KIMP’s Picks August 22nd: Weekly Highlights In Design, Marketing, AI, & More
Friday’s here! Time for a quick weekly recap to catch up on all the social media buzz you missed this week. AI news, marketing inspiration, social media algorithm changes – we’ve rounded up all the shareworthy posts to sum up the week. Ready for your weekly dose of inspiration? Let’s go!
In the Marketing Realm
GAP’s new ad creates a buzz
The denim sector has been a whirlwind recently. In particular, American Eagle’s campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney has landed the brand in hot water. This has been a trending topic of discussion on social media.
Amidst this, GAP has launched a commercial putting denim back in the spotlight with a fall campaign led by rising K-pop group Katseye. The brand dropped a high-energy film set to Kelis’s early-2000s hit “Milkshake,” pairing nostalgic sounds with modern takes on low-rise jeans, mini skirts, and layered denim looks.
Tapping into the topic of the moment is a brilliant move by the brand. Additionally, some users have also praised the brand for being inclusive in the choice of models to feature in the ad. On the whole, while the campaign itself does not take a dig at the controversial American Eagle campaign, it’s a brilliant example of reactive marketing.
Columbia Sportswear’s realistic ad
Another commercial that marketers and marketing experts are discussing is the realistic and witty commercial by Columbia Sportswear. The outdoors are great but the honest truth is that outdoor activities are glorified beyond a realistic measure in many campaigns and social media posts. Columbia Sportswear chose to break this trend and created a realistic and relatable story.
Packed with chaos, humor, and a dig at nature’s unpredictability, the “Engineered for Whatever” campaign revives the wild spirit that made Columbia stand out in the ’80s and ’90s. Campaigns like this remind brands to ditch clichés and own their voice.
The quality of your audience matters more than the volume of traffic
A recent article from Search Engine Journal argues that marketers should shift their focus from high traffic volume to attracting a high-quality, targeted audience. The report explains that in today’s digital landscape, more traffic is often a “vanity metric” that doesn’t always guarantee sales. This change is influenced by factors like AI-generated summaries and the decline of third-party cookies, which have altered how consumers search and click.
The article defines a quality audience as visitors who match a brand’s target customers and have a clear intent to purchase. It highlights that creating content focused on user intent leads to higher conversion rates, improved customer value, and lower acquisition costs.
Old Spice taps into the NFL fever with a new campaign
Seasonal marketing is a great way for brands to cut through the noise and get noticed. But themes are crucial for effective seasonal campaigns. The NFL season is one such opportunity for brands looking to boost their reach and tapping into the football fandom is a great way to do it.
Accordingly, Old Spice has launched an exclusive NFL collection and they recently released a commercial promoting this. The notable detail here is that this commercial, while conveying the theme accurately, also adopts the brand’s signature ad style and witty delivery. Even the script delivery aligns with the brand’s signature tone of voice.
In the Content Realm
AI is making Google Search better for brands
The evolving Search landscape is the hot topic in the content marketing landscape. Amidst this, Google recently shared a post discussing how AI has reshaped Google Search, making it even better for brands.
The article highlights five key areas where AI is impacting search, from discovery to conversions. It explains that AI helps Google understand user intent more deeply, allowing it to go beyond simple queries and anticipate what users are looking for.
The article notes that new search inputs like images and voice, combined with AI, lead to higher-quality clicks and a wider variety of website visits for brands. AI also helps with ad creative by generating relevant copy and directing users to the right landing pages.
So, if you are contemplating the significance of AI in your content marketing workflow, this is a great read.
What AI Mode means for Search
Google’s AI Mode has changed the way people search and find content and answers. Available in several countries, this feature allows users to ask follow-up questions and get longer, more comprehensive answers.
Moz recently shared a resourceful discussion on how things are changing with the introduction of AI Mode and how people are using it currently. The post also delves into the performance of the AI Mode and how the quality of the output with AI Mode and other similar AI-powered search features tends to be mixed.
Strategies to effectively repurpose content
Content Marketing Institute shared a post discussing 15+ ideas in “remixing, recycling and repurposing content”.
Constantly coming up with content for various channels is one of the biggest challenges several marketers face and the article below addresses that.
It talks about essential strategies like understanding the audience, focusing on evergreen content, sticking to the core conversation, and re-packaging it creatively and other ideas.
In the Design Realm
Creative packaging design inspiration
Packaging Of The World shared an inspirational packaging design project created for Venerdi, a New Zealand-based family business specializing in healthy, lifestyle breads. The new design incorporates elements from the successful Gluten Freedom brand, including its character “Pedro the pigeon”, to create a more unified and recognizable identity.
Additionally, the Venerdi logo is now more prominent on the packaging, and the new labels use a consistent color palette and typography. The overall design maintains a playful and passionate tone.
This project reminds us of the need to incorporate effective storytelling and a clear purpose into packaging design to amplify the impact.
A logo design fail to learn from
Rebranding can be challenging. Because when a brand already has a strong audience base and when the audience has a perception of the brand’s identity, refreshing the brand’s identity can be tricky. If the new identity does not meet the expectations of the audience, then the brand has to face a lot of backlash. This is exactly what happened with the new logo of The Eurovision Song Contest.
The new design features a custom font called Singing Sans, rounded, lowercase letters, and a heart centerpiece. Some fans perceive this as a downgraded version of the previous logo. On the whole, the responses have been mixed and many users are not happy. Missteps like these can dilute your brand’s reputation.
To learn from more rebranding disasters, check out our blog here.
In the AI Realm
Chat Mode in ElevenLabs
Popular Voice AI platform ElevenLabs has announced the launch of a new Chat Mode for those times when text-only conversations are the best fit. This new option is an extension of their existing AI agent platform, which already handles voice interactions.
Chat Mode is ideal for customers who prefer typing over speaking and for situations that require precise inputs like order IDs or email addresses. The feature is designed to handle simple issues and can seamlessly hand off more complex tasks to voice-based agents.
Teams can launch a chat agent through ElevenLabs’ SDKs, API, or even a single line of HTML. Additionally, for those already running voice agents, Chat Mode can be enabled instantly within the same system.
ElevenLabs has a new video-to-music flow
ElevenLabs has launched a new “Video-to-Music” feature in its Studio platform. This tool uses the Eleven Music AI model to automatically generate custom soundtracks that match the context of a video.
The new feature is designed to be fast and precise. Users can upload any video, and the AI Music Generator instantly composes a high-quality audio track that aligns with the video’s tone, pace, and emotion. It is built for a wide range of users, from creators and marketers to developers, and does not require any background in music or editing.
You can either use the default prompt that the tool generates upon analyzing the video or tweak it to suit your requirements. The AI model analyzes visual cues such as motion, color, and emotional tone to identify the optimal structure and mood of the music.
This eliminates the need for spending hours finding the right track to resonate with the vibe of your video.
Qwen simplifies image editing
While the market is filled with AI models for image generation, not many of them can efficiently handle image editing. But yes, ChatGPT does a great job at that and now Alibaba’s Qwen is also joining the race with the new Image Edit model in Qwen Image.
This AI-powered tool allows for precise text editing within images and also handles both semantic and visual edits.
The tool offers several key capabilities. Users can perform semantic editing, which includes preserving character consistency and generating diverse, original content. It also allows for appearance editing, like adding or removing elements and changing colors. The tool’s ability to precisely edit both English and Chinese text is a major highlight.
DeepSeek unveils V3.1
Building on the recently popular V3, DeepSeek has announced V3.1, reportedly trained to better function in the agentic era. Most importantly, the new model is optimized to work with “soon-to-be-released next-generation domestic chips” from Chinese manufacturers.
The model introduces hybrid inference, letting users switch between “Think” and “Non-Think” modes depending on the task. Additionally, the upgraded model is also said to be faster than its predecessor and has stronger agent capabilities. Post-training improvements enhance tool use and multi-step reasoning, giving the model more flexibility to act like an intelligent assistant rather than just a text generator.
Microsoft expands AI capabilities within Excel with the COPILOT function
Microsoft has announced a new COPILOT function for Excel, which brings the power of artificial intelligence directly into spreadsheets. This new function allows users to use natural language prompts to perform tasks like analyzing text, generating content, and working more efficiently.
The COPILOT function is built into Excel’s calculation engine, meaning results will automatically update when the data in the spreadsheet changes. From summarizing data in the sheet to creating lists based on your requirements, this new function can automate a variety of tasks quickly and efficiently. Moreover, according to Microsoft, the data used by the function is not used to train its AI models.
NFL x Microsoft partnership
The National Football League (NFL) and Microsoft have announced a multiyear extension of their partnership, focusing on integrating AI across the league. The new collaboration brings technologies like Microsoft Copilot and Azure AI to the sidelines to assist coaches and players with real-time analysis.
According to Microsoft, the NFL’s Sideline Viewing System has been upgraded with over 2,500 Microsoft Surface Copilot+ PCs. This new update allows teams to quickly filter through plays based on specific criteria to gain data-driven insights. Additionally, the partnership also extends beyond the field, with plans to use AI in talent scouting, stadium operations, and business functions like finance and HR.
Grammarly unveils new AI agents
Grammarly has launched a new set of specialized AI agents and an AI-native writing platform called “docs.” The company is evolving from a simple writing assistant into a full productivity platform, offering “agentic assistance” that understands context and provides targeted help.
These new AI agents are designed to address the limitations of existing AI tools that often require multiple prompts. They can perform specific tasks like finding credible sources, checking originality, predicting reader reactions, and paraphrasing. The new tools are available for both students and professionals to help with academic work and business communication.
HTC introduces AI glasses
From automating tasks in the digital space, AI has slowly started transitioning to the physical world with AI-powered devices and smart wearables. Leading tech companies like Meta have ventured into AI-powered wearables like Meta AI Glasses.
HTC has also entered the race with its new AI glasses, VIVE Eagle. Lightweight, sleek, and packed with hands-free, voice-activated features, these glasses aim to bring convenience to everyday life.
Key functions include hands-free photography and video, real-time translation in 13 languages, and AI-powered memory recall. The glasses are built with a privacy-first design, storing all user data locally. They are initially available in Taiwan.
Social Media Feature Updates and Algorithm Changes
Facebook revamps creator tools
Facebook is giving the Professional Dashboard on the web a new look. To begin with, there is a revamped home screen that summarizes core insights for easy access. Facebook has also added a few additional tweaks to make the overall navigation through the Professional Dashboard much simpler for creators.
On the whole, the idea here is to ensure a seamless experience with consistent navigation and aesthetics across the mobile and desktop versions.
In addition to the interface-related updates, Facebook has also added the “popular with your followers” metric to help creators find content that resonates with their target audience. Plus some new metrics, including Views Over Time, Retention, and View Rate, to further enhance the understanding of user behavior to create better content over time.
Translations powered by Meta AI
In a measure to help creators reach more users in different regions, Meta is bringing a Meta AI-powered translation feature to Reels on Facebook and Instagram.
The translator grasps the tone and voice of the creator to create a similar rendition in the new language so that the voiceover feels authentic. All it takes is toggling the “Translate Voices With Meta AI” option on with the additional option to lip sync as close to the original video as possible.
Currently, the feature is being introduced to all public Instagram accounts and to Facebook creators with more than 1000 followers. As for the languages supported, initially, Meta is bringing Spanish to English and English to Spanish translations, with more languages coming soon.
Updates coming to YouTube
So, what are some fresh updates coming to YouTube? YouTube has been experimenting with a new tool called Effect Maker, which allows creators to use AI to create visual effects that can be used in videos. Earlier, this feature was only available to a few creators in specific regions and now YouTube is slowly expanding its access to more creators.
Secondly, YouTube is introducing a new feature that will enable creators to limit the comments on their content. By allowing only subscribers to comment and adjusting how long the subscriber needs to have been subscribed to be allowed to comment, the platform is giving creators better control over the engagement on their videos. This helps boost the community spirit.
Time to Wrap Up…
With that, we conclude the KIMP’s Picks August 22nd Edition. We hope these updates gave you a glimpse of the week that flew by. Staying up to date with so many updates that are buzzing on social media can be tough. That’s where KIMP’s Picks comes in. We curate this round-up so you do not have to spend all your time doomscrolling and catching up on updates. So, stay tuned, and we’ll see you soon with another round of weekly highlights with all the shareworthy posts.
