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As AI goes mainstream, startups turn to brand building to win consumer trust

In the race to win over consumers, AI startups are turning to an age-old marketing strategy: trying to make people feel something.

This year, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity have all ramped up their brand marketing efforts. OpenAI launched its first large-scale brand campaign for ChatGPT on Sunday, while Anthropic rolled out its debut campaign for AI chatbot Claude earlier this month.

Like Perplexity, which released its first celebrity-led ad in March, these campaigns use classic brand building techniques like storytelling, emotional messaging, and cultural partnerships—fundamental to creative advertising across sectors, but largely untapped by AI startups until now.

The shift reflects AI firms’ maturation in an increasingly competitive market. In just a few years, some AI startups have rocketed to sky-high valuations, with OpenAI valued at $324 billion and Anthropic at $178 billion, according to Forge Global data. Three-year-old Perplexity was valued at $20 billion as of September.

Amid explosive growth and intensifying rivalry, AI is entering the mainstream. Now is a crucial time for these companies to start building distinct brands that emotionally connect with consumers, said Nilesh Ashra, founder and CEO of AI training platform OK Tomorrow.

“The AI models have converged and become commoditized much quicker than anyone thought,” Ashra said. “In any category, once your product is no longer differentiated, you have to ask yourself: How do we build a competitive one? That’s the unique potential of creativity.”

Relatable stories

While different AI companies are taking slightly different creative approaches, they are all trying to inspire, emphasize the tech’s usefulness, and center the human experience in their own ways.

OpenAI—one of the dominant players—began its shift into mainstream marketing after appointing Kate Rouch, former chief marketing officer (CMO) of cryptocurrency firm Coinbase, as its first CMO in December. Since then, it’s been building an in-house creative team, hiring Michael Tabtabai as its first leader in August.

Earlier this year, OpenAI hit the national advertising stage with its first Super Bowl commercial. The ad used abstract, animated dots to draw a through line from humanity’s greatest inventions (fire, airplanes, television) to ChatGPT.

Its latest campaign brings the tech down to earth. The spots depict everyday moments, such as cooking dinner for a new romantic partner or going on a roadtrip, when ChatGPT comes in handy.

“Our storytelling is built on the real ways people are using ChatGPT right now,” Rouch told ADWEEK.  “We want to highlight those small moments of possibility, discovery, and connection… making the technology feel optimistic, helpful, and accessible to everyone.”

Anthropic also came out with an optimistic message in its first campaign for Claude, backed by a multimillion-dollar media investment. Created by independent agency Mother, the sleek ad with a hip-hop soundtrack introduced the tagline “Keep Thinking” and positioned Claude as a problem solving sidekick for issues spanning medicine, education, creativity, and the environment.

The message is that Claude is “an AI you can trust with your most meaningful challenges,” said Andrew Stirk, head of brand marketing at Anthropic.

“We wanted to create a celebration, invitation, and rallying cry all at once,” he said. “We want people to feel like they’ve found a thinking partner worthy of their ambitions.”

In its creative approach, Anthropic drew inspiration from brands like Patagonia, “for their exacting focus on product quality, their principled actions, and the inspiring vision of their founder,” Stirk added.

Perplexity has a similar proposition “to help curious people,” said head of communications Jesse Dwyer. But its recent advertising has been less lofty, leaning into humor and pop culture instead.

In March, its largest campaign to-date—a seven-figure media buy across streaming platforms—starred Squid Game actor Lee Jung-jae and playfully jabbed at Google. In May, it signed an endorsement deal with Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton.

“We ask, ‘What would be fun to people? What would be interesting and very human?’” said Dwyer.

He added while this isn’t “a radical idea,” the approach could stand out in the tech sector, where “a lot of ads end up reflecting the bubble of technology itself,” he said.

“The more other AI companies just talk about themselves,” he added, “it reinforces our story that we’re about people and our users, and we care more about them than we do ourselves.”

Tackling mistrust

Building human and accessible brands could be particularly challenging around AI, which has sparked fears about replacing jobs and eroding human connections. Tech giants like Meta and Google have previously faced backlash for marketing of their AI products, especially when it appeared to overshadow human creativity.

Compared to other emerging technology, “There is a bigger level of mistrust that sits around AI,” said Sam Williams, head of strategy at AMV BBDO. “There’s also a risk of a bigger mistrust backlash if you get this wrong.”

To build trust and appeal to the masses, AI marketers must answer, “How do we give heart to technology, which can be very cold?” said Andrés Ordóñez, global chief creative officer of FCB. “If you show me how powerful you are, I might be scared. But if you tell me how you get me and why you’re part of my life, that’s relatable.”

If successful, AI startups could follow the path of other tech giants like Google, which has built its brand through emotional advertising that showcases the power of its products. Or, according to Williams, AI startups could “transform into big lifestyle brands” like Apple or Spotify, which are also widely acclaimed for their brand storytelling.

But they’re not there yet, Ashra said. So far, AI brands are “accidentally creating category ads that sell the idea of this emerging technology versus their specific tech,” he argued.

“Domains like problem solving and knowledge are not uniquely ownable by any large language models, so there’s a risk that a really lovely Anthropic ad will make consumers feel warm and fuzzy about OpenAI,” Ashra added.

As AI companies scramble to differentiate, they should be specific in their storytelling and communicate their distinctive missions, much like celebrated brands like Nike and Apple have done before.

“I think there are mission statements on the white boards at some of these companies that they’re not sure how to actually say to the world,” Ashra said. “Some of these ads are struggling to navigate that. They’re sweet and a little bit vague, but they miss the opportunity to say what they really believe. They’re holding back.”

The horror character also discovers reality TV and gaming through Comcast’s brand

Frankenstein’s monster had a wickedly fun weekend after discovering the internet.

Comcast’s Xfinity brand put a fresh spin on the Gothic tale through a partnership with Universal Pictures and the Universal Parks team. The new “Imagine That” platform recreates the medieval lab of Dr. Frankenstein, as seen in the “Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment” ride at Epic Universe’s Dark Universe.

A 2-minute ad, created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners and directed by Lance Acord through Park Pictures, brings Dr. Frankenstein’s monster to life through the power of Xfinity’s WiFi connectivity.

The parks’ makeup and prosthetic artists helped recreate the creature’s signature look, including his green complexion, square head, neck bolts, and boots.

When “Frank” the monster has the place to himself, he gets sucked into an episode of Love Island USA on TV and morphs into a channel-hopping, gaming, shopping, and social media-addicted creature. Fresh from an invigorating GPS-aided cycling session and inspired by various online lifestyle gurus, he cooks up a feast for the doctor’s return.

Dr. Frankenstein is initially stunned by the new monster, but the two share a meal and a bottle of wine.

The playful campaign highlights how Xfinity makes users’ lives “simpler, safer, and a lot more fun” through its entertainment offering, said Jon Gieselman, chief growth officer, connectivity and platforms, at Comcast.

“We believe our products should be intuitive, invisible, and inspiring, unlocking possibilities you didn’t even know you needed,” Gieselman said in a statement.

During spooky season, Xfinity customers will be able to access behind-the-scenes and other exclusive content by saying “Halloween” into their voice remote. Other stories will continue to appear under the “Imagine That” banner through next year.

“This campaign perfectly reflects a brand that opens the door to extraordinary stories and gives people unmatched access to the world’s best entertainment and connectivity,” added Jeff Goodby, co-founder and co-chairman of GS&P.

A new job listing shows OpenAI plans to build internal tools for campaign management, ad platform integration, and real-time attribution

OpenAI is staffing up to expand ChatGPT’s marketing reach and build on-platform marketing tools.

A recent job listing shows the company is hiring a Growth Paid Marketing Platform Engineer to develop internal tools for ad platform integration, campaign management, and real-time attribution. The position is part of a newly formed “ChatGPT Growth team,” and tasked with “building the technical infrastructure behind OpenAI’s paid marketing platform.”

While the company has said it is exploring advertising, it does not currently have on-platform capabilities. This job listing is a rare signal of OpenAI’s plans for an in-house marketing platform within ChatGPT, and part of the AI company’s broader growth plans.

The job posting calls for an engineer to “join our new ChatGPT Growth team to build and scale the systems that power OpenAI’s marketing channels and spend efficiency,” adding that this person would be responsible for “developing campaign management tools, integrating with major ad platforms, building real-time attribution and reporting pipelines, and enabling experimentation frameworks to optimize our objectives.”

“As we are in the early stages of building this platform, we will rely on you to design and implement foundational MarTech infrastructure that make our marketing investments more effective, measurable, and automated,” the listing says.

This adds to recent reporting showing that OpenAI is quickly ramping up its advertising ambitions. On Wednesday, Alex Heath of Sources reported that OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, was meeting with candidates to “lead a new team that will be tasked with bringing ads to ChatGPT.” Simo had previously been CEO of Instacart, where she was tasked with building that company’s ads product.

OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment.

Few companies build their own ad-buying systems—outside of giants like Google, Meta, or Amazon—and typically rely on agencies or third-party tools to handle campaign automation and measurement. Universal McCann, for example, is overseeing the social media buy for Perplexity while the AI startup manages all streaming placements internally.

Critically, this job listing would support building backend infrastructure—APIs, data pipelines, and services—to manage campaigns, measure attribution, and optimize ad spend. This internal infrastructure would give OpenAI the ability to run marketing at scale without relying on external agencies, two industry insiders said, adding that successfully doing so for itself could lay the foundation for a broader product that lets other brands run campaigns through ChatGPT.

Jacob Bourne, an analyst at eMarketer, said this also reflects OpenAI’s effort to scale its advertising internally rather than relying on outside agencies, enabling more control over spend across platforms like Google and Meta. “Outsourcing would mean less control and more risk given its sensitive market position,” Bourne said.

Bourne added that while it may be striking to see a company that began as a nonprofit research lab make this kind of move, it reflects OpenAI’s for-profit pivot and broader push into revenue generation.

The hire also comes on the heels of OpenAI appointing Omnicom Media Group’s PHD as its global media agency of record (AOR), to handle global media planning and buying for the ChatGPT-maker.

You’ve seen the headlines. The U.S. labor market isn’t as optimistic as we would like to believe. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ revised data points to a significant reduction in the number of jobs available from last year to March 2025. The economy is almost a million jobs weaker than we thought.

And to add to this, August’s Jobs Report points to an increasingly weakening job market, with the unemployment rate at 4.3%–the highest level since 2021–and just 22,000 jobs added to the market in August, in sharp contrast to economists’ expectations of more than 70,000 job gains in the U.S, reports CNN.

The primary industries being hit with employment reductions and fewer jobs being added to the market, are:

• Federal (down by 15,000 in August and a total loss of 97,000 in January; this total figure does not account for federal workers currently in receipt of severance pay)
• Mining, quarrying, oil, and gas extraction (down by 6,000 after hardly any change over the past year)
• Wholesale trade (down by 32,000 since May)
• Manufacturing (down by 78,000 for the year)

(Data taken from the BLS employment situation summary.)

Can the U.S. job market get any worse?

What’s Causing A Weakened U.S. Jobs Market?

There are several factors that are likely responsible for the current state of the labor market in the United States. These factors include the federal employment upheaval under the current administration, beginning in January when federal workers were prohibited to work remotely, resulting in a wave of employees leaving their jobs as expected in a bid from DODGE to shrink the federal workforce, and consequently government spend.

Another likely reason is the shutdown and reduction of workforces in various federal departments, again linked to DODGE.

Third, this year we’ve seen the tariff war impacting industries, especially manufacturing and wholesale trade, within the United States.

AI is another significant factor here, resulting in fewer jobs being added to the labor market as a whole. One million less jobs than predicted aligns perfectly with the layoffs trend we’ve been seeing over the past few years, specifically since the AI boom.

This year, in February, we saw an unprecedented surge in tech layoffs not seen since the pandemic, and since then tech layoffs have exceeded the rate of layoffs since the pandemic. Big name companies like Microsoft, Intel, Glassdoor, Indeed, and others have been laying off workers by the hundreds and thousands.

Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, said that AI is already achieving 50% of the work at the CRM company, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy anticipates a future where AI will be more significantly integrated across the company’s operations and there will be fewer Amazon employees within the next few years.

All these factors explain why the U.S. labor market is much weaker than originally forecasted.

How Can I Future-Proof And AI-Proof My Career?

With a weak U.S. jobs market, it’s only natural that professionals like you are filled with anxiety. This is giving rise to the trend of job-hugging, which is the opposite of job-hopping that occurred during the Great Resignation of 2022.

“Job-hugging” is when you hold on to your job and are very reluctant to hand in your notice for fear that you may never step into regular employment again. You don’t like your job, you probably hate it, and you don’t give it 100%, but you’re staying in it just to survive.

Is that what you really want for your future?

Is this how you expect to live the rest of your career, at the mercy of inflation, tariffs, rising record levels of unemployment, fewer jobs being available, and fierce job market competition?

Is that how you intend to spend the next 10, 15, 20 or 25 years of your career?

Surely, there must be more to work than job-hugging or being at the mercy of the economy.

The good news is you don’t have to be. Here are some simple steps you can take today to regain control over your life, your finances and your career, and design a job and career that makes you fulfilled, happy, and financially free.

1. Upskill In High-Income, In-Demand Skills

Upskill in the skills of the future, by learning the certifications that teach in-demand high-income skills, like AI, critical thinking, data analysis, project management, etc.

2. Career Pivot

Make a career pivot and shift to industries or roles that are recession-proof and pay well, such as cybersecurity, for example.

3. Build Your Online Prescence

Establish your digital presence and build your online personal brand.

4. Freelance On Gig Platforms

Offer your skills on freelance platforms, such as Toptal, Upwork, or Contra, so that you have a secondary stream of income to fall back on. And you can build an entire business from this, if it takes off and is going very well.

5. Build Passive Income

Create a portfolio career where you have several income streams, including passive income.

6. Seek Companies With A Global Presence

Look for remote jobs that are work-from-anywhere. Seek companies based in Europe, Asia, or other parts of the world, that have flexible hiring policies, and allow for async working from anywhere in the world.

7. Optimize And Post On Your LinkedIn

Strengthen your LinkedIn presence by optimising your profile, strategically adding to your network, and engaging thoughtfully on posts on LinkedIn, providing quality insight and thought leadership. Post regularly on LinkedIn, at least two to three times a week.

8. Update Your Resume

Refresh your resume at least once a year, so you never forget what you’ve achieved and accomplished, and your resume is always fresh and prepared in the event that you need it sooner than expected.

9. Keep A Financial Cushion

Build a financial cushion of emergency savings and money for business investment. So you can launch a side hustle.

10. Try Consulting

Leverage your brain capital for consulting and contract retainer work.

11. Stay Relevant

Stay abreast of trends in your industry and in the job market, using podcasts, newsletters, industry publications, and attending industry networking events and masterminds.

12. Network Proactively

Join membership associations within your industry for networking and job opportunities.

13. Prepare For The Right Jobs

Focus on roles that require strategy, leadership, and decision-making, as opposed to entry-level or repetitive skills that AI can easily replicate.

What’s next for you now?

Instead of job-hugging due to anxiety about job stability, try taking proactive steps to future-proof your career

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Time to dust off your resume and optimize it for the jobs and skills of the future. Learn how to Write A Resume That Gets You Hired After A Layoff, then after reading that article, learn what you can do in the first month after being laid off here. Then, check out some free certifications you can undertake to upskill yourself at no cost in this article.

The NFL season kickoff is upon us, with the league’s ad power stronger than ever on digital and streaming channels as Super Bowl ads already score more than $8 million apiece.

How valuable are NFL broadcasts to ad buyers? Television data and analytics firm EDO estimated that the NFL brings in $5.2 billion in national TV ads and, during the 2024 season alone, hosted ads that were 19% more effective than the TV average during its regular season, 63% more effective during the playoffs, and 243% more compelling on Super Bowl Sunday. Broadcasters are so interested in adding the NFL to their playbooks that ESPN’s latest deal with the league included a stake in the media company, which may affect the league’s future media-rights deals and has competitors scrambling for other sports properties or seeking bundling agreements.

The NFL’s 550 regular-season brand advertisers in 2024 would’ve needed to run 23 ads on television just to have the impact of one NFL ad, per EDO. So, with that in mind, ADWEEK put together a list of brands that got a jump on the 2025 NFL season and put pressure on competitors with a well-timed play.

NEW YORK, NY, September 5, 2025 — WPP today announces a series of strategic global leadership appointments, underscoring its commitment to delivering enhanced client solutions and driving intelligent growth across its network. Devika Bulchandani is being appointed Chief Operating Officer of WPP and Laurent Ezekiel is being appointed Global CEO of the Ogilvy Group and Executive Sponsor for WPP Open X. Additionally, Floriane Tripolino is being named CEO of WPP Open X, WPP’s bespoke agency team dedicated to The Coca-Cola Company.

As Chief Operating Officer, Devika Bulchandani will be responsible for commercialising services and solutions across WPP in a seamless, frictionless way to drive intelligent growth for WPP’s clients worldwide. Since Devika took the helm as Global CEO of Ogilvy, she has not only cemented Ogilvy’s position as one of the world’s leading creative networks but has also strategically strengthened and modernised its core capabilities, diversifying the network’s client roster over four years. The culmination of these efforts saw Ogilvy make history, becoming the first agency network to be named both the Most Creative and Most Effective in the world for three consecutive years on WARC’s Creative 100 and Effective 100 rankings (2023-2025). Throughout her tenure, Ogilvy has consistently delivered creative ideas that are not only groundbreaking but also solve complex business challenges for clients, underscoring the agency’s unique ability to work at the intersection of world-class talent and capabilities.

Laurent Ezekiel will build on that momentum as the new CEO of The Ogilvy Group. He will oversee the creative network’s global business, spanning integrated marketing capabilities that include advertising, PR, social & influence, customer engagement, consulting and health. The Ogilvy Group includes award-winning creative boutiques such as DAVID, INGO, NCA, Thjnk and Village Marketing, along with Grey which joined the Ogilvy network in May 2025 as part of a strategic realignment.

Laurent most recently served as CEO of WPP Open X for The Coca-Cola Company after securing the industry’s largest-ever global marketing agency partnership in 2021. WPP Open X brings together creative, media, social, influencer, commerce, PR, data and technology into a cohesive marketing ecosystem that is innovative at its core and unprecedented in its scale. This global network-to-network partnership was specifically designed to support The Coca-Cola Company’s marketing transformation, covering more than 200 brands in 195 countries and to be a catalyst for marketing innovation and excellence.

Under Laurent’s strategic direction, WPP Open X developed and scaled innovative solutions such as Studio X and harnessed the collective creative power of the company’s agencies to propel Coca-Cola to become Brand of the Year at the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

In her new role as CEO of WPP Open X, Floriane Tripolino will build upon the vision and model successfully established in 2021. The team will continue scaling cutting-edge solutions such as Studio X, leveraging advanced data and AI capabilities to transform consumer connections, and ensuring the partnership continues to drive global marketing leadership. This appointment follows The Coca-Cola Company’s renewal of its global marketing partnership with WPP Open X in May 2025, underscoring the proven value and ongoing strategic importance of the partnership.

In her four impactful years leading the Nestlé account, Floriane was instrumental in deepening WPP’s relationship with the global food and beverage giant. She significantly expanded WPP’s media footprint with the brand, championed the adoption of new capabilities such as WPP Open, and positioned WPP as a trusted partner in Nestlé’s marketing transformation journey, leveraging data-driven strategies to establish WPP as Nestlé’s largest marketing services partner.

Cindy Rose, CEO of WPP, said: “These appointments underscore WPP’s commitment to delivering unparalleled value and innovation. Devika’s deep obsession with helping our clients grow and win, will help us accelerate our growth across the entire WPP landscape. Laurent’s close, successful partnership with The Coca Cola Company and creation of WPP Open X gives him valuable insight and experience to help navigate the needs of our largest clients, many of which are housed in Ogilvy. These leaders embody the strategic vision and creative excellence that define WPP. Their collective expertise will play a crucial part in helping me drive WPP to our next phase of growth and ensuring our clients continue to win in a rapidly evolving market.”

Devika Bulchandani, incoming Chief Operating Officer at WPP, noted: “I have been the luckiest person in the world, to have the best job in the world as Ogilvy’s CEO – and I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together as a team. Having partnered closely with Laurent, I’ve seen firsthand his unparalleled ability to drive growth and champion creative excellence. I can’t think of a better leader to partner with Liz Taylor, our Chief Creative Officer, and our leadership team to guide Ogilvy to even greater heights. As we all begin this next chapter at WPP, I’m energised by the immense potential ahead. I truly believe that when we seamlessly bring together WPP’s world-class capabilities, we become an invincible force – one that unlocks unparalleled value for our clients. I look forward to collaborating with Cindy and leaders across WPP to amplify that impact and drive even greater success for our partners.”

Laurent Ezekiel, incoming Global CEO of Ogilvy, added: “It is an immense honour to lead the Ogilvy Group, an iconic network I deeply admire – one that was founded by a true pioneer in David Ogilvy, and that Devika has steered to unprecedented success with an exceptional leadership team that is leading the industry forward. I am eager to build on this incredible legacy – championing modern marketing and innovation to ensure Ogilvy continues to be the most creative and effective communications partner for brands worldwide. The future of Ogilvy is bright, and I’m thrilled to be a part of writing the next chapter of marketing history with our teams and clients.”

Floriane Tripolino, incoming CEO of WPP Open X, said: “Stepping into the role as CEO of WPP Open X is an energising opportunity. The Coca-Cola Company is the house of multiple iconic brands and a cornerstone partner for WPP. I’m deeply honoured to join this talented team, ready to build on our strong foundation. I’m excited to work with Laurent in this next phase of our marketing transformation, ensuring our partnership continues to lead the industry and deliver truly impactful, future-forward work.”

For nearly four decades, Nike has been telling people to “Just Do It.” Today, the brand is reintroducing its iconic tagline, flipping it into a question: “Why Do It?”

The answer to that question is a major new campaign issuing the “Just Do It” rallying cry to the next generation. Amid the brand’s turnaround, Nike wants to invite young athletes to write the next chapter of its legacy.

The “Why Do It?” campaign, created by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, kicks off Sept. 4 to coincide with the start of many sports seasons. The ad features athletes from various sports spanning basketball, football, baseball, soccer, tennis, diving, and racing.

The diverse, global group of athletes includes Caitlin Clark, Carlos Alcaraz, Saquon Barkley, LeBron James, Rayssa Leal, and Qinwen Zheng. Each is wrestling with their own purpose and must answer, “Why Do It?”

Tyler, the Creator narrates the spot.

Nike’s fresh take on “Just Do It” reframes greatness as a choice, rather than a given outcome. It speaks to a young generation that is “hesitant to get out there because of this fear of perfectionism,” Nicole Graham, Nike’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, told ADWEEK.

“As we talk with young athletes, it’s just an absolute pressure cooker of comparison, trying to be perfect, fear of failing, and fear of even trying in many cases,” she said.

The film captures athletes not in the glory of winning, but at the moment they choose to take a risk: kicking a ball, taking a swing, diving off a board.

“The whole idea of ‘Why Do It?’ is about taking that first step and actually doing it,” Graham said. “We wanted to give voice to those doubts, but very clearly give an answer: do it and look what happens.”

A line that moves with culture

Since Nike and Wieden+Kennedy introduced “Just Do It” in 1988, it has become one of the most famous brand slogans of all time.

“Those are three very precious words to us,” Graham said. “Those words have taken on different meanings based on what’s going on in culture.”

The first ad to use the tagline showed 80-year-old runner Walt Stack jogging across the Golden Gate Bridge, demonstrating that sports are for everyone.

1995’s “If You Let Me Play” extended that message to girls and young women by showing how sports could change their lives.

In 2018, the 30th anniversary of “Just Do It,” Nike took a bold stance by featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who had stirred controversy with his protests of racial injustice, in its “Dream Crazy” ad.

“Just Do It” came to be embodied by legendary athletes including Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, and Kobe Bryant, who demonstrated that when you show up, anything is possible.

Returning to relevance

Yet in recent years, Nike has faced sluggish sales and declining brand value, while struggling to compete with legacy rivals such as Adidas and upstart brands like On and Hoka that appeal to Gen Z.

“We weren’t as sharp and clear on our values as a company,” Graham said.

Over the last 18 months, Nike has embarked on a marketing transformation to return its brand to relevance.

Growing up, Amaka Godfrey remembers how much of her life revolved around water.

She’d have to lug a can of water to her primary school in Nigeria each day, which had no water of its own. Later, in boarding school, she’d chain a can of water to her bed each night to prevent classmates from stealing it.

A new report from the World Health Organization shows that Godfrey’s experience is shared by many. One in four people lack access to safe drinking water, according the report.

That’s over 2 billion people who aren’t able to simply turn on the tap in their home, workplace or school and get a glass of water they know will be clean.

Even more people, 3.4 billion, aren’t able to reliably use safe sanitation systems, like toilets with plumbing. About 354 million people worldwide have no toilet available and must defecate in the open, which can create health hazards, according to WHO.

People in low-income countries are more than twice as likely as those in richer ones to lack basic drinking water and sanitation services. That disparity can make it hard for people in wealthier countries to conceive of the challenges people face fulfilling these fundamental needs.

So NPR spoke with Amaka Godfrey, who is now the executive director of international programs at WaterAid, a non-profit, about what it’s like growing up without easy access to safe water, what the new WHO report says about progress that’s been made and how far the globe still has to go.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was it like to grow up without easy access to safe drinking water and sanitation?

I currently live in London, but I grew up in southeastern Nigeria.

At home, as a younger child I remember refusing to go to the toilet because it wasn’t even a drop pit, it was a bucket toilet. All that I can remember is a room that smelled horribly and you could actually see human feces flowing out of the bucket with maggots everywhere. That’s my earliest memory of what a sanitation system looked like. That’s lived with me and defined me for life.

Then, my parents moved into an apartment, and we had a toilet, but the running water only came once in a while, so you didn’t really flush every time you went. So when you finished washing clothes, you poured that water inside the toilet to flush it.

What about outside of your home? Did your school have clean water and sanitation?

My primary school did not have water at all. I didn’t even know that schools had water, it wasn’t something that occurred to me that you could go to school and get water. The toilet we had in school was a drop pit.

We used to be made to bring a five liter can to school, no matter how small you are, and I was very tiny, so I had to drag this five liter [roughly 1.3 gallons] can to school. Part of that provides drinking water for the teachers. It provides drinking water to the bucket in the classroom.

So there was a communal bucket of water for the whole classroom?

Yes. And we all had our plastic cups with our names on it. I remember them hanging on a pole. So when it was break time to have water, each of us goes and takes a cup and just dips it into that bucket of the classroom water.

When communities do not have running water, a trip to the pump is essential. This photo is from Maraban Dare, Nigeria.

Ute Grabowsky/Photothek/via Getty Images

Where did you get the water to bring?

I was amongst the privileged ones, because I was the child of a teacher and lived in a flat, I could bring water from home. But the majority of kids that I went to school with didn’t live in places like that. So not only did they have to look for water to bring to school, but before they came to school they had to fetch water.

So you couldn’t come to school without water. Where would kids get water, if not from home? 

In some cases, their parents paid for them to buy it on the way, but in many cases they went to the stream. I vividly remember which stream, because it flowed into the big river Niger. So kids start off to school a bit earlier, take their empty cans and pass by the river to collect water. I can recollect that some kids from my school drowned, because when it’s the rainy season, it [the stream] becomes quite large.

When I was older, I went to a boarding school. My God I still have nightmares from that toilet. The biggest punishment you would get is to clean the toilet, because it’s basically scooping poop. It was a pit toilet, and you can imagine with a bunch of kids what the situation is. Water was usually limited, so there wasn’t enough to really clean the toilet.

What would you do for drinking water at the boarding school?

Water was from the water supply authority, which would come and fill up big tanks at each dormitory. Everyone had a specific size of can, we called them jerry cans, that you fill for the week. Basically, stealing water from each other was a big deal, because not everyone always filled their jerry can. So you’d chain your can to your bed in a way that it cannot be poured by anyone. But it got to the stage where people started bringing pipes from home that you can suck water and transfer it from somebody’s can to your can.

You eventually went to the United Kingdom for school. It must’ve been a shock to have instant water.

When I then came to study in England, and I went to my halls of residence, I was like, wow, there was water running. And I asked my tutor, or guardian for international students. I say, “Where can I buy a jerry can?” And he was confused. Even when I went to uni[versity] in Nigeria, it was the same. We didn’t have water. You have to have jerry cans to store them. And after a while. He said, “Listen, you are in England now. You do not need to buy a jerry can. Anytime you want water, you open the tap, there will be water running.”

The fact that I didn’t have to fetch water as a student, it was a huge privilege. When I heard my fellow students who grew up in this culture complaining, I remember one day in class I got so mad. I got up and said, “Guys can you just shut up? Everyone in this country is so lazy. You wake up in the morning and don’t have to do anything, you go and have a shower, a shower. You go to the toilet and flush it, and you don’t have to go and fetch water.”

The WHO report revealed that billions of people don’t have that kind of experience, of being able to take clean drinking water and sanitation for granted. What did you make of the report’s findings?

It’s a good thing to have this data available and has helped us monitor progress.

I think it really highlights globally the plight, and how water and sanitation is interlinked with so many other things that the world is grappling with, including economic development, health, women safety, all of that. It helps put it on the agenda of the world.

But a good point to make is that progress has been made. We have not been static.

Yeah, the report says that since 2000 over 2.2 billion people have gained access to safe drinking water. Where do you see that progress?

Across many countries there have been so many projects to increase access. I was visiting a project area [for WaterAid in Ethiopia] where I had worked eight years ago. At that time, there was not a drop of water around that rural community. They’d go to streams, to dig near streams to get water. I go back and they have solar powered water systems, they have water coming from taps.

What accounts for that progress?

There has been a lot of advocacy and awareness creation that it’s really critical for well being and economic development and health and poverty reduction. There’s been more education, and more qualified people working in countries that can work with their community and government to make things better. And there’s been advancements in technology for how we can access water. We now have solar powered water systems that can connect borehole wells.

Ritz Crackers, Method, and more are courting Latino fans through experiences in and around the event

Bad Bunny has been booked and busy in 2025. From releasing his sixth album, hosting Saturday Night Live, announcing a world tour, and starring in Ritz’s first Super Bowl commercial, the Puerto Rican artist has been everywhere.

However, a milestone of his year (and career) has been No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí (I Don’t Want to Leave From Here), his first-of-its-kind, sold-out homecoming residency running every weekend from July 11 to September 14 at Coliseo de Puerto Rico.

While tickets for the first nine shows were reserved exclusively for island residents, Live Nation-owned travel platform Vibee sold curated vacation packages for the residency, which are expected to generate nearly $200 million in economic impact, per Discover Puerto Rico, the island’s official tourism marketing organization.

“That’s extremely conservative because that’s only taking into consideration those packages,” Glorianna Yamin, Discover Puerto Rico’s vp of marketing, told ADWEEK. She said the board expects to have an all-encompassing figure, including visitors who stayed at external hotels and rentals, once the residency concludes.

The effort “sold 48,000 room nights [across] 34 properties,” she continued. “Not only the metro region where the concert is taking place, but around the entire island.”

In addition to Discover Puerto Rico, which has leveraged the summer event by marketing other hotspots around the island, brands including Ritz Crackers, Method, Vibee, Wendy’s, and JetBlue are all capitalizing on the influx of concertgoers through fan giveaways and on-site experiences. Adidas Originals also released a sneaker in collaboration with the musician, who has served as one of its brand ambassadors since 2021.

No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí has delivered organic boosts for brands like Tinder, which has seen a 35% increase in swipe activity in Puerto Rico and a nearly 52% increase in Passport Mode activity (a feature that allows users to change their location) to San Juan, P.R., since July.

An homage to Puerto Rico

For Miguel Lopez-Ixta, head of brand and growth at creative agency Need Pastel, which previously collaborated with the musician on merch designs for Bad Bunny’s past tours, the musician’s residency underscores the significance of Latin-American buying power.

According to the 2025 U.S. Latino GDP Report, the total economic output of Latinos in the U.S. reached a record $4.1 trillion in 2023, up from $3.7 trillion in 2022.

“At the end of the day, the whole residency was for Puerto Rico,” he said. “There’s a ton of local businesses, and that was the goal: to make sure they benefit. So if you’re a brand, you have to think about that too.”

He continued: “It doesn’t matter how big a brand you are, you have the opportunity to show up authentically and not just talk to this [community], but build with [them]. If you look at the brands that did, they worked to make sure that they were paying homage to Puerto Rico, one way or another.”

Boricua fan experiences

While No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí is a moment in and of itself, additional fan experiences have surrounded the main attraction, courtesy of brand sponsors like Vibee, Ritz, and Method.

Vibee partnered with Bad Bunny’s label, Rimas Entertainment, and local creative agency, Upside Down, for Seguimo’ Aquí: The Experience by Vibee, its “largest single-location hotel partnership to date,” president Harvey Cohen told ADWEEK.

The immersive, multi-sensory experience resembles a traditional Puerto Rican home and garden, with additional touchpoints such as: a cave installation inspired by the local legend of El Pozo de Jacinto, a bar modeled after the central plaza found in many Puerto Rican towns, and VIP gifting kits.

“The Latin community represents one of the most passionate and engaged fan bases in the world,” Vibee’s president, Harvey Cohen, told ADWEEK. “For Vibee, it’s important to honor that cultural richness by creating experiences that feel localized and celebratory.”

Vibee

Similarly, as an official residency sponsor, Ritz brought its “Salty Club” to life earlier this month with a pop-up activation equipped with a photo booth and exclusive merch like a limited-edition Ritz Crackers box featuring artwork nodding to the event.

The Mondelēz International brand first debuted the “Salty Club” in its first Super Bowl spot featuring Bad Bunny earlier this year. For the residency, it also held a giveaway leading up to its August activation, offering fans a chance to score tickets to the show with all travel and accommodation costs paid for.

Steven Saenen, Mondelēz’s U.S. savory snacking category president, told ADWEEK that the Latino community is Ritz’s top multicultural audience. He also shared that the initial partnership with Bad Bunny came naturally since the musician is “genuinely a fan” of the brand.

“It’s important to us because we already have a lot of strength with that cohort [and] we want to keep that going because it’s also a demographic that’s growing,” the exec said. “We have deliberate efforts to continue to engage with them and create meaningful connections. One other example is [our] new partnership with Inter Miami this year.”

Ritz

Meanwhile, Method established a presence in a more unexpected yet high-traffic location within the venue: the restrooms.

The personal care brand decked out restrooms across the venue for a campaign called “Pa’l Recuerdo,” (or “a souvenir,”) which was “designed to transform everyday routines into rich, sensory experiences that honor culture and create space for presence,” the brand told ADWEEK in a statement.

Pa’l recuerdo is reflective of the “beauty and vibrancy of Puerto Rican culture,” housing exclusive gifts and merchandise, such as a limited-edition body wash and a waterproof speaker for guests to enjoy beyond the experience. Per the brand’s internal research, 75% of Latino consumers said that music is a key part of their shower ritual.

As the residency’s official body wash and hand wash sponsor, Method’s goal was to create an emotional connection with existing and potential Latino consumers, a demographic that overindexes on its personal care products.

method

No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí marks the second music event Method has sponsored. For the past two years, it has also been the official body and hair care partner of Coachella.

Beyond Puerto Rico

Following No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí, Bad Bunny will embark on his Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour, starting November 21 and ending July 22, 2026.

While Method plans to bring pa’l recuerdo to fans at his London stops, Saenen remained tight-lipped on whether Ritz will activate around the tour or not.

“Latinos are so loyal to brands and the things [we] believe in, and I think in the long run [brands] showing up and continuing to show up are going to be affiliated with this community and [we’re] going to rock with you,” said Lopez-Ixta.

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