Edition 114.

5 brand bytes to inform & inspire:

🎵 Your Reel got its voice back

Ever got that Audio Unavailable error on IG?

Well, “this one’s been a long time coming,” said IG head honcho, Adam Mosseri. Instagram now lets you replace the audio on old posts and carousels. “Keep every like, comment, and share it’s earned,” ​said​ Meta.

The catch? New audio won’t give the post a fresh boost with the algorithm. But it *will* let your content evolve instead of expire.

Takeaway: Your content archive can keep working, even when the music stops.

🧶 Soft-life Michaels, or Hard Mike?

After my stressful ad-agency days on Madison Ave, I’d wander into the Michaels on 23rd Street in Flatiron. No plan. Just dreams of knitting, sewing, finger-painting and becoming a softer, less screen-bound version of myself.

So I LOL’d when Michaels named its AI assistant “Ask Mike.”

Mike? As in the Hard Lemonade, or the Michaels I leaned on for the soft life? 🧶

With its loose-script logo, Michaels feels handwritten, creative and soft-life coded.

But that’s the power of brand awareness (and association).

One shortened name can shift a brand’s entire personality.

Or maybe it’s just me, because Ask Mike is *working.*

Since its soft launch in May, no pun intended:

• The branded AI chat has powered nearly 75,000 conversations.
• 60% of interactions focused on product discovery.
• Customers are “using the tool for everything from party planning to finding materials for their first pillow.”
• Shoppers who engage with Ask Mike are converting at more than twice the rate vs. traditional search.

Takeaway: Build useful AI. But name it like it belongs in your brand world.

👓 Untangling the demo

I ranted too soon.

Over on Substack, I complained that every AI-glasses display I’ve seen was a tangle of anti-theft cables, dirty, greasy lenses and no clear instructions (or in-person support) on HOW TO USE them.

I’ve yet to try the glasses anywhere successfully.

But! Best Buy is now treating the demo like part of the funnel (as they should), rolling out 900-square-foot Meta Labs across 50 select stores, with specialists and guided try-ons.

“More than 50% of Best Buy customers say they want to see the Meta glasses in person before making a purchase.” And now, the tech retailer will dedicate the store footprint for a much-needed demo area.

Takeaway: When the product needs explaining, the demo *is* the marketing.

📹 Dearest product founder: the retailers are watching

We’ve covered the founder content becoming a brand-discovery hack before. But this goes deeper: retailers are eyeing the founders of the brands they consider carrying.

“Broader influencer culture has put more pressure on founders to get in front of the camera,” and retailers now treat a strong founder-led social presence as *unofficial* proof that the brand may drive store traffic.

Fast facts:

• Nearly three in four small-business owners now identifying as creators, and
• 47% of these founders managing all company social media themselves.

Takeaway: The founder isn’t just the face. They’re part of the wholesale pitch.

🧪 75 videos in 15 days (Trial Reels)

For public Instagram accounts with at least 1,000 followers, Trial Reels show content to non-followers first. These mini-tests give creators early performance data before deciding whether to share a Reel with their followers.

The feature isn’t new, but one of my favorite creators, Modern Millie, took the “trial” part seriously.

She tested 75 videos in 15 days.

By using Trial Reels at scale (relative to her usual posting schedule) she gathered fresh, personalized data and shared the feature’s capabilities, findings and best practices.

Her breakdown is worth the watch.

And spoiler: more than 80% of the videos she tested used existing B-roll footage. Meaning, no net-new footage was needed for her experiment.

So you don’t need a new shoot to try this, too.

Takeaway: Trial Reels turn existing footage into low-risk audience research.

More brand bytes next Sunday at 5!