High-Like: Is marketing dead?! An open letter to marketers...
generated by ai
Marketers need more guts.
No, because we keep putting out trash.
We keep executing from the same playbook.
We keep stalking our competitors instead of our vision.
We keep losing sight of the goal with a constantly moving target and budget.
We’ve lost our edge.
And that’s not the reason we got into this business, is it?
So, congratulations, you did it.
You’ve cracked the code and managed to make marketing—a once electric, culture-shaping, boundary-pushing art form—so safe, so predictable that it’s basically a 90s workplace health & safety video.
We’re no longer the moment that makes people stop, think, and feel. No, we’re churning out content that’s algorithmically approved, editing committee certified, and passion-free.
If we’re not going off the rails with incongruent partnerships, it’s ai-generated productions now?! The brand narrative is starting to glitch.
no inclusivity, no challenging of stereotypes, just status quo
Whenever brands need a quick hit, they reach for the usual suspects.
Performance marketing: Celebrities with massive followings.
We’ve seen it with Snoop x Solo Stove, and instead of curating a lifestyle, they rent one that’s about as relatable as a White Lotus episode.
Exhibit A: Nike x Kim Kardashian
Athleticism is diluted into aesthetics.
A brand synonymous with athletic excellence teaming up with a celebrity whose brand is built on shaping beauty standards rather than breaking a sweat. A deal expected to significantly boost the value of Kim Kardashian's shapewear brand, SKIMS, which is already valued at $4 billion.
This isn’t about questioning Kim’s business acumen or Nike’s desire to expand their market share to 6.2% within 24 hours.
BFFR. Michael Jordan is an athlete, hardly the same Business Insider.
It’s about asking why we keep reaching for these predictable partnerships when there are countless other stories waiting to be told—stories that might not rack up likes as fast but could actually create cultural impact like a Kendrick Lamar. Cause we need it so bad right now!
Why not align with unconventional athletes who break the mold of what fitness looks like? Like Tatyana McFadden, a paralympic wheelchair racer and the closest we’re getting to a superhuman.
Why not invest in campaigns that tell the stories of women using sports to challenge societal norms? We see you, Sha’Carri Richardson, a track and field badass who knows her place—IT’S FIRST.
As Nike has done so before. Why are we losing the plot?
Of course, Kim’s influence is undeniable.
But this is not a shot at one thing.
It’s a firing round at the entire myopic machine. When you boil down marketing to only leveraging someone’s follower count, it becomes solely a transaction.
As I mentioned before, both entities are not short of cash.
This is not a creative brief of inspiration but for Instagrammability.
Marketing has become so dull.
a pandering partnership went sour…*shock-face emoji*
Exhibit A.1: Gymshark x TikTok Star Alix Earle Lawsuit
Alix Earle expressed support for Israel, posting "Now and always, we stand with the people of Israel" on Instagram. Gymshark caught wind of it and dropped the TikTok star faster than a tariff retaliation. Earle, feeling blindsided, filed a lawsuit, claiming the brand owed her $1 million for proposed promotional content, but the brand denied any formal contract ever existed. After some back-and-forth, they settled in court, but the details are hush-hush.
Earle’s over 11 million follower count overshadowed the hollow nature of the brand partnership. When brands know who they’re serving and why it matters, they can spot a misalignment from a mile away. The TikTok streets already knew about her previous racist indiscretions though!
Honestly, I’m impressed Gymshark stood on business and made the correction. But let this be a cautionary tale for brands in their influencer frenzy: Know who you’re partnering with—and more importantly, know why. Because sometimes, chasing clout can leave you catching lawsuits instead.
no heart, no humanity, just budget cuts
This brings me to our obnoxious obsession with ai.
Creativity has been outsourced and used as a crutch to avoid the messy, unpredictable work of creating something uncommon.
Exhibit B: Puma’s ai-generated ad
Puma decided to hand over the reins to the monotone machine—no human oversight, just a bunch of ai agents generating concepts, scripting, and visuals.
I hate it here.
This is an ad that technically checks all the boxes of “creativity” but lacks the heart and spontaneity of real human storytelling.
It’s efficient, sure. Novel, absolutely. But does it resonate? Hell nah.
The whole thing resembles a Bing search image gallery: copyrighted, formulaic, and ultimately soulless.
I think tf not
The campaign itself was more proof of ai’s technical prowess than an actual cultural moment. Puma isn’t generating a narrative here—they produced a spectacle. The type you gawk at and ask ‘Why?!’
Survey says: there’s a disconnect.
The problem isn’t ai itself. It’s how we’re using it. We’re treating it like an artist rather than the paint brush, leasing creativity rather than investing in it. ai can be an incredible assistant. Something that helps shape ideas, enhance visuals, or predict trends. But when it becomes the entire creative department, fcuk no!
We end up with this. Campaigns that feel manufactured rather than meaningful.
Giving up on the imperfect brilliance of human creativity because we’re too afraid of the unpredictable is a major cop out. The risk of creating something that doesn’t immediately rack up likes or approval feels too great, so instead let the mechanical machine take the fall.
Le sigh.
turns out, everybody cares about the use of ai…*melting face emoji*
Exhibit B.1: Fiverr x ai
What Fiverr was trying to get across was that ai is a powerful tool when paired with talented freelancers on their platform. The catchy musical number, complete with jazz hands and cameos—it was flashy, it was upbeat, and... it fell on deaf ears.
No shots fired at the ad itself—I actually kinda liked it. I even caught myself humming along at one point. But let’s focus here: the real issue is brand positioning. Just because something is creative doesn’t mean it aligns with how your audience views you. Get this wrong, and suddenly, your brand feels like it’s doing a tap dance to save revenue.
Fiverr isn’t exactly synonymous with high-quality content output, so doubling down and essentially saying you also don’t care was...questionable. The desperation of it all.
In a world already cautious of ai’s impact, people want brands to take a stance, not do a song and dance.
human experiences > expected narratives
Because if you’re playing it safe, you’re already losing.
Marketing is starting to feel more like a chore than an adventure. Where's the joy and experimentation?
Exhibit C: Pelle Windows x Missy Elliot “The rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”
Admittedly, I didn’t know anything about this brand or ad until Dr. Marcus Collins posted about it. And it’s what the industry is missing. It’s why I got into marketing in the first place. I mean, outside of becoming the Black Seth Godin to build a purple cow personal brand and never need to pitch myself again.
I got into marketing to tap into the cultural and emotional reverence of the human experience. To elevate the underrepresented and spotlight the underserved. People don’t buy the what—they buy the why.
That’s what was in the marketing syllabus.
And Pella Corporation's latest ad campaign, "Make Life Brighter," is an unexpected departure from traditional window and door marketing.
What is seen as a conventional and often boring industry. This ad was anything but. It wasn't a product ad. It's a connection point—emphasizing the emotional value. It highlighted your home as a place of protection and peace.
Pella released two versions of this ad: a short form and a longer video that’s two minutes (watch the full music video to get the full concept). It reels you into the moment they’ve intentionally cultivated. The campaign has also recently been recognized by Ad Age's Top 5 Creative Ads.
if you’re going to ai—ai with this secret recipe
Exhibit C.1: KFC x ai
By hosting a live taste test and letting consumers weigh in, KFC Canada proved that you just can’t beat the OG. They didn’t just throw ai at the problem and hope nobody could smell the stench of desperation for sales. They made it part of the joy and experiment. ai wasn’t the star of the show—it was the sidekick. The human touch came out on top, exemplifying how you innovate without sacrificing heritage. *chefs kiss*
high-like marketing—ready to risk it?
Marketers, the fear of backlash has killed our hunger for imagination.
The cost of being remarkable is discomfort. The cost of being comfortable is irrelevance.
So we need to get high-like off our own supply.
Nike was playing it safe by partnering with Kim Kardashian. Predictable. Who isn’t partnering with her?! Let’s brand causes, not personas.
And we’ve seen what happens when Puma leased their creativity to ai. Bland. Let’s scale depth, not shortcuts.
Meanwhile, a windows and door company, Pella Corporation. Dared to go against the matrix. And tapped into the heart of the matter: humanity. They saw their windows not as a product but as portals to a brighter life.
Marketers have the power to shift perspectives, shape culture, and disrupt hierarchies.
We should be brave.
If no one’s left to tell real stories, make bold statements, and let creativity bloom, the world loses its voice. High-like marketing isn’t about chasing easy approval. Aim higher and choose courage over the ever-so-played-out complacency.
History needs meaning. And marketers are the right ones to revive it.
Signed,
A marketer making sense of the nonsense online
👋🏾 Soooo…collective illusion is public enemy number one—Don’t Believe The Hype. Every so often, we’ll say the quiet parts out loud (in your inbox). So we can cancel or co-sign marketing or market trends and discern pop culture gems from flops together. And start making sense of the nonsense online.