Hi again friends,
Coming to you live from Advertising Week 👋. Gary Vaynerchuk wrapped his session this morning with his favorite new catchphrase: “I don’t think people in this room understand how much live social shopping is going to impact media in the coming years.”
Another thing that’s standing out to me is just how much of the conversation is about AI. I ran all the session names through ChatGPT, and more than 40% had “AI” in the title.
At the same time, both Sam Altman and Jeff Bezos have said recently that we might be in an AI bubble.
What do you think?
Is AI in a bubble? |
(October 7th)
⚠️ MrBeast warns: “Scary times ahead for creators”
MrBeast says the rapid rise of AI-generated video could flood the internet with synthetic content that mimics top creators, threatening authenticity, CPMs, and viewer trust. He’s urging creators to double down on personality, community, and IRL brand building.
More on this below…It is spooky season after all.
📺 ASOS launches “ASOS Live” to blend creator content and shoppable video
UK’s favorite fashion house, ASOS, has rolled out ASOS Live, a new immersive video shopping experience inside its app. After trial runs, the feature lets users watch live or on-demand creator content (style tips, beauty tutorials, trend edits) and shop instantly. The brand says early results include longer session times, higher conversion rates, and 94% of views happening on replay.
🤖 Meta builds AI “agents” for brands and shoppers
Meta is testing AI-powered “agents” that can act as assistants, shopping concierges, and brand reps across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. These agents can answer questions, recommend products, and even handle transactions inside DMs, all trained on brand data.
Meta is ultimately turning its social platforms into conversational commerce hubs, collapsing customer service, ads, and conversion into one AI layer. For creators, it hints at a future where your “brand self” or “assistant self” can keep selling long after you log off.
🎤 Creator Spotlight
Alex Cooper turns podcasting into a creative shop
Alex Cooper, best known as the voice behind Call Her Daddy, has just launched Unwell Creative Agency, under her media umbrella Unwell.
It’s not just about leveraging her fame, she is building an agency focused on connecting brands with Gen Z women through content, live events, branded productions, and campaign activations.
Key numbers and deals:
Cooper’s media empire previously secured a $100M deal with SiriusXM, helping scale her platform.
The new agency’s first big win? A multi-year contract with Google, producing social media ads and event work.
Unwell Creative will run lean, under 100 staff across all Unwell divisions (Hydration, Productions, Podcast Network).
Cooper’s pitch is that brands now need fluency in Gen Z culture, and who better than someone who built deep trust with “the Daddy Gang”? She plans to remain involved in the agency’s creative and strategic output, but not every campaign will bear her face.
This is the latest example of creators realizing they’re no longer just channels for distribution, they’re full-stack creative entrepreneurs, building entire service businesses around the audiences they’ve built.
📎 Read more in Wall Street Journal
🔭 Trend Watch
Should creators be worried about AI videos?
When AI videos are just as good as normal videos, I wonder what that will do to YouTube and how it will impact the millions of creators currently making content for a living.. scary times.
— MrBeast (@MrBeast)
4:41 PM • Oct 5, 2025
As always, it depends. It depends on what kind of creator you are.
If people watch you because they want you, your voice, taste, or worldview, you’re probably on the safer side of the spectrum. But if you’re operating in the “commodity” zone, the faceless explainer videos, “5 weekend recipe ideas,” or generic unboxings and reviews, that’s where AI will bite first. Those formats are about output, not perspective, and machines are already better at output.
Still, the answer isn’t to resist AI, it’s to use it to your advantage. Whether that’s brainstorming new ideas, editing faster, or generating extra b-roll to make content feel richer, AI can expand creative capacity instead of replacing it.
A few months ago, I was convinced I’d never fully enjoy AI videos, too cold, too soulless. But after watching clips made with Sora 2 in the last week, I’ve actually laughed out loud more often than not. The creativity is there, and the quality is now pretty great. That’s the real turning point: when the tools stop being novelties and start producing watchable ideas.
We’ll also start seeing a flood of new “creators”, or maybe content prompt generators is the better term, people who couldn’t produce before but suddenly can, thanks to these tools. The question is: does this expand the pie, or just slice it thinner? Will AI make the creative economy bigger, or will it just make it noisier?