The big brands are coming for AI

This week:

Why creative IP is starting to push back on AI, Samsung quietly sets a new benchmark for VFX investment and the seasonal moment brands should already be planning for in 2026.

The big brands are coming for AI

When Reddit sued Perplexity back in October over alleged large-scale scraping, it looked like another skirmish in AI’s legal Wild West. In hindsight, it marked the beginning of a shift.

Over the past months, major rights holders have stepped in:

The New York Times against OpenAI, Microsoft & Perplexity,

Getty Images against Stability AI, and music giants like Universal Music Group pushing back on AI systems trained on copyrighted songs and lyrics.

Last week, Disney showed what the next phase looks like. Its $1B investment and multi-year licensing deal with OpenAI allows Sora to generate short-form video using over 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters — under strict rules, with clear limits around talent likeness and voices.

Different industries, same message: training data is no longer assumed to be free. What’s emerging is a licensing era for AI, where ownership and permission matter as much as performance.

For creative and advertising teams, this changes the equation: AI output won’t just be judged on speed or quality, but on provenance – where it comes from, who owns it, and whether brands are willing to stand behind it. The advantage won’t go to whoever moves fastest, but to those who understand the value of their creative IP, and stop giving it away for free.

Samsung have paid 40 VFX artists this year.

This is a big one for the VFX community: In 2025 alone, Samsung has commissioned over 40 VFX artists for social-first content. Not for a single campaign — but continuously, across launches like the Galaxy S25 and its Bespoke home appliance lineup.

This insight comes from analysing 3,500+ FOOH activations in our database, where Samsung stands out not for a single standout execution, but for the volume and consistency of CGI-driven work.

We’re unpacking more of these patterns to deliver the first data-driven breakdown of market behavior, strategic shifts, and what it all means for advertising in 2026, in our upcoming FOOH Industry Report, stay tuned. 👀

👉 Check out our post about this years Samsung FOOH work!

💡 Industry Insights

Why you shouldn’t sleep on Valentines Marketing in 2026

Valentine’s Day drove $27.5B in spending in 2025, making it one of the most commercially charged moments of the year. With emotion, gifting, and social sharing already in motion, attention comes built in.

That’s why FOOH performs so reliably around this moment. We break down what works, and why brands will keep coming back to Valentine’s Day FOOH in 2026.

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