TLDR Marketing 2026-06-24

Getty Images signed a multi-year deal with OpenAI to bring its licensed image library into ChatGPT. The content will appear in search and discovery experiences to improve visual responses with higher-quality, rights-cleared images. The partnership aims to make AI outputs more useful and trustworthy while expanding how Getty distributes its content.

Instagram is testing longer videos, episodic series, and live content on its TV app as it pushes into the living room. The app is expanding to Samsung TVs and adding channels, casting, horizontal video, and Stories. The move builds on its new Reels “Series” feature and puts Instagram in more direct competition with streaming platforms.

Lipton is using local creators as a recurring social function rather than buying creator campaigns in bursts. Working with Billion Dollar Boy, the brand built creator-led "Social Hubs" across seven markets, including France, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, where creators produce content for both Lipton's owned channels and their own accounts within a single managed system. The model lets a lean global team achieve local cultural speed without hiring market-by-market social staff, since creators already operate inside the platform behaviors and cultural timing that define each market.

The best meetings don't look like meetings. Instead of one person talking and everyone else nodding, Liberating Structures introduces simple formats that change how groups work. Methods like 25/10 crowdsourcing, Nine Whys, and Min Specs help surface better ideas, clarify purpose, and focus on what actually matters. The result is more ideas surfaced quickly, quieter voices heard, and clearer decisions by replacing open-ended discussion with guided interaction.

LinkedIn's new Collaborative Posts let two or more accounts, including Pages, co-publish a single post with every collaborator's name at the top and the content reaching all their networks at once. Currently in beta, the format runs on an invite-and-accept flow where no collaborator appears on the post until they accept, keeping both sides in control of the commitment. The credibility runs in both directions, since the creator brings an audience that actually engages, and the brand brings a professional co-sign that a tag doesn't carry.

TikTok is rolling out new AI ad tools led by its Symphony Agent, which can generate full video campaigns from text prompts and trending content on the app. It can turn ideas into ready-made videos, suggest variations based on top-performing posts, and let users refine or rebuild campaigns from those examples. The update also adds features for dubbing, creator discovery, and campaign briefs, making it easier to produce and scale content using what's already working on TikTok.

A webinar with Kevin Indig will break down how to get products recommended in AI search, drawing on work with companies like Airbnb, Shopify, Reddit, and G2. The session focuses on what's working today, including whether SEO still matters, how startups can compete, and which tactics drive the most leverage. It's positioned as a strategic discussion for founders and marketers, not a how-to guide. It takes place on July 1 at 8 AM ET.

Creative direction matters more than taste in an AI-saturated market because strong brands create new ideas instead of curating existing ones. AI makes good execution and good taste easier to access, so brands gain attention by building a distinct point of view that competitors cannot copy. Brands like Liquid Death and Bandit stand out because they create new aesthetics, products, and cultural experiences rather than refining familiar ones. Trends spread and normalize faster than ever, which makes originality more valuable. The brands that win give creative teams a clear vision and the freedom to create work that feels different from what the market already considers good.

We're hiring a senior PMM to own product marketing at TLDR. You'll define our positioning, build out sales enablement, and lead every launch. Learn more.

Starbucks is turning employee-generated content into a structured marketing channel by giving employees briefs, ad revenue sharing, and a direct path into paid advertising through TikTok's Creator Network. The strategy builds on the idea that authentic employee content influences product discovery, as 61% of Gen Z and 40% of all consumers say they frequently learn about new products and services from employee-generated content. Starbucks already has a strong foundation because its employees post at three times the rate of employees at similar-sized chains. Paying and supporting employee creators helps the brand scale credible social content while giving employees an incentive to keep creating.

AI delivers the most value in e-commerce when it connects decisions across marketing, merchandising, inventory, and pricing instead of automating isolated tasks. There are four reinforcing levers: growth, productivity, value chain efficiency, and profitability, which create a flywheel where better personalization improves demand signals and stronger demand signals improve inventory and pricing decisions. AI can strengthen advertising by improving product discovery, recommendations, email segmentation, ad creative, and product page content. Smaller merchants can build the same flywheel by using AI to analyze customer questions and feedback, then applying those insights to content, FAQs, and promotions while measuring conversion rates, returns, support volume, and revenue per visitor.

Polymarket ran 118 undisclosed paid influencer ads showing fabricated wins, told influencers not to disclose the arrangement, and now faces potential CFTC fines.

The Agentic Ads format launches with Papa Johns for food ordering and concert ticketing via Ticketmaster, available on Echo Show devices.