Edition 95.

Big productions used to win. Now AI is leveling the playing field.

The AI marketing tools, ad formats, and brand campaigns winning right now? Let’s dive in.

5 brand bytes to inform and inspire you this week:

1. Small biz, big views.

“He was pulled into a drain pipe after being caught in a flood.”

What a hook!

The AI scene brings it to life.

But here’s the real plot twist…

(Actually, I won’t spoil it… yet)

A Canadian-based Italian restaurant is pulling 6- and 7-figure views (consistently) on TikTok with AI-generated, twist-heavy storytelling.

It’s absolute short-form cinema.

What starts as a mini-thriller lands you somewhere completely unexpected 🍝

These micro stories are addictive, and entirely created with AI.

The observation: small businesses are thinking (and posting) like studios.

And getting the attention once reserved for big budget productions.

AI levels the playing field.

Here’s the video that reeled me in to their brand (and cappuccino):
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papagiuseppekitchenyeg

🥰 #Pinsa #PapaGiuseppes #EdmontonEats #italianrestaurant #yeg #macewan #valentinesday #joke #pinsaromana

♬ original sound - papagiuseppekitchenyeg

​

(I’ll share which tools they likely used in #5 below!)

2. Dove posts their comments section (IRL).

Unscripted. Unfiltered.

Dove “fly-posted negative Reddit reviews across NYC,” as one marketer put it.

The campaign, “r/eal reviews,” is built entirely from unfiltered commentary about one Dove product: their 10-in-1 hair serum mask.

The first 50 reviews appear on billboards, exactly as written.

The positive, negative, and neutral.

No polish.

No curated five-star quotes.

Just screenshots turned public ads.

I worked on Dove early in my career, and if you remember the Real Beauty era, this is very on-brand.

Dove has long pushed against what’s “acceptable” in beauty marketing.

This time, the frontier isn’t body image.

It’s review culture.

Reddit, with 100,000+ communities and 116M+ daily users, is where people go for the real take on everything from products and people to courses and Discord groups.

Buying decisions now start in community threads.

So, here’s the shift in brand behavior worth noting (and what Dove demo’s here)...

Brands are going:

→ From influencer promotion to community validation.
→ From curated praise to visible polarity.
→ From controlling the narrative to participating in it.

Dove built the campaign from real customers’ reviews, proving transparency itself can be the strategy.

3. Because Gen Z files their taxes, too.

Back when I watched Twitch live streams to keep up with culture, I learned about the “Fanum Tax.”

Imagine this:

You’ve had a looooong day.

Your food finally arrives.

It’s piping hot.

Smells amazing.

You’re ready 🤤

Then your friend walks in and takes a bite off your plate (before you do).

That’s the Fanum Tax.

Popularized in 2022 by AMP streamer Fanum, it became his signature move to grab food off his fellow streamers’ plate during live streams.

What started as a one-time bit turned viral (and recurring).

It was the Internet’s favorite inside joke.

Playfully claiming a share of someone else’s food = The Fanum Tax.

And now? A TurboTax campaign.

AMP @AMPexclusive THE FANUM TAX IS OVER ? 🤯 1:28 AM • Feb 17, 2026 583 Retweets 15709 Likes Read 47 replies

​

In a new diner-style ad, TurboTax flips the “Fanum Tax” into something unique.

Instead of taking, it’s about getting money back.

Tax refund energy.

With AMP in on the bit (it was posted exclusively from their social handle) and a $100K giveaway promoted through Fanum’s Twitch, Gen Z and Internet audiences get the wink.

TurboTax tapped into a subculture, plugged it into tax season, and let creators carry the tone (no pun intended; IYKYK).

Internet lore and creator ecosystems are the new media mix.

4. This AI tool might replace me.

This week, Google dropped a new tool inside Labs.

It’s called Pomelli Photoshoot.

If you sell products online, this might be worth testing.

Pomelli turns a basic product image (ideally on a white background) into A-grade, campaign-ready visuals using a compact version of Google’s Nano Banana.

Backgrounds shift. Lighting improves. Compositions tighten.

All in seconds.

Why it matters: product photography can be expensive.

Brands spend $500 to $5,000+ for a product shoot.

And it’s the reason I became self-taught in product photography for Spoken Flames (after being quoted $9K by a product photographer).

Season after season, and product after product...

It can all add up fast.

“E-commerce photography remains a massive pain point for businesses,” reports one tech outlet.

Pomelli lets you generate lifestyle, seasonal, and contextual scenes from *one* image.

A single SKU becomes multiple content variations for organic social and paid media.

Unlike other AI image generation tools, Pomelli is built specifically for product accuracy.

But from some comments I’m seeing, it’s still not perfect yet (particularly with text on product labels), but the focus is clear:

Google is democratizing creative output for brands of all sizes.

It’s experimental and currently free.

You might need to log in to Google to view and use Pomelli directly, or you can stay logged out and learn more about Pomelli here.

If this tool expands across the Google ecosystem, expect image-magic and integration with Google Ads, Merchant Center, and YouTube.

This creative “experiment” may turn into a brand-new workflow infrastructure with (arguably) infinite scalability for brands.

5. The 3+ AI marketing tools (and ad formats) helping brands win.

I follow quite a few marketers and e-comm operators.

Here’s what they say is “ripping” right now.

(Translation: these are the ads getting the most clicks and engagement across paid and organic):

👉 AI podcast ads: fake podcast interviews with strong hooks.

👉 3D animated stories: cute characters explain food ingredients and health conditions that keep audiences watching, and clicking.

Please know, like any trend, this may come and go.

But I’ll be here to keep you up-to-speed week over week!

Okay, now some of the tools behind the winning formats?:

• Scriptwriting → Claude.
• First frames and thumbnails → Nano Banana Pro.
• Animations → Veo, Seedance, or Sora.

These creative AI tools are on my ‘to-test’ list.

I still prefer ChatGPT for image generation (and in general), to be honest.

The image outputs for lifestyle and people are more photorealistic with natural textures in ChatGPT, when prompted correctly.

But I’ve found it has trouble with the preserving true scale of products, which Pomelli may be better for.

And one of my enterprise clients also has me using Weavy AI, an all-in-one tool for scalable creative workflows.

Don’t recommend you try this, just sharing.

Weavy integrates multiple AI models and editing tools in one place.

It uses nodes and is best suited for creative pros.

But the bulleted list of AI tools above can be pretty intuitive, even for beginners.

Whew.

So many tools.

So many new creative powers unlocked...

(For pros like me, and you, too!)

These AI tools *combined* make me feel like I’m Captain Planet these days.

More brand bytes next Sunday at 5!