AI has its applications, but recently, more and more AI-generated menus, posters, and marketing materials have been cropping up. This has led to many online and offline comments about a lack of creativity, inaccurate representation, and a generally lazy approach to asset creation.

The core issues with AI-generated content

Beyond customers disengaging from AI-generated assets, there are several issues that are apparent with this approach. The key one is creative opportunities being taken from skilled designers, photographers and copywriters. Outsourcing content creation to AI snubs very capable content creators out of work.

So why is this an issue? Well, aside from the lack of work, it also raises issues around quality, styling, and effort. All of which creatives provide when designing marketing materials.

Other issues that present with AI-generated designs are the inconsistent quality. We observe a lack of textural accuracy with things like food items, with burger buns looking ultra shiny, burger patties looking bumpy, poorly coloured, and just generally not like food. Proportions are off, the colour palettes are often entirely different from the products, and “creative” liberties are taken with the overall styling.

What it highlights is the need for accurate media materials, especially when marketing materials like food menus are being distributed. There’s an art to food photography, which is excellent for inducing cravings and highlighting the nature of food. Think splashing drinks, dripping sauces, bites from food, which actually look like they’ve come from a person. These particular stylings help to sell a product, and AI rarely gets it right.

A key issue around AI-generated content, which we are yet to see the fallout for, is the fact that these engines will utilise training assets to develop designs. This could result in copy being plagiarised, designs verging on copyright infringement, and IP being stolen and repurposed for a cheap and quick solution.

Each compounded issue can very quickly erode the trust of customers, especially without explicit labelling that AI has been used. A core value of a great business is transparency, and without that, customers can be left wondering and assuming what else is disingenuous about the business.

Why do AI-generated assets bother customers?

As we touched on, distrust is a core problem raised with AI use. In addition to distrust, AI-slop can make customers feel:

• Like the materials don’t align with their experience, with the expectation versus reality causing a strong response and dislike.
• Feeling misled in their decision, whether that’s from inaccurate copy or added ingredients in generated food images.
• The erosion of the human experience; it’s like a chain reaction of distrust. If the menu is AI-generated, then what will be next? People want human experiences to be at the forefront of their experience, not being led by AI, which feels cold and lazy.

An insight into the audience’s response

We see a number of users across channels showing the same disdain for AI-generated content.

Keeping the Human Element in Marketing

AI can offer businesses useful ways to streamline content creation, but the quality and authenticity of the final result still matter. When marketing assets feel disconnected from the real product or experience, they can affect how customers perceive a brand.

Human creativity, expertise and attention to detail remain valuable in creating content that accurately represents what a business offers. By using technology alongside these skills, rather than allowing it to replace them entirely, businesses can benefit from greater efficiency without losing the human element that customers connect with.

A content brief is a fundamental document that directly influences the type of content being produced. Whether it’s written copy, graphics, stills or video content, each needs a framework to follow. Underpinning the style, length, messaging, tone and branding. Without a brief, the results achieved can stray from the ideal outcome, usually due to the way different people interpret a basic content outline.

How important is a content brief for individuals producing content for a client or in-house project?

A content brief determines the methodology and approach taken by those executing the final piece of content. The importance of direction when producing in-house or for a client cannot be overstated.

Branding is often the most crucial part of content creation. So, without direction, key points around brand alignment can be missed, resulting in resources like time, money and effort going to waste. And whilst some projects can be executed blindly, most need steering to achieve the desired result.

How to write a content brief

The best approach to crafting a content brief begins with mapping out your desired end-goal. For visual content, this could be outlining a desired aesthetic, while for written content, it needs to identify the main topic of discussion. Identifying what your brief is trying to achieve makes listing arbitrary requirements much easier.

Once you’ve distinguished the purpose of the content, identifying the format is the next step. When producing visual content, this might be a required duration, whereas for written content it’ll be the word count. These details are the framework for the content, they essentially allow the creator to build out the content as required. From there, listing everything that is a mandatory requirement of the content, you can start with a rudimentary list and expand it as the brief becomes more tailored.

Another vital point to home in on is what is a requirement versus guidance. Pinpointing the non-negotiables over preferences allows those interpreting the brief to make judgement calls on certain areas, which may offer more creative flexibility.

If you want to add more value and help guide creatives, providing source material and research inspiration can be particularly helpful. This can also help convey a vision without creating guesswork for those producing content.

What does a content brief need to contain?

The contents of a brief will depend on what it is intended for. For instance, a copywriting brief needs to reference the key topic it’s exploring, as well as any required angles. Other key elements of a copywriting brief include:

• Word count
• Tone of voice
• Messaging
• Keywords
• Outlining the target audience
• The content purpose/ function, i.e., is it to engage new readers, entertain existing readers, or does it serve as content to help bolster rankings by appealing to search engines and generative AI

By contrast, a photography or graphic design brief will include crucial cues around style, feeling and subject matter, along with:

• Dimensions
• Colour palettes
• Composition
• Any editing directions, i.e., colour grading, layering of shapes and textures, logos and text
• A visual hierarchy

One thing to caveat any brief creation with is the fundamental aspect of knowing the intended audience. The creator needs to know who they’re creating for beyond your brand, as it will influence the content that’s developed. Recognising the response, you want the audience to have will then shape the way content is created.

Ready to get more from your content?

From developing content briefs to creating and optimising the finished piece, our team can help ensure your content has a clear purpose and delivers against your business objectives.

What is brand recognition?

Brand recognition is a step beyond brand awareness; it is about when people can easily identify a brand based on elements like brand colours, jingles, logos and campaigns.

Achieving brand recognition is no easy feat, so when customers and non-customers alike can recognise your brand, it shows the effectiveness and impact your brand-awareness campaigns have had.

A key example of brand recognition is when your business is the first thought brand for that particular product or service. Leading against competitors and demonstrating the overall commercial impact that’s been had.

What is the value of brand recognition?

Brand recognition is incredibly valuable because it tends to make people feel more comfortable investing in a brand. When trust and familiarity are established through recognition, it can help reduce the perceived risk around trying new services or products. This is favourable, especially when weighing up the risk, because it is an expensive and important investment on the customer’s part.

As brand recognition is strengthened, it can help build customer loyalty. Customers with a pre-existing positive experience are more likely to return to a brand. Rather than seeking out potential alternatives. Customer recognition also increases the chances of recommendations and referrals.

Another strategic advantage of becoming a recognised brand is the ability to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. The more familiar a brand is, the less effort is required to convey that.

Above all, brand recognition offers a competitive advantage, allowing brands to stand out in over-saturated markets. Increasing the difficulty for competitors to capture their audience.

Building brand recognition

The most effective way for businesses to increase their brand awareness is to repeatedly and consistently create opportunities for exposure. The more a brand creates instances to familiarise audiences, the more memorable they become.

Some of the keyways to build up brand recognition include:

• Creating content that adds value to prospects and existing customers. This can come in several forms, whether that be publishing blogs, videos, social media content, podcasts or helpful guides. The aim is to entertain or educate whilst ensuring visibility remains consistent, all while demonstrating expertise.
• Developing a consistent brand identity. This means using fixed logos, colour palettes, typography, design styles, imagery, social media profiles and marketing materials.
• Developing a strong online presence can be a particularly effective method. Regular activity, SEO and well-optimised websites help keep the brand relevant and useful. This can also help with visibility while reinforcing recognition over time.
• Maintaining a clear brand voice from the moment of establishing a brand is essential; consistent communication creates moments of familiarity and reinforces cues on brand personality.
• Promoting customers’ stories, whether that’s in reviews, testimonials, UGC or referrals.

Overall consistency with the recommended methods is the key. Brand recognition isn’t established in one day; it takes time and repeated interactions from customers to reinforce this. Every aspect of a strategy should reinforce how people remember the brand, which eventually results in getting new and returning customers.

Brand recognition is far more than simply being recognised by name or logo. It reflects the trust, familiarity and credibility a business has built with its audience over time. When customers can instantly identify a brand and associate it with positive experiences, they’re more likely to choose it over competitors and recommend it to others.

While building brand recognition requires patience and consistency, the long-term rewards make the investment worthwhile. By delivering valuable content, maintaining a cohesive brand identity and creating meaningful customer experiences, businesses can establish a recognisable presence that supports sustainable growth, strengthens customer loyalty and helps them remain competitive in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

AI sentiment analysis is becoming increasingly valuable as businesses collect more feedback than ever before. Reviews, survey responses and social media conversations can provide useful insight, but manually reviewing hundreds of comments can be time-consuming.

By analysing large volumes of feedback, AI can help marketers identify recurring themes, common concerns and areas of interest much faster. This allows businesses to better understand audience perception and make more informed decisions around their marketing, content and customer experience.

How can AI sentiment analysis be used?

AI sentiment analysis can provide greater insight than clicks, for instance. This helps them develop a stronger strategy around products, content, messaging and even customer service.

Other applications of these insights include:

• Competitor research

AI can help marketers understand how customers feel about competitors. This can reveal common frustrations and pain points, helping businesses position themselves more effectively and attract dissatisfied customers.

• Content and campaigns

This can provide qualitative data that explains why audiences are responding in a certain way. While clicks show what users do, sentiment analysis helps marketers understand how they feel.

• Brand monitoring

Its applications also extend to being able to monitor customer responses. If customers are reporting a negative experience, you’re able to anticipate and correct before it has the chance to develop into a greater issue.

• Market research

This can also offer insight to marketers on what their audience likes, dislikes and what topics they connect with the most. This helps marketers make an informed decision around campaigns, content and customer interactions.

How can marketers use the data with AI?

Traditionally, marketers would need to manually look through comments, reviews and surveys to gauge the customer’s response. Once customer feedback and conversations have been collected, AI can analyse the data and identify patterns, trends and recurring themes.

Imagine your business  receives:

• 200 Google reviews
• 500 survey responses
• 1,000 LinkedIn comments

Reading all of that manually would take days.

AI can quickly tell you:

Positive themes

• Friendly team
• Flexible bookings
• Good location

Negative themes

• Parking
• Internet speed
• Service/ product availability

Emerging topics

• Demand for specific services or products
• Interest in certain topics
• Requests for more availability

AI sentiment analysis gives marketers a faster way to understand how audiences feel about their brand. Rather than manually reviewing hundreds of comments, reviews and survey responses, AI can identify positive and negative themes, emerging trends and customer concerns. These insights can then be used to improve content, campaigns, products and customer experience.

Nostalgia marketing is a key tactic used to tap into emotional and resonant memories from the past. When used effectively, it can bring feelings of joy or contentment; this familiarity that’s established helps to reinforce trust and authority.

What Can Make Nostalgia Marketing So Effective?

Creating feelings of nostalgia is a technique which taps into culture, emotion, identity, social connection and even moments of escapism. By creating a moment for viewers to reminisce, brands are able to effectively make the audience engage, which can help with their effort to strengthen emotional bonds and influence purchasing decisions.

Utilising nostalgic elements is particularly effective for prompting emotional engagement; it often helps brands stand out in oversaturated markets. People are more likely to engage with and invest in something which creates this kind of response.

When a campaign is able to successfully connect to existing memories, the recall of messaging, helping to forge trust. Rather than the viewer creating a new association, it is associated with memories consumers already have.

Familiarity often prompts people to discuss the past, which encourages viewers to share and engage with campaigns. This not only helps improve reach, but it also improves brand awareness and recognition. This type of engagement helps create social proof. Consumers engaging with it in this sense implicitly signal that it’s worth paying attention to.

When Doesn’t Nostalgia Marketing Work?

Whilst it can be powerful, this tactic isn’t automatically effective. This can happen when the nostalgic element overwhelms the messaging, isn’t aligned with the offering, or lacks relevance to the audience. For instance, what may be nostalgic for a millennial may not land at all for a Gen Z consumer.

The most common causes for nostalgia-based campaigns not working include:

• When the campaign feels forced
• Seeming inauthentic
• It conflicts with the brand’s position
• The nostalgia factor overshadows the product
• People’s unique experiences and responses
• Potentially overused or tired product campaigns

Key Examples of Successful Nostalgia-Based Marketing Campaigns

Some key examples of when it’s been done right include Argos’ “toys” campaign. McDonald’s adult Happy Meal product campaigns, along with Cadbury’s 200-year celebration of the brand.

‘There’s more to Argos than toys’

Argos’ latest campaign draws on nostalgia through clever visual references. Using everyday items like fridges and sofas in bold packaging reminiscent of children’s toy boxes, the campaign reminds people that Argos is more than just a place to buy toys.

For readers who grew up in the generation of catalogues, the throwback to getting toys from Argos is a fond memory. I too grew up circling the ideal toys for my Christmas list, so seeing this campaign puts a clever spin on how brands grow alongside their audience.

The campaign cleverly reminds passers-by that Argos stocks far more than what’s in the toy box, reinforcing the message that “there’s more to Argos”.

Cadbury’s Celebrated 200 Years of Business

Arguably, one of the best campaigns for its nostalgia factor was Cadbury’s 200-year celebration, which saw packaging revamped or, more fittingly, pulled back in time through the revival of its historic designs.

The TV advert produced alongside the campaign perfectly matches the nostalgic feel. It sets the scene at the advent of the Dairy Milk bar before transitioning into a present-day setting, showing that whilst times may have changed, consumer buying habits and emotional connections to the brand remain the same.

McDonald’s Adult Happy Meals

Whilst McDonald’s hasn’t explicitly marketed its adult meals as “Adult Happy Meals”, many of us who grew up pleading with our parents for a Happy Meal will recognise the same sense of excitement through its recent promotional releases.

Initially, it was the Grinch collaboration that sparked excitement. Customers could order a Grinch meal, featuring adult-sized products accompanied by a free pair of socks. This was then followed by the Friends x McDonald’s collaboration, where consumers were able to collect one of six figurines of the characters. Now, the excitement continues with the announcement of a new cup release for the FIFA World Cup.

The latest “Adult Happy Meal” taps directly into 2000s nostalgia through the return of the collectable Coca-Cola glasses, something that seemed to exist in every British household.

The campaign is particularly effective because it taps into the positive emotions attached to nostalgic purchasing experiences, reminding consumers of the excitement and familiarity associated with childhood treats and collectables.

Nostalgia is most effective when it supports a brand’s message rather than replacing it. While nostalgic campaigns can build emotional connections, trust, and engagement, they can fail when they feel inauthentic, target the wrong audience, or rely so heavily on the past that consumers lose sight of the product itself. The most successful campaigns use nostalgia as a bridge between meaningful memories and a compelling modern brand story.

The way social media and websites perform is evolving, and customer journeys are no longer linear. This shift requires businesses to adapt, whether that means reallocating marketing budgets or adjusting their visual approach to better align with customer expectations.

What is the marketing funnel?

The marketing funnel describes the varying levels of commitment an audience has to your product or service. Often described as a funnel, as the top lets in lots of people, whilst the process naturally eliminates uninterested or ill-fitting prospects, eventually with a smaller output of people who convert.

How does the marketing funnel inform marketing strategies?

A solid marketing strategy will account for the customers at the various stages of the funnel, producing content and campaigns that cater to each stage of the funnel. Understanding the different stages of engagement better allows the messaging and imagery to be tailored, with the aim of converting them.

The type of content produced for the top of the funnel, for instance, would differ significantly from that created for the bottom of the funnel. Depending on the stage of the funnel the customers are at, the goal will change, and therefore the strategy to achieve the conversion will need to be differentiated.

Measuring engagement for each stage of the marketing funnel

At the top of the funnel, the kind of metrics you’ll need to pay attention to are the reach and click-through rate. These metrics alone will help give you a sense of the interest generated, with the reach being the overall figure, and the click-through rate indicating interest.

As customers advance to the middle of the funnel, metrics that will begin to play a key role in your strategising, these include:

• Average duration
• Drop-off points
• Data captured information (the volume compared to reach)
• Cost per lead
• Engagement rate

The middle of the funnel is where the “make it or break it” moment happens; it shows the clear strengths and challenges. It’s perhaps the most insightful because it allows businesses to distinguish exactly what customers do and do not respond to.

At the bottom of the funnel is where all the work you have done in terms of strategy is either validated or highlights greater pain points. Metrics you’ll need to track for this stage of the funnel range from conversion rates and retention to the customer’s lifetime value.

To calculate your customer lifetime value, you’ll need to multiply the average purchase value by the purchase frequency and the predicted customer lifespan.

Retention is just as crucial as acquisition, as it indicates just how much of the audience wants to engage, an indicator of strong growth. Personalisation is a non-negotiable; in fact, it’s a determining feature in why some customers stay. A better understanding of the interplay of these will allow brands to connect with customers on a profound level.

Is advertising during a sports game an effective way to spend ad budget?

You may be wondering whether investing in advertising during the World Cup is the right move for your business. The answer depends on several factors. Are your business and product offering suitable for this type of exposure? Do you have the budget and resources to secure ad space, whether pitch-side, online, or during broadcast ad breaks?

These are the key questions businesses must consider when evaluating the practicality of World Cup advertising. For established brands, the risks are relatively low compared to those faced by SMEs.

Take major brands such as PepsiCo. They can launch high-impact campaigns with less risk because their brand is already widely recognised, and they typically have larger budgets to produce memorable, visually impressive advertising. Smaller brands, however, face a greater challenge. If their campaigns fail to stand out, they can easily fade into the background amongst the noise of global competition.

What are the regulations around advertising for FIFA games?

Advertising during FIFA events is subject to several regulations and broadcasting standards, including:

·         Gambling and alcohol advertisements cannot appear in areas affiliated with under-18 audiences, such as junior club sections or youth kits.

·         Campaigns must not imply official endorsement or representation of clubs without authorisation.

·         Foods and beverages high in fat, sugar, or salt cannot be promoted before the 9 pm watershed.

·         Ofcom regulates television advertising time, with commercial breaks generally limited to around 12 minutes per hour.

Does the placement of ads matter during the World Cup?

Placement is critical, regardless of the advertising format. Whether ads appear on websites, pitch-side banners, social media feeds, or during half-time breaks, placement directly impacts visibility and audience engagement.

Effective placement increases the likelihood of capturing viewers’ attention, improving brand recall, and ultimately generating a stronger return on investment (ROI).

Securing ad campaigns during sporting events

The strategy brands choose during the World Cup can significantly influence campaign performance.

For smaller brands, lower-risk strategies such as paid social and browser advertising are often more practical. These channels allow businesses to target audiences affordably without directly competing for premium placements against globally recognised brands.

Brands looking to expand their paid advertising strategy may invest in options such as newspaper takeovers, allowing them to dominate a publication’s homepage or digital front page for a set period.

Larger brands, meanwhile, often pursue premium placements such as pitch-side advertising, sponsorship deals, or impression-based broadcast packages. Sponsorships, in particular, are highly effective during major sporting events, helping to create strong associations between a brand, its products, and global competitions such as the FIFA World Cup.

Ultimately, successful World Cup advertising comes down to strategy, placement, and audience relevance. While global brands may dominate the biggest spaces, smaller businesses can still achieve strong results through targeted, well-positioned campaigns that align with both their budget and objectives.

WordPress 7.0 launched 20 May 2026. Named after jazz musician Louis Armstrong, it is the most significant structural update the platform has shipped since the block editor arrived in 2018. For businesses running WordPress sites – which accounts for the vast majority of websites we build and manage – it is worth understanding what has actually changed, what it means in practice, and why the AI integration in particular is more consequential than it might initially appear.

The headline feature that was widely anticipated, real-time collaborative editing, was quietly removed from the release on 8 May after race conditions and server memory failures made it unsafe to ship at scale. That is the bad news. The good news is that what did ship is arguably more important for most businesses: a native AI infrastructure layer built directly into WordPress core, a rebuilt admin interface, and meaningful improvements to editorial workflow.

What WordPress 7.0 actually shipped

WordPress 7.0 formally marks the beginning of Phase 3 of the Gutenberg roadmap, which the core team has described as the Collaboration phase. The real-time editing delay means that the most visible collaboration feature will not arrive until a future release, but the underlying infrastructure work is substantial.

The key changes that shipped are:

• The WP AI Client and Abilities API. A native, provider-agnostic AI layer built into WordPress core. It connects directly to OpenAI, Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude without requiring separate plugin integrations for each.
• A rebuilt admin interface. The first major visual overhaul of the WordPress dashboard since 2013, driven by a new React-based system called DataViews. It brings the backend closer in feel to modern tools like Notion and Airtable.
• Client-side media processing. Image resizing and compression now happens in the browser using WebAssembly, reducing server load and speeding up media handling.
• Improved revision history and editorial tools. The revision system has been significantly updated, making it easier to track, compare and restore previous versions of content.
• PHP 7.4 minimum requirement. Any site running PHP 7.2 or 7.3 that upgrades to WordPress 7.0 will be on an unsupported configuration. If you are unsure which PHP version your site runs on, check with your hosting provider before updating.

Why the AI layer is the most important thing in this release

The WP AI Client and Abilities API deserve more attention than they have received in most of the coverage so far. Until now, AI integration in WordPress has been fragmented: different plugins connecting to different AI providers in different ways, with no standardised approach to authentication, rate limiting or content handling. Every developer building an AI-powered WordPress feature had to solve the same infrastructure problems independently.

WordPress 7.0 changes that. The Abilities API provides a standardised layer that handles authentication, rate limiting, content sanitisation and context management centrally. Plugin developers can now register their plugin’s capabilities so that AI assistants can recognise and use them. Rather than each plugin managing its own AI connection, everything routes through the same core infrastructure with admin approval required before any plugin can use stored AI credentials.

In practical terms, this means AI features in WordPress are about to become significantly more coherent and trustworthy. Instead of a patchwork of third-party solutions with varying quality, reliability and security, the platform now has a single, well-architected layer that plugins can build on. The immediate use cases include content generation assistance, automated alt text for images, SEO optimisation suggestions and workflow automation. The longer-term possibilities, as more plugins adopt the Abilities API, are considerably broader.

Why this matters for your website specifically

The timing of this release is worth noting in the context of the wider changes happening in search. We have written recently about why websites now need to work for AI agents as well as human readers, and the tools available to help businesses monitor and improve their AI search visibility. WordPress 7.0’s AI layer is the platform-level infrastructure that makes it possible to act on those recommendations directly within your CMS, rather than through external tools bolted on afterwards.

For businesses in content-heavy sectors, the improvement to editorial workflows is also meaningful. The revised revision system and better content management tools reduce the friction in maintaining large libraries of treatment pages, service descriptions or course content – exactly the kind of content that AI search systems are trying to parse and cite accurately. Cleaner workflows produce better-maintained content, which produces better AI visibility outcomes.

The admin redesign, while it will take some getting used to, is long overdue. For any client or team member who manages their own WordPress backend, the move toward a more modern interface reduces the learning curve and the number of support requests that agencies like ours receive about basic navigation.

What to be cautious about

WordPress 7.0 is a major release, and major releases carry risks that point updates do not. There are a few things worth being careful about before updating.

• Check your PHP version. PHP 7.4 is now the minimum. If you are on an older version, contact your hosting provider before touching the WordPress update.
• Test plugins and themes before updating. The admin rebuild and the new DataViews system may cause compatibility issues with plugins that rely on the old admin interface. Test on a staging environment first, not on your live site.
• Do not rush the AI features. The Abilities API requires admin approval before any plugin can use stored AI credentials. Take time to understand which plugins you are granting AI access to and why. The framework is sound, but the decisions around which tools to enable are yours to make.
• Real-time collaboration is not here yet. If you were planning to restructure your editorial workflow around simultaneous editing in WordPress, that feature has been deferred and is unlikely to arrive before 2027.

The bigger picture

WordPress powers around 43% of all websites on the internet. The decision to build a native, standardised AI layer into core is not a minor product update. It is a signal that the platform intends to be a serious player in the AI-assisted web, rather than ceding that ground to newer tools. For the tens of millions of businesses running WordPress, that is a meaningful commitment. For agencies building and managing those sites, it represents a significant expansion of what is possible within the platform most clients are already on. We will be looking closely at how the AI tooling ecosystem evolves to take advantage of the Abilities API over the coming months, and will keep you updated as the picture becomes clearer.

In the meantime, if your site runs on WordPress and you have not already done so, now is a good time to check your PHP version, review your plugin stack, and make sure your staging environment is up to date. The update itself is worth making, but it is worth making carefully.

Brand collaborations don’t always deliver the cultural impact brands hope for. When partnerships feel forced, disconnected or poorly judged, campaigns can quickly alienate audiences instead of attracting them.

Why do brands pursue collaborations?

Brand collaborations have become one of the most widely used marketing strategies because they allow brands to access audiences that are already highly engaged and culturally established. Rather than building attention from scratch, collaborations enable brands to tap into existing communities that are more likely to interact with, trust and purchase from a campaign.

Collaborations also allow brands and creators to borrow credibility from one another. When audiences already trust one side of the partnership, that trust can transfer onto the campaign itself, helping brands appear more culturally relevant and authentic.

What causes brand collaborations to fail?

The key issue that causes brand collaborations to fail is when the audience can’t understand how the two belong together. A collaboration is only effective when brands share  one of the following things in common:

• Personality (whether that be portrayed as a funny, honest or professional type of brand)
• Audience perception
• Cultural positioning
• Emotional alignment
• Product relevance
• A shared audience                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

If brands fail to align on at least one area, it can result in collaborations that feel random, inauthentic or forced.

The latest brand collaboration fails

Peppa Pig x Tottenham Hotspur Football Club

One of the more recent brand collaboration fails we’ve seen to date was the Peppa Pig x Tottenham Hotspur F.C  merchandise collaboration. For many supporters and spectators, the collaboration felt disconnected from the club’s current reality. At a time when fans were frustrated with on-pitch performance and concerns around relegation were growing, the campaign appeared unserious and commercially tone-deaf.

The lack of overlap between fanbases makes campaigns like this irrelevant. A great campaign should solve a problem or feel deliberate and understandable.

Sydney Sweeney x American Eagle

with messaging that many audiences interpreted as echoing ideas associated with eugenics and exclusionary beauty standards. We discussed the negative impact of the campaign on both American Eagle and Sydney Sweeney.

By contrast, this campaign lacked the right tone or messaging, rather than being poorly aligned with the collaborative partner.

Successful collaborations feel inevitable once consumers see them. Failed collaborations do the opposite; they force audiences to question why the partnership exists at all. In a market where consumers are increasingly sensitive to authenticity and cultural awareness, collaboration alone is no longer enough to guarantee relevance.

Google confirmed last week that it will no longer support FAQ rich results in search. The expandable question-and-answer panels that appeared directly beneath certain search listings are being removed, along with the Search Console features that allowed webmasters to monitor their performance. For any business that invested time in implementing the FAQ schema, this is worth understanding clearly: what is changing, what it means in practice, and whether any of that investment needs to be redirected.

The short answer is that this change is less damaging than it might initially sound. But there are some useful lessons in it about how to think about structured data more broadly as Google continues to adjust what it surfaces and how.

What FAQ rich results actually were

FAQ rich results were the expandable accordions that appeared below a search listing, showing individual question-and-answer pairs pulled directly from a page’s structured data. When implemented correctly using FAQ schema markup, they could significantly expand a search listing’s visual footprint on the page, making it more prominent without requiring a higher ranking.

Google started restricting FAQ rich results in 2023, limiting them to government and health websites. The full removal confirmed last week completes that process. The associated Search Console report, which showed impressions and clicks from FAQ rich results, will be deprecated alongside the feature itself.

How much does this actually matter?

For most businesses, the honest answer is: less than it might appear. By 2023, Google had already restricted FAQ rich results to a narrow category of sites, which means the vast majority of businesses had not been benefiting from them in search results for some time. The visual expansion of a listing was a genuine competitive advantage when the feature was widely available, but that window closed a few years ago.

What is changing now is the formal retirement of a feature that was already largely inactive for commercial websites. The Search Console report being removed is a minor practical inconvenience if you were still tracking FAQ impressions, but the disappearance of the report does not reflect a loss of current traffic or visibility for most sites.

Should you remove your FAQ schema?

Not necessarily, and in many cases the answer is no. This is an important distinction. FAQ schema no longer produces rich result panels in standard Google Search, but structured data serves multiple purposes beyond generating visual enhancements in the search results page.

As we covered recently when looking at the tools worth using for AEO, structured data is one of the cleaner signals available for AI retrieval. FAQ schema specifically provides AI systems with a machine-readable layer of question-and-answer content that can inform how those systems cite and use your content in AI-generated answers, entirely separate from whether Google renders it as a rich result in traditional search.

The argument for keeping well-implemented FAQ schema in place is straightforward. It costs nothing to maintain, it provides clarity to search engines and AI systems about the purpose and structure of your content, and removing it does not guarantee any benefit. Unless your FAQ schema is technically broken or generating errors in Search Console, the case for removing it is weak.

What to redirect your structured data efforts towards

If this news prompts a review of how structured data is implemented on your site, that is a worthwhile exercise. The specific types of schema that continue to produce rich results in Google Search and that are increasingly relevant for AI retrieval are worth prioritising. The most consistently valuable include:

• Review schema. Star ratings in search results remain one of the highest-impact visual enhancements available and are directly relevant to businesses in sectors such as healthcare, dental, aesthetics and professional services where social proof influences decisions.
• Local business schema. For businesses with physical locations, accurate and complete local business schema reinforces the information shown in Google Business Profiles and supports consistent citation across AI search systems. This is particularly important for multi-location businesses and sectors where local search intent is high.
• Product schema. For e-commerce businesses, product schema supporting price, availability and review information continues to produce rich results in both standard search and Shopping. This remains one of the most directly commercial schema types available.
• Article and breadcrumb schema. These support how content pages are understood and indexed, contributing to cleaner crawling and more accurate representation in search results, and remain relevant for content-heavy sites.
• How-to and event schema. Both continue to produce rich results for relevant content types and are worth implementing where the content justifies it.

The broader pattern is worth noting

The removal of FAQ rich results is part of a longer pattern. Google has been progressively reducing the variety of rich result types it surfaces in standard search as AI Overviews and AI Mode take up more of the results page. The shift towards AI-generated answers changes what it means to be visible in search. The visual real estate previously occupied by FAQ panels, knowledge panels and similar features is increasingly being consumed by AI-generated content instead.

This does not mean structured data is becoming less important. If anything, the opposite is true. As AI systems take a more active role in assembling answers from multiple sources, the clarity and accuracy of the signals you provide about your content become more valuable, not less. The mechanism by which those signals produce a visible result in search is changing. The underlying importance of giving search engines and AI systems well-structured, accurate, machine-readable information is not.

What to do now

A few practical steps are worth taking in light of this change.

• Check your Search Console for any FAQ rich result errors or warnings. These will stop being reported when the feature is deprecated, but addressing any existing errors is good practice before the report disappears.
• Audit your current structured data implementation more broadly. If FAQ schema was the only schema type in use on your site, now is a good time to review whether review, local business or product schema should be added where applicable.
• Do not remove FAQ schema solely because of this change. If your FAQ schema is well-implemented and error-free, leave it in place. Its value in an AI retrieval context is not affected by Google’s decision to stop rendering it as a rich result.
• Focus new structured data investment on the types that continue to produce visible results: review, local business, product and event schema, depending on what is relevant to your business.

The disappearance of FAQ rich results is worth knowing about, but it is not a reason to panic or make sweeping changes. It is a reminder that search is a changing environment and that the value of any single technical feature is always temporary. The underlying principle, making your content clear, accurate and well-structured, remains constant regardless of which specific features Google chooses to support at any given time.