This week, brands flirted with secrecy, satire, and controversy. In each case, the real story wasn’t the campaign. It was the power dynamic underneath it.

Ring discovered that “helpful AI” can quickly feel like surveillance. Austria Tourism asked visitors to sign an NDA. QuickBooks gave the Tooth Fairy an automation crisis. Meanwhile, brands are now using generative AI to make fun of generative AI — and somehow getting away with it.

The throughline? Culture is hypersensitive. Audiences are decoding intention faster than ever. In 2026, brands aren’t just launching ideas. They’re navigating consent, credibility, and control.

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) Ring cancels Flock partnership after Super Bowl backlash

Amazon’s Ring terminated its planned integration with police tech company Flock Safety after backlash tied to its Super Bowl ad promoting “Search Party,” an AI-powered lost pet feature. Privacy advocates called the networked camera activation a “surveillance nightmare,” and scrutiny intensified around tech partnerships with law enforcement.

Although the Flock integration never went live, the optics mattered. In a trust-fragile environment, AI-enabled convenience can quickly be reframed as civil liberty risk. Competitor Wyze amplified that tension with a real-time parody ad suggesting Ring’s feature harnessed the power of a “small dictator-led nation state” and auto-enrolled users without consent. The satire sharpened the cultural critique and extended the controversy beyond the original spot.

Key Takeaway: When you scale technology, you also scale perception. In a surveillance-sensitive climate, companies must factor in consumer sentiment around privacy into both their storytelling and product design. Read more

2) Austria Tourism makes tourists sign an NDA

Austria Tourism launched “Non-Disclosure Austria,” a clever campaign asking visitors to sign a humorous NDA before unlocking insider travel tips. Social clips pixelated the country’s most beautiful winter locations, creating FOMO and requiring commitment before access.

While the NDA is not legally binding, it’s psychologically powerful. By withholding rather than broadcasting, Austria reframed tourism marketing as exclusivity and responsibility. It turns secrecy into status and disperses tourist flow while making a cultural statement about overtourism.

Key Takeaway: Scarcity drives desire, but responsibility builds longevity. When attention becomes a liability, withholding can be more strategic than amplification. Read more

3) Brands are using generative AI to make fun of generative AI

Almond Breeze, Equinox, and Dollar Shave Club are embracing AI-generated absurdity while simultaneously mocking “AI slop.” The creative strategy taps into cultural skepticism without rejecting the technology outright. Meltwater data shows Almond Breeze saw 43% positive sentiment, with minimal backlash.

This approach walks a tightrope. Brands are leveraging AI as both tool and punchline, aligning with consumer fatigue while signaling technological fluency. The success depends on clarity because audiences must understand the satire and not mistake it for laziness.

Key Takeaway: Cultural commentary works when intention is unmistakable. If you parody a tool, make sure the joke lands before skepticism does. Read more

4) Delta centers the Olympic journey, not the destination

Delta’s 2026 Winter Olympics campaign reframes air travel as part of the athlete’s emotional arc. Created with Wieden+Kennedy, the cinematic trilogy explores altitude training, airport check-ins, and the symbolic weight of baggage.

Rather than glamorizing destinations, Delta positions flight as connective tissue between preparation and pressure. Travel becomes devotion, not transportation. The work elevates an operational function into narrative infrastructure.

Key Takeaway: When your product is part of a larger ambition, make that the story. Supporting roles become powerful when framed as essential chapters. Read more

5) Valentine’s Day campaigns move beyond romance

From DoorDash’s gifting anxiety anthem to Clash of Clans’ bromance parody and Specsavers’ “Relationship Aid” hearing aid stunt, this year’s Valentine’s Day campaigns expanded the definition of love. Humor, cultural relevance, and practical truth replaced traditional sentimentality.

The strongest executions acknowledged modern relationships in all their forms, from awkward to imperfect, communal, and more. This sampling of campaigns showcases that seasonal marketing is no longer about cliché emotion. It’s about cultural fluency.

Key Takeaway: Holidays are cultural mirrors. The top brands activating around holidays reflect how their customers actually live, not how advertising once imagined they did. Oh, and if you watch one Valentine’s Day ad – I liked the Specsavers one the most! Read more

6) QuickBooks gives the Tooth Fairy an admin crisis

Intuit QuickBooks debuted a tax season campaign showing the Tooth Fairy overwhelmed by paperwork until automation restores balance. Kids are pictured protesting and expressing dismay over the Tooth Fairy missing their lost tooth moments due to admin overload. The whimsical narrative reframes financial admin, allowing the viewer to relate with their own tax and bookkeeping stress.

The creative marks a strategic shift from “do-it-yourself” positioning to “done-for-you” support, pairing AI agents with human expertise. Fantasy becomes metaphor for entrepreneurial burnout.

Key Takeaway: When complexity is a barrier to entry, storytelling helps the end viewer relate and wonder if the solution would work for them. Making pain tangible clarifies value faster than feature lists ever could. Read more

My Stories

Why Companies Are Suddenly Desperately Seeking Storytellers

Over the past year, one phrase keeps surfacing in headlines and hiring briefs: companies are “desperately seeking storytellers.” In this new piece, I unpack why this isn’t about creativity trends or better content production. It’s a structural shift. As organizations layer on AI, channels, and performance pressure, many have lost narrative clarity. They don’t need more content. They need coherence that connects brand ambition to commercial outcomes.

Drawing on two decades of in-house leadership and consulting work, I explore why storytelling is moving upstream, how AI is exposing weak strategy rather than replacing it, and why the smartest companies now treat narrative as an operating system, not a campaign tactic. If your team is producing more than ever but seeing less impact, the issue may not be volume. It may be clarity. Read more

Girls’ Spa Weekend in Bath: The Ultimate Relaxing 2-Day Escape

If you’re craving a restorative weekend that blends spa time, long lunches, and gentle city wandering, Bath remains one of the UK’s most reliable escapes. In this new post, I share exactly how we structured a two-night girls’ spa weekend, including our stay at the Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel, where to book treatments, what to eat (Clayton’s Kitchen was a highlight), and how to balance peak relaxation with unhurried exploring.

From mornings in robes and afternoons by the outdoor pool to strolling the Royal Crescent, Bath Abbey, and Pulteney Bridge, this guide is for anyone who wants indulgence without excess and calm without isolation. I’ve also linked my detailed Bath day-trip guide for those planning a more sightseeing-focused visit. Read more

How I Kicked Off 2026 in London

I started the year the way I needed to: a small New Year’s Eve dinner with close friends instead of a big party, followed by a long New Year’s Day walk up Primrose Hill. London delivered cotton candy sunsets, a striking Wolf Moon over Regent’s Park, and even frozen fountains in Trafalgar Square during an unusually cold stretch. There’s something powerful about beginning the year outdoors in this city, letting it reset you before everything speeds up again.

I’ve also been leaning into culture and routine: the Neo-Impressionists exhibition at the National Gallery, a brilliant performance of Into the Woods at the Bridge Theatre, and braving 38°F weather for outdoor tennis in more fleece layers than I care to admit. If 2026 has a theme so far, it’s balance — intimacy over intensity, reflection over rush, and saying yes to the things that stretch me just enough. Watch the video below.

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.

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• 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.

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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.

Jessica Gioglio is the co-author of The Laws of Brand Storytelling and The Power of Visual Storytelling. Professionally, Jessica has led innovative marketing and public relations programs for Dunkin’, TripAdvisor, Sprinklr, and more. Today, Jessica is a keynote speaker (book her here) and founder of With Savvy Media & Marketing, a strategic branding, storytelling, and content strategy consultancy.