The good, the bad, and the ugly of modern advertising

Most advertising today falls into one of three buckets:

The good.
The bad.
And the ugly.

So we tried something new this week on Upside.

Instead of theory, we sat down and broke down what we’re actually seeing out there right now: the campaigns, trends, and ideas shaping how brands grow (or don’t).

Here’s a snapshot of what came up:

The good:
Founder-led content is everywhere, and for good reason.
Challenger brands are winning by putting real people front and centre, building trust before they even launch.

The bad:
Beautiful, cinematic ads that tell a story…
…but forget to sell the product.
You’ve seen them, two minutes of emotion, then a logo at the end. Memorable? Maybe. Effective? Questionable.

The ugly:
AI-generated campaigns from legacy brands.
Faster, cheaper, but are they losing the very thing that made them iconic in the first place?

It’s not a lecture.
It’s a proper back-and-forth on what’s working, what isn’t, and where things are heading.

If you care about how brands actually win attention today, this one’s worth your time. break it down in a future episode.

And if there’s a campaign you’ve seen recently that made you think “that’s brilliant” or “what on earth is that?” send it over. We’ll break it down in the next one.

🎧 Watch or listen to this week’s Upside now 👇

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