FTC influencer disclosure rules require that any material connection between a brand and a creator, whether payment, free product, or a personal relationship, is clearly and conspicuously disclosed to the audience. The rules are not new, but enforcement has sharpened, the guidance has been updated, and the excuses brands were relying on have quietly run…
Rebranding Airbnb in 2014 was one of the most debated brand decisions of the decade. The company retired a wordmark that had served it adequately and replaced it with a custom symbol called the Bélo, a mark designed to represent belonging. Whether you found it elegant or overreached, the strategic logic behind it was sounder…
Brand differentiation is the process of identifying and communicating what makes your brand meaningfully distinct from competitors in a way that matters to the customers you want to win. Done well, it shapes purchasing decisions, reduces price sensitivity, and gives your sales and marketing teams something real to work with. Done poorly, it produces a…
Lego advertising works because the brand has never confused its product with its purpose. For nine decades, Lego has sold a plastic brick. What its advertising has consistently sold is the act of building, the feeling of creative control, and the quiet satisfaction of making something from nothing. That distinction is the entire strategy. Most…
In-game marketing puts brands inside video game environments, whether through static placements, dynamic ad formats, branded items, or sponsored in-game events. Done well, it reaches audiences who are genuinely hard to find elsewhere. Done poorly, it irritates players and damages the brand more than it helps it. The gaming audience is enormous, spans age groups…
Native content advertising places brand-funded content within editorial environments in a format that matches the surrounding media, so it reads, looks, and feels like the publication’s own work rather than an interruption. Done well, it earns attention rather than demanding it. Done poorly, it damages both the brand and the publisher’s credibility in one move….
AI generated user generated content advertising is the practice of using artificial intelligence to create content that looks, feels, and performs like authentic consumer-created material, then deploying that content as paid advertising. It spans synthetic testimonials, AI-voiced product reviews, generated “unboxing” videos, and fabricated social proof, all produced at scale without a real customer in…
Brand visibility in AI search platforms works differently from traditional search, and most brands are not prepared for the gap. When ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overviews generate an answer, they do not serve a list of links and let the user decide. They synthesise, select, and present. If your brand is not part of…
Netflix advertisers are working with a platform that is still finding its commercial footing, but the audience opportunity is real and the targeting is improving fast. The ad-supported tier has scaled to tens of millions of monthly active users globally, and Netflix is investing seriously in its ad technology stack. Whether it is worth your…
The Publicis acquisition of Influential, one of the largest influencer marketing platforms in the world, signals something more significant than a holding group adding another capability. It marks a structural bet that creator-driven media is no longer a supplementary channel, and that the agencies who control the infrastructure around it will control the margin. For…
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