KIMP’s Picks November 7th: Weekly Highlights In Design, Marketing, AI, & More
Welcome to another new edition of the KIMP’s Picks – your shortcut to catching up on the week’s social media buzz, without doomscrolling! AI news, marketing insights, design inspiration, social media algorithm updates – a long list of shareworthy posts handpicked just for you.
So, let’s get started with the KIMP’s Picks November 7th Edition!
In the Marketing Realm
Coca-Cola is back with an AI-generated ad for Christmas
Remember the backlash that Coca-Cola received last year for its AI-generated Christmas ad? Well, the mixed response received does not seem to have affected the brand, for they are back with another AI-generated ad for this Christmas. And people are talking about it. The Verge called it an “eyesore”.
The difference this time is that Coca-Cola has released another video demonstrating the behind-the-scenes efforts highlighting that it has involved fewer people to create a visual wonder.
The video also compares how much AI has evolved in a span of just one year. This again has not been received well by the audience, with many of them expressing disappointment about the brand’s decision to replace people with AI.
The campaign highlights the power of social media and why monitoring real-time customer sentiments is crucial. The campaign is also a stark reminder of the fact that while AI helps improve productivity in creative workflows, nothing beats the human connection.
Mars Wrigley launches a UGC-focused campaign
Mars Wrigley has launched a new campaign designed to turn fan-reaction clips from TikTok into bold, surreal animations.
The campaign invites Gen Z users to share their quirky takes on the brand’s “How It Feels to Chew 5” messaging.
As a strong contrast with Coca-Cola’s campaign, this one is driven by people. The brand has made a brilliant move by handing creative control to its audience. By embracing this strategy, 5 Gum is effectively tapping into the power of co-creation. This move is essential for building a genuine connection and community with social-first Gen Z audiences.
Liquid Death’s brilliant media strategy
ADWEEK shared an insightful discussion delving into the “ruthless media strategy” of Liquid Death.
The post highlights that Liquid Death’s explosive $1.4 billion valuation comes from more than just its edgy humor and shock value. The core of its success is a calculated, “ruthless” media strategy that redefines traditional marketing.
The brand focuses on creating highly entertaining content that consumers actively want to watch and share, effectively treating its creative campaigns as a third product line.
Instead of costly, conventional media buys, Liquid Death champions a social-first approach designed for maximum virality on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The company saves on its budget by relying on organic buzz. Remember the time when the brand auctioned ad space on its packaging?
Campaigns like these are quoted as examples of the brand’s intriguing media strategy.
Strategies to elevate your Black Friday marketing efforts
Renowned SEO software Moz shared a post discussing useful Black Friday marketing strategies for brands to adopt this year.
The post highlighted the need for brands to focus on data-driven strategies instead of merely creating deals and adopting traditional promotional marketing. It talks about creating a sense of urgency, clearly defining marketing funnels, investing in pre-Black Friday campaigns, using automation in relevant places, and other strategies. On the whole, the article delves into 22 useful and practical ways for brands to boost their sales during Black Friday.
Facebook chooses the traditional path for its holiday marketing
As brands are scrambling to get their holiday campaigns live on social media, social media giant, Facebook has announced its TV spot for the holidays. This is the brand’s first major campaign in 4 years, and no, it does not focus on using AI or technology as per the current trend. Instead, the ad goes back to the basics – leverages the power of emotional themes.
Titled “Home for Christmas”, this ad shows people reuniting for the holidays. It captures the magic in real moments, moments that make the holiday season special.
In addition to the TV spot, the brand is also launching a multi-channel campaign to amplify its message. The campaign highlights two things – the power of traditional media like television advertising in the current age and the value of focusing on authentic storytelling.
In the Content Marketing Realm
Why YouTube is one of the best platforms for podcasts
More and more brands are tapping into the impact of audio content, especially in the form of podcasts. Recently, YouTube shared a post discussing why every podcast should be on its platform.
According to YouTube, podcasts belong where audiences already spend their time watching and searching. The platform argues that adding visuals, even simple ones, makes podcasts feel more engaging and helps listeners form stronger connections with hosts.
Besides, YouTube’s search and recommendation engine makes it easier for new audiences to discover podcasts, linking episodes to related topics or videos. Beyond discovery, creators can build full content ecosystems hosting episodes, clips, and community posts all in one place.
The power of visual content in holiday marketing
The post here on the Think With Google page discusses how holiday shopping habits are changing rapidly. It particularly highlights the growing trend of visual discovery.
People are using tools like Google Lens to find products through image search rather than traditional keyword search. Additionally, video is also becoming a new storefront for inspiration and research.
Instead of a straight line from search to sale, shoppers now move fluidly between seeing something, checking reviews or tutorials, and then buying. Videos, especially from trusted creators, now play a huge role in that journey.
These trends highlight that visual content in the form of static posts and videos are no longer optional in marketing. The post highlights the need for combining meticulously crafted visual content with smart data and search integration to turn scrollers into confident buyers.
In the Design Realm
Freepik introduces an infinite canvas for collaborative creative workflows
Freepik has launched “Spaces”, an infinite canvas designed to connect and streamline the entire creative process. Freepik Spaces aims to solve the problem of fragmented workflows, where creators jump between many different tools and tabs.
It brings together all of Freepik’s AI features, including its image, video, audio, and editing tools, all into a single visual system. The goal is to streamline the tasks from ideation to delivery while eliminating complexities in collaboration.
Given that creators around the world are looking for more structured processes that allow them to plan, test, and refine their work, Freepik Spaces aims to deliver that.
Curious Coffee’s brand identity brewed from the coffee cherry
The Brand Identity shared a post discussing the brand identity of the coffee brand, Curious Coffee. The identity is built around the idea of starting at the source, the coffee cherry itself.
The logo is a circle representing the cherry, with the two internal beans opening up to form “CC brackets”. These modular brackets serve as a flexible frame that interacts with text, imagery, and color across all applications, from digital platforms to packaging. This system keeps the elements structured yet open.
The color palette moves beyond typical coffee blacks and browns, drawing inspiration from the rich, diverse tasting notes like berries and stone fruits to feel vibrant and approachable.
The brand identity of Curious Coffee demonstrates that building a brand’s core identity around the brand’s origins and its unique personality can be much more impactful than traditional approaches.
In the AI Realm
Apple’s Siri might soon get Gemini-powered upgrades
According to a recent post from MacRumors, Apple is reportedly teaming up with Google to supercharge its voice assistant, Siri. The deal involves Apple paying about US $1 billion per year to use Google’s massive 1.2 trillion-parameter AI model, Google Gemini, for functions like summarising tasks and planning multistep actions.
The model for Apple will run on Apple’s own cloud infrastructure, so Google won’t access Apple’s user data. Apple also tested models from OpenAI and Anthropic, but chose Google because of cost and capability considerations.
The AI agent battle – Amazon vs. Perplexity
The tension between tech giants and emerging AI startups is escalating as Amazon takes legal action against Perplexity. Amazon initially issued a cease-and-desist letter but has now filed a lawsuit, demanding that Perplexity’s AI browser, Comet, stop performing purchases on its site.
Perplexity responded with a strongly worded public statement titled “Bullying is Not Innovation.” They accuse the e-commerce giant of using aggressive legal tactics to stifle technological progress and user choice.
Perplexity’s argument is that Comet acts as a user’s personal “agent” or “labor” carrying out shopping tasks on their behalf, a function they believe benefits customers and should be embraced.
Google Maps gets new Gemini-powered updates
Google Maps is receiving a major upgrade with the integration of Gemini, promising a hands-free and more intuitive navigation experience.
A conversational driving mode powered by Gemini allows users to find places, share their ETA, and even report traffic disruptions using only voice commands while navigating. This includes complex, multi-step tasks like finding a vegan restaurant and adding a calendar event simultaneously.
Another update is navigation guided by visible landmarks, tapping into the 250 million mapped places with Street View images for context.
Furthermore, a new “Lens built with Gemini” feature allows users to point their phone’s camera at a location, such as a building or landmark, to ask conversational questions about it.
Perplexity introduces Privacy Snapshot for the Comet browser
Perplexity is evolving its AI-driven browser, Comet, with “Privacy Snapshot”, which is designed to be an intelligent personal assistant. Recognizing the need for core privacy in AI-powered browsing, this update puts user control front and center.
The Privacy Snapshot is a new widget on the Comet homepage, allowing users to quickly access and manage their privacy settings with a single click. The settings for the Comet Assistant, which interacts with websites on the user’s behalf, have also been clarified.
Users can now specifically block the assistant from taking actions on certain websites and clearly understand how their data is being used.
Comet already has a host of protection features like ad blockers, Safe Browsing technology and a hybrid compute model that ensures that passwords are only stored locally. The new Privacy Snapshot option builds on these existing measures.
AWS and OpenAI forge a multi-year partnership
OpenAI has entered a major multi-year deal with Amazon Web Services valued at around $38 billion. The partnership gives OpenAI access to AWS’s high-performance infrastructure, including its EC2 UltraServers powered by massive numbers of Nvidia GPUs and CPUs, to support training and scaling of advanced AI models.
This agreement marks a shift for OpenAI, which had previously relied mainly on Microsoft’s Azure cloud. The move signals OpenAI’s intent to diversify its compute resources while giving AWS a strong foothold in the competitive AI infrastructure space. Deployment starts immediately and will expand through 2026 and 2027.
Social Media Feature Updates and Algorithm Changes
Perplexity-powered conversational AI coming to Snapchat
Snap Inc. and Perplexity have announced a partnership to integrate Perplexity’s AI-powered answer engine directly into the Snapchat app’s Chat interface, starting in early 2026. While Snapchat already has many AI-powered features, this marks the company’s first large-scale integration of an external AI partner.
The integration will allow Snapchat’s nearly one billion monthly active users to ask questions and receive clear, conversational answers drawn from verifiable sources, all within the app. Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million over one year through a combination of cash and equity, upon global rollout.
On the whole, for Snap, the move means a new revenue stream and a stronger position in the race to embed AI into social apps. For Perplexity, it opens access to Snap’s nearly one-billion-monthly-user audience and after-market monetisation.
WhatsApp launches an app for Apple Watch
Great news for Apple Watch users! WhatsApp has introduced a new, dedicated app that lets you manage your chats right from your wrist. This means you can finally leave your iPhone in your pocket and still stay connected to your conversations.
The new app supports highly requested features that make messaging seamless and immediate. Users can now read full messages, see who is calling instantly, and even send messages directly from their watch. You can easily write a reply, record a voice message, or quickly send an emoji reaction. The best part is that the app even displays media like images and stickers clearly.
Tips and tricks to increase your reach on Instagram
Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, recently shared a post detailing 5 practical tips for creators and brands on Instagram to boost their reach on the platform.
First, he highlights the need for a strong hook for Reels since the first 3 seconds in a video can make or break its impact. Second, he talks about the need for clear captions, considering that a lot of people watch videos with the audio muted.
Third, he discusses turning on translations on the platform so that when your video reaches a user who does not understand your language, it still engages them. The next strategy is using relevant music in single image posts, carousels, and Reels where it feels relevant.
Finally, he highlights the trial feature that allows creators to have a trial run by sharing their video with non-followers to test the performance and response before adding it to their main grid and their followers.
YouTube introduces “Edit with AI” for Shorts
YouTube is rolling out a powerful new tool called ‘Edit with AI’ to simplify the creation of YouTube Shorts. This feature turns your raw camera footage into a compelling first draft, significantly reducing the initial editing effort.
The tool works by automatically selecting and arranging the best moments from your camera roll. This allows creators to skip straight to refining the story, perfecting the timing, and adding their unique creative touch. This is a huge help for creators who struggle with simply starting the editing process.
‘Edit with AI’ is launching in the Shorts creation tools on the main YouTube app for both iOS and Android. It will also be available on the YouTube Create app for Android. Creators can select clips, choose an editing style, and even add an AI voiceover in English or Hindi via the Create app initially.
Wrapping Up…
That’s a wrap for this week’s KIMP’s Picks edition. We truly hope these hand-picked, easy-to-digest updates help keep your brand’s strategy sharp and current. To get more such updates without spending all your time doomscrolling, stay tuned, and we’ll be back again with our next edition next Friday. Wishing you a creative and productive week ahead!
