Hi NoGoodies,
Before we jump into another round of the NoGood News, here's a quick TL;DR of what's below:
Why is every brand obsessed with Taylor Swift’s engagement?
Read on about what it means for brands to follow viral trends
Social media roles aren’t “easy jobs” for junior talent anymore
Learn more about Zaria’s departure from Duolingo and what it signals
Will AI take over marketing?
Ready? Let's get into it.
💍 Why is every brand obsessed with Taylor Swift’s engagement?
Read on about what it means for brands to follow viral trends
Who cares if Taylor Swift is engaged?
Apparently, every B2C brand known to mankind.
Taylor Swift recently announced her engagement with Travis Kelce on Instagram and the internet went into a frenzy.
Brands like Panera Bread, Scrub Daddy, Poppi, Walmart(we can literally keep going) have created their own social posts within hours.
It’s not new to hear brands tapping into trends once they go viral.
But does every brand need to hop on the latest trend?
Trends are fun to participate in, but they have the most impact when they feel seamlessly integrated into a brand's identity.
Take Scrub Daddy – “Your mommy and daddy are getting married” ties in perfectly with their product without feeling like they’re selling it.
Then there’s Pixar comparing Taylor and Travis to The Incredibles’ parents.
One develops a consistent brand tone, while the other feels reactionary and forced.
We’re not saying don’t react to trends.
However, for brands, consider thinking twice before deviating from your content calendar.
So we want to know...
🤳 Social media roles aren’t “easy jobs” for junior talent anymore
Learn more about Zaria’s departure from Duolingo and what it signals
Zaria Parvez killed Duolingo (for real this time).
She recently announced her departure from Duolingo after 5 years.
But her next stop? DoorDash.
At Duolingo, Zaria was more than a social media manager – she created the playbook for unhinged marketing.
But behind the viral content was burnout and lack of recognition.
For years, social media roles were treated as “easy jobs" for junior talent despite being the ones defining brand identities.
And in today’s world, social is the first touchpoint for many.
Businesses are waking up to the fact that social is more than just chasing trends (hence Duolingo’s $300k+ job posting).
That’s why Zaria’s new role signals an evolution in Gen Z leadership.
Too often, companies celebrate hiring Gen Z talent without giving them the authority to lead.
But Zaria proved that they can– she built a strategy that gained over 8 billion impressions and millions of followers.
DoorDash is recognizing that work for what it is: leadership.
Gen Z leaders like Zaria are redefining what brand-building looks like for the next era of social.
And as Director of Social Media for DoorDash, Zaria shows that they too can be builders and strategists.
What are your thoughts on Zaria’s departure from Duolingo?
🤖 Will AI take over marketing?
Learn about the art of AI prompt engineering
With the increasing usage of AI in marketing functions (43% of marketing organizations report experimenting with AI), the question of “will AI take over marketing?” no longer stands. The answer is: it already has.
Enter prompt engineering.
The possibilities may seem limitless, but you have to remember that AI isn’t all-powerful; it is a machine, at the end of the day. Here are a few things to watch out for when engineering AI prompts:
Being Too Vague: Giving the AI the bare minimum direction and “seeing if it will be able to figure it out”.
Overloading: Giving too much context, especially when irrelevant or unrelated information bleeds in, can confuse the model.
Forgetting Priority: Avoid scattered or incoherent prompts.
Using Overly Complex Language: This doesn’t apply to industry terminology, but keep the instructional part of your prompts fairly simple in terms of language.
Not Setting Boundaries: Set specific boundaries for length, structure, format, and word count.
But here are a few tips and tricks to engineer better prompts…
🎙️ Q&A with an expert
A bi-weekly interview series with the best in the game
Q: How has the perception of social media as a “junior” job changed recently?
A: For years, many companies dismissed organic social as a junior-level task — “just a few silly videos the Gen Z intern can handle.” But the meteoric rise of Duolingo’s accounts, fueled by Zaria’s strategy and the brand’s investment in social, flipped that narrative. Suddenly, executives saw how a thoughtful social strategy could shape brand sentiment, drive cultural relevance, and expand awareness on a massive scale. Brands are now recognizing that organic social isn’t just fluff at the top of the funnel — it’s a powerful driver of long-term growth.
Q: How have you seen Gen Z influence the strategy and tone of social media teams?
A: Gen Z has fundamentally reshaped how brands approach social. Their influence has pushed teams to operate with greater agility, prioritizing speed, cultural relevance, and authentic value over rigid approval processes and short-term conversion metrics. In doing so, they’ve highlighted the importance of meeting audiences where they are in real time, even if that means trading traditional performance indicators for cultural impact. This shift has also accelerated the rise of younger leaders within social teams, proving that what was once viewed as an entry-level function is now a strategic discipline with real career growth and long-term brand impact.
✍️ We wish we wrote this
Articles that caught our eye these past 2 weeks:
Should marketers own 90% of the pipeline?
Can rage bait marketing make or break a brands reputation?
Nostalgia marketing doesn't work as good as it used to anymore
👀 Keeping up on the socials
Because IYKYK is better than FOMO:
Is this the worst or best billboard ad yet?
Flat design killed Frutiger Aero
Gap and Katseye have great jeans
Apple gambled everything on this ad
🔥 Trend Radar: Blow up or fall behind
The trending topics, sounds, and formats to keep an eye on:
🚀 Ready to meet your NoGood partner?
Tell us where you are and where you want to be — and we’ll help get you there.