• Written by: Kevin Robles on 5/8/2025
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💥 Duolingo just hit self-destruct 💥
They were on top of the world, dominating every social media platform around. It seemed like they could get away with ANYTHING. Their marketing team has done every trend and differentiated so well in them! They built a brand identity that people loved and then… BAM: “AI-first.”?

“AI-first” is NOT innovation. It’s a statement about their values and ethics. If I wanted to talk to an incoherent bot, I’d just open up Facebook. This change is going so well that loyal users are canceling subscriptions. 🔥

Powered by GPT-4? How is that cheaper if Openai is not profitable? You can’t plan for the future when OpenAi is switching to for-profit mode. Even if it was free relying on it would hurt the brand image with the slop. It just benefits Openai’s data collection. Meanwhile, real users canceling, real translators are out of jobs, and Duolingo’s brand image is going down the drain. Their marketing is amazing but not even they can meme their way out of this one. Is your business thinking about doing the same? Maybe try a real strategy…😬

It’s easier to destroy brand image than it is to fix it. Duo fumbled their reputation, but you don’t have to take that fall to learn the lesson.
More content ≠ better content
Automation ≠ strategy
Scaling slop ≠ innovation

• Written by: Kevin Robles on 3/24/2025
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• Ad Posted on: Feb 7, 2024

This Ad was made after I found out Doritos was gonna make a super bowl ad! I was already looking for a product to promote & use as practice. However, the deadline gave me a goal to aim for!

I also used it to test new tricks and keep improving on my old tricks!
One of the bigger challenges with this project was simulating that cheese debris!

• Written by: Kevin Robles on 3/24/2025
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• Ad Posted on: Nov 1, 2023

Introducing "Santa Catrina Cabernet Sauvignon" - a unique blend of Booze and boos inspired by Mexican heritage, & deep roots revolving around "Dia de los Muertos." I was looking to create a heritage brand to make branding content on linkedin. While making the brand, I decided to make an ad for it as well! In the end, I forgot about making the Linkedin posts cuz I got so distracted making this video. That's how the Santa Catrina brand was born!

I wanted to take my time creating unique characters that could represent the brand well. This is one of the first times I added a sort of "story" to the video. Creating more lore for Santa Catrina brand!

• Written by: Kevin Robles on 3/24/2025
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• Ad Posted on: Aug 30, 2023

This blog post talks about The Artistic Process Behind every Pixel in the Kraken Gold Spiced Rum Ad + behind the scenes!

My first full Advertisement! There was a lot of things I wanted to test with this project. I wanted to get better at mixing music, so I started with that. After I felt like I had something decent I started working on the video. I've made ads before, but this was the first time it really felt like I made something decent. Up until now my ads were just product promos & kept getting compared with social media posts, which I did not like. The same way Proximo Spirits aimed for “THE NEW GOLD STANDARD in spiced rum thanks to its superb taste” I wanted my work to be seen as real advertisements and if I kept making videos like my coke promo I would have been boxed in... This was my way of exiting that perception of my work & aiming for...a new gold standard for my clients lol...

• Written by: Kevin Robles on 4/28/2025
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This blog post talks about The Artistic Process Behind every Pixel in the Kraken Gold Spiced Rum Ad + behind the scenes!

AI has potential, but at what cost? I am going to call out a lot of issues with AI, but I still believe it has potential across most fields. Not every field tho, every tool has it's place and Ai keeps getting forced into everything when it doesn't have to. You wouldn't use a rocket launcher to kill a roach. Using a tool like this and wasting precious resources on things that don't require Ai is selfish as fuck😂. I think it's good to experiment with how it could help some fields, but putting it in everything just for the hell of it is beyond dumb. Having said that, It can still bring positive change if used correctly.

The problem is that we won’t get to that point if we treat AI like a banana republic. I am also going to be talking very critically about managers and business owners who exploit workers while not actually contributing anything themselves. I know this isn't everyone and there is good leadership out there but the majority is not. AI isn’t just a tool anymore. It’s quickly becoming a core part of a lot of businesses and government. The way it’s built, trained, and used affects EVERYONE.

Not just creators who have their work stolen.
Not just investors who WILL lose a ton of money when the hype dies.
EVERYONE will be affected by these changes. If we let them create a whole new narrative we won’t own ANYTHING. I know this sounds like "a do0MeR tAkE" simply because it's not guaranteed but simping over some hypothetical utopia is just as stupid, realistically it's worse. Big Tech is centralizing power more every day, so nothing points towards this utopia other than CEOs fantasizing over the idea of holding all the power.

Any kind of ethical move big tech makes is AFTER backlash. SO by staying quite we are letting them change the rules and we can't be scared to call it like it is out of fear that we will be labeled "d00MeRs"