Ah yes, the AI aesthetic. Quickly being adopted by brands everywhere who’ve always wanted to be able to speak into existence an image of their product being used by Hot Girl #3 (or dinosaurs on the moon if that’s what they’re into). And yeah, it is pretty cool to be able to cook up some imagery of whatever you can imagine in just a few seconds. But the public’s appetite for a feed full of AI slop is still… catching up, shall we say. Which is why some brands, like Coinbase, Skittles, and Jack in the Box are going against the grain by going, well, grainy, instead. [Read more]

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

—the brand thinks anyone who's not an elite athlete is kinda a loser. Last week, Nike posted signs saying "Runners welcome, walkers tolerated" on the outside of its Boston storefront (ok rude).

Not surprisingly, swift backlash ensued. Creators were quick to call out the brand, whose "Just Do It" mantra speaks to athletes of all levels and abilities getting out there and doing the thing. Hoka jumped on Nike’s faux pas with an IG post saying, "No matter what pace, we fly together." Altra Running then posted, "Run. Walk. Crawl. However you do it, just stay out there" (pointed, but ok). After seeing their pre-race signage go down like a lead balloon, Nike issued an apology via Ad Age:

“We want more people to feel welcome in running—no matter their pace, experience or the distance... we’ll use this moment to do better and continue showing up for all runners.” Gotta love that corporate-speak backpedal.

Moving on. Because apparently when you opt out of cookie tracking when browsing the web, Google, Meta, and Microsoft ignore this up to 90% of the time. Last month, during its California Privacy Audit, webXray did a review of over 7,000 popular websites to see whether they actually did track users who opted out. The audit found that not only did these tech companies ignore these "opt out" signals, but some even have explicit workarounds that auditors found with hardly any effort at all.

We shouldn't be surprised, because Meta, Google, and Microsoft have paid over $1B in fines for dodgy security practices. webXray founder, Dr Timothy Libert, is the ex-lead of cookie policy and privacy at Google. In his time at the tech giant, he was told that, internally, these enforcement fees are just seen as part of the cost of doing business. Well, ok then.

The moat Adobe has built around its products has been drying up for a few years now. Because even the die-hard purists can't resist all the free alternatives that are popping onto the market. Take Autograph, which used to charge users $59/month. It's just been relaunched with a free version that, while not 100% the same as Adobe After Effects, is, well, free. Canva's also just announced their motion graphics software, Calvary, will also now be free. Even Apple's Creator Studio, which launched in January, is 1/6 price of Adobe's Creative Cloud Pro subscription. Your move, Adobe.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

If you’ve spent any time on the corporate side of the internet lately, you’ve likely felt the "AI Fatigue" setting in. I’ve spoken about this before, how everything is flattening into a little too smooth, too symmetrical, with that slightly greasy, over-rendered sheen that screams “a prompt wrote this.”

It makes me want to eyeroll into the next dimension.

But lately, a few brands are rising up out of the slop and opting out of the perfection. Instead of looking forward to a Midjourney-dystopia, they’re looking back, about 20 years back, to the clunky, pixelated, glorious world of early-aughts gaming.

It follows an NPC (Non-Player Character) through a Sims-esque world as he slowly realises he’s just a cog in a pre-programmed machine. It’s meta, it’s nostalgic, and it’s deeply relatable. In a world where we feel increasingly algorithmically managed, there’s something visceral about watching a low-res character break the fourth wall to enter the "human world." It feels like more than an ad; it feels like a narrative about reclaiming agency.

And Coinbase isn’t the only one shouting into the void. We recently saw Met-Rx tapping John Cena for a 60-second spot that looks like a ’90s Nintendo fever dream. Skittles leaned into retro-social spots to promote a branded video game flute controller. And Jack in the Box launching Deal Quest: Revenge of the Munchies, turning the hunt for a burger into a pixelated side-scroller.

This isn’t just about tapping into the 3.4 billion gamers worldwide (though the "gamer" is no longer a niche subculture; it’s just the culture). This is yet another example of the rejection of the AI Aesthetic.

AI currently feels like too much. It’s over-polished and lacks a soul. Conversely, the 8-bit pixel or the clunky Sims animation style feels human. It reminds us of a time when the internet felt like a playground rather than a shopping mall. By adopting "low-fi" gaming aesthetics, brands are signaling that they "get" the joke. They’re trading the Uncanny Valley for a bit of digital grit and putting the agency back in our hands like a PS2 controller.

Between the algorithmic feeds telling us what to buy and the social pressures to perform a curated version of ourselves, we’ve all had that moment of looking in the mirror and wondering if our dialogue trees were pre-written by a LLM.

When brands use these low-poly, Sims-esque aesthetics, they’re tapping into a collective Simulation Anxiety. We’re tired of the high-definition pressure to be perfect. There is a strange, radical comfort in the "glitch." By embracing the aesthetic of a game, brands are admitting that the "real world" feels increasingly like a series of side quests and micro-transactions.

If we’re all living in a simulation anyway, we’d rather it look like a charming 2004 expansion pack than a cold, hyper-realistic AI render. The pixel is a nostalgic choice and an honest one.

It acknowledges that our attention is being farmed, but at least it offers a joystick instead of a lecture.

We aren’t seeing these pixelated throwbacks used to sell rocking chairs or heritage wool blankets or even retro consoles. We’re using retro tech to hawk crypto and high-performance protein powder… the two most "future-obsessed" industries on the planet.

One promises a decentralised utopia in the cloud; the other promises to optimise your biological hardware until you’re more machine than man. It’s a paradox: using the limitations of 2004 to sell the limitless "optimisation" of 2026.

But that’s the world we live in.

It suggests that by engaging with these brands, we can finally stop being cogs and start being players. Yet, we have to ask whether this is a genuine exit strategy, or just a prettier, more nostalgic cage?

By leaning into the "simulated reality" aesthetic, brands aren't actually freeing us from the algorithm… they’re just skins. They’re giving us a 64-bit skin for a 128-bit problem.

We might feel like we’re reclaiming our agency, but we’re still just clicking "accept" on the Terms and Conditions of a new kind of simulation. One that just happens to look a lot like the games we used to play before things got so... high-def.

Spooky.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

Today's viral trend is built around Justin Bieber performing EVERYTHING HALLELUJAH at Coachella 2026. When he's singing "Everything Hallelujah", he's listing random thoughts or small moments he appreciates in his life. For example, he sings "brush my teeth hallelujah".

Creators have run with this sound, taking the most mundane or oddly specific situations and turning them into full-on hallelujah moments. And honestly, we're here for it. Think fast food orders, finally going on your dream vacation, and even appreciating air conditioners. 

Using the audio, turn the camera on yourself whilst lip-syncing to the song or show your "hallelujah" moment. Insert on screen text describing the situation, ending it with "hallelujah", ideally with a bold yellow colour font to match the trend.

A few ideas to get you started: 

-Fiona Badiana, Intern

😲WTF: Toxic chemicals on children's clothing?!
✨Daily inspo: Kim K's take on chronic complaining
😊Soooo satisfying: Who's obsessed with green?
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: 15min Chili Crunch Honey Chicken 

Hey Keira,

Ah yes, this is a tough one! Totally get that it feels scary to put yourself out there on social media. I wish there was an easy answer to this, but if you have goals for building your brand, you kinda just have to do it even though you're scared. Yeah, people you know might see it. And yeah, maybe they will think it's cringe. But the alternative is letting what they might think stop you from doing the activities that are going to make you successful.

Posting online does require a level of vulnerability. But once you start posting regularly, it really will get easier. Because you'll realise most people are too worried about themselves to worry that much about what you're doing! I would also encourage you to seek out other people who are building a brand like you (if you haven’t already). This will help you feel not so alone!

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.