Why is every brand obsessed with hiring "storytellers"?
đ° NoGood News Vol. 118 | More on how entertainment defines organic social, the best World Cup commercials, and long-form content creation
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Here's a quick TL;DR of what's below:
Entertainment infiltrates the marketing org chart: A job title that didnât exist five years ago is showing up inside some of the biggest marketing orgs in the world. The brands paying attention to this trend are starting to look a lot less like advertisers and a lot more like media companies. But whatâs driving this shift?
Adidas drops the best World Cup commercial: At a time when Nike is facing mounting pressure, Adidas locks in its positioning right before the biggest sports moment of the decade. And with one five-minute short film, they may have already won the marketing game before a single World Cup match was played.
Creating long-form content (the right way): Short-form content gets all the attention, but long-form has been playing a different game for a while now. From AI search citations to brand affinity, its role in a content strategy has never been more consequential. And we break down exactly how to do it well.
Ready? Let's get into it.Â
đ¸ Entertainment Infiltrates The Marketing Org Chart
Why brands like Ramp and Gap are hiring âstorytellersâ
The percentage of LinkedIn job postings that include the term âstorytellerâ doubled in a single year. Executives said âstorytellingâ on earnings calls 469 times in 2025, up from 147 times in 2015. Notion merged its communications, social, and influencer functions into a single team, calling it âstorytellingâ.
These shifts in the marketing org chart are indicative of where the biggest brands believe attention is going and what it will take to hold it.
Two weeks ago, Ramp posted a job listing for a Head of Content. The mandate was written directly into the listing: âRamp is building a media brand, not a content calendar.â
This is not the first time Ramp has signaled where itâs headed. Six months ago, we wrote about Ramp putting Kevin from The Office in a glass box for seven hours to process expenses by hand while their software handled 600,000 in the background. Function-forward fintech marketing was getting replaced by something built around characters, narrative, and a live event that generated its own UGC flywheel.
What theyâre building toward is becoming the publication that finance leaders actually seek out, the authoritative voice at the intersection of technology and finance that trade media is no longer positioned to be.
Gap hired a former Paramount executive to build a world around the brand rooted in music and cultural partnership. Ramp is hiring a media builder to turn proprietary spend data into content that no trade publication can produce.
The formats are different, but the underlying question still stands: what does it actually take to earn attention from the people youâre trying to reach, and are you willing to build the organization around that answer?
â˝ď¸ Adidas Drops The Best World Cup Commercial
How Adidasâ brand strategy shines through in their latest ad
Adidas just released the best World Cup Commercial so far.
Adidas dropped âBackyard Legends,â a five-minute short film featuring TimothĂŠe Chalamet, Messi, and Bad Bunny.
In this âtrue storyâ reenactment, Chalamet is determined to end the streak of a legendary street soccer crew that hasnât been beaten for 30 years.
But instead of selling performance, Adidas places the spotlight on the feeling of playing the sport.
Compare that to their rival, Nike, whose strategy has always been product-first and performance-focused.
At a time when Nike is facing backlash over a design flaw in its World Cup jerseys and declining sales, Adidas solidifies its positioning during one of the biggest sports moments of the decade.
Adidas has always owned the journey-over-destination lane, and this campaign locks that in right before the World Cup kicks off.
By closing with âYou Got This,â the brand positions everyday players as the legends, shifting the spotlight from performance to the joy of the game.
That kind of emotional brand messaging is what builds loyalty amongst viewers beyond the game.
Which brand do you think is winning the World Cup marketing wars?
đĽ Creating Long-Form Content (The Right Way)
The methodology for long-form content creation with AI search in mind
Does long-form content actually matter? Short answer? Yes. A lot. While short-form content has its value and can help you maximize your reach, long-form content is how you maximize your value (both inside and outside of YouTube).
Search Engine Dominance
Long-form content is favored by Googleâs algorithm because it is more comprehensive and helps answer questions thoroughly. Google is undisputedly the largest search engine in the world, and YouTube is the second-largest. Together, they work in tandem (giving you double the exposure). But the value of long-form YouTube content extends beyond traditional search.
The Shift to AI Search
One of the top sources of answers for AI chatbots is YouTube long-form content! This means there is a massive untapped opportunity for the creators and brands who prioritize long-form content to gain additional authority. This kind of exposure is something you simply cannot replicate through traditional social media algorithms. Instead of just providing an answer, your video and brand become the answer.
The Numbers Donât Lie
According to Marketing LTB, long-form content attracts 77% more backlinks than short posts, resulting in greater authority and more organic traffic over time. SQ Magazine reports that YouTube users worldwide watch over 1 billion hours of content every day. Long-form has one ingredient that short-form has a genuinely hard time replicating: a real connection with the viewer. Think of short-form like fast food. Most of the time, itâs forgotten the second after youâre done. Itâs a lot more difficult to form a relationship with.
đ˘ Events To Keep On Your Radar đ˘
AI Search: Off the Record â #NYTechWeek
Join us on June 3rd in SoHo for an exclusive evening on whatâs actually working in AI Search right now.
Weâre bringing together founders, search marketing leads, and growth operators for an honest conversation about everything from agentic commerce to social as an AI citation source.
Food and drinks courtesy of Carbone and Levain Bakery. Come talk shop with some of the most recognizable brands in tech, retail, and media.
June 3rd, from 6 PM to 8 PM.
2-Day AEO Masterclass Course
On June 10â11, NoGoodâs CEO is running a 2-day live masterclass built for teams ready to move from awareness to execution.
What youâll walk away with:
â A full AEO framework built from real brand audits and millions of data points
â How social and earned media directly shape what LLMs say about your brand
â The exact tools and metrics that track AI visibility across every major surface
â Live Q&A with Mostafa. Bring your hardest questions.
This is the playbook. Built by the team that created the first AEO course on Maven.
Are you ready to make the shift?
đď¸ Q&A with an expert
A bi-weekly interview series with the best in the game
Q: With AI citations in the picture, how should brands approach âevergreenâ content versus trending content?
A: If youâre creating content purely to share information on an evergreen topic, AI already does that better than you. But hereâs what AI doesnât have: a perspective. Our little caveats, biases, and strange takes are what create entertainment, something AI genuinely canât replicate. The shift isnât toward more information. Instead, itâs toward more nuance. Whether thatâs humor, a take so unexpected that even the most advanced AI has a stroke trying to comprehend it, or just a voice that feels undeniably real. If youâre going to create evergreen content in 2026, you need the sprinkle on top that makes it yours. More difficult? Yes. More competitive? Absolutely. But people still crave the human element, and honestly, theyâre going to crave it even more as AI floods the internet. Evergreen content isnât dead; all it needs is a pulse.
Q: If short-form gets you in front of people and long-form gets you in front of AI, where does each format fit in a brandâs strategy?
A: Short-form is great for reach, but long-form is where a brand gets remembered. Think of short form as your handshake and long form as your business card. The mistake most brands make is treating them as separate strategies instead of letting them work together. Short-form creates curiosity, but long-form answers it. And with AI citations now pulling from long-form content, thereâs a brand-new audience to tap into: the non-doomscroller. The person who isnât mindlessly scrolling a feed but actively asking questions and looking for real answers.
âď¸ We wish we wrote this
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đ Keeping up on the socials
Because IYKYK is better than FOMO:
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