Fuck! What? Cool.

How to grab attention in a world where anyone can produce Hollywood level content. And a new mascot 🐶.

Hey Brand builders —

This is the first edition of the new version of this newsletter. Every issue, I’ll go deep into one topic around building brands in the AI era. And at the end of this one … some exciting news!

Let’s get into it.

---

Fuck! What? Cool.

There’s a thought I’ve been chewing on ever since I read this post by Dan Salkey: F*ck What’s Cool

The best brands don’t just aim for "cool." They start by triggering attention. Then they build intrigue. Only then do they pay it off.

In a world where anyone can generate Hollywood-level visuals in 30 minutes, being polished isn’t impressive. Production quality won’t make you stand out anymore.
The challenge now is: how do you disrupt enough to earn a moment of real attention?

AI has made production infinite, but creativity is still the only thing that builds a brand. That’s why the next generation of brands will be:

• Weird. Interactive. Playful. Meme-aware.

• Not just watched — but experienced.

• Built on story, systems, and IP — not just guidelines.

Examples?

• Interactive ads are coming to the mainstream — Google now allows playable, responsive formats. Here’s how brands are becoming games.

• Mascots, if used right, become vessels of story and stunts — not just cute faces. A controlled character > a chaotic celebrity.

• And generative tools let you move fast enough to trigger people to build on cultural moments. Heck, even the White House is doing it (please check the comments for the spoofs 😅).

The man - the legend 😅

---

I'm Ending the Podcast — Here's Why 🎤

I’ve decided to end the podcast. Not because I didn’t love doing it — but because the format no longer fits where I want to go.

This new era of brand building is visual, visceral, fast-moving, and deeply expressive. And I want to immerse you in that world, not just talk about it.

You’ll start to see more experiments — formats that move, provoke, and play. Characters. Worlds. Weird ideas. Things you can feel, not just hear.

Which brings me to…

---

Meet Marcel 🐶💀

This is Marcel, my new mascot. A quirky blue dog. He’s cute but weird. Playful but layered. His MMGA hat (“Make Mascots Great Again”), skull necklace, and offbeat charm are no accident.

I created him with a few goals in mind:

• He should be a little weird (the ‘Fuck?’ moment)

• He should have layers of intrigue (the ‘What?’ moment)

• He should be lovable, funny, entertaining (the ‘Cool.’ moment)

Besides that, I ran into restrictions with previous mascots when it came to speaking, so this time that was a focus point. I made sure he had a good mouth that models recognized.

Marcelel is one way I’m bringing this new vision to life — a brand world where characters evolve, stunt, and surprise.

---

👀 Want to dive deeper?

This newsletter will always be free, but I’m also launching a paid version for just $6/month or $60/year (for the first month) called ‘The buckle-up briefing’.

Every two weeks, you’ll get:

• 10 highly curated links, tools, and examples that show how brands are evolving in the AI era

• Behind-the-scenes tutorials — in the upcoming version, I’m sharing a behind-the-scenes tutorial of how I designed Marcel

• Frameworks and tools to help you develop your generative AI brand universe

This is built for brand builders who want to stand out — and scale — in a generative world.

Want a taste? Here’s the full version of the first briefing for free below.

👉 Upgrade here to get the full edition and future issues every 2 weeks in your inbox (on top of the free newsletter). The first edition is dropping on Monday.

Buckle up, and let’s build brands!