The Marketer’s Storybook: Trust Signals In An Algorithmic World
This week’s stories reveal a growing paradox in modern marketing. As algorithms become more powerful, brands are working harder to prove they’re human.
You can see it in Dove exposing how social media algorithms flatten beauty standards, in Icelandair hiring a deliberately terrible photographer to showcase the country’s natural beauty, and in National Geographic transforming billboards into permanent homes for bees. At the same time, OpenAI is quietly building an advertising business, Walmart is constructing the infrastructure behind creator-led commerce, and Brian Solis argues that AI is exposing a widening leadership gap inside organizations.
The common thread is trust. Whether brands are trying to earn it, protect it, scale it, or avoid losing it, trust is becoming one of the most valuable assets in an increasingly algorithmic world.
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. AI Is Exposing the Leadership Divide Inside Organizations
Brian Solis argues that AI is revealing a growing disconnect between executives and employees. While many leaders report saving four to twelve hours per week through AI tools, most employees say AI saves them little time, with 40% reporting no meaningful productivity gains at all. The emotional divide is just as stark: executives tend to feel optimistic about AI, while individual contributors are significantly more anxious about what it means for their jobs.
Solis points to what Workday calls the “AI tax,” where productivity gains are partially offset by the time spent reviewing, correcting, verifying, and refining AI-generated work. The result is that organizations may appear to be moving faster while unintentionally introducing new layers of complexity, rework, and uncertainty.
Key Takeaway: The biggest AI challenge facing most organizations is trust adoption. Employees will not embrace systems they do not understand, trust, or see benefiting them. Leaders who focus exclusively on efficiency metrics risk missing the human realities that ultimately determine whether transformation succeeds or stalls. Read more: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-exposing-ceos-leadership-divide-inside-your-company-brian-solis-qiw3c/
2. Dove Built a Vending Machine to Show How Algorithms Flatten Beauty
Dove installed “The Beauty Machine” at London’s Waterloo Station to demonstrate how social media algorithms reward sameness. The vending machine appeared to offer variety, but every selection dispensed the same unrealistic face, mirroring how algorithmic feeds repeatedly promote narrow beauty ideals. The activation was inspired by Dove research showing that one in two women and girls feel pressured to change their appearance, even when they know images online are manipulated.
The campaign transformed a complex issue into a physical experience people could immediately understand. Dove then invited women to participate in an open casting call, with selected images appearing on digital billboards around the station and across social media.
Key Takeaway: Great marketing often makes abstract problems tangible. Dove took something invisible and difficult to explain, algorithmic bias, and turned it into an experience people could see, feel, and discuss. The initiative showcases how the best purpose-driven campaigns go beyond raising awareness to create participation and action, which drives higher engagement of the issue. Read more: https://www.adweek.com/creativity/dove-built-a-vending-machine-to-show-how-algorithms-flatten-beauty/
3. Jake From State Farm Crosses Into Entertainment
State Farm has taken brand integration a step further by placing Jake from State Farm directly inside Netflix’s basketball comedy Running Point. The partnership includes both a traditional co-branded campaign and Jake’s first appearance as a character within a television series. For State Farm, it represents another expansion of a brand asset that already lives across sports, gaming, advertising, and social media.
What makes the move interesting is that Jake is no longer functioning solely as a spokesperson. He is becoming intellectual property that can travel across different entertainment environments while remaining instantly recognizable.
Key Takeaway: The strongest brand characters increasingly behave like media properties rather than advertising assets. Jake from State Farm has become a portable piece of IP that can create value across platforms, audiences, and formats. Brands should think carefully about which assets can evolve beyond campaigns and into long-term cultural properties. Read more: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/how-jake-from-state-farm-made-his-tv-debut-in-netflixs-running-point/816923/
4. Icelandair Wants a Really Bad Photographer
Icelandair launched one of the year’s most entertaining recruitment campaigns by offering $50,000 and a fully paid trip to Iceland for someone with absolutely no photography skills. The premise is simple: Iceland is so beautiful that even terrible photographers can take great photos.
The campaign cleverly pushes back against a world dominated by heavily edited travel imagery. Instead of showcasing polished professional work, Icelandair is celebrating authenticity, imperfection, and everyday travelers who simply want to capture memories.
Key Takeaway: Sometimes the strongest proof point is the opposite of what your category expects. Travel marketing is usually built on perfection. Icelandair is betting that authenticity is more persuasive. When every competitor is polishing reality, there is often an opportunity to stand out by embracing it. Read more: https://www.icelandair.com/flights/campaign/really-bad-photographer/
5. KitKat Turns a Chocolate Heist Into a Sequel
After approximately 400,000 KitKat bars were stolen during a shipment between Italy and Poland, the brand responded with humor, transparency, and a surprising second act. KitKat’s Canadian division has now been spotted escorting deliveries with black SUVs and what social media users have described as “presidential-level security.”
The campaign extends a story that was already generating attention online. Rather than treating the theft as a one-off incident, KitKat turned it into an ongoing narrative complete with tracking systems, consumer participation, and highly shareable content.
Key Takeaway: Many brands think earned media ends when the headlines stop. However, the smartest marketers look for opportunities to create a second chapter. KitKat understood that the story still had cultural momentum and found a playful way to keep it going while reinforcing brand personality. Read more: https://community.designtaxi.com/topic/26482-kitkat-enlists-presidential-level-security-for-trucks-taking-no-chances-after-grand-chocolate-heist/
6. National Geographic Turns Billboards Into Homes for Bees
To promote its documentary The Secrets of the Bees, National Geographic transformed outdoor advertising into permanent bee habitats across Manchester. The campaign includes large-scale “bloomboards” planted with more than 500 bee-friendly plants as well as smaller bee hotels installed throughout the city.
Unlike many sustainability campaigns that disappear when the media buy ends, these installations are designed to provide a lasting environmental benefit.
Key Takeaway: Purpose marketing becomes more powerful when it leaves something behind. National Geographic created media that serves both an audience and an ecosystem. The work demonstrates how brands can align promotional objectives with meaningful real-world impact. Read more: https://www.famouscampaigns.com/2026/04/national-geographic-turn-billboards-into-living-homes-for-bees/
7. OpenAI Quietly Builds an Advertising Business
OpenAI is exploring advertising opportunities as it looks to diversify revenue beyond subscriptions and enterprise licensing. While leadership has been careful not to flood ChatGPT with traditional ads, the discussions signal a future where AI assistants may become a new distribution layer for brands.
The challenge is that consumers already view AI differently than traditional search. Recent Ipsos data found that 63% of U.S. adults would trust AI search results less if they contained advertising. That creates a difficult balancing act. Users want utility and objectivity, while platforms need sustainable business models.
What happens next could reshape digital marketing. Search advertising became one of the most valuable businesses in history because consumers trusted the results enough to use them daily. AI assistants face the same opportunity, but they also face the risk of damaging trust before habits are fully formed.
Key Takeaway: Just because a platform can sell ads does not mean consumers are ready for them. Trust remains the most valuable asset in AI-powered environments. The companies that protect it carefully will have more options later than those that monetize too aggressively too soon. Read more: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-explores-advertising-revenue-opportunities
8. The Creator Economy Keeps Growing Up
Walmart’s latest creator-commerce initiatives show how dramatically the creator economy has evolved. The retailer is no longer treating creators as an awareness channel. Instead, creators are becoming part of the shopping infrastructure itself, influencing discovery, search behavior, product recommendations, and conversion.
The Walmart Creator platform now allows creators to earn commissions, connect directly with sellers, and create shoppable content at scale. Walmart is also investing in tools that help creators identify trends, optimize content, and align with how consumers increasingly search within social platforms rather than traditional search engines.
The broader story is that creator marketing is becoming operational rather than experimental. What began as influencer campaigns has evolved into a system that connects content, commerce, and customer acquisition.
Key Takeaway: The most sophisticated brands are no longer asking whether creators matter. They are building systems that make creator participation scalable, measurable, and deeply integrated into how products are discovered and purchased. Creator marketing is increasingly becoming a business model, not a media tactic. Read more: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/inside-walmarts-creator-driven-social-commerce-playbook/816113/
9. The Most Powerful Trust Signal Might Be Four Simple Words
As AI-generated content floods feeds, brands are beginning to use an unexpected trust signal: “This was not AI.”
Companies including Aerie, Le Creuset, and Coterie are explicitly disclosing when campaigns, visuals, and content were created without AI-generated people or imagery. The shift reflects growing consumer skepticism around synthetic content. According to Gartner research, 50% of consumers would rather spend money with brands that do not use generative AI in marketing, while 63% believe brands have a responsibility to disclose when AI is involved.
The movement is not anti-technology because most of these brands still use AI operationally. What they are protecting is the human element that customers associate with authenticity, creativity, and trust.
Key Takeaway: Transparency is becoming part of the product experience. In a media environment where audiences increasingly question what is real, brands that clearly communicate where humans remain involved may gain a meaningful trust advantage. Read more: https://www.wsj.com/cmo-today/brands-adopt-no-ai-disclaimers-to-stand-out-amid-the-slop-a92352af
10. The Future Belongs to Brands That Can Be Understood by Humans and Machines
Adweek’s Craig Elimeliah argues that many beloved brands risk becoming invisible in an AI-driven world. Why? The same clarity that helps brands resonate with consumers increasingly helps them surface in AI-generated recommendations, summaries, and purchase journeys.
Brands like Nike, Starbucks, and Burberry have recently returned to their founding stories, simplifying their narratives and reconnecting with what made them distinctive. Those decisions were designed for humans, but they also happen to make the brands easier for AI systems to understand and represent accurately.
The implication is significant and showcases how brand storytelling is no longer only about emotional connection. It is also becoming infrastructure for discoverability in an AI era.
Key Takeaway: A strong brand story now serves two audiences. It must resonate emotionally with people while remaining clear enough for AI systems to accurately interpret and recommend. Brands that cannot clearly articulate who they are and why they matter may struggle to remain visible in the next generation of discovery. Read more: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/brands-beloved-by-people-risk-being-invisible-to-ai/
My Stories
The Biggest Creator Economy Shifts Brands Need to Watch
I recently spoke at Creator Economy Conference Denmark in Copenhagen, and one message came through loud and clear: the creator economy is growing up. The conversation has moved far beyond follower counts and one-off influencer campaigns. The smartest brands are building systems around trust, community, measurement, and long-term relevance, while integrating creator content across everything from paid media and e-commerce to CRM and product development.
Some of the most fascinating insights came from brands like L’Oréal, Flying Tiger Copenhagen, and Visit Faroe Islands. We explored how creator content is influencing the entire customer journey, why comments are becoming the new reviews, how AI is reshaping discovery, and why the strongest creator partnerships increasingly look more like communities than campaigns. Read the full article here or watch my behind-the-scenes video from the conference.
Boston in the Snow: Travel, Work & A Few Local Secrets
My latest YouTube vlog picks up where the bathroom leak drama left off and follows me through the rest of my trip to Boston. Between work meetings, I squeezed in snowy walks through the Boston Public Garden, lunch in the North End, a few nostalgic Dunkin’ runs, and some of my favorite local shortcuts that helped me navigate the city like a true Bostonian. The snowfall made the city feel especially magical and reminded me why Boston remains one of my favorite places in the world.
The vlog also includes some practical travel tips, hotel insights, and a behind-the-scenes look at balancing business travel with content creation. If you’re planning a trip to Boston, love travel vlogs, or simply enjoy seeing what happens beyond the polished highlight reel, I think you’ll enjoy this one. Watch the video below.
5 Days in Taormina: Sicily’s Most Beautiful Base?
I recently published my complete guide to Taormina, Sicily after spending five days exploring this stunning hilltop town overlooking the Ionian Sea. From wandering Corso Umberto and visiting the Ancient Theatre to eating pistachio pesto pasta, sipping aperitivos in Piazza IX Aprile, and taking a memorable day trip through Mount Etna wine country, it was one of those destinations that constantly felt like a movie set.
In the guide, I share exactly where I stayed, the restaurants I loved, the attractions I think are worth your time, practical travel tips, and why a Mount Etna winery tour ended up being one of the highlights of the entire trip. If Sicily is on your travel wish list, this post will help you plan a trip that balances iconic sights with some of my favorite discoveries. Read the full guide here.
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.
If you found this newsletter helpful and want to buy me a coffee to say thanks, visit: buymeacoffee.com/jessicagioglio
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, Nokia, and more. Today, Jessica is a keynote speaker (book her here) and founder of With Savvy Media & Marketing, a strategic branding, storytelling, and growth marketing consultancy.