Edition 124.

If the Grinch did laundry

Nick Darnell’s Grinch went viral last year. Now, he’s taking his character work on the road and tapped into Gain detergent’s official Grinch collab, too. It’s brilliant. Because if anyone has laundry credibility, it’s the guy spending months inside that “stinky” green costume.

→ Brand association at play (and why it works)​

Pull up the popcorn for... podcasts?

Netflix is now the third most-named U.S. platform for podcast consumption. 21% of podcast consumers used it in the past year, behind YouTube and Spotify. Even more telling: 44% watched a video podcast in the past week. Podcasts aren’t just for our ears anymore.

→ The Podcast Landscape 2026​

People want people

CreatorIQ says 92% of paid media pros and marketing execs use creator content. Agencies say it appears in 54% of clients’ digital ads. I see why. Product-only content can flop. I have receipts. People want people. But, pro tip: vet creators for genuine brand affinity, not just a polished pitch.

→ CreatorIQ: State of Creator Marketing​

AI is moving from answers to action (Consumer Agentic AI)

Meta launched Muse for consumers last month. Then, expanded it for small businesses this week. That sequence is intentional (and here’s why). AI is moving from answering to doing: booking, buying and emailing for consumers; and connecting Shopify, QuickBooks, Canva and more for biz owners and brand operators.

→ Here’s what you need to know: Consumer Agentic AI 101​

The proof is in the prompt

My client used AI. The bots missed the mark. And after booking a private brand workshop, their creative got much stronger. What changed? Conversation, clarity and context. Broad, sweeping prompts will give you broad-looking, obvious-even-to-a-baby-that-it’s-AI outputs. Don’t be that brand.

→ Here’s how we built a strong prompt​

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More brand bytes next Sunday at 5!