Edition 91.

From creator pivots, tax lounges, and pens-turned-lamps, brands are making sharp turns toward where attention and execution meet.

Five brand bytes to inform and inspire you this week:

1. I spy a shift: YouTube’s big bet.

The confirmation is in (YouTube’s CEO said so this week).

But first, two quick observations:

1. Some former course queens (and kings), many who already made *millions* in course sales, are quietly stepping away from that model, and rebuilding around YouTube.
2. Alix Earle, a TikTok-native creator with massive reach across short-form social, has officially gone “from your FYP to your TV,” with an unscripted Netflix series dropping later this year.

From short-form to the big screens...

The creator-to-mainstream pipeline is getting more obvious.

That shift showed up clearly in YouTube CEO Neal Mohan’s recent 2026 letter on the future of YouTube in 2026.

Creators are being positioned as full-scale studios, with distribution, monetization, and AI-powered tools baked in.

This is not just about chasing views, or being a YouTube’r.

It’s about building real businesses.

Key takeaways from the letter:

• Creators are being treated like full-blown studios, not just people posting content.
• YouTube is adding more ways for creators to make money (from shopping to fan support to better brand tools).
• AI is rolling out fast, but with guardrails meant to protect both creators and viewers.
• Entertainment, shopping, and learning are starting to blur together on the platform.

YouTube is doubling down on a creator economy that blends scale, commerce, and responsible AI.

Their message is this: build here, and we’ll help you turn imagination into a business.

And to think: you only need an iPhone to start.

2. Making taxes fun, lol.

If tax season spikes your stress levels, Intuit wants to lower them.

Think plants, soft seating, fancy lighting, and even a coffee bar.

Feeling relaxed?

Their new TurboTax flagship in SoHo (New York) feels more like a wellness hotel than a tax office.

And it’s a deliberate, experiential shift away from transactional tax-stress.

Here’s how it works on-site:

AI handles the heavy lifting behind the scenes, while human experts step in where trust and tax nuance matter most.

The effort reflects the tax brand’s broader goal: reduce stress, build trust, and turn a traditionally un-fun process into one that feels more “human.”

3. Brands going big: props and photo-ops.

BIC has transformed its most iconic pen into a nearly six-foot-tall, fully functional lamp.

Cheers to the Bic Cristal’s 75th anniversary.

Created with Italian design brand Seletti, the oversized Cristal keeps the pen’s familiar silhouette while reimagining it as glowing home décor.

The move taps into a familiar brand playbook.

Life-size, or larger-than-life, product replicas have long been used to create spectacle (online and IRL), memorability, and instant photo ops.

• Rhode built custom arcade claw machines and oversized product bottles for events and photoshoots.
• Khloud rolled out life-size popcorn bags designed purely for visual impact (to celebrate their Starbucks placement).

These builds are intentional.

Brands often work with fabrication studios specializing in foam, fiberglass, or 3D printing to create lightweight, durable replicas.

The result is not just novelty, but brand recognition at scale.

4. In my philosophy era.

Last year, I started using the phrase “get brand-good.”

I almost renamed this newsletter to it.

What began as a branded tagline has grown into something deeper.

I drafted a designer’s philosophy around what get brand-good means and will be leaning into it in 2026 as a point of differentiation.

A signal for how I work and think.

Could drafting a philosophy statement for yourself (or your brand) help you stand out, too?

Get brand-good is not about pretty logos, color palettes, or one-off campaigns.

It’s a mindset and, dare I say, a signature method.

One that treats a brand as an ecosystem.

Where visuals, voice, digital systems, and strategy work together to amplify, automate, and support your brand goals.

The get brand-good philosophy guides how I think, design, and advise.

I’ve added it to my site for starters.

Let me know what you think!

5. Small reminder: 2026 in the footer.

As we enter the last week of January 2026, if your site footer includes a year, make sure it’s updated.

It’s not required for copyright protection, but an outdated footer quietly signals “nobody’s home.”

Updating it reinforces credibility, shows care in the details, and builds trust with your website visitors.

Small detail. Real signal.

More brand bytes next Sunday at 5!