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For professionals looking to moodboard, but sick of juggling Instagram lists and Pinterest boards, Cosmos arrived in 2023 to woo millions of users in an otherwise crowded market. With a pared-back design, and an algorithm trained on a carefully seeded list of creatives, it topped the Design category in the App Store, and the company reports its now used by creative teams at companies including Nike, Apple, and Amazon, who snag over 10 million pieces of content a month from across the internet for their collections. This growth has been enough to raise a $15 million Series A from Matrix Partners, GV, Accel, and Squarespace CEO Anthony Casalena, as the company considers monetization strategies ranging from its premium subscriptions to an upcoming e-commerce play. The platform, despite launching much like Pinterest, will soon be a home for creative portfolios, more like how designers use Instagram and Behance. But as founder Andy McCune charts the companys future, hes openly wrestling with the right ways to employ the latest AI technologies to support the creative communityeven as a sizable chunk of the community says they don’t want it at all. [Image: Cosmos] When to use AI, and when not to Generative AI, of course, is still as controversial as it is inevitablewhile creatives I speak to are adopting it en masse as part of their own process, theres a most certain ick factor among the public to the current wave of AI marketing and the rise of the catchall word of 2025: AI slop. Its very morally and ethically important to me to create a platform that champions the artists and the creatives, says McCune. Now, does that mean that we’re going to be a company that says, AI-generated imagery does not have a place here? Thats not a line that I want to draw. Currently, Cosmos uses machine learning models to identify what it considers high-quality imagery that would appeal to its users tastes, airing that into their feeds. It also uses AI to track and automatically label image provenance. Whereas Instagram is so often a context-less smash-and-grab of other peoples work, Cosmos systems scour the web to figure out what film that compelling frame came from or who took that photo, and tag it appropriately. The company also offers a setting, much like Pinterest, allowing creatives to blur or block all AI content in their feeds. Cosmos shares that 10% of all users have actually opted to block AI contentwhich was higher than they originally anticipated. Very few people customize the settings in any app already, and Cosmos has done nothing to promote that the setting even exists. It was definitely surprising to me, says McCune. And now were having some conversations around like, should that [setting] actually be in the onboarding? At the same time, blocking AI is not a setting he wants to apply by default, even if it would be a way to distinguish Cosmos from its peers. When the setting first launched, it blurred peoples AI contentand that was enough to give its users whiplash. All of a sudden, they went back into their mood boards, and they saw a bunch of their images that they had saved in the past get blurred out. And they’re like, Wait, I didn’t know that I was saving AI images. And that was frustrating to them, McCune notes. They’re like, I feel like I’ve been tricked, right? I think for the end consumer, it’s really important that you have a decision in that process of being able to choose what you see. Why not just block AI? Andy McCune [Image: Cosmos] A big reason that McCune doesnt want to block AI-generated content is that he knows some users want it, and more generally speaking, the design industry at his core will be using more AI tools into the future. Especially as he pivots Cosmos away from mere moodboarding to become someones own creative portfolio, he realizes that blocking AI generated work would block their voicesand their potentially cutting-edge experimentation. I think [AI] will be one medium that people use to express themselves, just like you know, painting is one and digital photography is one, and graphic design is another, says McCune. I think it’s important for us if we really want to be a home for creatives to not pick and choose what mediums we think are holy or not. And yet, there are lines around AI that McCune wont cross because they feel off-mission, and somehow, at odds with his own creative community. I will say that there is a very easy path for us to take right now, which we have not taken, which is to bring Gen AI into the forefront of the product, says McCune. We could have very quickly and very easily built a multibillion-dollar company, if you could just right-click on any image on Cosmos right now and prompt on top of that thing. That’s something that we have not done, because that is not the company that we want to build.
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E-Commerce
The most qualified marketing candidates already know how to spot a bad ad. They scroll past headlines that dont resonate, tune out vague language, and ghost messages that feel robotic. And when your job post reads like a corporate compliance document instead of an invitation to do meaningful work, they wont even click. More than 80% of job seekers check company reviews and ratings before applying, according to Glassdoor. And its not just about perks: Edelmans Trust Barometer found that nearly 6 in 10 employees choose where to work based on shared values. These arent surface-level preferences; they signal a deeper shift in expectations. Candidates want a reason to believe, not just a list of requirements. The shift is clear: Candidates now behave like consumers. They compare, research, and screen opportunities with the same discernment they apply to products. That makes your job post more than just a filter. Its a first impression, a trust signal, and, if done well, a conversion tool. Its time to start treating your recruitment process like a campaign. The tactics marketers use to capture attention, communicate value, and compel action are the same tactics that now determine whether you attract the right people or lose them to someone else. 1. START WITH SEGMENTATION, NOT GENERIC MESSAGING Too many job ads aim for the widest possible audience and miss the best-fit candidates in the process. Effective marketers learned this lesson long ago: The more precisely you define your audience, the more persuasive your message becomes. Segment your recruitment messaging by level, background, industry fluency, or even likely motivators. Speak differently to a mid-level paid media strategist than to a head of brand. When you identify what specific candidates care abouttheir career arc, their need for impact, their desire to work with modern tech stacksyou can write job ads that feel like they were written for one person, not one hundred. 2. EMOTIONAL STORYTELLING WINS OVER LOGICAL LISTS Marketers know how to sell ideas with stories, not specs. And they expect that same level of narrative craft when reading about a potential job. Instead of leading with company history, start with the roles emotional hook. What will this person get to own, change, or build? What kind of team are they walking into? How will their work shape the customer experience? One small shift, from We were founded in 2012 to Youll define how thousands of users discover their next step, can transform how your post lands. The strongest applicants dont apply for tasks. They apply for purpose. 3. TREAT JOB ADS LIKE LANDING PAGES Once your message is targeted and your story resonates, structure becomes the next make-or-break factor. A job post is essentially a landing page: It must be skimmable, structured, and compelling enough to inspire action. Use clear subheads. Prioritize the candidates perspective: what theyll learn, lead, or influence. Include compensation early if possible. And always, always include a strong CTA. Would you ever run a marketing campaign without one? Formatting is part of your employer brand. If your job post is cluttered, hard to read, or missing details, the assumption is that your hiring process will feel the same way. 4. USE A/B TESTING TO MOVE FROM GUESSING TO GROWTH Most marketers live in testing platforms. Recruiters should, too. You can A/B test job titles (is Paid Social Lead more effective than Growth Marketing Strategist?), intros, compensation placement, or even whether adding team quotes improves apply rates. Youll start to see trends. Youll learn what tone resonates with passive candidates, what format converts better, and where drop-off happens. When you approach hiring with the mindset of growth marketing, you move from static job listings to evolving, performance-based messaging. Recruiting becomes less about gut instinct and more about insight. 5. BUILD EMPLOYER BRAND INTO EVERY TOUCHPOINT Every element of your hiring funneljob descriptions, outreach messages, Glassdoor responsesspeaks volumes about your company. The question is whether they all speak the same language. Strong employer branding isnt about polished taglines; its about consistent, honest communication. Candidates should feel the same tone and clarity across the careers page, the interview emails, and the job post itself. When branding is aligned, candidates trust the experience. When it isnt, they disengage. Even review sites matter. Candidates read them before applying. If your companys response strategy looks defensive or silent, it will undercut even the best-crafted post. Think of these channels as the retargeting ads of recruiting; they reinforce or unravel the brand story youve worked to build. A job post is no longer a static announcement. Its a performance asset. It carries weight, signals quality, and affects the caliber of people willing to bet on your company. The teams that understand this and build hiring processes that reflect it wont merely fill seats. Theyll attract the kind of marketers who know how to move an audience and recognize when someone else knows how to do the same.
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E-Commerce
Protein is everywhere these days. The cultural obsession with the macronutrient has become unavoidable; from constant protein-adjacent Instagram ads to protein-focused recipes and protein-filled Chipotle bowls, Starbucks drinks, and Pepsi products. All of these products are starting to sound like part of some big, loud, fitness influencer chorus. But theres one brand thats managed to break through the noiseoften, by saying nothing at all. Early this month, the protein bar company David debuted a print campaign in the New York City subway system featuring plain images of its bars, with no text or embellishments, surrounded by a sea of blank white space. Its the encapsulation of a marketing strategy thats catapulted the brand into the cultural zeitgeist and the protein bar big leagues. Where other protein bars sport colorful, energetic packaging with bold fonts and crisp product imagery, David bars come in sleek gold packages with a serif wordmark and a few simple macronutrient descriptors. Instead of vying for consumer attention with eye-catching graphics and silly ads, David shows up online and in the real world with a distinctly minimalist aesthetic and serious, no-frills brand voice. Its an approach that founder Peter Rahal describes as anti-marketingbut, counterintuitively, is actually a highly effective marketing tactic. [Photo: courtesy David] Rion Harmon, executive creative director of the creative agency behind the David brand, Day Job, says an atypical ethos has guided the creative from the start: [The brand] should not be your best friend. Every brand was trying so hard to win you over, to be just like you, Harmon says. David didnt care. David was here to be effective. To design solutions. To create a superior product, with a superior brand. How David built a protein-obsessed following Since it debuted last September, David has amassed an almost cult-like following of customers who patiently await its next protein innovation. David was founded by Rahal, a serial entrepreneur who also cofounded the brand RXbar; and Zach Ranen, who previously founded the better-for-you cookie brand Raize. After launching, the company managed to sell more than $1 million worth of bars in a week. By the following May, it had raised $75 million in Series A funding, at a $725 valuationand, according to a report from The New York Times in September, it was on track to hit $180 million in retail sales this year. (David declined to share updated financial information with Fast Company.) This month, David announced that it would appear on shelves at Walmart and Target. [Photo: David] Fitness gurus and casual protein-seekers alike are attracted to the David bar by its impressive macros (28 grams of protein for 150 calories and zero grams of sugar; a ratio thats almost unbeatable in the bar category). But a large part of Davids meteoric success is also owed to its branding and marketing strategies. As a student of the protein bar category, Rahal says, hes noticed that natural food players like Lärabar and his own RXBar kicked off a trend from around 2000 to 2015, wherein protein bar companies stopped using their packaging to signal a certain brand, but to instead convey flavor. What happened is when you would look at the category, you would see confusion, Rahal says. Rather than identifying brands, it was organized by flavor. So you’d see purple, blue, green, red, yellow. That was innovative in the 2010s, he adds, but it quickly turned the protein aisle into a colorful kaleidoscope of sameness. David returned to an earlier era of brandingthink ’80s and ’90s candy bars, for examplewhen the primary goal of the packaging was to communicate brand, and the secondary goal was to communicate flavor. One thing we did is make gold the primary focus,” Rahal says. “This is ironic because it’s actually really differentiated. I find it interesting how history repeats. Davids brand guidelines are fairly straightforward: It stands out by embracing simplicity. Instead of adding more product descriptors or colors on its packaging, it subtracts them. Its loud by being quiet, Harmon says. ‘Restraint can cut through when chaos is the norm’ Nowhere is that less is more philosophy more clear than in Davids latest print campaign in the NYC subway. The campaign comes directly on the heels of several other headline-grabbing subway brand stunts. Those include a controversial September campaign from the AI companion company Friend, which inspired intense vandalism, and, just over a month later, a campaign from the embryo screening company Nucleus Genomics that incited widespread backlash online. Both of these campaigns were intentionally designed with provocative copy and imagery to spark conversation. Compare that to Davids designwhich is quite literally just a David bar on a blank canvas, with zero copy in sightand the difference is almot visceral. [Photo: David] When everyone is doing one thing, theres often an advantage in doing the opposite, Harmon says. A lot of shock-driven work depends on escalation. It has to keep pushing harder to stay visible. Restraint can cut through when chaos is the norm. This campaign isnt trying to provoke a reaction so much as invite your own. Rahal says he doesnt like marketing, and prefers a non-traditional, anti-marketing approach whenever possible. It would be wrong to characterize David as a buttoned-up brand, thoughin fact, its pulled several audacious marketing stunts in the last few months. Earlier this year, the brand introduced a real line of frozen boiled cod to its portfolio as a nod to its protein bars similar macronutrient profile (David declined to share sales data on the cod, though Rahal says it was not that convenient and expensive. You can still buy it online for $69.) And, this month, David sent out PR packages that included both a protein bar and a vibrator, alongside copy like, Finish twice, and Pick your pleasure; seemingly insinuating that its bars are orgasmic. Harmon and Rahal argue its still ultimately in line with the brands anti-marketing ethos. David usually keeps things pretty straightforward, he says. This one seems like an outlier, but honestly it still fits the same principle. No fluff, no over-explaining, just the product in a context that feels true to the brand. If anything, it’s just a different take on the same idea. Rahal adds, The thinking is still anti-marketing: one clear message rooted in the product truth, delivered in a novel way.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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