June 26, 2025
In this week's edition: how to spot "brand mission" BS, the death of the age of storytelling, Air India's CEO message backlash, more ads or better infrastructure? AI pollution, and much more...
Is that brand’s mission for real? Here’s how to spot BS - “And do corporate motives really matter?” (Fast Company/Alison Taylor)
Amazon’s CEO shares a tough memo with employees on the company’s public blog - The good and bad of opening the kimono: “Is the public memo a wink-wink to Wall Street that the company’s heavy AI investments will eventually pay off by delivering significant cost reductions? Is the note meant to provide some glossy AI cover for imminent or future mass layoffs? And are the parts of the essay where Jassy methodically outlines the various ways Amazon already uses Gen AI… designed to thrust Amazon into AI-dominated news cycles that often feature many other companies not named Amazon?” (Fortune - $)
The age of storytelling is over - “Google just admitted that AI overviews are fundamentally changing how people consume information. People aren't reading full articles anymore.” (Jorunn Aamodt)
David Droga torches the old ad model as he hands over the reins at Accenture Song - “Creativity is liquid… It’s not just about a beautiful TV ad – although that still matters. It’s about a beautifully designed interface, a brilliant event, an intuitive service. That’s where creative people thrive – if you give them the infrastructure to do it.” (The Drum)
Air India CEO in hot water over condolence message after plane crash, netizens demand ‘authenticity’ - “A communications strategy consultant claimed that Air India CEO's speech was ‘plagiarised’ from American Airlines CEO's January 30 condolence speech.” (Mint). Watch a side-by-side comparison here (NYT).
Devastating crash threatens Air India's ambitious turnaround - “Investigations to identify the cause, corrective measures, and enhanced safety standards will follow soon but from the reputation lens, I hope they consistently communicate and that too authentically.” (BBC)
The AI-empowered agency - “(WPP’s) report… brings together expert insights with real-world examples of AI-powered marketing and business transformation in action today. (It) offers a framework for understanding how AI could redefine traditional agency models and likely reshape the way marketing services are sold.”(WPP)
We don’t need more ads. We need better infrastructure - “As Cannes ramps up and the industry celebrates ‘creativity,’ I’d argue creativity is shifting: From stories that catch attention… To systems that earn selection.” (Craig Hepburn)
The Ad World Is Obsessed With Industry News Videos From Two 27-Year-Old Guys - “Breaking and Entering has expanded from a podcast for young creatives to a daily must-watch news roundup for ad leaders.” (WSJ - $)
The Reddit Ripple Effect: New Research Reveals That Community Conversations Drive Purchase Decisions - “Whether it’s researching the best laptops or skincare routines, 88% of social media users are turning to Reddit for purchase decisions, and 76% believe Reddit posts are more honest and truthful than those on other social platforms.” (upvoted)
Are We in the Post-Follower Era of Social? “Three big trends are driving a massive shift in social media strategies and funnels.” (The Storytelling Edge)
ChatGPT May Be Eroding Critical Thinking Skills, According to a New MIT Study - “Over the course of several months, ChatGPT users got lazier with each subsequent essay, often resorting to copy-and-paste by the end of the study.”
LinkedIn CEO says AI writing assistant is not as popular as expected - “The ‘barrier is much higher’ to posting on LinkedIn, because ‘this is your resume online.’ Plus, users can face real backlash if they post something that’s too obviously generated by AI.” (TechCrunch)
The AI Slop Fight Between Iran and Israel - “The fake videos and images show how generative AI has already become a staple of modern conflict. On one end, AI-generated content of unknown origin is filling the void created by state-sanctioned media blackouts with misinformation, and on the other end, the leaders of these countries are sharing AI-generated slop to spread the oldest forms of xenophobia and propaganda.” (404 via Matt)
ChatGPT Has Already Polluted the Internet So Badly That It's Hobbling Future AI Development - “As the AI-generated data clouds the human creations that these models are so heavily dependent on amalgamating, it becomes inevitable that a greater share of what these so-called intelligences learn from and imitate is itself an ersatz AI creation.” (Futurism)
Journalists are adding extra checks to keep ahead of the fake experts - “The fake expert industry continues to churn out AI-generated commentary.” (Press Gazette)
And finally, the most popular article from last week was Executives don’t want the full story. They want the "get to the point and tell me why it matters" version by Dan Galletta.