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In This Issue:
A charity turned bedtime stories into a donation, without asking for a dollar
You might be breaking an EU law
Free ways to catch brand complaints before they spread
Disney just opened its IP to TikTok creators
Source: Royal Society for Blind Children
WORTH A SECOND LOOK
A Charity Turned Bedtime Stories Into a Donation, Without Asking for a Dollar
The Royal Society for Blind Children, working with INNOCEAN Berlin, built an app called Bedtime Donations. Parents record themselves reading public domain children's books aloud. Those recordings get reviewed and turned into free audiobooks for blind and visually impaired kids. Over 90% of published books are inaccessible to blind readers, and the families who need audiobooks most are the ones least able to afford them.
TOP NEWS
You Might Already Be Breaking an EU Law
The EU AI Act's Article 50 disclosure rule took effect this month for AI generated content. If your site targets EU users, and most do, it's worth a look.
Why it matters: rules like this tend to become the default expectation everywhere within a couple of years. I've been researching this and built a tool to help navigate it, for myself and anyone else who needs it.
QUICK TIP
The Complaints You Never See Are the Ones Doing the Damage
I've been seeing a lot of talk about social listening lately, most of it tied to a specific platform or tool. You don't need to spend a dime on any of them (nice if you have the budget, but not necessary). Social listening is a practice, not a purchase, and it's about catching slow erosion before it becomes a real problem: angry customers piling up, or an error you don't even know is live. Search your brand, misspellings, and product names on Google, Reddit, and TikTok. Check your Google Business Profile weekly. Set up free Google Alerts. Cost: $0.
Why it matters: you can't fix or improve what you don't know people are saying, and most of it is already public and completely free.
SOCIAL
Instagram Edits Dropped Four New Creator Tools
Even though the Series feature started rolling out to eligible creators, four additional editing tools landed too.
Speed curves: dynamic speed ramping along a customizable curve, not just a flat slow-mo or fast-forward
Auto-Adjust: one-tap color correction that fixes exposure, contrast, and tone automatically
Folders: organize drafts into folders, drag and drop to sort them
Adjustable layers: apply an effect as a layer that runs across your whole timeline, instead of clip by clip
Why it matters: platforms keep shipping features that change both what's possible to create and how easy it is to do, and most businesses find out months after their competitors already adopted them.
Source: ICYMI with Lia Haberman →
WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
Disney signed a deal letting curated TikTok creators officially remix Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar characters.
Why it matters: the same company that spent decades guarding these characters is now handing them over for remixing on TikTok, a sign of where IP control is heading generally, not just a Disney story.
If any of this sparked something, or you have questions, reply to this email. I read every one.
Talk soon,
Lionel | Marketing & Brand Strategy
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