For years, brands have been obsessed with optimising everything. The perfect caption. The perfect creative. The perfect algorithm-friendly piece of content. 

But somewhere along the way, the internet lost a bit of its personality. 

Now, as AI makes it easier than ever to produce polished content at scale, we're seeing a growing appetite for something different. Something a little weirder, sillier and more human. 

And some brands are already paying attention. 

The internet wants its personality back. 

Firefox recently brought back iconic characters from the early internet in a campaign celebrating the weird, wonderful and gloriously unpolished web of the early 2000s. It generated more than 20 million organic views. 

It's a reminder that as the internet becomes more technologically sophisticated, human imperfection is becoming a competitive advantage. 

The opportunity for brands isn't to look retro. It's to bring back the personality, unpredictability and originality that made the internet fun in the first place. 

Forget likes. Send memes. 

Apparently, sending someone a meme is a love language. 

It's called pebbling, inspired by gentoo penguins offering carefully selected pebbles to potential mates. The human equivalent? Sending your mate a ridiculous TikTok because you know they'll find it funny. 

Research suggests these small digital exchanges can strengthen relationships and support emotional wellbeing. 

Yet brands are still obsessed with public engagement. Likes, comments, impressions. 

Maybe we've been looking at the wrong metrics. 

The most valuable piece of content might not be the one liked by thousands, but the one shared privately between two people. 

The world is burning. Here's a puppy. 

More than a million people have reportedly tuned into a 24/7 livestream of newborn puppies from Finland's public broadcaster. 

And it's not the first time. During the 2008 financial crisis, a Shiba Inu puppy livestream attracted three million viewers in just one week. 

Coincidence? Maybe not. 

When the world feels overwhelming, people gravitate towards comfort. 

Brands spend so much time trying to interrupt people's days that they forget there's value in simply making someone's day better. 

Not every piece of content needs to sell something, teach something or demand attention. 

Sometimes people just want to watch puppies. 

Being silly is seriously underrated. 

Tesco and Deliveroo have teamed up for a brilliantly ridiculous buddy-movie-style ad that turns the two brands into characters. 

It's silly. It's entertaining. And that's exactly why it works. 

Despite humour being one of advertising's most effective tools, its use has declined significantly. The proportion of ads using humour has dropped from 53% to 34% since 2000. 

Meanwhile, half of Kantar's Creative Effectiveness Award winners use humour. 

We've spent years telling brands to be authentic, relevant and culturally connected. 

Maybe we should also be telling them to lighten up. 

Heineken wants you to stop streaming and start drinking at the pub. 

In a wonderfully ironic move, Heineken has launched Pubscription, a free Fire TV experience designed to get people off their couches and into real pubs. 

Think Netflix, but instead of choosing a series, you're choosing a pub. Somewhere lively for sport? Somewhere quiet for a catch-up? There's a category for that. 

And to sweeten the deal, members receive four Heineken vouchers every four weeks. 

It's a clever reminder that brands don't always need to compete at the point of purchase. 

Sometimes the bigger opportunity is influencing the occasion that creates the purchase in the first place. 

Maybe the internet doesn't need more content. Just better reasons to care. 

There's a common thread running through all of this. 

People want entertainment. Connection. Comfort. A laugh. Something worth sending to a mate. 

And as the internet becomes increasingly automated, those distinctly human experiences are becoming more valuable. 

For brands, that means spending a little less time asking what the algorithm wants and a little more time asking what people actually enjoy. 

Because the internet doesn't have a content shortage. It has a personality shortage.