By Jess Kinghorn

I utterly despise Google’s AI summaries. I dislike how they’re placed right at the top of the page, I dislike how prone to hallucinating the answers I’m searching for are, and I dislike that when it does offer something vaguely helpful, it’s almost definitely scraped from another human that actually did the legwork. Thankfully, the Bye Bye, Google AI browser extension means I no longer have to glower at them—if only I could do the same for similar eyesores, like bus stop ads and marketing billboards, in real life.

Software engineer Stijn Spanhove is currently tinkering with an AR project that does just that. Using Snapchat’s Spectacles and Google’s Gemini, he’s built an XR app that deploys the power of ad block via the lightweight frame of a wearable (via Tom’s Hardware). Unfortunately, as an experimental project that Spanhove is still tinkering with, ads are currently being replaced by glaring red boxes.

That quirk aside, the demo video Spanhove shared on X is no less neat. The app’s positional consistency is impressive, and is seen ‘blocking’ out billboards, newspaper ads, and even branded food packaging once activated. This is thanks to the use of Snap’s Depth Cache library shared via GitHub, but this also makes the project a Spectacles exclusive for the time being.

Besides the Snap exclusivity, the biggest hurdles to my mind are those garish red boxes that are arguably more distracting than the ads themselves. Perhaps developer Stijn Spanhove will in future add the option for users to replace ads with something of their choice—like an AR mural to Miku Hatsune…hypothetically, I mean.

More broadly speaking, big tech keeps trying to make smart specs happen, despite even Meta admitting earlier this year they’d yet to crack a killer use case for their in-development Orion AR glasses. Speaking of Meta, the fact that what you snap or record with the company’s Ray-Ban smart glasses may be used to train AI models also turns me off from the whole tech wearables fad.

That’s all before even mentioning this student project out of Harvard that uses Meta’s smart glasses to instantly dox anyone the wearer claps eyes upon. Okay, I admit that’s a lot of doom and gloom about wearables—but you’re no longer thinking about my AR Miku Hatsune mural, are you?

Feature Image credit: Stijn Spanhove

By Jess Kinghorn

Jess has been writing about games for over ten years, spending the last seven working on print publications PLAY and Official PlayStation Magazine. When she’s not writing about all things hardware here, she’s getting cosy with a horror classic, ranting about a cult hit to a captive audience, or tinkering with some tabletop nonsense.

Sourced from PC Gamer

Sourced from OM

The decades-old doctrine of “Web traffic in exchange for permission to crawl” is over, writes Fred Vogelstein in his latest feature for our newsletter, Crazy StupidTech, and as a result, the Internet in the age of AI will be filled with much-needed “tolls.” This change has come quickly.

“Google essentially invented the business of crawling in exchange for monetizable traffic a generation ago with Adwords,” writes Fred. “It remains the source of its dominance today. And it has been an essential fuel for the growth of the $16 trillion global internet economy.“

The writing’s been on the wall since ChatGPT launched, but nobody wanted to read it. We’re watching the great traffic heist in real-time. “Not only are more and more searches going through AI chatbots that generate zero traffic for publishers,” Fred writes, “Google itself is now sending publishers less traffic. Instead, Google is increasingly choosing to use its own AI product Gemini to respond to queries as a way of competing with the chatbots.”

In other words, AI chatbots are swallowing searches whole, while Google is playing both sides with Gemini. Don’t ignore the fact that this is a big challenge to how Google makes money. But it has deep pockets. Established media is living on fumes. One man’s crisis is another man’s opportunity.

Tollbit is the first to capitalize on this. But as Fred points out, Cloudflare and Matthew Prince are cooking up something new and will give @TollbitOfficial some competition and a boost.

I have been talking about this for a very long time, but the establishment media is always the last to realize their own existential threats. Just as they were slow to recognize the emergence of blogs, social media, and how Facebook was a chimera, they have been slow to realize that the old “destination internet” as a behavioural construct is over.

The addiction to traffic and impressions-based advertising has been an Achilles’ heel of the media establishment. It is hard for them to look at the world through the lens of engagement. The rise of “chat-based” informational interfaces is yet another victory for engagement-trumps-all doctrine.

To get a better understanding of this, feel free to dig into the archives of our CrazyStupidTech newsletter. If you like what you read, please subscribe. It is free. But before you do all that, read Fred’s piece. It is very good.

Sourced from OM

By Lovely Marshall

As of 2025, there are more than 207 million global content creators who build digital influence through platforms like YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn and Instagram. Creators are more than content makers; they’re economic engines. But while the creator economy is booming, the bridge between influence and infrastructure remains fragile.

According to Goldman Sachs via MBO Partners, the U.S. creator economy alone contributes over $250 billion to GDP. Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, shared in Business Insider: “We believe creators are becoming more and more relevant over time. We are just seeing more and more power shift from institutions to individuals across the industry.”

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates there are 34.8 million small businesses nationwide, yet few policies formally recognize creators as part of that group. This is the untapped gap: Creators don’t always see themselves as entrepreneurs, and as a result, they often miss out on resources specifically designed to support business growth.

Influencers produce content daily, yet miss out on tools that could help them monetize, scale and build long-term wealth. To prevent what I call “Creator-to-CEO Failure to Launch,” here’s how creators can start using existing free partnerships right now to turn their visibility into viable ventures.

7 Essential Partnerships And Resources To Help You Build A Business In 2025

1. SCORE (Service Corps Of Retired Executives)

Why It Matters: With 10,000+ volunteer mentors, SCORE offers free one-on-one guidance to entrepreneurs across industries.

Action Step: Book a mentor at SCORE.org who understands digital marketing, pricing or scaling to review your business model, even if you’re just starting out.

2. Small Business Digital Alliance (SBDA)

Why It Matters: Backed by the SBA and Business Forward, this organization curates digital tools, templates and educational materials.

Action Step: Use their free business planning and legal resources to turn your content operation into a structured, scale-ready venture.

3. Local Chambers Of Commerce + Women’s Business Centres

Why It Matters: These groups provide hands-on workshops and funding guidance often overlooked by online-first creators.

Action Step: Attend a local business centre event. Even a one-time mixer can connect you to a lawyer, lender or advisor who can help formalize your brand.

4. University Innovation Centres (U Of H, Community Colleges, HBCUs)

Why It Matters: Community colleges and HBCUs now house innovation labs where non-enrolled creators can join pitch competitions, incubators or workshops.

Action Step: Search your city + “University Innovation Centre” and inquire about available small business or entrepreneurship resources.

5. Google Reviews + Business Tools

Why It Matters: A buyer’s decision is often driven by trust and validation, but many creators still lack visibility because they haven’t claimed or optimized a Google Business Profile.

Action Step: Create your Google Business Profile and start collecting reviews from collaborators, clients or brand deals.

6. Hello Alice

Why It Matters: With over $40 million in grants distributed, Hello Alice supports early-stage founders and women, veterans and creators of colour.

Action Step: Apply for funding, access business education and join their creator cohorts if you’re ready to scale beyond brand deals.

7. Verizon Small Business Digital Ready

Why It Matters: With over 1 million users, this platform offers courses, mentorship and $10,000 grant competitions.

Action Step: Enrol in courses and track your progress. Creators who complete modules qualify for mentorship and funding.

Real Voices, Real Impact

Gone are the days when we only viewed creators as entertainment. They’re digital founders. With the right partnerships, they won’t just gain influence. They’ll gain infrastructure.

Powerhouse Thought: Creators Don’t Just Need Platforms; They Need Partnerships

Entrepreneurs aren’t made when you hit six figures. They’re made when you set up your backend like it matters. If you’re already creating content, building an audience or selling a service, you’re not an influencer. You’re a business.

These tools are your blueprint to prove it.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Lovely Marshall

Sourced from Forbes

By Madeline Duley

With AI’s ability to generate art, content, codes and video, understand and respond to multiple languages, identify objects and even make decisions, the potential uses of this technology are practically limitless. Though no system is flawless, there are ways you can use this powerful tool at your fingertips to help you make money.

To learn how, GOBankingRates spoke with a self-made millionaire who has mastered the art of using ChatGPT to drive cash flow. You’ll be surprised at just how simple — and fun — it can be to let AI work for you. Here are six money-making tips you should follow.

Streamlining Processes

For Mason Jones, a self-made millionaire and managing director with over 20 high-earning affiliate websites at NDR, integrating ChatGPT into his business was a no-brainer.

“As my affiliate sites grew, I was spending too much time on repetitive tasks — like keyword research, content generation and social posting,” Jones said. “I needed a way to streamline my processes without sacrificing quality. That’s when I dove into AI, and, once I saw how much more efficient it made me, I was hooked.”

Generating Content Ideas

For website owners like Jones, staying relevant and engaging can be both time-consuming and creatively draining.

“One of the biggest challenges in affiliate marketing is constantly creating fresh, relevant content that resonates with your audience,” Jones said. “AI stepped in big time here. I use tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm blog post ideas and even map out article structures. If I’m working in a niche, I can quickly generate content ideas tailored to what people are actually searching for. What used to take hours of research, ChatGPT can now handle in minutes.”

While Jones doesn’t use ChatGPT to write content, he leverages it to generate topics, plan PR campaigns and suggest stock ideas, saving both time and energy without sacrificing quality.

“ChatGPT has been an absolute game changer for me,” Jones said. “I use the paid version almost daily, and it saves me around 20% of my time when creating affiliate campaigns, which is huge for revenue generation. The data and insights it provides are much more reliable than the free version, and it’s been essential in shaping my overall strategy. It’s really become an integral tool in my business.”

Identifying Keywords and Google Ranking Opportunities

Creating engaging content is just the start. Optimizing it for search engines is the key to driving traffic and boosting revenue.

“This was probably the most exciting part for me,” Jones said. “Using AI-driven tools, I’ve been able to identify profitable keywords and opportunities that I might’ve missed on my own.”

Instead of making educated guesses, AI offers data-driven insights.

“AI tools like SurferSEO analyse search trends and help me optimize my posts to rank higher on Google,” Jones said. “The cool thing is that these tools also suggest what’s missing in my content compared to the top-ranking articles, which gives me a real edge in the game. SEO is no longer guesswork; AI pretty much does the heavy lifting.”

Automating Social Content

To drive traffic to his sites, Jones relies heavily on social media. However, creating effective posts, hashtags and captions is time-consuming — and a task that AI can handle with ease.

“I don’t have time to manually craft social media posts every day, and that’s where AI has saved me countless hours,” Jones said. “I use ChatGPT to automate social media content — everything from post ideas to captions. Once I’ve written a blog post or created a piece of content, AI helps break it down into smaller, shareable chunks for Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.”

By keeping his social presence consistent without being tied to a computer all day, Jones has been able to use AI’s capabilities to free up time and energy.

Sorting and Analysing Data

For Jones, being able to identify top-performing content and make sense of all the data from his websites is crucial. Thanks to ChatGPT, it has never been easier.

“Tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush are great, but they can be overwhelming with the amount of data they provide,” Jones said. “AI tools help me sort through that noise and focus on what really matters, like which pages are converting best and where my traffic is coming from. This data-driven approach has been crucial in scaling up my ventures.”

Upfront Costs & Profit Timeline

Beyond saving time and reducing the mental strain of repetitive tasks, ChatGPT also offers low upfront costs and a quick path to profits. For Jones, the small investment was well worth it.

“AI tools are surprisingly affordable,” Jones said. “Most of the tools I use are subscription-based, and I probably spend around $100 to $200 a month on AI-driven tools like Jasper for writing, SEMrush for SEO, ChatGPT Plus and a few social media automation platforms. Within about three to four months of fully integrating AI into my workflow, I hit profit. My first $1,000 came much quicker than with traditional methods, and from there things have just snowballed.”

At just $20 per month, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus is a bargain investment, offering higher-quality data and more strategic insights than the free version.

Final Take To GO: Your AI Income Stream

With such a low upfront cost, there’s little downside to leveraging AI to streamline your processes and make earning money easier than ever. Just ask Jones.

“Over the past year, AI has helped me significantly increase my affiliate marketing earnings,” Jones said. “Without getting too deep into specifics, let’s just say AI has contributed to a steady five-figure monthly income stream. The best part? I’m working fewer hours than ever before.”

Feature Image Credit: Robert Way / Getty Images

By Madeline Duley

Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article.

Sourced from AOL

By Chris Suchánek

Let’s not sugar-coat it. Most companies? They’re winging it. They’re throwing digital spaghetti at the wall— running ads, posting content and hoping something sticks. But if we’re being honest, something always feels a little off. The message is muddy. The brand vibe is all over the place. They’re spending money, sure, but the results? Inconsistent at best.

Here’s the not-so-fun truth: Marketing without brand strategy is noise. And the world is full of it.

We live in a broken business culture where activity is often mistaken for progress. You hear things like, “Look at our likes!” and “We got 10,000 impressions!” But none of that matters if you can’t explain what your brand stands for. It feels like progress, but it’s not. It’s a treadmill. So let’s hit pause and call out what most people get completely wrong.

Brand strategy isn’t optional. It’s the starting point. It’s not something you slap on after your website goes live. It’s not something you retrofit after the Facebook ads flop. It should come first, always.

Why Do So Many Brands Get This Backward?

It’s the speed trap: Companies race to get seen fast. They want visibility, reach and buzz. “Let’s get the word out!” they say. But here’s the kicker: They skip the step where they figure out what that “word” even is.

So what do we end up with? A pile of brands that look shiny but feel hollow, campaigns that scream but say nothing, and messaging that changes every other week. It all looks impressive until you look beneath the surface.

When your brand isn’t rooted in anything real, every ad, post and pitch feels a little disconnected. The customer notices it too, even if they can’t quite put their finger on why. It’s like starting a conversation that sounds exciting at first but ends up going nowhere. There’s no spark. No soul.

Build A Brand, Not A Billboard

The strongest brands don’t start with marketing. They start with meaning. They ask the real, sometimes uncomfortable questions: Why do we even exist? What do we believe in? What can we offer that no one else can, at least not the way we do?

That’s what brand strategy is all about. And no, it’s not about logos or colour palettes. It’s about your brand’s core. It’s about your worldview—the stuff that drives every decision and shapes how you show up in the world.

If you want your marketing to stick, and to mean something, this is where it begins.

Brand Strategy: Know Who You Are

This is your foundation. Don’t skip it.

• Define your vision, mission and values in a way that influences real decisions.

• Understand what you believe and why it matters to your audience.

• Nail your positioning. This is the space you want to own in your customer’s mind.

A brand isn’t a product or a clever tagline. It’s a gut feeling people get when they think about you. Brand strategy helps shape that feeling so it’s consistent, honest and memorable.

Market Strategy: Know The Game You’re Playing

Once you know who you are, it’s time to figure out where you belong.

• What are you offering, and why should people care?

• How are you pricing, packaging and delivering it?

• Who’s your customer, and how will you reach them clearly and meaningfully?

This is the bridge between your identity and your actions. It keeps you from wandering in circles.

Execution: Show Up With Purpose

Now, finally, you can talk about branding and marketing. Branding is how you present yourself visually, verbally and experientially. Marketing is how you get your message out through campaigns, content, ads and stories. You need both. Marketing gets you noticed, but branding keeps people coming back. One creates interest, while the other builds trust.

Just remember, this is the last phase. If you start here, you’re building on sand.

Stop Chasing Vanity Metrics, And Start Building Real ROI

Metrics can be addictive. They’re flashy, easy to measure and look great in reports. But if they become your only focus, you’re losing the bigger picture.

Click-throughs and impressions don’t build businesses. Decisions do. Purpose does. Real growth starts when you slow down, ask better questions and build something with substance.

So here’s your challenge: Stop launching just to launch. Stop marketing without meaning. Stop throwing messages into the void and hoping they land.

Start with the brand. Build something solid. Say something real. Make your message impossible to ignore. Put brand strategy first, always.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Chris Suchánek

Sourced from Forbes

By Slava Bogdan, Edited by Micah Zimmerman

The classic sales funnel is outdated for Gen Z, as their shopping journey is now non-linear. It involves platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, focusing on viral videos, user-generated content and influencer recommendations rather than traditional ads.

By Slava Bogdan, Edited by Micah Zimmerman

СEO & co-founder of Flowwow, tech-entrepreneur with a 10-year leadership experience in e-commerce business. Building a glocal (global + local) marketplace that brings ultimate joy to your loved ones around the world.

Sourced from Entrepreneur

By Katie Jewett

Consumers today aren’t just consuming content—they’re scrutinizing it. In an era where personalization is expected and values matter more than ever, brands must go beyond simply being informative or entertaining. To truly connect, content must be relevant, trustworthy and reflective of the brand’s role in society. And that means rethinking not only what the content says but also how it’s created, delivered and perceived.

Staying Relevant In The Content Economy

Below are three essential shifts brands must make to stay relevant in today’s content economy.

1. Think beyond product-centric messaging.

Modern consumers expect more than just promotional messaging—they want brands to stand for something meaningful and worthwhile. In an April 2024 Direct Digital Holdings study, 81% of Gen Z consumers said that diversity and multiculturalism significantly influence the brands they support. This highlights the significance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in influencing purchasing decisions among this generation. Furthermore, a 2019 study by Sprout Social reveals that “70% of consumers say it’s important for brands to take a stand on public issues.” This reflects a growing expectation for brands to engage actively in societal conversations.

That doesn’t mean abandoning performance-driven content. However, it does mean rebalancing content strategies to include storytelling that reflects the audience’s values. Brands that sustain their commitment to meaningful causes—not just through one-off campaigns but with consistent content across channels—build deeper consumer trust and long-term loyalty.

2. Prioritize privacy in distribution.

Even the most resonant message can fall flat if it’s delivered in a way that feels intrusive. As privacy concerns escalate and third-party cookies are phased out, brands must evolve their approach to targeting and reaching their audiences.

Research conducted by the Harris Poll in 2023 shows that 70% of consumers have taken action to protect their online privacy, such as blocking cookies or using incognito browsers. And a 2022 study from Cisco shows that 37% have abandoned brands due to dissatisfaction with their data practices. In response, brands are exploring new privacy-first targeting methods. One example is “predictive audiences,” which use contextual signals, such as time of day, device type or content engagement behaviour, to identify audiences more likely to interact with branded content, all without relying on personal identifiers.

These strategies strike a balance between relevance and respect, allowing brands to maintain performance while honouring consumer preferences.

3. Use AI thoughtfully in content creation.

Generative AI has unlocked new possibilities for content marketers, including rapid idea generation, tone optimization and real-time iteration, to name a few. But with great power comes new scrutiny. Can consumers tell the difference between human- and AI-generated content? And does it matter?

In a 2023 study, most consumers were unable to reliably distinguish AI-written content from human-created articles. In fact, many found AI content to be more personable and enjoyable, possibly due to its simplicity and accessibility. However, human-written content still ranked higher in terms of educational value and attention retention.

The takeaway? AI can be a powerful co-creator, particularly for content that needs to be concise and digestible. But for messaging that requires depth, education or emotional nuance, human writers still lead. Transparency matters too. Brands must communicate how they’re using AI and ensure outputs are accurate, on-brand and ethical.

Actionable Steps For Marketers

To create brand content that connects, performs and lasts, marketers should align strategy and execution with today’s consumer expectations. Here are some practical ways to start:

• Lead with value-driven storytelling. Ensure your content reflects your brand’s stance on social issues and commitment to DEI—not just in mission statements but across campaigns, social posts and creative execution. Audiences can spot performative messaging, so aim for consistency and authenticity.

• Design for privacy-first performance. Move beyond third-party cookies by exploring contextual and predictive targeting methods. Use signals such as page context, device type and user behaviour to personalize content delivery while respecting privacy boundaries.

• Use AI as a co-creator, not a crutch. Let AI help with brainstorming, outlining or tone refinement, but reserve human input for strategic storytelling and emotional nuance. Be transparent about how AI is used in your content process, especially for brand-owned channels.

• Simplify complex content without losing substance. Whether through AI tools or human editing, clarity matters. Break down technical concepts, structure for skimmability and prioritize accessibility, especially when speaking to a diverse or global audience.

The Future Belongs To Thoughtful Brands

Content has never carried more weight—or more responsibility. As consumers become more discerning, brands must move beyond traditional tactics and embrace a holistic content strategy—one that integrates purpose-driven messaging, prioritizes privacy and uses emerging tools like AI to scale with care.

The brands that succeed will be those that create not just content but connection.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By Katie Jewett

Sourced from Forbes

By Paul McNally

By Paul McNally

Sourced from readwrite

By John Readman

How we track, measure and attribute the success of marketing activity puts many marketers in a cold sweat—whether we’re talking about top-level marketing mix models dating back to the 1950s or the complex, hyper personalized multichannel attribution models of today.

The shift to digital has, of course, helped. With tools that can track customers throughout their journey, the process looks easier on the surface. But the truth is that the landscape has become even more complex. There’s a skill shortage in attribution, and data privacy poses even more complex challenges. Data privacy laws already make handling consumer data a minefield, and there is little optimism that it will become easier. A 2025 Supermetrics survey of 200 marketers from around the globe revealed that 57% predict more difficulty in marketing attribution in the future.

Why Attribution Is So Important Today

It’s worth emphasizing why attribution is more vital today than ever. Perceived wisdom, guided by the marketing rule of seven, has taught us that customers typically need to interact with a brand at least seven times before they decide to make a purchase. Today, however, the digital advertising landscape means customers interact with your brand much more often. Data compiled earlier this year shows that customers interact with a brand 28.87 times on average before a conversion.

With that many touchpoints, it’s impossible to understand your successes and failures without an effective attribution model. Attribution helps us understand how customers interact at each touchpoint and enables us to determine the effectiveness of each marketing method. With analysis, we can see which aid conversion and then decide how to spend money and resources more effectively in the future.

The Challenges Of Attribution

Historically, access to data has been a stumbling block for many marketers. You may be unable to access data because you’re on a small budget, which prevents you from accessing the right measurement software, or you may have a team that lacks the knowledge to implement what you have. Or there may be a disconnect between sales and marketing—creating data silos that prevent useful data from being used to make smarter marketing decisions.

Access to data is also changing due to user behaviour. Nearly 33% of internet users now use ad blockers, which, along with blocking ads, also block cookies that allow us to collect and analyse user data.

Data quality is holding many marketers back as well. Research by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and GfK in 2022 found that 62% of global marketers are only moderately confident—or worse—about their data.

How Data Privacy Has Affected Attribution

Since its implementation in 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation has radically changed how European marketers use customer data. There are currently no federal laws in the U.S. that are as comprehensive as the GDPR. However, laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act have started an inevitable shift toward increased data privacy. Legislation like this makes businesses legally obligated to process data securely and limit how they share or use it with other organizations. That means considering things like data processing agreements, which establish your roles and obligations as well as those of any organizations you share data with. It also means implementing robust data governance—ensuring all of your consumer data is clean, reliable and consistent. While essential for consumers, these are all things that take extra time and resources for businesses to implement.

There are also other areas of GDPR legislation that companies risk violating. One of the key tenets of GDPR is that data requests from users should be explicit and specific. Bundling together your requests with one checkbox is not considered compliant data collection. And the challenge of data collection post-GDPR doesn’t just come from the legislation itself; it comes from users, too. According to GWI data from 2024, 34.5% of adult internet users globally now reject cookies at least some of the time.

Attribution In A Privacy-Focused World

The key to accurate attribution is still first-party data. Collecting your own customer data gives you control over compliance and privacy. While there are still grey areas with uncertainty about how GDPR legislation should be interpreted, this will improve as regulators provide more specific guidelines and enforcement increases. Businesses can ensure compliance in the meantime by implementing robust consent mechanisms, providing clear privacy policies and offering easy opt-out options for users.

Once you have that data, the next challenge is using it. Like attribution, data aggregation has always been complex for businesses with smaller marketing budgets. But technology could hold the answer. Data lakes, for example, can make it easier for organizations to store, manage and analyse large, unstructured datasets. They can also ease privacy concerns by anonymizing data for analysis. While this advanced technology still requires time, money and expertise to use effectively today, artificial intelligence is making it more accessible for companies now and in the future.

Machine learning algorithms can also help evaluate converting and nonconverting paths, giving relative value to each and making it easier for marketers to make decisions based on their data. AI can make working with different attribution models easier by combining deterministic data (e.g., logged-in user behaviour) with probabilistic models to create a hybrid approach that better estimates cross-device behaviour. It can spot patterns that may not have been visible to you before, and with the introduction of agentic models, it can apply insights to adjust budgets in real time and even make decisions on your behalf.

So, while data privacy makes attribution more challenging than ever, it’s a welcome challenge for those who value its intentions. Compliant data collection gives users greater control over their data and helps build trust that is sorely lacking in the modern consumer. Combine that with first-party data and new technology, and we can spend marketing budgets more effectively and deliver experiences to consumers that are truly personalized to their behaviour, not just based on assumptions.

Feature Image Credit: Getty

By John Readman

Sourced from Forbes

By Audrey Wan

TikTok’s brief shutdown in January pushed users to RedNote and other Chinese social media platforms, exposing them to brands like Florasis and Judydoll.

As the US Supreme Court mulled a legal ban on TikTok in January, the effects on social media platforms were profound. Even before the judges ruled in favour of the ban—prompting the app to temporarily go dark in the US—an estimated 2 million TikTok users jumped ship to Chinese app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. For a number of beauty-conscious users, what they discovered was a revelation.

“I realized that RedNote had a lot of beauty secrets the United States wasn’t using,” says Hailey Laine, a TikTok creator in Chicago who joined Xiaohongshu in January and continues to use both apps—RedNote for finding cosmetic inspiration, TikTok for posting about it. In January, Laine shared a video of herself using face powder and bright pink blush to re-create the monochromatic glow popular among Chinese beauty influencers, racking up 300,000 likes and 2.3 million views.

That kind of exposure has been a boon for so-called C-beauty brands such as Judydoll, which started in China in 2017 before venturing into retail markets across Asia in 2021. Judydoll’s total sales grew from $232 million in 2023 to $345 million in 2024, says Stefan Huang, group strategy director at Joy Group Ltd., the parent company. Overseas retail sales grew 400% in 2024, thanks in part to direct-to-consumer online channels such as Shopee and TikTok Shop. The company declined to provide specific figures for overseas sales. Social media, Huang says, “has helped a lot to build our credibility.”

The brand’s $17 highlighter contour palette has become a staple in the hundreds of TikTok videos attempting the “Douyin look,” named after the Chinese version of the video app. The look includes a porcelain complexion, rose-tinted cheeks and lips, and wispy black lashes. “Something that the Western beauty market doesn’t really have is a matte highlight,” says Jenn Ze, a beauty influencer in Toronto who purchased Judydoll’s palette after seeing videos about it reposted from Douyin in her Instagram feed. “This is the key.”

Videos of users gushing over Judydoll’s “curling iron” mascara have also tallied millions of views, helping Judydoll sell more than 8 million units of the $14 mascara worldwide since 2023. In lieu of a bristly plastic wand, the product features a thin, spiral steel tube that fans laud for its ability to precisely separate and lift eyelashes. “Where have you been my entire life?” gushed Nikkie de Jager-Drossaers, a beauty influencer based in the Netherlands with 19 million Instagram followers, in a video last January.

Even before the TikTok ban, C-beauty brands were gaining a greater foothold in non-Chinese markets. Lines formed in September when Florasis, a Chinese cosmetics brand that came out in 2017, opened its first European counter at the LVMH-owned department store Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf in Paris. It marked the first time a Chinese cosmetics maker has teamed up with a global luxury retailer, says Gabby Chen, Florasis’ president of global markets.

Overseas consumers have been drawn by the cultural elements of Florasis’ packaging, which features traditional Chinese motifs from nature and mythology. One of its makeup palettes, a $59 pan of nine eyeshadow colours intricately engraved with images of a phoenix, won Allure magazine’s award for best of beauty in 2023 and Marie Claire’s award for best luxury powder eyeshadow this year. And Florasis’ $46 cushion foundation ranked in Vietnam’s top three TikTok Shop beauty bestsellers. “It’s honestly one of the best C-beauty cushions I’ve ever tried,” Daniel Chan, a Singapore-based creator with 104,000 followers on TikTok, said in a video last May. “My skin loves this kind of slippery thin formula.”

Florasis declined to disclose full financial figures, but it said it has grown by double digits every year since 2019. In February the brand made its debut on the luxury e-commerce platform Ounass, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, and says it’s working on other retail partnerships in the Middle East.

Photo Illustration: Ryan Haskins for Bloomberg Businessweek; Photos: Judydoll (5), Florasis (6), Getty (1)

By Audrey Wan

Sourced from Bloomberg