KIMP’s Picks August 15th: Weekly Highlights In Design, Marketing, AI, & More

And just like that, another week draws to a close. What does that mean? Time to catch up on all the social media buzz you missed. After all, you do not want FOMO to hit hard next week. But why waste time doomscrolling when you can catch up on all the updates in a few quick minutes? Welcome to the KIMP’s Picks August 15th Edition. AI updates, marketing news, and inspiration, social media algorithm changes – we’ve wrapped up all the shareworthy posts right here. Let’s get started.

In the Marketing Realm 

Google is giving advertisers better control over their ads

Google has announced new updates to Performance Max campaigns, giving advertisers more control and better insights. The changes include new ways to reach your audience, such as campaign-level negative keyword lists, more search themes, and demographic targeting for age, gender, and device type.

The update also offers enhanced reporting to help businesses find new customers more effectively. Additionally, Performance Max campaigns will now provide clearer reports on new versus returning customers by removing “unknown” conversion labels. 

In terms of post-processing after launching a campaign, new diagnostic tools will help troubleshoot goal-related issues. Finally, advertisers will gain more visibility into their creative assets, including those generated by final URL expansion. They will also receive AI-powered recommendations to improve image quality and performance.

Google discusses strategies to reach the right customers 

Google shared a post highlighting some best practices to create campaigns that shine in AI search. The post delves into the use of tools like AI Max to reach relevant customers with the right message. 

From aligning bidding strategies with campaign goals to tapping into the power of value-based bidding and making the most of AI-powered search campaigns, the post discusses various useful tips. The post also underscores the importance of simplifying the advertising account structure and ensuring that the main website content is also optimized for AI-powered ads. 

Marketers are expanding their portfolio 

Marketing is changing, and marketers around the world are quickly adapting to keep up. Popular digital marketing expert Neil Patel shared a post discussing some of the most popular topics that marketers are paying attention to. 

The use of AI to generate videos tops the list, with GEO (generative engine optimization) and social commerce coming next on the list. AI prompting, enhancing marketing ROI with AI, and other skills are also popular among marketers. So, if you are looking to stay ahead in your game, this is a post worth checking out: 

Marketing to Gen Z? Time to rethink your strategies 

Gen Z was considered to be among the toughest to market to, with the generation being heavily reliant on tech and influenced by social media. Besides, they were among the youngest consumers. However, times are changing, and some Gen Zers are almost 30. Therefore, the same old strategies won’t pay off. Little Black Book recently shared an interesting discussion on this topic. 

The post discusses how Gen Alpha has begun to shape purchasing decisions in households and the growing popularity of value-driven marketing. It also talks about the shift in trends and the changes in how Gen Z will be consuming social media as they reach their 30s, and what this means for brands. So, if you are a brand targeting the young audience, this is a great read! 

For some quick tips to market to Baby Boomers, check out our blog here. 

In the Content Marketing Realm 

Google adds a new Search feature – “Preferred Sources”

Google has launched a new feature in Search called “Preferred Sources,” allowing users in the U.S. and India to customize their news experience. The feature, which is rolling out now, enables users to select their favorite news outlets and blogs to see more of their articles in the “Top Stories” section of search results.

To use it, simply search for a news topic, click the new icon next to “Top Stories,” and then select your preferred sources. Articles from these sources will be displayed more prominently and may also appear in a dedicated “From your sources” section. Users can add as many sources as they like and can manage their selections at any time.

This update is significant for brands and publishers because it gives them a new way to build loyalty and visibility with their audience.

Surviving the age of GEO 

With generative search gaining popularity, the challenge for brands has shifted from appearing in search results to being accurately represented in AI-driven answers. This emerging field, called generative engine optimization (GEO), is sparking two distinct schools of thought.

The first is prompt-based visibility monitoring, where tools repeatedly query large language models to track mentions and share of voice. The second approach, foundational knowledge analysis, digs into an AI model’s internal understanding of a brand. The post here from Search Engine Journal digs deeper into these schools of thought. 

In the Design Realm 

A unique brand identity design 

The Brand Identity shared a post exploring the brand identity of Norwegian news giant VG. The design focuses on a dynamic, motion-based identity that reflects its diverse content. The redesign reimagines the classic red-and-white logo as a 3D cuboid that rotates to display different content, symbolizing the brand’s multifaceted nature.

Custom typefaces, a fresh color palette – the overall identity takes cues from all the signature traits of the brand to create something relevant and memorable. 

Bold and beautiful OOH designs 

Jameel Motorsport, a division of Abdul Latif Jameel Motors, has launched a major international media campaign for Rally Jameel, the first women-only navigational rally in the Middle East. 

With the message “First Women-only Navigational Rally in the Middle East,” the campaign used striking visuals of rally cars in desert landscapes. The creative concept, inspired by the rally’s five regional stops, blended cultural elements like ancient carvings and desert flora with a sense of motion. The campaign was a collaboration with Serviceplan Arabia and Mediaplus Middle East, positioning the rally as both a sporting event and a movement.

The campaign highlights the fact that impactful designs help boost the effectiveness of outdoor ads, especially when there is a strong message to convey. 

The power of animated logos 

It’s Nice That shares branding and design projects for creative inspiration. In a recent post, they discussed the identity of wine supplier Other with a look that embraces imperfection and human touch. 

Founder Beatriz Cóias built the identity around a fluid, hand-drawn wordmark whose stretched, conjoined letterforms evoke the pour and movement of wine. What stands out is the animated version of the logo, which mirrors a bottle’s flow, tying the design directly to the product’s character and origins in small, family-run vineyards.

The project shows how logo animations can help highlight the core message in your logo design and therefore amplify its message. 

Need help with creating logo animations? Get a KIMP Video subscription! 

In the AI Realm

GPT-5 gets new updates 

Last week, OpenAI announced its next flagship model, GPT-5 and the response has been pretty good. Sam Altman unveiled fresh updates coming to this new model. 

First, ChatGPT now offers three modes for GPT-5: Auto, Fast, and Thinking, depending on what your priority is – speed or deeper thinking. 

GPT-5 Thinking includes a 196k token context limit and a weekly cap of 3,000 messages before switching to GPT-5 Thinking mini for extra usage. 

Model access is also expanding. GPT-4o is back in the picker for all paid users, and settings now include a “Show additional models” toggle to reveal options like o3, 4.1, and GPT-5 Thinking mini. But GPT-4.5 remains Pro-only due to higher GPU costs. 

Finally, OpenAI is also refining GPT-5’s personality to feel warmer but less intrusive than GPT-4o, with plans for greater per-user customization in the future

Updates to ChatGPT:

You can now choose between “Auto”, “Fast”, and “Thinking” for GPT-5. Most users will want Auto, but the additional control will be useful for some people.

Rate limits are now 3,000 messages/week with GPT-5 Thinking, and then extra capacity on GPT-5 Thinking…

— Sam Altman (@sama) August 13, 2025

Claude can now personalize responses based on past conversations 

Most chatbots in the market can now refer to past chats to fine-tune their responses and provide more in-context answers. Anthropic’s Claude is the latest one to join the league. 

The “Past Chat Search” feature is currently rolling out to users on Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. This allows Claude to search your previous conversations to find relevant context, making it easier to continue discussions and retrieve information without re-explaining everything. Users can simply ask Claude to reference past topics, and it will pull the information automatically.

Midjourney updates its video generation feature 

Mdjourney’s video generation feature gained popularity recently and now there are a few fresh updates coming to this feature. You can now create HD videos and in general, videos can also be created in small batches to save time. 

In addition to this, Midjourney is also adding a few simple tweaks to Moodboards and video job thumbnails. Though small, these are significant updates aiming to improve the capabilities of the tool as well as its usability. 

Higgsfield simplifies the creation of simple animations  

Higgsfield recently announced the ‘Draw-to-Video’ feature. This feature lets you create engaging animations conveniently. Instead of typing detailed prompts, this feature lets you sketch over a static image, indicating what changes you need, and the model instantly animates the video with the requested changes and effects added. 

Whether it is adding shapes or swapping colors or even changing backgrounds, this new feature makes it easier to personalize your static image and bring it to life. 

Google introduces “Personal Context” in Gemini 

Google is updating the Gemini app to be more personal and proactive while also giving users more control over their data. A new setting called “Personal Context” now allows Gemini to learn from your past conversations to deliver more personalized and relevant responses. For instance, it can remember your interests, likes, and dislikes to come up with more relevant recommendations. This feature is rolling out now, starting with the 2.5 Pro model.

For times when you don’t want to save a conversation, a new “Temporary Chat” feature has been introduced. These chats will not be saved to your history, used for personalization, or for training AI models. Google is also renaming the “Gemini Apps Activity” setting to “Keep Activity,” which, when enabled, will use a sample of your uploads to improve Google services.

Stability AI x NVIDIA partnership to enhance enterprise applications 

Stability AI has collaborated with NVIDIA to launch the Stable Diffusion 3.5 NIM (NVIDIA Inference Microservice), designed to improve the performance and streamline the deployment of its image generation models, particularly for enterprise use. 

The SD3.5 NIM microservice supports the Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large model and is packaged in a secure, pre-configured container perfect for enterprise applications. This collaboration offers significant performance gains, including a 1.8x speed increase over standard PyTorch on NVIDIA H100 GPUs. This allows for faster image generation and more complex workflows.

Tencent open-sources Hunyuan-GameCraft 

Tencent has announced a new open-source framework, Hunyuan-GameCraft, built on HunyuanVideo. This model has been designed to help creators and developers generate interactive game videos. 

The framework can create playable, physically realistic videos from a single scene image and user actions, supporting both first-person and third-person perspectives.

In addition to cost reduction and convenience, this model simplifies the game development workflow, boosting efficiency in the long run. 

Gemini’s new AI-coding assistant – Gemini CLI GitHub Actions

Google has launched Gemini CLI GitHub Actions, a powerful, no-cost AI agent now in beta for GitHub repositories. Built as a collaborative tool for teams, it automates critical coding tasks and acts as an on-demand collaborator. It uses the full context of a project to streamline workflows and boost productivity.

The launch aims to speed up development, reduce manual workload, and make AI a reliable teammate for coding teams. 

Robots that do “hard” work, not just “smart” work 

Lately, people have been talking about how smart AI is, yet somehow it still can’t fold laundry or take out the trash, the things people actually need it to do. That’s changing! 

Figure’s humanoid robot, Helix, which was earlier used in logistics, can now fold laundry. This is a significant breakthrough because folding deformable items like towels is a major challenge for robots, as it requires fine motor control and the ability to adapt to unpredictable shapes.

This is the first time a humanoid robot with multi-fingered hands has folded laundry autonomously using an end-to-end neural network. Importantly, the same Helix architecture was used without any modifications, with only a new dataset added for training. This development is a major step toward creating versatile, general-purpose robots. 

Grok 4 is now free for all

Grok 4 is now available for all users worldwide at no cost. Users can access the model by simply using “Auto” mode, which routes complex queries to Grok 4, or by selecting “Expert” mode for consistent access. For a limited time, xAI is also providing users with generous usage limits.

In addition to expanding its access, xAI has also enhanced the PDF capabilities on Grok 4 to allow it to process and analyze larger PDF files. These enhancements are live now on both mobile and web for all users. 

Social Media Feature Updates and Algorithm Changes  

A fresh set of updates coming to Edits 

Instagram has been actively expanding the capabilities of Edits. To begin with, you can now send drafts from your Edits via DM. This simplifies collaboration. Secondly, when creating videos, you can move your Stickies to the Teleprompter so your scripts are easier to access. 

In short, the current set of updates aims to make Edits a more productive video editing app where all your post-processing is streamlined. 

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LinkedIn announces Thought Leader Event Ads for B2B 

LinkedIn is one of the most dependable social media platforms for B2B marketing. The right content and the right strategies on LinkedIn can help B2B companies build trust and boost their brand image. Now, LinkedIn is introducing a new ad format to further enhance this process. 

LinkedIn now lets marketers sponsor member posts that link directly to event pages with Thought Leader Event Ads. This feature builds on the fact that B2B marketers see 1.6x higher engagement with expert-driven content compared to standard image ads. By amplifying posts from executives, employees, creators, or industry experts, brands can connect with audiences through authentic voices while driving event engagement.

Updates introduced to YouTube this week 

YouTube is rolling out some new features for creators. Soon, you’ll be able to edit videos with automatic dubbing using the Studio Editor. The auto-dub tracks will adjust to your changes. Additionally, the limit for images in a single post has been increased from five to ten, giving you more creative freedom.

YouTube Promote is also getting an upgrade with new, specific call-to-action options like “book now” and “get quote” to help drive website visits.

On a Final Note…

Every time you refresh your feed, there is an endless stream of new posts vying for your attention. Keeping up can be overwhelming, but missing out is not an option. Because staying on top of all the latest AI news is now more crucial than ever. That’s where we come in! KIMP’s Picks wraps up all the latest AI updates every Friday. Stay tuned, and we’ll be back with the next edition before you know it!