest professional network and one of the most dynamic platforms for building modern social capital at scale. It has evolved far beyond a digital résumé repository into a global arena for ideas, leadership, and opportunity. Within that ecosystem, LinkedIn Top Voices, an exclusive group of professionals recognized for consistent thought leadership and meaningful contributions, represent a small but powerful cohort shaping conversations across industries. Their presence highlights something important: in a network of this magnitude, credibility, insight, and authentic engagement rise to the top. In the age of AI, platforms like LinkedIn don’t just connect people, they amplify trusted voices and accelerate influence.

According to Quinn, Chief Growth Officer of Tenova LLC, HireMilitary and a 3x Linked Top Voice, there are three things that make LinkedIn incredibly valuable.

“First, LinkedIn is the social media platform where industry decision makers spend their time,” added Quinn. “Second, LinkedIn focuses on trust & safety, removing hostile comments from your post before you see them and third you can choose your desired audience by connecting strategically with the people you want to reach and then sharing information that would interest them.”

Building Success Through Networking

Sandy Carter is another shining example of the power of social capital in action. Recently recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice in AI Tech, Carter, who happens to be a Forbes Digital Assets contributor, leveraged her network to amplify her influence further and drive her career forward even more. Despite already having global recognition as a tech leader, with leadership roles at IBM, AWS and now at Unstoppable Domains, Sandy has used LinkedIn strategically.

Her approach to LinkedIn goes beyond simply posting content. Sandy treats the platform as a two-way conversation, consistently engaging with her community, elevating other voices, and sharing lessons from her decades of building multi-billion dollar businesses. It is this intentional, relationship-first mindset that has set her apart.

“Your network is your net worth, but only if you invest in it authentically. I have always believed that social capital is built by giving first: sharing knowledge, opening doors for others, and showing up consistently. LinkedIn gave me a platform to do that at scale, and the returns have been extraordinary, from partnerships and speaking invitations to a global community of women I am proud to champion,” said Sandy Carter, Chief Business Officer and Founder.

Her journey underscores the importance of actively engaging with and contributing to professional communities. By doing so, she not only expanded her reach but also created a platform to share her insights, thereby strengthening her social capital.

Today, Sandy’s influence extends well beyond corporate boardrooms. As the founder of Unstoppable Women of AI and Blockchain, she has trained over 55,000 women across 92 countries in emerging technologies. She also hosts Marketing Companion by Sandy Carter, a top 1% podcast and winner of two marketing awards, where she shares actionable insights on AI and marketing leadership. Her LinkedIn presence has become a launchpad for all of these efforts, proving that when social capital is invested with purpose, it can create impact on a global scale.

Social Influence: A Top Skill for the Future

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report, leadership and social influence are among the fastest-rising skills in the global economy, signalling a structural shift in what organizations now value. As AI systems take on analytical, operational, and even creative tasks, competitive advantage is moving away from pure technical execution and toward distinctly human capabilities. The leaders who stand out are not simply those who understand technology, but those who can guide people through transformation, build alignment in moments of uncertainty, and translate complexity into clarity.

Social influence, in this context, is not about popularity or personal branding. It is about trust at scale. It is the ability to convene the right people, shape strategic conversations, foster collaboration across industries, and mobilize networks toward action. Social capital provides the network foundation, while social influence is the ability to activate and direct that network with credibility and purpose. In an AI-accelerated world where change is constant, influence becomes infrastructure. Those who can cultivate meaningful relationships and activate their networks thoughtfully will not just adapt to disruption, they will help define what comes next.

Leadership and social influence are some of the most crucial skills for the future, emphasizing its importance in navigating the complexities of the modern professional landscape. As automation takes over routine tasks, the ability to influence, lead, and connect on a human level becomes a defining factor for success.

The Human Moat In An AI World

As we navigate the complexities of AI acceleration, the role of social capital cannot be overstated. It’s an essential component of thriving in the modern professional landscape. The stories of Michael Quinn, Maha Abouelenein and Sandy Carter are powerful reminders that, even in a world increasingly dominated by technology, the human element of connection remains irreplaceable. Investing in social capital is not just a strategy, it’s an essential component of thriving in the modern professional landscape.

As the age of AI continues to unfold, those who master the art of building and nurturing social capital will find themselves at the forefront of innovation and leadership. Embracing the power of human connection is not just about staying relevant—it’s about leading the charge in a future where technology and humanity converge.

As the age of AI continues to unfold, those who master the art of building and nurturing social capital will find themselves at the forefront of innovation and leadership. Embracing the power of human connection is not just about staying relevant—it’s about leading the charge in a future where technology and humanity converge.

Feature image credit: Michael Quinn

By Cathy Hackl

Find Cathy Hackl on LinkedIn. Visit Cathy’s website.

Sourced from Forbes

Read More
By
In News

Understanding people’s ‘New World’ brand expectations

No Comments

By Richard Barrett

If you work in marketing, you might want to look away now. The brutal truth is… the vast majority of people don’t care about your brand. In fact, 81% of the brands sold across Europe could disappear overnight and consumers wouldn’t be concerned… They probably wouldn’t even notice.

Various dynamics are at play here. Firstly, abundance. With up to 30,000 new products being launched every year, we’re all spoilt for choice. With so much variety on offer, very few brands feel truly indispensable. Secondly, unbrands. We’re increasingly exposed to no name brands from the likes of Amazon, Aldi and Lidl. When these perform well, it undercuts the perceived value of traditional brands. Finally, loss of trust. It doesn’t take many rotten apples to spoil the brand barrel and there have been lots of examples recently of world-famous brands apparently acting in bad faith.

These are all significant, but there’s one factor that’s even more important. People’s expectations of brands have risen faster than brands’ ability to meet those expectations. It’s an important issue, one we first touched on in our previous MarTech focused article on why marketing technology needs to be brand-led and how to achieve it.

This expectation gap can’t be ignored. And the first step towards tackling it is understanding what people want from ‘new world’ brands.

  • CLARITY OF PURPOSE. This isn’t necessarily about ‘doing good’ for society. It’s more about any brand being crystal clear on the role it wants to play in people’s lives.
  • TRANSPARENCY. People demand that brands be authentic and consistent in their behaviour. When they ask questions, they want the brand to respond quickly and honestly.
  • ACTIVE CONTRIBUTION. Increasingly, people want brands to help them do or experience more. They expect brands to go beyond providing mere product utility.
  • PERMANENCE. Thanks to social media, people are ‘always on’ and they want the same from brands. They’re looking for brands to be working 365 days a year, constantly feeding their social and cultural passions.
  • DEMONSTRABLY NATIVE. People are highly attuned to the codes and customs of individual media channels. For brands to be welcomed in these spaces, they must act in a way that is perfectly tailored to the environment.
  • EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES. It’s never been truer that the customer is always right. Consumers drive the agenda and they expect brands to deliver excellence however and whenever they engage.
  • CONTEXTUAL RELEVANCE. ‘Good enough’ isn’t good enough. People want brands to provide solutions that specifically resolve their needs in the moment.
  • APPROPRIATE PERSONALISATION. People don’t see themselves as part of the crowd and they don’t want to be treated as such, especially if they’re current customers. If it’s dangerous for brands to be overly familiar, it’s even more dangerous when they appear blind to existing relationships.

Meeting these expectations consistently is an extraordinarily high bar, one that will require technology to reach it. Not tech just for the sake of it, but solutions specifically designed to meet one or more of the expectations outlined above. One single imperative should drive every decision: will this help me provide better answers to my customers’ needs?

By Richard Barrett

Sourced from The Drum

Read More
By
In News

Designers. There’s no excuse for accessibility as an afterthought

No Comments

By 

Something Familiar’s creative director discusses the importance of challenging industry assumptions.

Feature image credit: Onvero/Something Familiar

By 

Natalie Fear is Creative Bloq’s staff writer. With an eye for trending topics and a passion for internet culture, she brings you the latest in art and design news. Natalie also runs Creative Bloq’s 5 Questions series, spotlighting diverse talent across the creative industries. Outside of work, she loves all things literature and music (although she’s partial to a spot of TikTok brain rot).

Sourced from CREATIVE BLOQ

Read More
By
In News

5 Influencer Marketing Tips For Success In Social Commerce

No Comments

By Ismael El Qudsi

Social commerce is big today, and it’s set to get even bigger. According to EMarketer, U.S. social commerce sales will surpass $100 billion this year.

What’s the key to brands building a social commerce strategy that works? Influencer marketing.

My agency has worked with hundreds of brands and influencers, and I’ve seen how the latter fuels success in the social commerce space by helping brands get the right messages to the right audiences and spurring them to buy. Here are five tips to fuel your influencer marketing success.

1. Pick The Right Influencers

When you’re seeking to build an influencer partnership, you have plenty of options. You don’t need to work with the biggest influencers to get the best results. Instead, experiment with what works for your brand. Often, smaller influencers have much higher engagement levels than celebrity endorsements. The higher engagement levels often come from the extreme specificity of nano-influencer content and from their ability to engage personally with followers.

When you’re evaluating an influencer, follower size isn’t the only thing that matters. Ensure the influencer you partner with aligns with your brand’s voice, values and personality so their content will resonate with the people you want to reach. Choose influencers who are thought leaders and who are innovating in your space or with the audiences you wish to connect with.

2. Help Influencers Tell Rather Than Sell

Anyone can create a list of your product’s top features. The value in partnering with influencers is making it possible for people to see the product and to visualize how it might fit into their own lifestyle. There’s a big difference between seeing a shirt or dress on a plain white background in an Amazon ad versus seeing an influencer trying it on, telling you how flatteringly it fits and highlighting how soft and silky the fabric is. The second approach makes the shopping experience much more personal.

When you work with an influencer, make sure they understand what your product is—all the nuts and bolts of it—but also give them the ability to showcase the product in context and tell their audiences why the product makes a difference. Brief the influencers on how it works, and then brainstorm with them about why it matters. Make sure they understand the secret sauce that makes your product stand out.

3. Give Your Influencers Freedom

Influencers are experts at their craft, and they’ve developed strategies that work. They know their audiences, and they know what appeals to them. They are more than just social media talking heads. They are savvy business professionals who spend time analysing social media content and then figuring out how to make it applicable to their own accounts and audiences.

Once you’ve found an influencer and vetted their audience, trust them. When you know you have a strong influencer supporting your brand, it’s to your benefit to let their strategic thinking and creativity shine. Instead of asking them to share your talking points and having them sound like an extension of your corporate marketing—which Gen Z can spot (and will skip) a mile away—they’ll sound authentic and true to the voice and aesthetic they’ve cultivated.

4. Repurpose And Reuse Content

When developing partnerships with influencers, ensure that you discuss whether you have rights to continue using the content after the initial partnership ends. Then, you can continue to leverage content that you know has performed well. For example, if an influencer creates a great piece of content for your brand, you can get more than one use out of it and increase its visibility by using it for paid social.

This is a great potential win because you already know that the content is engaging to the people you want to attract to your brand, so you can get a second chance at reaching new audiences. As platforms increasingly deprioritize organic content and serve up paid posts, this also allows you to maximize the potential of being seen and heard, and ensure you have high-quality content to do so.

5. Make The Purchase Process Seamless

You can have all the best tools enabled, but if your purchase process is complicated and buggy, you may see people drop out before finishing the process. Watch your metrics to see where people fall out of your marketing funnel. If they’re engaging and making it near the end of the process, but then not closing the deal, spend time investigating how to make your process better.

You can also automate emails or messages to send to potential buyers about abandoned cart items or offer win-back discounts. Consider implementing post-purchase surveys as well to find and fix pain points and increase potential purchase success for future buyers.

Social commerce is strong and growing stronger. With U.S. sales on TikTok Shop growing by 120% from 2024 to 2025, and global social commerce revenue expected to reach over $1 trillion by 2029, now is the time to design your influencer marketing strategy so you can be successful during the social shopping revolution.

Feature image credit: Getty

By Ismael El Qudsi

Find Ismael El Qudsi on LinkedIn and X. Visit Ismael’s website.

COUNCIL POST | Membership (fee-based). Ismael El Qudsi is Co-founder and CEO of SocialPubli, an award-winning influencer marketing platform with 500,000+ opt-in influencers. Read Ismael El Qudsi’s full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

Read More
By
In News

The other side of ads in ChatGPT: Advertiser perspective

No Comments

By Allison Steffens Herrera

Since OpenAI announced it would start testing ads in ChatGPT, and the guidelines for it, they did not discuss in depth how it is gonna work for businesses interested in advertising with them.

What we know is that users’ data remains private and that the advertisements will not come as a suggestion, as managed by Google, but rather as a solution to the inquiry being discussed in the chat thread. This way, ChatGPT explores another way of advertising: a natural, organic conclusion for the conversation flow.

And while we already discussed how it is gonna work and its implications for the audience, now it is time to take another approach: advertisers. Because, on the other side of the coin, are the people who will pay and benefit from it: the moneymakers.

The who, the how, the afterwards

OpenAI has not released an official statement on who can advertise with them. Whatsoever, the company talked with ADWEEK, explaining how for the trial, they have asked selected advertisers to commit to at least $200,000.

TNW City Coworking space – Where your best work happens

A workspace designed for growth, collaboration, and endless networking opportunities in the heart of tech.

Some of the first known companies are Adobe, Target, or Albertson, as well as the group WPP media, and others.

As for the testing process, some answers are absolute: the trial was invite only. Whatsoever, overtime and with the expansion of the advertising model in ChatGPT, it will be open for companies to subscribe through the OpenAI ‘Advertise with ChatGPT ‘ website, as long as they comply with the guidelines and pay the threshold.

But whether this strategy will be successful, we need to see beyond the surface. The group Adthena has released the first study of the trial.

First of all, how does it even work? Well, the platform is not self-serving and does not have a login interface.

Advertisers are managed manually: companies introduce specific words that have to be prompted by the user for the business to be advertised. In other words, a flower shop may type “flowers”, “anniversary gift”, “surprise for my girlfriend”, to be recommended within the conversation.

And the initial feedback companies received to improve their strategies does not tell much: core metrics limited to campaign name, impressions and clicks.

This logic encourages story telling more than click bait, while creating an equal opportunity and challenge for companies: Now there is a direct bid on the playground.

Small companies and startups can capture possible customers by finding a way to outshine their competitors, especially since many users use ChatGPT to compare.

Will this be another Google Ads?

The introduction of ads in ChatGPT led to the inevitable question if it will slowly transform into another Google Ads, or similar search engines. And to answer this question we can go through memory lane and compare it with the launch of Google Adwords.

Google Adwords built its strategy by monetizing explicit intent: keyword-auction where the advertisers bid over the typed demands. It implemented the PPC (pay-per-click) model which is still prevailing, and provided complete control and visibility to the advertisers, giving them the possibility to build the campaigns and bids manually, and constantly monitor performance to improve their indicators.

This is completely the opposite to what OpenAI is doing nowadays compared to Google Ads.

The most significant shift is the flip in the model of how intent is now captured and capitalized. Google keeps the keyword-expressed demand original model, where users declare intent by search queries, and advertisements are offered to audiences targeted on interest and habits, demographics, and browsing behaviour.

ChatGPT captures intent differently. Instead of monetizing keywords, it interprets context. Intent unfolds through constraints, preferences and goals, rather than just a search query.

This makes conversational ads structurally different from search ads. The shift now is not technical: it is structural. The AI acts as a curator and gatekeeper of commercial relevance, moving from user-driven comparison of ranked results to AI mediated recommendation.

Implications for companies

Another shift implemented by OpenAI is the cost structure, since they will adopt a premium $60 CPM (cost-per-mille), which means that the advertiser will pay $60 per every 1000 times their ad is shown.

This adds pressure to the companies, since an inadequate management of the chosen keywords will be translated directly to their expenses, without the expected results.

If this model is maintained by OpenAI, advertisers will be forced to not only understand the context, but the whole conversational ecosystem where the advertisement would be relevant.

In the same way, ChatGPT’s performance measurements drastically differ from the detailed analytics and automatic campaign optimization that Google offers. The limited feedback that OpenAI offers to their advertisers also plays an important role in how companies have to think about their campaigns.

Now they are competing for algorithmic selection.

This new framework alongside limited targeting control, suggests that advertisers must learn how the AI’s curation logic works. Success will depend less on bid strategy and more on understanding conversational intent.

To design effective AI Ads campaigns, brands will need to anticipate how users articulate needs across dialogue (prompt behaviour), and not rely on direct input or requests.

Advertisement has always been about solving problems and positioning solutions. Now companies must go further and understand how their audience thinks, and frame specific problems inside a conversation with ChatGPT.

Platform and model limitations

OpenAI introduced a game changer model for the advertisement industry by launching contextual-based ads. However, alongside the benefits come the disadvantages, and the platform and current model introduce important questions for brands to be aware of.

If the algorithm determines which advertisement is more relevant and only suggests one curated suggestion, it could represent the beginning of AI-controlled demand allocation and reduce advertiser competition visibility, unless the user specifically asks for it.

If ChatGPT continues with its current curated model without an interface where advertisers can manage their inputs, the model could create power concentration in the AI platform.

Because the platform takes all the decisions and advertisers cannot directly manipulate visibility. In the same way, if advertisers are unable to  analyse the performance measurements, it could create a black box monetization problem, where brands are paying but do not have straight data that enables campaign optimization.

From auction to algorithm

ChatGPT ads mark a new era for advertisement. The real test is how brands adapt to this new format while navigating platform limitations, and preserving the trust that characterizes ChatGPT interactions.

The beta is still trial and changes are likely. For now, the system favours large corporations with the experience and resources to optimize their campaigns without access to detailed OpenAI performance data.

As for the industry, it is safe to conclude that the limitations and specifications that conversational AI requires will lead to new ways of advertising. Advertisers must focus on creating a message that adds value to the conversation, respecting users’ needs and their relationship with the platform.

Prioritizing credibility, and aligning brand presence and product differentiation while addressing the specific problems users are exploring in their chats, will be the key to success when advertising with ChatGPT.

By Allison Steffens Herrera 

Sourced from TNW

Read More
By
In News

More Fire. More Fox. Meet Kit: Firefox’s most significant brand evolution in years

No Comments

By Katy Cowan

JKR had a rare brief: don’t fix what’s broken, amplify what’s already there. The result is a sharper Firefox and its first-ever mascot.

or designers, there’s a particular kind of branding challenge that looks simple on paper but is actually a complicated beast. Firefox already had one of the most recognisable logos on the internet, a loyal user base, and a wholesome mission. The brief to global branding agency JKR wasn’t to fix anything broken; it was something more interesting: to help it find its voice at exactly the moment the world needed to hear it.

The result is ‘More Fire. More Fox.’ – a sharper challenger stance, a unified identity system, and the introduction of Kit: Firefox’s first-ever official mascot. And yep, it’s a fox. Well, why wouldn’t it be?

The brief behind the brand

JKR brought together the strategy, creative, and digital teams to assess where Firefox really stood in the category. That meant going back to first principles: what makes Firefox Firefox? What do people associate with it? Why does it exist? Global research with real users identified three core assets that consistently cut through: the logo, the colour, and the Firefox imagery itself. Not abstract values or mission statements – which is interesting – but actual visual memory. (I mean, I’m a Firefox fan and love everything they stand for, but I mostly think of the orange and blue spikiness.)

Anyway, that gave JKR a strong foundation. Rather than starting fresh, the work was about amplifying what was already there, taking a recognisable symbol and making it do way more.

Designing a challenger spirit

The ‘More Fire. More Fox.’ platform captures a deliberate duality. Fire is the combative energy – Firefox as a genuine alternative to the algorithm-driven, data-harvesting status quo. While Fox is the protective instinct… the thing that has always set Firefox apart, built into the product itself through tracker-blocking, reduced profiling, and now AI Controls that let users choose whether AI plays a role in their browsing experience at all.

It’s a strong creative idea because it maps directly to a product truth. This isn’t a rebrand in search of a strategy. The strategy was always there. JKR just found a way to make it unmissable. And no doubt refresh our memories.

Meet Kit

The mascot reveal is where the design really shines. Kit is a flame-bright fox with “restless energy and a protective streak”. Created in collaboration with illustrator Marco Palmieri, Kit is described as both a crusader for the open web and a companion to the user. The genius is that Kit didn’t arrive from nowhere. The firefox has always been in the logo. (I actually didn’t connect the dots on this until now.) JKR formalised and named what was already a latent brand asset, transforming a graphic element into a character with personality and longevity.

This is the kind of brand thinking that takes some serious nerve. Mascots are a long-term commitment. If you do it poorly, they can age badly or feel corporate and contrived. Done well (like the Michelin Man, the Duolingo owl, the Innocent smoothie characters), and they become genuinely beloved, transcending language barriers and building emotional connection over time. Research backs this up: mascots (like Creative Boom’s friendly eyes) used consistently alongside other brand assets build recognition faster and create stronger consumer memory.

Kit feels like it belongs in that second category. The brief from JKR’s Executive Creative Director, Stuart Radford, was clear: “warmer, more expressive and uniquely Firefox”. What we’ve got is a character that earns its place, rooted in something real.

Why this matters now

The timing couldn’t be better. As AI reshapes what we see online and a handful of tech giants consolidate control over the web, Firefox’s 20-year commitment to the open internet feels less like heritage and more like an urgent imperative. The ‘More Fire. More Fox.’ platform leans into that… this isn’t Firefox coasting on goodwill, it’s Firefox stepping forward with a clear POV.

For designers and brand strategists, there’s a lot to admire here. We’re talking the discipline of building on existing equity rather than abandoning it, the clarity of a creative platform that maps to product reality, and the long-game thinking of introducing a mascot designed for cultural longevity.

Kit’s arrival is only the beginning of a broader rollout planned throughout the year. We’ll be watching.

By Katy Cowan

Sourced from Creative BOOM

Read More
By
Load More