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Find a thought, follow a company or trace a question through the months. Search across the complete text of the analysis and The Weekly Cut.

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33 pieces

Editorial illustration: a silver security camera with its red power cable disconnected, beside the headline An AI agent disabled its own monitoring. Then denied it.
Who controls the controls? AI-generated editorial illustration for Destreza; not a reconstruction of either incident.

The Weekly Cut 025

An AI agent disabled its own monitoring. Then denied it.

The Weekly Cut 0259 min read

AI security leads this week. Who controls the controls when an agent can act for your business? Plus Coca-Cola’s agency decision and Claude Duet.

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Apple, Campari and Crocs creative in Destreza’s Approve. Adapt. Kill. frame

Approve. Adapt. Kill. 001

Beautiful work. Better decisions.

Approve. Adapt. Kill. 00110 campaigns

Our first weekly creative review: Apple, Campari, On, Crocs and more. Ten campaigns, clear verdicts and the changes we would make.

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A group of friends around a dining table in a room with Sonos speakers.
Sonos 27 launch photography, released on 1 September. Its connection to external AI assistants enters Early Access on 8 September; this scene is launch imagery, not evidence of customer satisfaction. Source: Sonos.

Analysis 005

A better model. A better customer experience?

Analysis 0055 min read

September brings new AI controls and fresh evidence of customers’ reluctance to retry a failed chatbot. A launch needs to prove what happens after the conversation.

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Two people and a dog sit on a sofa in a room with a Sonos soundbar and rear speakers; one listener wears headphones.
Inside The Weekly Cut 018: Sonos’s 1 September launch photography shows Beam Ultra, headphones and rear speakers in one home system. The products were announced alongside Sonos 27, the software update discussed inside this edition. Source: Sonos.

The Weekly Cut 018

ChatGPT ads expand. New models raise the bar.

The Weekly Cut 01810 min read

A wider advertising channel, more capable models and a staged rollout of image creation inside Google Workspace change the next marketing brief.

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A hand holds a smiling Goldfish cracker close to the camera, with a young person’s face softly out of focus behind it.
A product close-up from the 30-second version of Goldfish’s “Photoshoot”, published in July. It shows the campaign’s central idea: the snack itself smiles back. System1’s 27 August review evaluates a shorter execution from the same campaign. Source: Goldfish / Mischief / Blinkink; film supplied by Marcus Lim SO.

Analysis 004

More executions. How many ideas?

Analysis 0045 min read

August brings more control over AI image editing. The creative test is whether that freedom produces a better idea, or simply more versions of the first one.

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A smiling Goldfish snack wearing sunglasses poses before a camera against a backdrop made to look like a slice of cheese.
Inside The Weekly Cut 017: Goldfish’s “Photoshoot”, from the campaign discussed in System1’s 27 August review. This is campaign context; the review’s 5.1-Star score relates to the execution it tests, rather than proof about this particular frame. Source: Goldfish / Mischief / Blinkink; still supplied by Marcus Lim SO.

The Weekly Cut 017

Campaign agents, holiday shoppers and creative control

The Weekly Cut 0178 min read

Media-buying assistance, preparation for returns and a customer-search experiment make AI’s commercial use more concrete.

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Two people at a pub bar in a scene from This is our BBC.
Inside The Weekly Cut 016: A scene from the BBC’s July campaign “This Is Our BBC”, the subject of System1’s 20 August review. The image belongs to that campaign, rather than a new August launch. Source: BBC / Blink.

The Weekly Cut 016

AI advertising, synthetic people and creative trust

The Weekly Cut 0168 min read

Consumer comfort and new creative tools meet a concrete example of where released marketing capacity can go.

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A server holding an orange drink approaches two people in a beach chair outside a seaside kiosk, with the FLENS mark above.
Inside The Weekly Cut 015: FLENS’s “Neulich mit Spritz”, one of the films launched with its 1 May brand refresh. System1 revisits this execution in its 13 August review; it is not a new August launch. Source: Flensburger Brauerei.

The Weekly Cut 015

AI referrals and the product page’s new job

The Weekly Cut 0159 min read

Referral data, a customer-journey case and UK attitudes put the consequences for the customer ahead of the latest vendor launch.

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A can of Madrí Limón beside a glass of beer and cut lemons.
Inside The Weekly Cut 014: Madrí Limón, pictured in System1’s 6 August fruit-beer research. The study tests the appeal of product concepts; its 4.4-Star result for Madrí describes predicted potential, rather than observed sales. Source: System1 / Madrí Excepcional.

The Weekly Cut 014

AI moves closer to buying and making

The Weekly Cut 0148 min read

Snap opens its advertising data, ChatGPT adds product carousels and Adobe brings creative tools into the conversation.

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Nick Louisson presenting ISBA’s 2026 Gen AI survey, with the original subtitle “Nothing scales better than mediocrity”.
Nick Louisson discusses ISBA’s 2026 Gen AI survey in its 9 July preview. The results, released on 22 July, distinguish widespread use from reported business impact. Source: ISBA.

Analysis 003

Where should the time saved by AI go?

Analysis 0035 min read

July’s ISBA findings expose a gap between using AI and getting a business result. The next decision is what to do with capacity you can prove you have released.

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The GEICO Gecko in a sink wearing a snorkel, with the original Drain title and GEICO mark.
Inside The Weekly Cut 013: GEICO’s “Drain” campaign, released in April, is the subject of System1’s 30 July review. The official thumbnail shows the Gecko adapting a familiar character to another insurance message. Source: GEICO.

The Weekly Cut 013

Growing ad spend. A changing route to purchase.

The Weekly Cut 0138 min read

Platform earnings and channel investment put commercial context around a customer-facing AI shopping case.

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Mohamed Salah and Vini Jr. sit on BMX bicycles beneath a concrete flyover in Pepsi’s Football Nation campaign.
Inside The Weekly Cut 012: Mohamed Salah and Vini Jr. in Pepsi’s April 2026 Football Nation campaign. Pepsi features in this week’s YouGov brand study; the research does not establish that this campaign caused the movement. Source: Pepsi.

The Weekly Cut 012

AI adoption is widespread. Business impact is uneven.

The Weekly Cut 0128 min read

UK advertisers report near-universal AI engagement, Google improves its working models, and Semrush tests who owns a topic inside ChatGPT.

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A complete desktop Chrome window displays a Jet2holidays hotel page beside Gemini’s comparison of three open tabs and a map.
Inside The Weekly Cut 011: Google’s 14 July UK demonstration shows Gemini comparing holiday options across Chrome tabs, alongside the retailer’s desktop website. The assistant moves closer to the buying task. Source: Google / Jet2holidays.

The Weekly Cut 011

Search starts doing the work

The Weekly Cut 0119 min read

Search moves closer to the task, AI discovery meets the sales conversation and the money available to marketers comes with a harder commercial brief.

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Anthropic’s OSWorld-Verified chart plots computer-use accuracy against average cost per task for Sonnet 5, Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.8.
Anthropic’s Sonnet 5 launch chart compares computer-use benchmark performance and cost across effort levels. Its cost axis uses the scheduled standard token rates, rather than the introductory rates available through 31 August; it is a vendor benchmark, not a marketing-workflow result. Source: Anthropic.

The Weekly Cut 009

AI attribution meets the brand-search question

The Weekly Cut 0098 min read

Two measurement developments ask what follows attention, while a model update promises better follow-through on work.

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The Optimizely Opal interface at the start of Conductor’s June10 AI Brand Visibility Report Agent demonstration, asking what the user wants to work on.
The opening screen of Conductor’s 10 June demonstration of its AI Brand Visibility Report Agent in Optimizely Opal. A supplier demonstration is the starting point; a paid trial should follow the work through to a usable result. Source: Conductor / Optimizely.

Analysis 002

What to ask an AI marketing supplier

Analysis 0025 min read

A paid trial on a real brief can reveal the work, costs and responsibilities behind a persuasive AI pitch. June’s spending evidence makes that scrutiny timely.

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Cameron Adams and Bob Safian seated on a brightly lit Canva stage at Cannes 2026.
Canva co-founder Cameron Adams talks with Bob Safian at the Canva Cabana on 24 June 2026, during the Cannes week in which Canva announced Grow 2.0. Source: Canva.

The Weekly Cut 008

Canva connects creation to performance

The Weekly Cut 0088 min read

Creative tools move closer to the media buy, while new retail and conversational formats offer places to test the work.

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Emma Harman, Ndidi Oteh and Jo Cronk sit together on blue and orange chairs in the Whalar acquisition announcement photograph.
Inside The Weekly Cut 006: Also in this edition: Whalar’s Emma Harman, Accenture Song’s Ndidi Oteh and Whalar’s Jo Cronk, left to right, in the photograph supplied with the 8 June acquisition announcement. Source: Accenture.

The Weekly Cut 006

Search loses clicks. Retail media gains context.

The Weekly Cut 0069 min read

A new buying channel, a changing search journey and a retail-data connection sharpen the questions behind the media plan.

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Canva’s official Perplexity Computer example shows an attached launch brief and a prompt asking for a presentation to share with a leadership team.
Inside The Weekly Cut 005: Also in this edition: Canva’s new Perplexity Computer connector turns a working brief into an editable design. The announcement’s demonstration starts with a request to make a presentation from a launch brief. Source: Canva.

The Weekly Cut 005

AI answers: visibility, control and payment

The Weekly Cut 00510 min read

One week, three moves over who appears inside an AI answer and who is paid for the material it is built from.

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A presenter stands on the Google I/O stage before a screen about shopping on Google, with the event audience visible in the foreground.
Google’s shopping presentation at I/O on 19 May 2026. Its announced Universal Cart rollout is intended to bring more of the journey from discovery to purchase into Google’s products. Source: Google / I/O 2026 press photography.

Analysis 001

A brand still has a job when AI gives the answer

Analysis 0015 min read

Google’s May shopping and advertising announcements bring more of the buying decision into an AI conversation. Brands need accurate answers and a reason to be chosen.

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Two YouTube mobile upload screens show the controls for identifying realistic AI-generated or altered video.
YouTube’s 27 May announcement shows the creator’s AI-use controls during upload. The same update changes the labels viewers see and begins a phased rollout of automatic detection. Source: YouTube / Google.

The Weekly Cut 004

AI shopping, consumer control and clearer labels

The Weekly Cut 0049 min read

Consumer research challenges autonomous shopping while YouTube and Google change how generated work and trusted sources appear.

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A presenter stands on the Google I/O stage beside a Universal Cart launch slide, which shows a summer rollout and an example shopping cart.
Google announces Universal Cart at I/O on 19 May 2026. The week’s shopping and advertising announcements brought discovery, purchase and paid placements closer together. Source: Google / I/O 2026 press photography.

The Weekly Cut 003

Google’s shopping ads and Publicis’s LiveRamp deal

The Weekly Cut 00310 min read

Google tests new search advertising and plans a shopping cart, while two agency deals change the questions brands should ask about data and remuneration.

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Arba Kokalari speaks at a microphone, with Michael McNamara beside her, at the 7 May AI Omnibus press conference.
Inside The Weekly Cut 001: Arba Kokalari and Michael McNamara brief journalists in Brussels on 7 May after the AI Omnibus negotiations. Their provisional agreement would change the high-risk timetable while leaving deepfake disclosure on its August date. Source: Alexis Haulot / © European Union 2026 – European Parliament.

The Weekly Cut 001

ChatGPT ads, AI labels and Apple’s proposed Siri settlement

The Weekly Cut 0019 min read

ChatGPT Ads goes self-serve and names five new markets. Also this week, which AI Act deadlines moved and which did not, and Apple’s proposed $250m Siri settlement.

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