👉🏻 SUM NEWS: 7.16.25

July 16, 2025

This week, we’re talking about the kind of content that actually cuts through, like thought leadership that makes buyers forget how small your brand is, Canva designs you can now generate with a sentence, and YouTube’s crusade against AI slop.

Plus, a new poll, a new spotlight, and a sober take on networking.

IN THIS ISSUE

  • 🔥 From The Ink Well

  • 🎧 SUM Podcast Network

  • 🌎 Around the Web: Claude x Canva, AI Use Is Up, 2025 Marketing Trends, YouTube’s AI Crackdown 

  • ✍️ SUM Poll

  • 😂 In the Meme Time

FROM THE INK WELL

Marketer Spotlight

She went from real estate finance during the housing market crash to leading global marketing for one of the biggest names in beauty. In this SUM Spotlight, Elizabeth Guerrero Maulhardt of Anastasia Beverly Hills shares her career pivot, advice for rising marketers, and her #1 marketing superpower.

Beat Out the Big Brands with Thought Leadership

If you’re at a startup or scaleup trying to stand out from bigger, more established players, a new Edelman-LinkedIn report proves that bold, high-quality thought leadership can be your differentiator.

55% of hidden buyers (those internal folks who shape purchasing decisions behind the scenes) use thought leadership as part of their vetting process. And 53% say high-quality thought leadership trumps brand recognition.

Interested in sharing your POV? Submit your pitch to get published in The Ink Well.

SUM POLL

Who’s creating thought leadership at your company?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

SUM PODCAST NETWORK

30% of Gen Z adults don’t drink. So why are we still building every networking event around booze?

Kay Prince joins Brilliantly Wrong to share how she’s building a sober-friendly, values-driven community in ad tech—and why the industry is ready for it.

Executive coach Toni Collis joins Brilliantly Wrong to hash out why saying “no” builds better teams, how people-pleasing holds back careers, and what it means to lead without apology.

If your calendar’s full but your soul is tired, this one’s for you.

AROUND THE WEB

  • Claude x Canva: Claude now integrates with Canva, letting users create, edit, resize, and summarize designs using simple text prompts, all without leaving the chat. (The Verge).

  • AI Use Is Up: Nine out of 10 (91%) B2B marketing teams are using AI to streamline content creation, most commonly for drafting copy, generating visuals, and brainstorming. Yet only 38% have formal usage policies, exposing a gap between adoption and responsible implementation (Walnut).

  • 2025 Marketing Trends: Digital video and influencer marketing continue to gain traction—59% of marketers plan to increase influencer partnerships, and digital video ad spend is set to hit $72.4B. While 84% of CMOs struggle to execute strategy, most remain optimistic about AI, with 71% planning major investments in the next three years (Marketing Dive).

  • YouTube’s AI Crackdown: As of yesterday, YouTube officially stopped monetizing repetitive or AI-generated content, signaling a continued push for original, high-quality videos (Tech Crunch).

IN THE MEME TIME