Dilan Mistry

2026 is not a reset. It’s a return to what actually works. Three things just became impossible to ignore: Storytelling is back. And it’s no longer optional. As earned media shrinks and AI floods feeds with generic content, brands are reclaiming control of their narratives. Storytelling is moving from a nice-to-have to a strategic function. Not copywriting. Not content. Meaning, trust, and long-term relevance are becoming growth levers again. Craft just became the message. In a world saturated with AI-generated visuals, how something is made now matters as much as the final result. Apple’s handmade Apple TV logo proved it. The labor is the signal. Authenticity is felt, not rendered. Marketing works better when humans stay in character. Marty Supreme showed that relevance today is earned through presence, not polish. No rigid press tours. No over-controlled messaging. Just a human, unpredictable, playful force turning marketing into live performance. People don’t want ads anymore. They want stories unfolding in public. Same conclusion, three different ways: Human > generic Presence > polish Narrative > noise And that’s exactly where Bubba’s is going next. Sources:  Martin Whatson Behind The Curtain, 2017 https://shorturl.at/4iPuT https://shorturl.at/S61kJ https://lnkd.in/geRXjm7s

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This year Brandweek did something different: they started hosting Q&A sessions. And I was lucky enough to be one of the first to do one (on how AI is changing brand storytelling, of course)! I shared insights from our work at Native Foreign, including lessons from building the first-ever AI brand film, and gave pointers on practical ways visual AI tools can empower storytellers. Thanks to everyone in Atlanta who provided questions for the AMA (all of which I saw for the first time when I got on stage)! The energy in the room reflected how much excitement there is around the future of AI in brand storytelling. #ai #brand #storytelling

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Feels like the ad agency world’s reaction to AI is either: With total fear it’ll take their jobs. Or with the belief AI can do all marketing faster, better, cheaper. Or the opposite—that it’s a direct assault on human creativity and should not be embraced. All of these opinions are loud. The quietest voice is from a bucket who are trying to figure out how human creativity and AI work together. Emotions are high because I think agencies are facing an uncomfortable reckoning. They’re having to ask themselves what business they’re in: if they’re in the business of making content, or solving problems with creativity. AI can do the former. But it can only fuel the latter. Mischief @ No Fixed Address is in the business of solving problems with creativity. We launched The Candy Factory Studio, an AI-native production arm, to figure out how and when the tech can add to the power of creativity. And we’re having fun experimenting with that. #ai #marketing #creativity #brands

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🧴 How do you turn deodorant into "Skin Care for your Whole Body?" Quirk Director Emily Draper pulls back the curtain on our latest spot for Lume Deodorant. If you think modern commercials are all CGI and stock music, think again! From scripts to screen, here are the key strategic elements we brought to life: 🎬It’s About the Science: We moved away from traditional deodorant messaging to bring to life LUME’s sweet spot: skin chemistry solution. This dictated a clean space-age aesthetic, utilizing high-school chemistry color scales (remember the PH scale?) and rainbow dial concepts to reinforce the brand's scientific authority. 🎬The Social-First Hook:  Even on TV & OTT , the first 1-2s are king. We intentionally experimented with weird hooks - inspired by ASMR and "slime" content, we created frames that felt slightly off to trigger a psychological lean-in response from viewers and increase view-through. 🎬 Production Agility & Practical Innovation:  At Quirk, creative constraints often lead to the most efficient solutions. With a single team under one room, we combined practical sets, VFX animation and post all towards a high-end, tactile look that feels grounded and authentic. Anchored by Fosse-inspired choreography - we pushed the boundaries of what a deodorant ad can be. Check out the full interview below to see how it all came together! 👇

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Coming out of LinkedIn hibernation to officially introduce my AI-native creative studio, HAPPYBOY. Our first year, in no particular order: Won a Cannes Lion for Descovy. Created a 17-minute film for the LA Clippers x Union LA fashion show. Produced an immersive POV companion film to the Oscar-winning Sinners. Grew our own IP to 2M+ followers and 250M+ views organically. Worked with Meta to test and build their latest AI model, delivering 120+ promo videos. Helped Justin Timberlake and Sam Fox launch their newest restaurant in Austin. Got our creative into a Coachella performance. Partnered with good people at agencies like Doubleday & Cartwright, The Local Collective, and Memory Creative. Delivered campaigns for WineFest TO, ToonieBet, Fenton & Fenton, The Global Ambassador, Safehaven... + a bunch of other stuff that didn’t sound as cool. Will be sharing some of that work in the coming weeks. In the meantime, got a bunch of projects coming up and looking for freelance creatives who've gone full AI. If the phrases comfyui, LoRA, seedance, --sw 50 mean anything to you, DM me.

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Making a soccer spot is one thing. Building a world around it is another. For our latest campaign with Gulf States Toyota, Game On, we combined live-action footage, CGI, and AI-generated environments to create a film that captures the excitement and anticipation surrounding the world's biggest sporting event. What makes this project exciting isn't the technology itself. It's how seamlessly the tools worked together. Real performances. Digital world-building. AI-assisted creative exploration. With the help of ARC Creative, we brought together traditional production techniques and emerging creative tools in a way that allowed us to move faster, think bigger, and push the work further. Here's a look behind the scenes at how it all came together:

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Video is evolving. Production has to evolve with it. Lemonlight is proud to introduce the next evolution of our work: A new video service driven by experts, accelerated by AI. According to data from our upcoming 2026 Video Marketing Landscape Report, 80% of marketers said they are now experimenting with or fully embracing AI tools. But it’s not out of excitement; it's out of necessity. The pressure on marketing teams to move faster, create more, and stay on-message without sacrificing quality is only increasing. At the same time, teams are feeling AI burnout from fragmented tools that don’t connect to a real creative workflow or protect brand voice. That’s why our new service pairs human creative oversight with AI-enabled efficiency, so that teams can get: - Faster turnarounds - Lower production costs - More content variations - Brand-safe storytelling that still feels unmistakably “you” And to be clear, this isn’t replacing our full-scale production capabilities. It’s expanding them. AI video is now another tool in our toolkit, giving brands more flexibility and more ways to hit their goals in 2026. If you’re curious how AI video can support your content mix this year, check out the page below to learn more and connect with our team to talk through what’s possible. https://lnkd.in/gWeYKNjp Lemonlight is excited to be leading the next era of video production, one that’s built for the realities marketers are facing today.

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WORTH A LOOK #1 I see a lot of jobs come across my feed. Figured I’d start sharing the ones that actually make me stop scrolling. Three this week: Lululemon — Producer, Global Brand Beyond being a great brand to make work for, department lead Caleb Harper Omens is one of the smartest and most thoughtful people I know in the business. That alone makes this worth a look. Microsoft — Creative Producer Microsoft is also looking for some Mid weight production folks. And, as was often cited early in his career among us reps, Martin Babitz is the future. Apparently the future has arrived. Alexander Wang — Junior Creative Lastly, Alexander Wang is looking for a junior creative with the highest levels of taste and clout. If your references require explaining to anyone over 30, this might be the one. Links to all three roles in the comments. ↓

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