Did Hermès just rewrite the traditional luxury marketing playbook?
📰 NoGood News Vol. 110 | Illustrators and animators are becoming status symbols
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Welcome to NoGood News, your bi-weekly pulse on all things growth. We break down successful brand campaigns, provide you with the best guides for all things growth marketing, and share emerging trends and insights to keep you ahead of the curve. Plus, exclusive interviews with some of the best in the game.
Here's a quick TL;DR of what's below:
Hermès goes anti-AI in their latest move: Anti-AI branding is on the rise, with brands like Almond Breeze and Equinox jumping on the trend. But sometimes, the brands that make the least noise stand out the most. That’s exactly what Hermès did.
OpenAI drops ChatGPT ads: ChatGPT ads are here, and users are not happy. With AI platforms like Claude receiving praise for heading in a different direction, we can’t help but wonder: will we witness the downfall of ChatGPT?
The future of search in 2026: Everything you knew about search in 2025 is changing in 2026. From foundational concepts to AI optimization strategies, we’ll let you in on where search is heading and how to stay ahead.
Ready? Let's get into it.
🎨 Hermès goes anti-AI in their latest move
Why Hermès’s website redesign is a pivotal move in the age of AI-slop
Hermès just did what every luxury brand is afraid to do: hire an illustrator.
Hermès commissioned French artist Linda Merad to create illustrations for their website redesign. Hand-drawn elements appear throughout the experience – integrated into navigation and transitions.
The site feels less like a traditional e-commerce platform and more like a space designed to be explored, where visual storytelling takes priority over efficiency. On the other hand, typical luxury brands follow the same digital playbook: photography, tight layouts, and isolated product shots.
But what makes this move stand out is the timing.
Some brands have been automating any design they can because it’s fast and free. Meanwhile, consumers are exhausted and figuring out ways to combat AI slop fatigue.
While this redesign is a testament to Hermès keeping their standards high for human craftsmanship, it’s also strategic positioning. Hand-drawn illustrations have started to trend because they’re the outlier to AI-generated sameness.
So where perfection is automated and abundant, imperfection becomes premium.
A hand-drawn design signals presence because it proves someone invested time in the creative process. And as consumers continue to combat AI slop fatigue, human touch and investment of time become the differentiators.
What are your thoughts on Hermès tapping an illustrator?
🤖 OpenAI drops ChatGPT ads
How ChatGPT solidifies their brand identity
Are ChatGPT ads the right move for OpenAI?
OpenAI just announced that they’re testing ChatGPT ads across free and Go tiers in the US. Sam Altman says responses won’t be influenced by advertising, nor will your data and conversations be sold to advertisers.
While the announcement received mixed reviews amongst ChatGPT users, this move wasn’t unintentional.
ChatGPT has what other AI platforms don’t — first-mover advantage — meaning that for many users ChatGPT has become the default option for everyday questions and tasks.
With such a large user base, ads become a natural next step to set up a sustainable revenue stream for a freemium model. We don’t see this with AI platforms like Claude or Gemini because their use cases and target audiences are completely different.
Claude steers away from being the “go-to, default AI” path and primarily targets enterprise users and developers. Gemini’s use case is built on identity – using Google’s identity to emphasize AI integration rather than distinction.
Each AI platform is finding and defining its own brand identity. Because all the tech feels similar, the user behavior and subsequent positioning is what creates that differentiation.
What are your thoughts on ChatGPT ads?
🔍 The future of search in 2026
Learn how to build a future-proof search marketing strategy
Common Search Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2026
Ignoring AI search entirely: Your competitors are already optimizing for it. By the time AI search is “mainstream,” you’ll be playing catch-up with established players who’ve spent years building citation authority.
Abandoning traditional SEO: It’s still the foundation; you can’t skip steps. The marketers succeeding in AI search all built strong traditional SEO first.
Obsessing over vanity metrics: Rankings and clicks tell an incomplete story in 2026. Focus on engagement, conversions, and business outcomes.
Not adapting measurement: Using 2022 KPIs for 2026 search leads to misread performance. Update your dashboards, educate stakeholders, and redefine success metrics.
Siloing strategies: SEO, SEM, AEO, and social media should work together, not in isolation. Break down team silos and create integrated strategies.
Forgetting the human element: AI-generated content without genuine expertise won’t win in traditional OR AI search. Both reward authentic expertise and original insights.
🎙️ Q&A with an expert
A bi-weekly interview series with the best in the game
Q: What design skills are becoming more valuable in the era of AI slopification?
A: In today’s era of AI slopification, the value of design skills have been fluctuating dramatically. Unfortunately, fine art skills such as sketching, painting, sculpting, rendering (both on paper and digitally) are losing value since it’s becoming increasingly easier to generate “hand-drawn / designed” visuals with just a simple prompt. While I do not support using AI as a replacement for designing visuals, I believe that learning how to work with AI to support the design process is really important today. If I had the time, I would 100% be designing everything by myself.
However, in a fast-paced industry like marketing, it’s important to find a balance between designing from the ground up and using AI. This is where critical thinking becomes important. When creating a design, where can AI be used to expedite the process, without resulting in another generic looking AI generated ad? Using AI to generate small elements within a design, such as textures/icons/specific imagery, instead of generating the entire design is a way designers can still control the outcome. Additionally, when using AI-designed elements, it is crucial to look at the design without bias, so it becomes clear if the design breaks the balance and looks like AI-generated slop.
Q: At what point do you think hand-drawn design crosses over from being authentic human craftsmanship to just another marketing tactic?
A: With how easy it is to generate realistic-looking hand-drawn imagery, actual hand-drawn design is becoming more valuable. Especially the hand-drawn design that has “imperfections” or looks “raw”. Hand-drawn design has personality and character - something AI generated visuals cannot capture. If more brands are able to successfully leverage raw and organic design, they will have a completely unique and distinct brand identity that sets them apart from competitors. While this would take a LOT more time to execute, the results will be significantly more human, relatable, and consequently, better.
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