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by Troy@ Dunket

Ads are overrated. community is the real currency

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Let’s cut through the noise. In 2025, anyone still burning their marketing budget on bloated ad campaigns hoping for a miracle click-through rate is either asleep or in denial. Ads are overrated. Full stop. The brands winning right now are not the ones with the biggest media buys. They are the ones building armies of loyal fans who push the brand harder, louder, and better than any PPC campaign ever could.

You want real growth? Step away from the algorithm and look your audience in the eye.

MrBeast didn’t buy his way in

Take a hard look at Beast Industries. MrBeast didn’t drop millions on Super Bowl spots or YouTube pre-rolls. He built a movement. One video at a time, one fan at a time. He made the audience part of the show, part of the product, part of the strategy.

He wrapped his entire marketing machine around a single principle: people trust people, not ads.

His snack company, Feastables, and MrBeast Burger became empires because his fans wanted to carry the message. They weren’t being sold to. They were bought in. That’s the edge. That’s the power.

Ads are a tax on bad marketing

Let’s be blunt. If you’re relying solely on paid ads to generate interest, it means your brand has no pull. Ads have become a tax for not having a community that believes in your mission enough to promote you for free.

This isn’t a dig at performance marketing. It’s a reality check. When you treat your customers like traffic instead of like humans, they leave. Or worse, they scroll past your message without even noticing.

So what works now? Building something they want to belong to.

Welcome to the community-first era

Forget attention-grabbing gimmicks. Build something that grabs loyalty.

Here’s how the smart brands are doing it:

1. They talk like humans.

Ditch the polished press releases and robotic ad copy. Speak directly. Use your founder’s voice. Show your mess. Share the process. Let your customers see the gears turning. People don’t want glossy. They want gritty. They want real.

2. They turn users into megaphones.

Encourage customers to make content about your brand. Memes. Photos. Unboxing. Challenges. Reviews. Give them a reason to flex your product. Then repost, reshare, and shout them out like rockstars. Because they are.

3. They make it fun to be part of something.

Think contests, giveaways, and inside jokes. Think communities where customers actually talk to each other. Your product is just the starting point. The brand is the party. You’re not throwing ads out there. You’re throwing invites.

4. They reward loyalty like it’s currency.

Loyalty points. Surprise packages. First dibs on new drops. Let them know being part of your world means something. That’s how you build real retention. Not just repeat customers, but lifelong backers.

5. They host the conversation.

Not rent it. If your entire community lives on Instagram or TikTok, you’re playing someone else’s game. Own your audience. Build an email list. Start a Discord. Create a newsletter. Keep the line of communication open on your terms.

Real-world grit, not boardroom theory

Let’s drop some examples. A local sneaker shop in Toronto tripled its revenue without spending a cent on digital ads. How? They ran a “customer of the month” program where shoppers got a spotlight feature on Instagram, discounts for their friends, and first access to new inventory. Customers started bragging about being selected. Word spread. Sales followed.

A craft brewery in Vancouver launched a VIP Facebook Group for superfans. Early access to seasonal brews, behind-the-scenes brewing stories, and AMAs with the brewmaster. Engagement exploded. Retention did too.

These businesses did not buy visibility. They earned it.

Why this matters more than ever

It’s not just a cute idea. It’s a strategic must. Here’s why:

  • Ad fatigue is real: People are numb to promotions. Your CPMs are going up while your conversions are going down.
  • Privacy rules are killing targeting: With cookie policies tightening, the old playbook of retargeting users into submission is collapsing.
  • Algorithms are unstable: One tweak in the feed and your entire traffic stream disappears.
  • Consumers crave meaning: They want to back brands that stand for something, that listen, and that make them feel like they’re part of the story.

You can’t buy that. You build it.

What should you do right now?

Let’s get tactical. Here are five things to start today:

  1. Create a private community space. Pick a platform. Invite your most loyal customers. Make it exclusive and engaging.
  2. Launch a UGC challenge. Get people to create content around your product. Incentivize them.
  3. Feature your fans. Put customer photos, reviews, or stories on your homepage, social feed, or packaging.
  4. Start a referral loop. Make it simple and rewarding to share your brand. Track it. Celebrate it.
  5. Show up as a person. Go live. Respond to DMs. Be real. Let the brand have a heartbeat.

Stop paying for strangers. Start building with believers.

The ad model isn’t dead, but it’s definitely not king anymore. If you want to future-proof your brand, invest where it counts. In the people. In the voices that echo long after your campaign budget runs out.

Community is not a marketing tactic. It’s the only marketing that still works when the rules keep changing.

So here’s the question: are you going to keep throwing dollars into the ad void, or are you ready to build something that actually lasts?

Because loyalty doesn’t come from the feed. It comes from the fire you build around your brand. Start that fire. Let your fans fuel it. Let them carry it.

Or get left behind.

Related Posts
AI just crashed the advertising elite

AI just crashed the advertising elite. Are you still doing it the old way?

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AI just crashed the advertising elite. are you still doing it the old way?
 By Troy McMillan | Dunket

Let’s cut the fluff. AI didn’t arrive in advertising. It bulldozed through the front door and took the best seat at the table. And if Cannes 2025 is any proof, the brands still clinging to traditional workflows, slow approvals, and “creative gut instincts” are about to get trampled.

The game has changed. Not changing. Changed.

The so-called advertising elite has been caught napping while AI quietly rewrote the rules. Major global brands are no longer testing AI,  they are scaling with it. They are producing more content, faster, cheaper, and at quality levels that punch above what old-school creative teams can deliver. If your brand is still treating AI like a novelty or a future experiment, you’re not just behind. You are betting your future on yesterday’s rules.

AI at Cannes: not a buzzword, a takeover

Cannes Lions 2025 looked less like a creativity showcase and more like an AI expo disguised as a marketing summit. From Meta to independent agencies, everyone was showing off how machine learning is driving campaigns,  from concept to execution.

Advantage+ and other AI suites are turning static ideas into dynamic video ads, writing copy, segmenting audiences, and even deciding how much to spend on which creative. What used to take three weeks of meetings now happens in a single click. No, that’s not an exaggeration.

Big-name agencies were flaunting AI tools that generate thousands of ad variations with flawless branding, personalized messaging, and high engagement. If you think your 5-man team can outpace that, good luck. The smart ones are plugging into the new pipeline. The rest are about to learn what “obsolete” feels like.

Efficiency is the new creativity

Here’s a hard truth: creativity no longer lives in a brainstorm session with snacks and sticky notes. It lives in models that analyze what your audience wants, before they even know it. That’s where AI comes in. It predicts. It scales. It optimizes. And when it’s trained well, it outperforms most human creatives at the top of their game.

At Cannes, we saw examples where AI tools like Meta’s Video Gen 2.0 turned a single image into multi-scene video ads with music, animation, and audience-specific tweaks. While most SMBs are still emailing a designer for revisions, AI-driven brands are already testing 100 versions of a campaign,  live.

The scary part? The gap is only getting wider.

Real campaigns. Real results. No excuses.

Take a moment and process this: Meta’s AI-driven campaigns reported an average 22 percent lift in return on ad spend. Conversion rates went up five percent just by letting AI run backend optimization.

This isn’t some agency case study fluff. These are measurable results from brands who took the leap.

Meanwhile, if your team is still debating fonts or brainstorming a “catchy headline,” you’re spending valuable time and money building ads that AI could have finished,  and optimized,  in half the time. You are not “being thoughtful.” You’re being outpaced.

Still not convinced? Let’s talk creative integrity

“AI kills originality.” That’s the excuse. It is also nonsense.

Some of the most compelling campaigns at Cannes were built with AI and human strategy in tandem. Dove’s campaign retrained AI models to represent authentic beauty standards. Vaseline’s team used AI to identify misinformation and rally trustworthy creators around a product narrative.

The winners were not ditching humanity. They were scaling it.

If your idea of brand building still involves one-size-fits-all messaging, AI is not your problem. Your entire playbook is.

Why SMBs should stop waiting and start moving

Let’s call out another myth: “AI is for big brands with big budgets.” Not anymore. Many of the tools demoed at Cannes are accessible, affordable, and scalable.

AI-generated videos. Chatbots. Brand consistency checkers. Audience segmentation. You can get most of it right now for less than your next agency invoice. If you are running a small or midsize business and you are not integrating AI into your marketing, you are choosing to play small.

This is not about cost. It’s about mindset. The ones who move now will compete on a level playing field with brands five times their size. The ones who wait? They will get priced out, phased out, or ghosted by customers who expect better, faster, smarter experiences.

Here’s how to actually keep up

You do not need to throw out your whole marketing team or cancel all your existing tools. But you do need to act. Here’s what to do:

  1. Audit your current process
     Find the time sucks. Are you still manually writing product descriptions? Designing every single ad by hand? That’s your first red flag.
  2. Choose two AI tools
     Try automated video ad creation and a basic chatbot. That’s it. Start small. Measure impact. Scale what works.
  3. Test, don’t tinker
     AI is about speed and iteration. Run ten versions of your Facebook ad and let the algorithm pick the winner. This is not a theory anymore. It’s performance marketing at its most ruthless.
  4. Teach your team to ride the wave
     AI will not take their jobs,  unless they refuse to adapt. Train them to use the tools. Creativity isn’t dying, it is evolving. Fast.
  5. Watch your competitors squirm
     Most businesses are still hesitant. That gives you a short window to leapfrog them. Use it.

This is the new brand war. And AI is your weapon.

Marketing is not about who had the best idea in a room. It is about who got the best idea in front of the right person at the right time, and then scaled it. AI is making that possible at speeds old strategies cannot match.

So if you’re still obsessing over that perfect tagline while your competitor is rolling out a thousand AI-tested variations, ask yourself this:

Are you building a brand for 2025, or are you stuck in 2015?

AI just crashed the elite circle of advertising. It is rewriting the rulebook. You can sit on the sidelines and watch, or you can jump in and rewrite your own future.

But know this: the next awards at Cannes will not go to the cautious. They will go to the fast.

Meta’s AI Video Tool Just Redefined Small Business Ads

Meta’s AI Video Tool Just Redefined Small Business Ads

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If you think producing video ads requires a big budget, a full crew, and days of editing, think again. Meta just rolled out an AI-powered video generator that lets small businesses whip up polished product clips, voiceovers, and animated backgrounds in minutes. Traditional video production suddenly feels ancient. In this blog post, we’ll unpack why automated video creation rules the ad world now, how it works, and why you should jump in fast.

Why Traditional Video Production Feels Outdated

Remember the days of hiring a videographer, writing lengthy scripts, and tracking down voice actors? Those steps add up in time and cost. For many small businesses, shelling out for serious video shoots puts fresh, engaging ads out of reach. Meanwhile your competitors are posting daily reels, TikTok clips, and story ads that grab attention and drive clicks.

With social media algorithms favoring video content, static images can only take you so far. A recent study found that video ads get 120 percent more engagement than plain image posts on Facebook and Instagram. If you rely on old-school methods, you risk missing out on the traction that videos deliver.

How Meta’s AI Video Generator Levels the Playing Field

Meta’s new tool lives right inside Ads Manager. Here’s the simple workflow:

  1. Upload a handful of images. Grab three to five product shots, logo files, or short clips from past campaigns.
  2. Choose a style or type a prompt. Select from templates like “minimal showcase,” “energetic montage,” or supply a quick description such as “urban street vibe with upbeat pacing.”
  3. Customize your voiceover. Pick a voice gender, accent, and adjust speed so it sounds just right for your audience.
  4. Preview and publish. Watch the AI assemble your assets into a slick thirty-second ad. Tweak text overlays or background music volume. Then hit publish and watch it go live on Facebook, Instagram, or Reels.

All told, you can go from concept to running campaign in under ten minutes. That is a game changer.

Key Benefits for Small Business Owners

1. Speed That Lets You Experiment

With manual editing you might stick to the same ad for weeks. Now you can generate half a dozen variants in one session. Test calls to action, swap background styles, or flip between customer testimonials and product demos. Rapid testing helps you learn what resonates without blowing your budget.

2. Budget Friendly Production

Meta reports that early adopters cut production costs by up to 60 percent compared to outsourcing video shoots. Those savings mean you can reinvest in better audience targeting or bump up your ad spend to reach more people.

3. Consistent Brand Look and Feel

Templates lock in your brand colors, fonts, and logo placement so every video follows the same style. That consistency builds trust and recognition, especially when your campaigns roll out across multiple platforms.

4. Professional-Quality Voiceovers Without the Studio

No more dragging your team into poorly lit rooms asking someone to read lines on camera. AI-generated voiceovers give you clear narration in a range of tones and accents. You can even match a voice to local markets — say, a friendly west coast accent for British Columbia audiences or a precise north east tone for New York viewers.

Real-World Examples That Illustrate the Power

Imagine you run a home decor shop in Halifax. You have a few product images but no video clips. Upload those images, choose a cozy home scene template, and type “warm and inviting voiceover.” In minutes you have a short reel showing your latest throws and cushions in action. You run A/B tests with two voiceover styles — one playful, one authoritative — and discover playful wins by a clear margin.

Or consider a California-based organic skincare brand. They upload their logo and product shots, select a nature theme, and ask for a “soothing female voice with a relaxed pace.” The AI produces a gentle, nature-inspired ad that feels as if it came from a high-end studio. The brand uses that same ad across Instagram stories and Facebook feed, maintaining visual unity while speaking directly to health-conscious consumers.

SEO Tips for Your AI-Generated Videos

To get the most from your new video ads, think beyond social platforms. Use SEO best practices when you post videos on your website or YouTube channel:

  • Long-tail keywords in titles: For example “AI video ads for small business marketing” or “automated video creation tools Meta.”
  • Keyword-rich descriptions: In the first 150 characters of your video description, mention your core phrase naturally.
  • Tags and metadata: Populate tag fields with related search terms like “social media video ads,” “Meta Ads Manager tutorial,” and “small business marketing 2025.”
  • Transcripts for accessibility: Upload a transcript or closed captions. That text helps search engines index your content and improves reach.

These steps help search engines and social platforms surface your videos when people look for solutions in automated ad creation.

Common Questions and Quick Answers

Do I need any design skills to use the tool?
 Not at all. The interface guides you through uploads and style choices. If your images are clear and your copy is concise, the AI handles the rest.

Can I use multiple voiceovers in one ad?
 Yes. You can segment your script and assign different voices to each section, creating dynamic ads with character.

What if I need a custom music track?
 Meta provides a library of licensed music options. You can also upload your own audio if you have rights to it.

Are there any hidden fees?
 Generating AI videos counts toward your regular ad spend. There is no separate surcharge for using the tool itself.

Why Automation Rules the Future of Ads

Video content consumption keeps rising. As viewer attention spans shrink, brands must publish fresh, engaging clips to stay top of mind. AI automation reduces barriers and unlocks creativity:

  • Faster iteration: More tests lead to better insights.
  • Lower risk: Smaller budgets per video mean you can try bold ideas.
  • Scalable production: Whether you are a one-person shop or a team of five, the tool expands with your needs.

Automation will not replace human creativity. Instead it augments your capacity, allowing you to focus on strategy and storytelling rather than rote editing tasks.

Getting Started Is Easier Than You Think

If you have a Business Manager account, the AI video tool might already be enabled. Head to your Ads Manager, look for the “Create Video” option under the creative section, and explore the templates. Even if you only spend five minutes experimenting, you’ll see how quickly the AI assembles your assets into polished ads.

Once you get comfortable, plan a series of video tests. Set small budgets, run each variant, and track metrics like click-through rate and conversion. In a month you could have a playbook of high-performing videos at a fraction of the traditional cost and time.

Meta’s AI video tool has shifted the small business ad landscape forever. With automated production, built-in voiceovers, and dynamic backgrounds, you can produce professional quality video ads in minutes. This change levels the playing field, letting SMBs compete with larger brands on creativity and engagement. Embrace automation, experiment broadly, and you’ll see just how far a few clicks can take your marketing.