Original thinking is your competitive advantage
đ° NoGood News Vol. 121 | More on the "ozempification" of content, A24's AI partnership, and World Cup marketing
Hi NoGoodies,
Welcome to NoGood News, your bi-weekly pulse on all things growth. We break down successful brand campaigns, provide the best guides on 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:
The Ozempic economy of ideas: The internet is being flooded with content at a pace weâve never seen before, and most of it looks identical. The brands leaning too hard on AI are destroying the one thing that makes their content worth citing.
A24 partners with Googleâs AI Lab: A24 just made a bet that could either redefine what an indie studio is or unravel everything that made it one.
The World Cup marketing wars: Adidas paid for the World Cup. Nike never did, and still walked away with a third of the credit. The brands that win the tournament all have one thing in common, and it has nothing to do with the size of the check they wrote.
Ready? Let's get into it.Â
âď¸ The Ozempic Economy Of Ideas
Understand what happens when AI rewrites the internet
Ozempicâs rise to cosmetic fame is no coincidence. Our cultural obsession with quick fixes, life hacking, and rapid results created the backdrop for the miracle weight loss drug to flourish. Social media laid the groundwork, delivering instant gratification and increased social pressure that normalized optimization and immediacy at all costs.
But Ozempicâs rebrand has distorted the market. According to one study from the National Institute of Health, affluent consumers obtain the drug off-label, limiting supply for at-risk individuals with obesity or diabetes who already experience barriers to healthcare access.
AI content generators are just another version of the miracle drug, and with enough resources, you can buy your way to the top. As a result, smaller brands and creators are being squeezed out of conversations as they battle for visibility with resource-rich competitors.
However, humans are getting remarkably good at detecting AI slop and can smell a quick fix from a mile away. AIâs âthis, not thatâ phrasing and overuse of theâbelovedâemâdash have gained widespread attention.
AI slop could also be harming your brandâs visibility and reputation across LLMs. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) research shows that LLMs are also beginning to detect and downvote AI content that doesnât add net-new value or appear credible.
Marketers need to embrace AI, sure, but healthy skepticism and guardrails are needed for your brand to succeed in the long term.
đĽ A24 Partners With Googleâs AI Lab
What happens when an indie film studio uses AI?
A24 built its entire reputation on human creativity. So why did they just take $75M from Googleâs AI lab?
Googleâs DeepMind just announced a partnership with A24 to build AI-powered filmmaking tools.
The existing conversation around AI-powered creativity has sparked debate about low-quality output and job loss.
So what weâre seeing here is Google borrowing A24âs creative credibility to win over its creative audience.
A24 clearly understands the reputational risk, which is why Google gets zero access to A24âs content library or data.
Scott Belsky, who leads A24 Labs, says that unlike most AI deals, this isnât about making films cheaper and faster.
The âresearch, not productionâ framing of the partnership protects A24 from appearing like itâs âselling outâ artistsâ work as AI training sets.
Because the moment a brand built on human craft becomes the face for the technology that threatens that craft, the trust starts to wear thin.
This is either the smartest move A24 ever made, or the most expensive brand risk in independent film history.
What are your thoughts on A24âs partnership with Google?
â˝ď¸ The World Cup Marketing Wars
Find out which brands earned a slice of the largest pool of human attention
Strip away the football and the lesson is blunt. You do not need to own the rights to own the conversation. You need a role. Every brand that has ever won a World Cup owned one of these:
The object. Adidas and the ball.
The emotion. Coca-Cola and the celebration.
The mythology. Nike and the player as a cultural figure.
The ritual. McDonaldâs and the family routine.
The utility. Visa and the transaction layer.
And thereâs a sixth role now, the one that decides 2026: earn the group chat. A World Cup campaign hasnât really landed until someone wants to forward it. Not because it was targeted at them, but because it gives them social currency: a clip, a joke, a player cameo, a ridiculous edit, a limited drop, a song. The group chat is the modern fan zone. Win there, or prepare to overpay for attention everywhere else.
One more thing, because it kills more World Cup campaigns than bad budgets do: respect the fansâ intelligence. Football fans have VAR-level sensitivity for cringe. They can hear an American campaign say âoffsidesâ like itâs a LinkedIn post. They know when a celebrity doesnât care and when a brand learned the sport from three TikToks last week. You cannot fake football fluency for a month. You can partner with people who have it, be specific, and let fans lead the language.
The World Cup is global, but fandom is local. Mexico wonât experience 2026 like England; Egypt wonât experience it like Argentina; and inside the US alone, Miami, New York, Dallas and Los Angeles will feel like four different tournaments. Strong central idea, local edges. That beats âfootball brings us togetherâ soup every time.
Whatâs an industry hot take youâve been too shy to say out loud? đ¤
Weâre building NoGoodâs first-ever 2026 State of Organic Social Report, and we want YOUR voice to power the data behind it!
From the rise of anti-AI marketing to the slow death of follower count, this report covers the trends, shifts, and chaos reshaping social right now.
But the data is only as good as the people behind it, and thatâs where you come in.
Share your unfiltered opinions in our 3-minute, anonymous survey. There are no wrong answers, just real ones.
đď¸ Q&A with an expert
A bi-weekly interview series with the best in the game
Q: What do brands consistently get wrong when planning campaigns for the World Cup?
A: Something that I have noticed with respect to the two most recent World Cups: bigger is not always better, and the spotlight can be incredibly impactful. I am thinking about the cinematic universes on par with Marvel that Adidas and Nike have each created. Nike created a 6-minute commercial with every single footballer and celebrity you know. Adidas actually went beyond using as many celebrities as possible, opting to create an ensemble of fictional characters who happened to be the best 3v3 players in the world, all narrated by TimothĂŠe Chalamet, who yells at you curtly and navigates his way through NYC traffic.
Look, sometimes simple is better. My favorite World Cup ad of all time features Neymar and his Beats (by Dre). His fatherâs words of encouragement, delivered minutes before the match, are overlaid, and Beats lets the viewer draw their own conclusions about the importance of music beforehand. In the end, the product sells itself. The lesson to be learned here is: dozens of celebrities or made-up local folklore will never have the same impact as the singular spotlight and a prospective customer coming to their own conclusions.
Q: Do brands need an official sponsorship to own a cultural moment like this?
A: Absolutely not! It might shock some people to know this, but Nike has actually never been an official FIFA sponsor. Thatâs right, theyâve spent the past few decades sponsoring players. And what could qualify as âowning a cultural momentâ more than providing the swoosh on the cleats worn by the player who scores the World Cup-clinching goal?
When comparing an official sponsorship to everything else on the outside, the idea of âownershipâ is incredibly important. Nike has tried to own the impact of the players themselves. But how many other cultural moments are there throughout the entire World Cup? The celebration, the anticipation, the coordinated line dances, hell, how about the sprint to the bathroom during the new match breaks FIFA has implemented for this WC? âOfficialâ doesnât matter nearly as much as finding your cultural niche and owning it.
âď¸ We wish we wrote this
Articles that caught our eye these past 2 weeks:
Shelf Life: The Fake Empire of âAuthentic Marketingâ by DIELINE
44% of social marketers feel like their boss doesnât understand social media by Link in Bio
đ Keeping up on the socials
Because IYKYK is better than FOMO:
đ Ready to meet your NoGood partner?
Tell us where you are and where you want to be â and weâll help get you there.