Jolyon Varley

I'm a social media guy. But I couldn't help but appreciate this lovely bit of copywriting.

The Ordinary are a masterclass in brand authenticity.

While other skincare brands push:

Celeb endorsements
Miracle promises
Glossy marketing

The Ordinary lean into their strength:

Making effective products at honest prices.

They choose science over hype.

This is what happens when a brand:

Knows exactly who they are.
Understands their audience.
Dares to go against the grain.

And guess what?

It works better than any celeb endorsement ever could.

Authenticity + bravery is the ultimate formula for trust 🤷‍♂️

Amiriteee? Who else loved this ad ?!

♻️ Repost to share this lesson.

_

👋 I’m Jolyon Varley, co-founder of OK COOL, strategic and creative partners to the hottest brands on the planet. I drop insights on culture and entrepreneurship every day at 7:30am EST 🔔

Ask that person for a coffee.
Message that leader on LinkedIn. 
Don’t give one wild fuck what people think of you.
Just reach out.
9 in 10 might say no.
But 1 in 10 is all you need.

Life is short, and if you don’t open doors for yourself, no one will.

Be reckless in the first draft.

Be ruthless in the second.

Dream so big it feels ridiculous.

Stop optimising the thing while you’re still imagining it.

Magic doesn’t survive premature logic.

Hope this helps 💚

81-year-old grandma streams Minecraft to pay for her grandson's cancer treatment.

Sue Jacquot, known online as GrammaCrackers, launched her YouTube channel in 2025 after learning Minecraft from her two grandsons over the summer.

One of them, Jack, had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

The medical bills were mounting. 
Sue decided to do something about it.
So she started streaming.

𝗜𝗻 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝟯𝟲𝟬𝗸+ 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀

And tens of thousands of dollars raised through YouTube ad revenue and $48k+ from her GoFundMe page.

Sue’s now built a community of 570k+.

The internet gets a bad rep.

But it has a habit of showing up for the right people at the right time.

Her grandson is now in recovery.

What a story! 💚

Huggies owning the Messi and baby Yamal moment 🤌

That 2007 photo of Messi bathing baby Yamal is EVERYWHERE.

So Huggies just posted an image of that same blue plastic tub with one line:

"They grow up so fast."

They knew exactly how much to leave out to make it an IYKYK moment.

If you have to explain the joke, you’ve already ruined it.

The backstory is pure serendipity.

Nearly 20 years ago Yamal’s family won a local UNICEF raffle for a photoshoot with a Barcelona player.

They showed up at Camp Nou and got paired with a 20yr old Messi by complete chance.

Messi had zero clue what to do so Yamal’s mum had to step in and help direct the whole thing.

The photographer didn't even realise who the baby was until the photos resurfaced years later when Yamal’s dad posted online with the caption: "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴."

Fast forward to yesterday and they're sharing the pitch on the world's biggest stage.

Proper epic story 💚 ✌

THIS!

Kareem Rahma says he's never looked at SubwayTakes data.

If you haven't clocked it yet, it's the show where he asks everyday commuters and celebrities with a mic clipped to a MetroCard for their controversial opinions while riding the New York City subway.

They've got over 4 million followers across platforms.

The way he sees it, the data trap suppresses creativity… I agree!

The most optimised thing just means you're making the move the whole market's already making.

You end up chasing what hit last week and sand off the weird bits.

Focus on making the most interesting thing you can with what you've got and let everything else catch up.

Rahma backed his taste. And turns out he was right. Hard relate 🙌 💚

The NBA star roasted for dry legs is now fronting CeraVe. Elite turnaround.

After years of people laughing at Kevin Durant’s dry legs, he found a way to laugh with them.

If you don’t know the context, this has been rumbling on for a while.

Back in 2021, when Durant was at the Brooklyn Nets, a close-up photo captured the now infamous patch of skin between the top of his socks and the bottom of his compression tights.

His legs looked dry. The image travelled. The internet did what it does.

Durant’s NBA peers made jokes. Fans piled on. Durant fired back, as he’s known to do.

Even better that he is known for not ignoring the trolls. His pettiness level is high.

Recognising that body skin is neglected despite being up to two times drier than facial skin, CeraVe is partnering with the basketball icon to highlight the importance of total-body hydration through its fan favourite CeraVe Moisturizing Cream.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆:

→ Durant takes to social to read and respond to the viral mean tweets about his dry skin.

→ Paparazzi-style photos appear of him in the gym holding CeraVe Moisturising Cream, sparking online chatter about his sudden commitment to skincare.

→ Dermatologists and skin influencers join the conversation, using the moment to explain the science behind skin barrier health and proper hydration.

→ CeraVe officially names Durant the “Face of Legs”.

→ The campaign culminates with visibly moisturised legs as the punchline and the proof point.

THIS is how a brand steps into a story that culture has already written and steers it in its favour.

Salute, CeraVe 🫡

Nigel Sylvester is crushing this Nike Air Jordan 4 rollout 😮‍💨

Sylvester was the first BMX athlete ever signed to Jordan Brand.

This is the second chapter of a story he started last year.

The first shoe was called BRICK BY BRICK, all about laying the foundation.

This time it's BRICK AFTER BRICK. And it's about what happens next.

The discipline it takes to sustain success after you've already built it.

As Nigel put it. Achieving success is one thing. 
The real challenge is sustaining it.

That's the story he's telling with this whole rollout.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

→ He’s parked a giant Air Jordan 4-branded concrete brick on top of a busted black BMW in the middle of downtown NYC and called it 'The Weight Of Progress'.

→ The brick crushing the car IS the metaphor.

→ The pressure of sustaining what you've built.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝘄𝗼. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲.

→ He’s launched a Tetris-inspired game where you stack falling bricks.

→ Same name. BRICK AFTER BRICK. The longer you survive, the faster it gets.

→ That IS sustaining success.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱.

→ For the next three weeks, the top scorer on the leaderboard each week walks away with a free pair of Air Jordan 4s.

⬇️

𝗦𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲.*

→ A piece of street theatre stopping people in NYC. 
→ A game keeping people engaged for three weeks. 
→ And shoes you can earn rather than just buy.

🔥🔥🔥

Brazil just baptised their team plane before flying out to the World Cup!

WHAT A SEND OFF 🇧🇷

Two fire engines hosed it in these massive arches of holy water.

A blessing for the plane and everyone on board before they go chasing the trophy.

I know the tournament's been getting a load of heat over ticket prices, and fair enough, some of them are mad.

But then you see a whole nation blessing a plane and you remember what this actually means to people.

Football just hits different. Nothing else does this to a country.

I’m buzzing for the energy around our offices in London, NYC and Sydney this year… you can already feel it. ⚽️

Half the reason OK COOL works is the advice we didn't take in the beginning.

We built the business on stuff that doesn't scale.

Fly-posting, stickering, niche events to meet people doing cool sh*t. All of it rooted in the subcultures I grew up participating in.

If I'd listened to traditional ‘wisdom’, OK COOL would've been a sensible little agency nobody remembers.

Instead, we're the most energised, culturally astute agency in the world right now.

And we didn't get acquired despite the weird stuff. 
We got acquired because of it.

Some of the best decisions I've ever made looked ridiculous to other people at first.

Backing my own taste was the only thing telling me they weren't.

When you start out, don't dilute your off-key ideas because someone said it hasn't been done before.

Their opinion costs them nothing and should cost you even less.

Make the weird thing. Make the move nobody understands.

That's the whole point. 🤘

Dove fly-posted negative Reddit reviews across NYC.

They launched “r/eal reviews” built entirely from unfiltered Reddit commentary about its Intensive Repair 10-in-1 Serum Mask.

The first 50 consumer reviews, positive, negative and neutral, appear exactly as written.

No attempt to steer sentiment.

𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝟭𝟬𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬+ 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟭𝟭𝟲𝗺+ 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀.
And content views on Reddit are growing 30%+ year on year.

It’s where people get answers, share ideas, offer advice and go for real product reviews.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁:

→ Review culture has moved from brand-controlled testimonials to open community commentary.

→ Consumers are actively seeking out unfiltered opinions in places like Reddit before they buy.

→ Brands are responding by engaging directly within communities rather than relying solely on influencer amplification.

→ On Reddit, that means participating in the format of the platform. AMAs, community threads, content that sits naturally within the ecosystem.

The campaign launched with a pop-up takeover of Flatiron Plaza in New York, where oversized, unedited reviews sit alongside product sampling.

To honour Reddit’s anonymity, Dove covered all participant faces with their Snoo avatars.

There’s a HUGE opportunity on Reddit that most brands are still underestimating.

Nobody is doing collection drops like House of Errors right now 🔥

Hard to think of a British streetwear brand with more unique taste.

Their new THAMANI collection just landed and it's a tribute to a quiet life beneath the Mediterranean sun.

The campaign film 'The Palm' is by Tom Emmerson, the creative director and producer behind some of the coldest work in the game right now.

‘Fully’ is the young founder and brain behind the whole thing.

He grew up in Brighton trying to figure out his style, taking inspiration from artists like ASAP Rocky.

He’d be standing in front of the mirror frustrated, because the pieces he was wearing didn't feel like him.

So in 2019, going into his final year studying architecture (no fashion school, no design background), he bought a cheap sewing machine and started watching YouTube tutorials.

He didn't have traditional “credentials”. But he backed his own taste.

He drew inspiration from sources like 1920s Russian art deco, avant-garde films, and architecture to turn glitch aesthetics and optical illusions into wearable art.

This brand is meticulous about every detail of how it shows up.

You’ve got to go check them out if you haven't yet ✌️

IKEA's gone all in on the POV from inside my bag trend!

'What I see vs what my bag sees' has MILLIONS of posts on TikTok.

Their ‘FRAKTA Point-Of-You’ OOH campaign shoots life through the iconic blue bag.

Each one showing a different product use… Picnic Bag, Laundry Bag, Carry-on Bag all at the same 9-kronor price point.

Perfect IKEA summer campaign.

And pretty wild how its bag continues to be a cultural icon.

45% of UK households own one 😅

An artist just hosted a floating banquet on the sea… insane 🤯

Set between two calanques at Les Goudes.

This is Alix LaCloche.

Franco-American chef and culinary scenographer in Paris.

She's famous for bespoke culinary performances. 
Think theatrical tables that look like paintings.

Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Jacquemus have all come knocking. 
Because nobody's doing this like she is.

There's ridiculous amounts of inspo brands can take from artists like Alix LaCloche when it comes to pushing the boundaries of creativity in brand experience.

I encourage everyone to go and find artists like this and look beyond their usual places for creative inspiration.

There are some incredibly cool things happening in niche corners of the internet.

And the bit that gets me… she spends her mornings cooking for the homeless in Paris.

Walking the neighbourhood dropping meals off to people who need them.

👏 💚

Spotify's new OOH is goosebumps and the ad break that ruins everything!

To promote their premium ad-free service the work uses extreme close-ups of human skin and goosebumps to show the physical effect music can have when listeners are fully immersed.

Pretty genius way to show the jolt of an ad break interrupting that deeply emotional moment.

Every single person who has ever listened to music on Spotify knows this feeling.

That fragile point where a song catches you completely only for the mood to be broken.

This is exactly the play. 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲.

It's actually a pretty heated topic right now.

Spotify has raised Premium prices three times in three years. 
There's been a lot of public backlash.

Nearly 60% of their 700m+ users are still on the free ad-supported tier.

That's a huge audience to convert.

And with prices going up they need to make the emotional case for why it's worth it.

So they made a campaign that makes you feel exactly what you're paying to protect.

This is an insanely good story 💚

Dan Simpson is 68 years old and has been delivering pizzas for Domino's in Idaho for 14 years.

On a busy Friday night he got an order for a pizza and a 2-litre Diet Coke.

His store was out of DC.
So he drove 100 yards out of his way and bought one himself.

Wilson's wife posted the Ring camera footage to TikTok with the caption "The world needs more Dans".

It quickly racked up 3m+ views.

Commenters told the Wilsons to start a GoFundMe. 
They did. It's now raised over $150,000 🔥🔥

𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸

𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆.
𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴  ✌

Big love for this one from L’Oréal x Gillian Anderson 💚

“F**k off, they’re still worth it.”

It’s part of L’Oréal Paris’ Lessons of Worth series, where ambassadors talk about the moments that shaped their sense of worth.

“The greatest misconception is that a woman over fifty just shouldn't bother… People often ignore the wisdom and energy we've gained. In reality, this is the time when many women truly find their power and shine.” 🙌

As we know, a lot of International Women’s Day brand content can feel pretty formulaic.

This leans into a platform L’Oréal has owned for decades and pushes it culturally forward.

Gillian Anderson is also a certified legend.

From 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘟-𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 to 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘚𝘦𝘹 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, and 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘱, her characters have inspired generations through portrayals of complex, empowered women.

Brava 👏👏

Nike ACG repurposed an Italian commuter train into a mobile basecamp for outdoor exploration. 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗔𝗙 🔥

The four-day journey departed from Milan Central Station and travelled north into the Orobic Alps as part of Nike ACG’s reintroduction.

Passengers, including athletes like Jannik Sinner and Bebe Vio, were taken from the centre of Milan straight into the mountains, finishing at Pian dei Resinelli in the Orobic Alps.

𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹.

→ Curated trail runs and hiking sessions led by expert guides
→ Time spent directly in the terrain ACG designs for
→ A clear refocus on trail running, hiking and high-intensity exploration

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹.

A customised orange “All Conditions Express”, designed as a fully immersive environment.

→ Dedicated carriages built around specific athlete needs
→ A showroom showcasing the latest footwear innovations
→ Specialised recovery zones integrated into the experience
→ A café cart inspired by classic alpine refuges
→ A dedicated gear laboratory facilitating workshops and discussions

A literal physical manifesto for the brand’s renewed commitment to the global trail community.

Nike ACG continues to push the boundaries of brand activations.

Big love for BIC’s lighter campaign helping save Berlin nightlife 💚

The clubs in Berlin are struggling with rising rents and venue closures.

So they launched "Support Your Local Club" and linked lighter sales directly to funding local venues and young emerging talent.

The limited edition lighters were printed with the visual identities of legendary nightlife spots like Tresor, Golden Gate, and Wilde Renate.

They let the clubs co-design the graphics.

👇

A lighter is one of the single most passed around objects on a night out in Berlin.

If your brand benefits from a local scene, I believe deep in my soul it’s your duty to help keep their doors open.

If you want the credibility of the underground, you have to pay into the ecosystem.

BIC gets it.

They’re actively funding the survival of the spaces that make their product relevant in the first place.

(Berlin agency: Kreuzbergkind)

💚 ✌️

How cold is A$AP Rocky’s PUMA Suede ’94 film 🛹🥶

He’s been PUMA’s Creative Director for over three years now,

And uses that position to curate PUMA's history.

He went straight to the archive and pulled the ’94 silhouette that hasn't been reissued since it originally dropped.

His short film feels more like a Wes Anderson project.

It’s a journey through the culture of 1994 New York, a moment when hip-hop's golden era, early streetwear, and the downtown skate scene were all colliding on the same streets.

👇

PUMA continue to crush selling the world around the subcultures that built the brand.

But the audience have to trust the people who actually lived it.

Rocky’s own mum bought him his first pair in New York, and he grew up watching Walt "Clyde" Frazier wear them.

By focusing the campaign on the storytelling, the music, and the gritty, beautiful aesthetic of '94, he made the launch a piece of culture in itself.

Look at the comments.

The whole section is just stacked with people sharing love for the actual craft of the film.

💚 ✌️

HP stuck 319 individual A4 sheets to a billboard in Clapham. Live!

Gotta love London's OOH 🔥

I’ll say it again… the real billboard is on the feeds.

This is exactly the kind of OOH that gets Londoners snapping and sharing.

All to prove one simple point about how long their Smart Tank printer ink lasts.

They also threw comedian Alexander Armstrong into the mix to front the "Rapid Response Print Squad."

A mobile unit driving around London helping commuters with everyday document emergencies.

Return labels. Visa forms… actually a pretty sick business idea 😅

This Indian sneaker brand is shipping shoes with a knife 👀

Comet’s orange sneaker reaches you wrapped in plain white.

You use the knife to peel the layer off yourself.

You get to decide how much to peel, so no two pairs ever look the same.

They made just 800 pairs and it sold out instantly.

THIS is what more brands need to clock onto.

Comet added the knife as a reason for people to talk about the shoe.

That’s the whole game today.

Making something people film when they open, talk about online, or love to hate.

Build that unboxing moment in, and your customer becomes your advertiser.

👇

Founders Utkarsh Gupta and Dishant Daryani studied American sneaker culture.

In the US, people collect limited editions, queue up for new launches, and treat sneakers like Air Jordans as status symbols.

In India, that culture was missing.

So in 2023, they launched Comet to build it from scratch.

At 4,300 rupees, it was both aspirational and attainable.

Now they drop limited edition sneakers every month built around physical interaction.

Before the knife shoe, they dropped a "Matches" pair with an actual striker strip on the heel that lights a match, packed inside a giant matchbox.

They’ve even done official collabs with Uno and Monopoly.

No need to overcomplicate marketing when the product itself is the content.

💚 ✌️

ZARA's Bad Bunny collection has FINALLY dropped!

The rollout was pure stealth marketing.

→ First glimpse in Feb when Benito headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in custom Zara.

→ Early May at the Met Gala, transforming into an older version of himself while wearing a custom black tuxedo co-designed with the brand.

→ Then Zara transformed its Plaza Las Américas store in San Juan into a surprise pop-up space with an unannounced appearance from Benito himself. 🔥

Created with his longtime creative director Janthony Oliveras, the 150-piece collection "BENITO ANTONIO" is said to be a direct reflection of Puerto Rican culture and style.

👇

𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼'𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀.

He started with Crocs in 2020.

Then became one of adidas' most important partners, so deep he got his own signature shoe, the BadBo. First Latino artist to pull that off.

He was a muse for Jacquemus, who put him in a pink dress and dressed him for the 2023 Met Gala.

Then the face of Calvin Klein.

He moves between high fashion and the high street without it ever feeling like a stretch.

Which is the exact move Zara's making right now. He already lives in both worlds.

Let me know what you think in the comments 👇

Taste is the most valuable commodity in marketing. But you can't fu*king buy it.

You have to find someone who has it and trust them completely.

And that's genuinely terrifying for most brands, because taste means surrendering control.

It usually means letting somebody make a call you don't fully understand yet.
My best attempt at defining something almost impossible to define…

Taste isn't knowing what's good. It's knowing why something everybody else thinks is good is actually not.

It's that feeling when a campaign looks right but feels wrong.

When a brand is ticking every box and you still wouldn't follow them.
When something is technically perfect and yet completely forgettable.

Virgil Abloh said something I think about all the time.

"I'm only 3% different from what came before me, but that 3% is everything."
That 3% is taste.

AI can produce a million versions of anything faster than any human team.

The one thing it genuinely cannot do is feel the difference between something that's almost right and something that's undeniably right.

Most brands don't have anyone in the room who can actually tell the difference.

👀

Loewe is setting the benchmark for luxury brands on TikTok 🔥

2.4 million followers. Almost every video hitting a million+ views.

While most luxury brands manage one or two viral moments a month, Loewe is consistently hitting six or seven.

They've topped the Lyst Index as the world's hottest brand twice in the last year. And a big part of that is what they're doing on TikTok.

If you're chronically online and check out their TikTok you already know exactly what I mean.

The AI fruit videos. 
The "which bed would you sleep in" format. 
The "Nara Smith when her kids want a Loewe bag" content.

The mistake most luxury brands make is treating TikTok like IG.

Loewe understood from the jump that TikTok has its own culture, its own language and its own expectations.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸:

→ The brand is having fun. You can feel it. Zero corporate committee energy, just a team that clearly loves the internet and is trusted to run with it.

→ They work with niche creators and let them do their thing in their own format rather than handing them a rigid brief and expecting magic.

→ The craftsmanship content is next level. Watching the step by step process of a Loewe bag being made should feel serious but on TikTok they make it completely native to the platform.

→ The meme integration is on point. A viral tomato meme became a meticulously crafted leather tomato accessory.

They're fully participating in culture and earning the right to pull it back to the product.

The goal isn't selling directly on TikTok. It's building the kind of brand love that makes someone walk into a store six months later because they've been watching the content for weeks and already feel like they know the brand.

Top of funnel done properly.

Go and have a look if you haven't already 👀

This story never gets old.

Back in 2020 an 11 year old boy named Anthony Madu was filmed dancing barefoot in the rain on a concrete street in Lagos, Nigeria.

The video went viral.
Famous actors shared it.
Millions of people watched it.
And then something amazing happened.

The internet rallied.

And Anthony was offered a full scholarship to the American Ballet Theatre in New York.

This story is a few years old now but it came back across my feed this week and I had to share it.

Because every now and then we need a reminder that talent finds a way.

And sharing the right video at the right moment can genuinely change a life.

Every now and then the internet gets it completely right. 💚

THIS is fire from Picante 🔥 🛹

Picante linked up with pro downhill skateboarder Cole Trotta to announce their new tees dropping.

The whole thing is just him hill bombing at terrifying speed wearing the product.

Just a pro doing the thing he's the best in the world at, in their tee.

This is what happens when a clothing brand actually understands the culture.

Skateboarding has always been about doing it for the love of it.

The energy. 
The adrenaline. 
The homies filming each other.

Brands that try too hard to manufacture that vibe get clocked instantly.

The tee sells itself off the back of it.

So sick 👏

Shout out to man like Saam Zonoozi

Fashion creator Kalu Putik is KILLING it! 🔥 👀

Putik is based in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, and is going viral for his highly creative and bold fashion content.

All using locally sourced materials and everyday objects to create his looks.

No expensive tools. Just an insane eye for creativity and whatever he can find around him.

The internet is absolutely loving it and honestly, so am I.

Brands like Nike Sportswear are clocking this type of content and snapping up creators who have built an audience entirely on their own terms with their own aesthetic. 👀

Rooting for Putik 🙌 Find him on IG @𝗸𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀.

THIS is how a brand legitimately shows up for UK underground music 🔥

Footasylum just built their new Summer 26 Nike drop around TR Gobrazy, one of the most-tipped names in UK rap right now.

They made a visualiser for one of his own tracks.

TR's a South East London producer turned rapper with credits on Central Cee and Dave's Sprinter, and he's now on a solo run.

Footasylum ran the same play last summer with two other UK rap names, NDotz and 163Margs, on the same Nike range.

That's the bit that separates investing in a scene from just using it.

People who live in the culture can sniff out the brands that borrow a face for a week and move on.

Nike's been woven into this music for two decades.

A brand that keeps showing up, with the artist's own work at the centre, is building something.

And it matters more than it might look, because of where this music came from.

 In 2006 the police introduced Form 696, a risk-assessment form that ended up blocking a lot of grime and hip-hop events.

The establishment treated this music as a threat, and now brands queue up to borrow from it.

𝗣𝗦: 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Marmite started a smuggling ring... within an hour 250 people signed up 😅

There are something like 700,000 Brits living in the US with little or no access to Marmite.

Whatever you think of the stuff, that's a lot of people missing a very specific taste of home.

So Marmite turned the “shortage” into their campaign.

Posters went up around London that looked like black market flyposting with a WhatsApp number.

A distorted voice ran the same call out on radio.

And people texted in for real.

The people who signed up were already flying to New York anyway.

Marmite just asked them to pack a few jars and carry them through customs.

People did it for free… the only reward was a special edition Smuggler jar.

Over in New York the same flyposting pointed expats to a pickup spot.

A real shop on Canal Street with the jars stashed in the back and a jar outline on a t-shirt hanging out front as the only sign you were in the right place.

👇

Nobody is neutral about Marmite.

You either evangelise the stuff or you physically recoil from it.

That passion builds a tribe.

Liking it says something about you, so when Marmite asked its loyalists to do something slightly mad for each other, they didn't need much persuading.

This is just class! 🔥👏

McDonald’s just dropped the first ever 𝗠𝗰𝗡𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗮𝗿 𝗞𝗶𝘁 for Valentine’s Day 😂

Jumping on the internet’s obsession with ‘high-low’ food combos.

Videos have been going viral of foodies across social media topping fast food with premium ingredients.

Created in partnership with Paramount Caviar, each Maccy’s kit includes a 1-ounce tin of Baerii sturgeon caviar, a $25 McDonald’s Arch Card, crème fraîche, and a mother-of-pearl spoon.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗮𝗿. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.

The kits are being offered entirely for free and distributed in limited quantities.

McDonald’s is leaning into drop culture, borrowing cues from streetwear and high fashion.

The kits are only available online forcing fans into a digital race likely to dominate social feeds in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.

The pairing points to a shift in how younger audiences perceive luxury.
Food status is getting looser. The old rules matter less.

… who wants one?

A guy used his fitness tracker to rank his most stressful coworkers 👏 😅

Pankaj Tanwar wears a WHOOP that tracks his heart rate all day.

He reverse-engineered it to pull that data minute by minute, matched every spike to whatever meeting he was in, then cross-referenced who was actually in the room.

What came out is a ranked table of colleagues by how much they send his stress through the roof.

A growth manager got flagged as the prime suspect.

It's now had over 10 million views!

Let’s be honest, most of us have kept a mental version of this list in our head at some point.

He just had the audacity to build it.

He made the whole thing with Claude's Fable model.

The gap between a shower thought and a working product basically closed this year.

Same guy also made a bot that likes his mum's Instagram posts.

👇

This dude might be the most engaged person WHOOP has, and they had nothing to do with it.

The tapped in brands are already watching who on the internet is doing their R&D for them.

He validated the demand at scale.

The petty coworker-ranking is the hook that travelled… I'd be leaning in.

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄.

Come on then, what's the coolest thing you've made with AI so far? 👀

Wayne Rooney dressed like a Tudor nobleman… 👀

Palace x Nike's England campaign goes hard 🔥

The film's the work of Burnermunde.

Two directors out of East London, Musti and Arran.

They came up shooting videos for the likes of PinkPantheress, Jim Legxacy and Sainté, then made 6 TILL 6… a documentary filmed in one continuous 24-hour run through East London.

No script or idea who they'd meet along the way.
It went cult almost overnight.

Now this… unreal!

Palace's first Nike drop went to Alasdair McLellan, about as established as British image-making gets.

This time they've swung the other way and handed a national-team moment to a young duo who built their name on the exact streets these brands keep borrowing from.

And that's the whole point of Palace.

It came out of London skate culture and never pretended otherwise.

The credibility was earned in car parks and on pavements long before Nike came calling.

This England capsule is one of seven.

Nike's paired seven brands with seven nations for the tournament.

Patta on the Netherlands.
NOCTA on Canada.
Jacquemus on France.
Palace got England.

Nike’s handing each one to whoever actually carries the culture.

All of it teased last week under three words… "Time to go off script."

On this evidence… so far, so good!

The Winter Olympics is now one of the biggest fashion moments in the world.

In true Italian fashion, the Milan Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony put culture, music, and fashion front and centre.

What used to sit on the sidelines is now fully mainstage. 
𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗸𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 🔥

Ceremonial looks pulled national heritage through designers like 𝗥𝗮𝗹𝗽𝗵 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗻, 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗼 𝗔𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶, and 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗿, while brands like 𝗔𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘀 and (beloved OK COOL client) 𝗟𝘂𝗹𝘂𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻 focused on making kit look cool AF for ice and at altitude.

Luxury houses, heritage brands, and sportswear giants all competing in the same arena for attention.

The collision between fashion and sport is being driven by consumer demand for meaning, narrative, and cultural relevance.

This is functional performance and cultural storytelling at its best 💚

… favourite?

Vans out here reminding everyone who built skate culture first 🛹

About 60 years ago, a culture icon was born… the Vans Authentic 🔥

A shoe most people had at one point in their life, skaters or not.

The “Off the Wall” campaign celebrates 60 years of the Authentic and its influence across culture.

For the last few years, Vans has struggled to stay culturally central.
This campaign is basically a brand reset through cultural lineage.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁!

→ SZA – contemporary pop culture dominance
→ Travis Barker – pop-punk lineage
→ Hayley Williams – alternative rock credibility
→ Lizzie Armanto – core skate legitimacy
→ T-Funk – no bs street skate culture

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲:

→ 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 → skaters
→ 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 → rock/punk artists
→ 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 → global pop stars

All three intersect around the brand.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲:

1966 origin story
↓
iconic product (Authentic)
↓
modern cultural figures

This is how legacy brands are rebuilding relevance.

We’ve seen similar plays from heritage brands like:

→ Levi's with archival storytelling
→ Adidas reviving Samba and Gazelle
→ Converse repositioning Chuck Taylor

𝗔𝗻𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗲-𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲?

Y-3 tapping skateboarding legend The Gonz & graffiti writer Chito is ON POINT

Yet more evidence that skate and graffiti subcultures sit at the absolute apex of style and creativity that every other industry borrows from.

The FW26 launch acknowledges the deeper characters who actually run street subculture.

👇

Y-3 has dominated luxury streetwear for nearly 25 years.

While rival brands relied on fast-burn influencer seeding, they focused on enduring cultural equity.

Mark Gonzales is now 58.

He invented modern street skating in the late 80s and has never once softened for anybody.

They could have cast a 20 year old TikTok skater
They went to the source instead.

And at the same time featured artwork from Chito.

Chito came up writing illegal graffiti, taught himself to airbrush, and started putting his Pup on Gore-Tex jackets.

Supreme picked him up in 2018, Givenchy followed.

Their cultural weight was built through decades of street-level risk and uncompromised creative output.

Y-3 continues to go back to the foundational subcultures that birthed modern streetwear in the first place.

✌️

Stone Island spent 6 months on tour with hardcore and metalcore bands 😤

THE CALM AND THE CHAOS follows a bunch of bands I love, High Vis, Angel Du$t, Knocked Loose and Haywire 617.

Photographer and director Isaac Lamb followed them across Europe and North America.

It's about the values that have held hardcore together for decades as two of the most enduring independent communities in culture.

Both built with zero permission from the mainstream.

Just people organising themselves around something they refuse to water down.

The bands wore their own current and vintage Stone Island… whatever was already hanging in the wardrobe.

Then collector Archie Maher opened the archive.

And the whole project was brought to life by Shelter Studio, co-founded by a mate of mine who really knows his stuff.

You can't buy your way into cultural associations like this.
You share values with a community long enough that they claim you.

Then when they do, you document it properly with the tastemakers who've been holding it up for twenty years.

This goes hard!

💚 ✌️

Taco Bell are dropping Mountain Dew Baja Blast under-eye patches 🫨

The patches were revealed during Taco Bell’s Live Más Live product event.

In a game called “Made or Made Up?” celebrities like rapper Lil Jon had to guess which Taco Bell products were real… and which were fake.

When the Baja Blast patches appeared on screen, the camera cut to FINNEAS wearing them in the audience.

Very real.

No official launch date yet.
But the feeds have already clocked the move.

→ 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝗲𝘆𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗮 𝗧𝗶𝗸𝗧𝗼𝗸 𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻
This makes them a perfect memeable brand object.

→ 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗭 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲
Brands have permission to jump lanes if the idea is fun enough.

→ 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

Chipotle × Wonderskin “Lipotle” lipstick
McDonald’s × Nails.INC nail polish
Dunkin × e.l.f. cosmetics 'Dunkin Dozen' eyeshadow palettes

The categories blur… the internet leans in.

Got collab fatigue… or here for it?

I encourage EVERYONE to watch this today!

𝗘𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗚𝘂, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻.

I don’t care if you’re a 22 yr old gold medal Olympian, or in your 60s still thinking about starting that business.

If the voice says, you’re not ready. You hesitate.
If it says, this is mine. You move.

When you’re building something that doesn’t exist yet or stepping into something that feels way out of your depth, the story in your head can make or break you.

𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽, 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁, 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗻𝗲.

The quality of your life is deeply tied to the quality of the narrative running in your head.

Your life moves in the direction of your dominant thoughts.
Make sure they’re working for you, not against you.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 💚✌️

What Arsenal's victory has taught me ab…… (I joke) 😈

I grew up in North West London and all my classmates were Arsenal. It would have been so much easier to defect, but that would be spineless.

But how this club has been showing up on and off the pitch is undeniable.

I regularly cover their marketing work, from the women's team to the NTS and Aries collabs.

And at OK COOL we've got some of the most tapped in sports fanatics in the business. People who live for sport and London culture.

So as you can imagine, we talk about it a lot.

Everything about the club has been on point this season.

The management, the football (men’s and women’s), the marketing. 🤌

I live near the stadium and last night North London was shut down until the very early hours of the morning.

The energy was on another level. THOUSANDS packed out the Emirates.

Right now North London is the centre of the world for football.

Who was there....?

💚 ✌

This is EPIC storytelling from Hornbach 🔥

The hero is the cheapest, most "useless" thing in the whole shop. 
A leftover plank of wood.

Hornbach are the European equivalent of B&Q.

Over the film the wood turns into a fence, a swing, a length of flooring, a toothpick.

And the dude who initially treats the board with disdain, eventually tucks it under his arm and heads home.

👇

Their customer is the person with a garage full of offcuts they swear they'll use one day.

The type who clocks a scrap of wood and sees ten things in it before most people see anything.

Hornbach knows this about them.

So they built the entire film around the way that person already looks at the world.

A "stupid, useless board" becomes a symbol of lost creativity, dormant instinct, and the emotional pull to tangibly make something.

The only limit is your imagination.

Stunning ad! 💚

Burberry you have just outdone yourself with ‘A Good Sport’ 😮‍💨

I don’t like to pick favourites but Stephen Graham turning into a Sunday league coach…🔥

Then you clock who's in the crowd.

Son Heung-min.
Declan Rice. Eberechi Eze.
Leah Williamson.
Naomi Girma.

Some of the best footballers alive, sat in the stands as punters.

Jason Sudeikis cheering in a suit next to Romeo Beckham.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bright, Lucy Punch and Neelam Gill scattered through the rest.

Here's the bit that gets me…

Burberry spent the 2000s running as far from this crowd as it could get.

The Nova check had been adopted by 90s and 2000s football terrace culture and the tabloid-dubbed "chav" movement.

The status symbol of the away end was a Burberry scarf, a bucket hat, and the lining of a knock-off trench. Counterfeits everywhere. Caps on every terrace. 😅

The hyper-association with working-class street fashion, hooliganism, and counterfeit culture threatened the brand's luxury positioning big time.

So Christopher Bailey came in in 2001 to drag the brand back upmarket.

They cut the check from around 20% of products down to about 5%. The caps got killed off completely.

That went on the best part of a decade.

Since taking over as chief creative officer in 2023 Daniel Lee’s entire reinvention has been about honing in on a very specific era of British cultural history intertwined with the brand.

He's been deliberately reaching back into the exact 90s/2000s moment Burberry spent years disowning.

The association that nearly sank them is now the one they're betting the comeback on.

💚

There's no winning and no failing, there's only making 💚

At 19 I started a record label.

I made it because making new music mattered and I believed in it.

Wrote a bunch of graffiti as a kid.

I'd spend hours catching tags in full knowledge that the council would buff most of it before I'd walked past it again.

No money, no real ‘point’ if you measure it the way most people measure things today.

But that was the point. 
You made it because making it was the whole thing.

I think about that a lot now, watching everyone around me chase meaning as destination you arrive at if you optimise hard enough.

The only times I've ever felt properly lost were when I was making things I didn't care about, for reasons I couldn't feel.

Meaning isn't waiting at the end of anything. 
You make it, or you don't.

One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. 𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘄!

I stopped doing this one thing and it pretty much changed everything.

𝗪𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱.

I used to sit on ideas. Polish them. Second-guess them.

Wait for someone "smarter" or more experienced to give me the nod before I'd back them properly.

But... the greatest creative work in history wasn't approved by a committee.

It was backed by someone who believed in it before anyone else did.

I love this quote from Steve Jobs.

"People don't know what they want until you show it to them."

Back yourself. Ship the idea. Let the work do the talking.

The room will catch up.

💚 ✌

Best IG story I've seen this week 🔥

This is the true difference between being inspired by culture vs. creating culture.

Killer!

Credit @tedchildish

The story behind Nike ACG’s iguana collection is WILD!

Back in the 70s, scientists found remains of a Jamaican iguana that everyone thought was extinct.

Then in 1990, a few were rediscovered in the wild.

Which turned into a proper conservation effort to rebuild the population.

Part of that meant tracking them once they were released back into their natural habitat.

There wasn’t really any gear for attaching transmitters to animals shaped like that.

Somehow, Nike ACG got pulled into it.

In 1999, a small team ended up designing these tiny vests for the iguanas.

From a business standpoint it made no sense. Tiny endangered iguana “customer base”.

But they did it anyway 🔥🔥

Then the story basically disappeared.

Just lived in ACG folklore and the odd scientific mention.

Fast forward and CPFM bring it back through this collection.

Iguana bags, accessories, all of it.

This originally happened with no audience. Nike didn’t do it to be cool. Which is exactly why it’s COOL AF now.

💚 ✌

Will Smith gave me the best business advice I've ever heard 😂

There are broadly two schools of entrepreneurship.

One is you have a solid understanding of every part of the business.

The other is you have the self-awareness to know exactly what you're world class at.

Maybe one or two things.

And you stick unflinchingly to those at the expense of everything else, and you hire around it.

That's me.

I'm good at one or two things.

𝗧𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲. 
𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘁.

And being a lifetime participant and fan who stays close enough to the culture to feel where it's going.

This is what he said that has stuck, “𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜'𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜'𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼, 𝗜'𝗺 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁. 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼.”

So I outsource everything else to the people who are world class at it.

And I get out of their way.

💚 ✌

Liquid Death ran an AI-generated Olympics ad. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁.

During the Winter Games on Peacock, viewers started seeing a strange spot from Liquid Death.

→ An AI-generated figure skater glides across the ice, urging people to avoid artificiality and choose Liquid Death sparkling water.

→ Then she crushes a soda can with her bare hands. The crowd, also AI-generated, stares on.

→ Finally, she morphs into a red-eyed demon and warns that AI like her will bring about the end of humanity.

𝗨𝗻𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱. 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱.

The ad wasn’t posted on Liquid Death’s social channels or mentioned in the media.

So when viewers went looking for it, they couldn’t find it.
A Reddit user started a thread in the “HelpMeFind” forum.
Others joined in.

Shaky phone recordings surfaced on TikTok, Instagram and X.
One post calling it “AI slop” racked up 4.5 million views.
People genuinely questioned whether the ad was real.

𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵, 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲, 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁.

Liquid Death thought it would be funny if people saw the ad but couldn’t find it online.

A calculated distribution strategy.

A brand known for extreme, polarising creative used the very thing people distrust to reinforce a message about artificial vs real ingredients.

Cool move 😏

BUT, I’ll be honest.

The anti-AI ads are starting to lose their bite…. Where do you lot stand?