ImaginEconomy Daily #13

When AI video ads hit 86% adoption while brands lose search control to Reddit threads, who's really running the show?

ImaginEconomy Daily #13
When Reddit threads outrank your own website for your brand name plus 'reviews,' you've lost ownership of the most critical moment in the purchase journey.

ImaginEconomy 🧠 ✨ 💰 : Brands, Strategy, Story and Design in the Age of AI


1. The 86% Tipping Point: AI Video Creation Becomes Table Stakes

Nearly 90% of advertisers will use or at least test generative AI for building video ads in 2025, with 86% already using or planning to use it for creative production, according to IAB's latest Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report. The shift accelerates as buyers project GenAI creative will reach 40% of all ads by 2026, with small and mid-tier brands adopting faster than their Fortune 500 counterparts. Half of advertisers already deploy Gen AI for video creation, using it to create versions for different audiences (42%), visual style changes (38%), and contextual relevance (36%).

ImaginEconomy Impact: The democratization of video production just reached escape velocity. When 86% of advertisers embrace AI video creation, we're seeing the birth of a new baseline. Small brands that once couldn't afford a single TV spot can now generate hundreds of high quality variations at marginal cost. But as production costs approach zero, the value of strategic thinking and creative chops approach infinity. Every brand can now create professional-level video. The winners will be those who know what stories to tell, not just how to render them. The playing field isn't level; it's been bulldozed and rebuilt with new rules where taste, timing, and cultural intelligence matter more than production budgets.

Source: IAB 2025 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report


Reddit Owns Your Brand's Bottom Line (And You Don't Even Know It)

Reddit now ranks for over 105,000 comparison keywords in Google's top 3 results, creating an unprecedented shift in bottom-of-funnel control. According to research, Reddit ranks for 1.8 million queries containing "reviews," most of these branded searches directly influencing buying decisions close to when people are about to convert. One investment company lost two major contracts the day a defamation Reddit thread started ranking #3 for their brand name. Another brand watched helplessly as a disgruntled customer created a branded subreddit filled with complaints that now ranks #2 for their name and #1 for their reviews.

ImaginEconomy Impact: Welcome to the post-SEO apocalypse where your carefully crafted brand narrative gets rewritten by anonymous Redditors. This is an existential crisis for brand control. When Reddit threads outrank your own website for your brand name plus "reviews," you've lost ownership of the most critical moment in the purchase journey. Almost 90% of businesses are doing nothing or very little on Reddit, citing lack of platform understanding as the main reason. It's a bit like ignoring a fire in your store because you don't understand combustion. Smart brands will stop treating Reddit as a social platform and start treating it as their most important sales floor, one where the customers rearrange the shelves without permission.

Source: Reddit marketing study on bottom-funnel dominance


TikTok's Bulletin Boards: The Algorithm Escape Hatch

TikTok launched Bulletin Boards, a broadcast messaging feature that lets creators and brands share one-to-many messages directly with followers, bypassing the For You Page algorithm entirely. Creators with access can create a Bulletin Board directly from their inbox, name it, write a description, and share text, photos, and videos with a limit of 20 bulletins daily. Major brands like Paris St. Germain and the Jonas Brothers are already using the feature to maintain direct connections with their audiences without algorithmic interference.

ImaginEconomy Impact: The creator economy just discovered its underground railroad. While everyone obsesses over gaming the FYP algorithm, TikTok quietly built an escape tunnel for brands tired of paying algorithmic tolls. Bulletin Boards represent the platform's acknowledgment that pure algorithmic distribution creates unsustainable creator anxiety. For brands, this is liberation: finally, a way to reach your actual followers without begging an algorithm for permission. But it's also a test. If brands can't create content compelling enough for opt-in consumption, they'll discover their algorithmic success was just sophisticated spam. The brands and creators that thrive will be those who earned real community, not just algorithmic lottery tickets.

Source: TikTok testing bulletin boards for direct creator-to-follower messaging


Publicis CEO to Industry Upheaval: "Clients Don't Care"

Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun dismissed concerns about industry disruption and Meta's AI advertising threats after the holding company reported 5.9% organic growth and upgraded its 2025 guidance. "When Meta comes along and says that they can do everything themselves, I think that they are completely underestimating the intelligence of our customers, who, moreover, are not fooled," Sadoun told investors. The French holding company doubled down on its AI investments while competitors struggled with leadership changes and merger complexities.

ImaginEconomy Impact: Sadoun's swagger masks a deeper truth: stability sells in chaos. While WPP scrambles for new leadership and Omnicom digests IPG, Publicis plays the boring card brilliantly. Their message to clients translates to: "Everyone else is distracted; we're working, and we're delivering – despite hearing for years that these platforms are going to 'eat us for breakfast.'" It's time to stop talking about how the platforms are going to replace professional services, and talk about how professional services are rising to the occasion. That being said, dismissing Meta's AI ambitions as pure bravado might also be premature celebration. When platforms control distribution, data, and now creative generation, agencies need more than French confidence. Publicis bets that value lies in strategic orchestration. What's your bet?

Source: Publicis Q2 2025 earnings call and investor presentation


Popeyes Weaponizes AI for Fast Food's First Diss Track

Popeyes dropped an AI-generated diss track complete with music video targeting McDonald's after the Golden Arches announced the return of Snack Wraps one day after Popeyes launched its own wraps. "We just dropped the first ever AI diss track music video and the Wrap Battle is on," the brand declared, featuring lines like "Food be tasting funny when the clown be in the kitchen." The campaign showcased AI's ability to generate both audio and video content rapidly for cultural moments.

ImaginEconomy Impact: Forget everything you know about brand feuds. Popeyes just established AI as the new option in marketing warfare. Beyond clever social media banter, this is a demonstration of how AI collapses the time between cultural moment and creative response. In the past, creating a professional music video required weeks of production. Popeyes did it in days. Every brand can now respond to competitors, trends, or cultural moments with broadcast-quality content before the news cycle moves on. But speed without strategy is just noise. Popeyes succeeded because they combined AI's velocity with genuine brand personality. The lesson isn't that every brand needs AI diss tracks. It's that AI removes excuses for not being timely and culturally relevant.

Source: Popeyes AI diss track campaign against McDonald's


Netflix Doubles Down: Ad Revenue Surges 150% as AI Suite Rolls Out

Netflix confirmed its advertising revenue will roughly double in 2025 after reporting a 150% increase in upfront ad sales, with its proprietary Netflix Ads Suite now fully deployed across all 12 ad-supported markets. The vast majority of deals with major agencies are now closed, with the company on track to achieve its revenue doubling goal through enhanced targeting, measurement, and programmatic capabilities. The streamer will launch interactive advertisements powered by generative AI in the second half of 2025.

ImaginEconomy Impact: Netflix just proved that platform players can have their subscription cake and eat advertising profits too. The 150% upfront increase signals that advertisers trust Netflix's walled garden more than the open web's chaos. But the real story is the in-house ad suite. By controlling the entire stack, Netflix bypasses the ad tech tax that bleeds traditional publishers. Every other streaming service now faces an impossible choice: build their own ad tech infrastructure at massive cost or accept permanent margin disadvantage. The interactive AI ads coming in H2 2025 will blur the line between content and commerce. When your favorite show's universe extends into personalized brand experiences, advertising stops being interruption and becomes extension.

Source: Netflix Q2 2025 earnings and advertising expansion plans


Delta's AI Pricing: Your Ticket Cost Now Depends on Who You Are

Delta Air Lines plans to use AI-driven dynamic pricing on 20% of its flights by the end of 2025, up from the current 3%, as it partners with Israeli tech firm Fetcherr to implement individualized fare pricing. By the end of the year, Delta plans for 20% of its ticket prices to be individually determined using AI. Over time, the goal is to do away with static pricing altogether. The system considers real-time demand and individual passenger data to set personalized prices.

ImaginEconomy Impact: The airline industry just admitted what we always suspected: there's no such thing as "the price" anymore. Delta's AI doesn't just adjust for demand; it calculates exactly what you're willing to pay based on your digital exhaust, conducting economic discrimination at scale. Fully personalized pricing has of course been an airline goal for decades, but AI finally makes it executable. The terrifying efficiency of knowing every passenger's price ceiling transforms flying from a commodity into a personalized tax on mobility. Other industries are watching closely. When AI can calculate individual willingness to pay for everything from groceries to healthcare, "market price" becomes a quaint anachronism and your data won't just track you; it will price you.

Source: Delta Air Lines Q2 2025 earnings call and AI pricing implementation


Bottom Line: The Control Inversion

Today's stories reveal an industry experiencing a fundamental inversion of control. AI democratizes video creation while Reddit democratizes brand destruction. TikTok offers algorithmic escape routes while Netflix builds advertising fortresses. Popeyes turns AI into cultural weapons while Delta turns it into price discrimination.

The connecting thread? Control is shifting from institutions to infrastructure, from brands to platforms, from fixed to fluid. When 86% of advertisers use AI for video creation, professional film production is no longer a moat. When Reddit controls your bottom-funnel narrative, brand management is no longer with the brand department. When algorithms determine reach and AI determines price, traditional marketing levers snap like twigs.

The winners in this inverted landscape won't be those who resist these shifts but those who surf them. Use AI's democratization to move faster. Engage Reddit's communities before they engage you. Build direct relationships that bypass algorithmic gatekeepers. Create value that transcends promotional messages.

Most importantly, recognize that in an age where AI can create anything and platforms control everything, the only sustainable advantage is being genuinely worth people's attention. Everything else is just negotiating with machines.


ImaginEconomy Daily Newsletter is curated for brand, business and marketing strategists, creatives, and leaders navigating the intersection of technology and human experience.