The Marketer’s Storybook: AI Action Figures, Pizza Caviar & A Faux Midlife Crisis

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This week’s stories prove marketers are rewriting the rules – and doing it with style, satire, and a sprinkle of slushie-flavored chaos.

From action-figure AI trends to brands giving up social altogether (hi, Lush) and creators shaping product design at Ninja, today’s smartest marketers are zigging while others zag. Whether it’s turning fast food into fine dining, selling eggs in a skincare store, or asking employees to prove AI can’t do their job – this week’s edition is one for the strategy playbook and the group chat.

Let’s dive in.

This Week’s Marketing Stories

A curated mix of breaking news, insights, and trends, each with actionable takeaways to inspire your brand storytelling.

1. The AI Action Figure Trend Taking Over Social

Everyone from the NHS to your cousin on TikTok is transforming into collectible action figures using AI. The trend is playful, customizable, and shockingly easy to execute with a full-body pic and a ChatGPT prompt.

Here’s the prompt I used for mine if you want to steal it. I’ll caveat that my action figure doll is not perfect and ChatGPT hallucinated a lot (including spelling my last name wrong hehe) but hey, sometimes done is better than perfect. Stay with it and be patient!

Prompt: [Upload a headshot or photo of you] Turn this person into a realistic 3D action figure inside plastic packaging like a collector’s doll. The doll should be smiling and stood in an upright position. She is [add any descriptions you want about yourself – I used my age, build, what I wanted to wear]. Add a nameplate at the top reading [name] and job as [job title]. Include accessories on the side like [list accessories in detail]. Use a [color] background to highlight the figure, and make sure it looks just like me.

Key Takeaway: Viral trends = real-time brand opportunities. If your brand has a character, persona, or product people can visualize, lean into this creative playground. Personalization, pop culture, and low-barrier tech make for powerful engagement. Read more

2. How Hilton Builds Its Brand Through 5-Star Storytelling

For Hilton, storytelling isn’t just a tactic — it’s the heart of their marketing strategy. In an interview with Hootsuite, Daniel Reynolds shares Hilton’s inspiring approach to brand storytelling. From real guest stories and emotional videos about wildfire relief to humorous takes on hotel horror stories, Hilton crafts narratives that resonate across business travelers, families, and luxury seekers alike. Its content is less about the room and more about the stay — the moments, memories, and meaning behind each visit.

Key Takeaway: Hilton proves that storytelling isn’t a campaign – it’s a culture. The brand’s success lies in weaving emotional narratives, spotlighting real people, and co-creating content that makes guests feel seen. For marketers, the lesson is clear: great brand stories don’t just promote – they connect, convert, and stay with your audience long after the scroll. Read more

3. Ninja’s Video Strategy Starts With Creators, Not Campaigns

Ninja (part of SharkNinja) invites creators into product development months before launch to ensure appliances are video-ready and then taps them for viral storytelling across TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest. Their “Slushie Scientist” campaign generated nearly 1M views on a single Mountain Dew recipe, and SharkNinja spent $585M+ on advertising in 2024 to fuel this approach. With short-form videos driving 89% of brand usage, Ninja’s secret is creator co-creation, not just promotion.

Key Takeaway: Involve creators before the launch, not just after. Ninja uses influencer feedback to fine-tune products and spark marketing ideas, ensuring campaigns are authentic, video-optimized, and built to connect with today’s content-first consumers. Read more

4. Lay’s Celebrates Flavor And Fan Stories With $1M Chip Contest

After a 7-year hiatus, Lay’s Frito-Lay has revived its Do Us a Flavor contest, inviting fans to co-create the brand’s next great chip. Out of 700,000+ entries, three story-driven finalists made the cut: Bacon Grilled Cheese (inspired by a dad’s signature sandwich), Valentina & Lime (a spicy nod to a childhood chip ritual), and Wavy Korean-Style Fried Chicken (born from street food memories in Seoul). The winner, voted on by the public, will take home $1 million.

Key Takeaway: If your brand has passionate fans, give them the mic. Lay’s shows how product co-creation can celebrate brand values and culture. I saw this firsthand during my time at Dunkin’ with the “Design Dunkin’s Next Donut” initiative. When you turn consumer enthusiasm into a structured program, you don’t just get new flavors — you build a brand people feel part of. Read more

5. Pizza Hut Pops Off With ‘Pizza Caviar’ And A Luxe Bump Box

Pizza Hut is turning fast food into fancy food with its new “Pizza Caviar,” aka smoky pepperoni-flavored pearls served in a luxe Bump Box alongside a personal pan pizza and sides. Available for just three days at a NYC location, the cheeky stunt leans into the fine-dining-meets-junk-food trend, riffing on the rising popularity of “caviar bumps.”

Key Takeaway: Limited-time stunts with a wink can deliver outsized brand buzz. Pizza Hut proves that when you remix cultural trends with brand relevance, you don’t need a massive budget to land in the spotlight – just bold flavor, strong visuals, and a sense of humor. Read more

6. Metricool Reveals What’s Working On LinkedIn In 2025

According to Metricool‘s analysis of 577,000+ posts, video is booming on LinkedIn, with impressions up 73%, views up 52%, and clicks up 31%. Polls also saw a massive 206% boost in reach, despite being underused. The platform is rewarding active pages, especially those posting consistently, with larger company pages seeing stronger engagement than smaller ones.

Key Takeaway: Video and polls are your golden ticket on LinkedIn right now. Use short-form, insight-driven clips to fuel engagement, and don’t sleep on polls as a fast way to spark interaction. For brands looking to grow, consistent posting still wins – especially once you pass that 1,000-follower mark. Read more

7. Shopify Sets New Hiring Rule: Prove AI Can’t Do It

Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke told staff that new headcount requests must come with proof the job can’t be done by AI. AI usage is now a performance expectation, with employees encouraged to explore how autonomous agents could transform workflows. Shopify, which cut 20% of its workforce in 2023, is doubling down on AI tools like Sidekick and Shopify Magic to boost productivity without ballooning team size.

Key Takeaway: Shopify’s mandate is a glimpse into the near future: AI-first cultures are becoming the norm. For marketers, this means rethinking workflows, embracing AI as a co-pilot, and using automation not just to save time – but to unlock new, previously impossible creative ideas. Read more

8. What Lush Learned From Logging Off Social For 3 Years

Since stepping back from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X, LUSH has doubled down on owned channels, from growing its email list to 6M+ subscribers and its app to 1.75M users, with 60% opting in to push notifications. The brand’s “anti-social” stance, once seen as extreme, now highlights an important shift: how brands can build loyalty and engagement beyond the algorithm, especially in a time of growing scrutiny around social media platforms.

Key Takeaway: Lush proves that building strong, direct customer relationships doesn’t depend on social media. For marketers, it’s a reminder to diversify your strategy. By balancing social with owned channels, you will future-proof your brand and foster more meaningful, long-term connections. Read more

9. Why The Ordinary Started Selling Eggs (Yes, Really)

In a surprise twist, skincare brand The Ordinary (part of DECIEM | THE ABNORMAL BEAUTY COMPANY) partnered with viral art collective MSCHF to sell cartons of eggs – yes, actual eggs – at two NYC store locations for $3.37 during a national shortage caused by an avian flu outbreak. While some were puzzled by a vegan skincare brand jumping into the egg game, most consumers saw it as what it was: a clever, culturally attuned stunt that showed up with real value (and groceries) when people needed it most.

Key Takeaway: The Ordinary proves that staying on-brand doesn’t always mean staying predictable. For marketers, the lesson is in showing up with purpose, not perfection – delivering relevance, delight, and utility in unexpected ways that get people talking. Read more

10. Why California Pizza Kitchen Faked A Midlife Crisis

To celebrate its 40th anniversary without going stale, California Pizza Kitchen launched a mock rebrand campaign featuring Busy Philipps, metallic graphics, Gen Z slang, and all. The long-form mockumentary-style video was part of a broader strategy to reignite relevance, spark conversation, and remind audiences that the brand still has plenty of personality. It was funny, self-aware, and rooted in real positioning work, not just a marketing gimmick.

Key Takeaway: CPK shows that reinvention doesn’t always mean reinvention. A playful campaign can breathe new life into a beloved brand — especially when it taps into cultural truths, embraces humor, and pairs long-form storytelling with smart digital targeting. Watch it here

My Stories

What Story-First Marketing Really Means (And Why It Matters More Than Ever)

I recently joined Dan Baptiste on Skyword‘s Content Disrupted podcast to talk about one of my favorite topics: story-first marketing. In this episode, we dive into how great brand stories cut through AI-fueled content clutter to build emotional connections and lasting impact. From macro vs. micro stories to why the best ideas come from the messy desk (not the sanitized brief), this conversation is packed with real-world insights from The Laws of Brand Storytelling.

Here are the episode links:

Unlock More of My Stories

🌍 Website: JessicaGioglio.com Your one-stop shop for all my books, speaking engagements, and blog posts on marketing and storytelling.

📚 Books:

  • The Power of Visual Storytelling: Learn how to shape a visual story around your brand using images, videos, GIFs, infographics, and more. Get your copy here.
  • The Laws of Brand Storytelling: The definitive guide to using storytelling to win over customers’ hearts, minds, and loyalty. Grab it here.

📱 Social Media:

Let’s connect and keep the conversation going!

Until Next Time

Thank you for being part of this journey. Whether you’re here for marketing trends, storytelling inspiration, or both, I’m so grateful to have you along for the ride.

Keep telling the stories that matter, Jessica

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