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Happy Thursday 👋 This week is all about building with leverage—whether it’s scaling AI infrastructure, cracking viral growth, or automating the grunt work that slows teams down. We’re looking at what separates the builders who move fast (and stay ahead) from everyone else.
In this issue:
OpenAI + Oracle’s 4.5GW deal tests Stargate’s $500B AI vision ⚡
GTA-style AI ad shows why taste beats tech for virality 🎥
Zapier hack for real-time sprint visibility and focus 🗂️
20-year-old builds $700K/month Instagram empire 🚀
Why vibe coding fails, and how AI + no-code wins 🛠️
Marketing ideas for marketers who hate boring
The best marketing ideas come from marketers who live it.
That’s what this newsletter delivers.
The Marketing Millennials is a look inside what’s working right now for other marketers. No theory. No fluff. Just real insights and ideas you can actually use—from marketers who’ve been there, done that, and are sharing the playbook.
Every newsletter is written by Daniel Murray, a marketer obsessed with what goes into great marketing. Expect fresh takes, hot topics, and the kind of stuff you’ll want to steal for your next campaign.
Because marketing shouldn’t feel like guesswork. And you shouldn’t have to dig for the good stuff.
OpenAI + Oracle: A 4.5GW deal amid Stargate turbulence
TL;DR: OpenAI and Oracle just announced a 4.5 gigawatt data center expansion for Stargate, boosting its U.S. AI infrastructure footprint to 5GW and accelerating progress toward its $500B, 10GW goal. The partnership promises over 100,000 jobs and immediate capacity gains with Nvidia GB200 racks already running early training workloads in Texas. However, a WSJ report suggests internal disputes with SoftBank and scaled-back ambitions for Stargate, raising questions about whether the project can meet its sky-high expectations.
⚡ 4.5GW = two Hoover Dams – Oracle’s new capacity is equivalent to powering millions of GPUs, generating an estimated $30B in annual compute revenue.
🏗 Abilene site live – Parts of Stargate I in Texas are already operational, with early AI training workloads underway on Nvidia’s GB200 chips.
💼 100K+ jobs forecast – OpenAI claims the buildout will drive a wave of U.S. jobs across construction, operations, and local manufacturing.
📰 WSJ throws cold water – Reports highlight deadlocks with SoftBank over site selection and funding, with 2025 plans cut to just one data center.
🌍 Cloud politics – Microsoft remains OpenAI’s primary cloud partner, but Oracle and SoftBank are aggressively building physical infrastructure stakes.
The Oracle deal shows OpenAI is doubling down on compute power just as GPUs have become the biggest choke point for every AI company. But the issues with SoftBank suggest Stargate’s $500B vision may be harder to pull off than promised. The question is shifting from “how fast can AI grow?” to “who can afford the chips?” Whoever controls the biggest, fastest infrastructure will decide which models win and which startups survive. If Stargate falters, rivals like xAI, Anthropic, or government-backed AI projects could seize the lead.
The GTA-style ad that proves AI video is the future of marketing
TL;DR: Brett Malinowski breaks down how a billion-dollar startup’s GTA-inspired AI ad racked up 3M+ views in two weeks. Simply by using emotional storytelling, cultural relevance, and razor-sharp taste. The team’s AI workflow (Claude, Crea, Luma AI, Astra AI) made production fast and cheap, but the ad’s impact came from speaking directly to the rebellious identity of entrepreneurs and online hustlers.
🎥 3M+ views in 14 days – The GTA-style ad became a viral marketing weapon by aligning perfectly with the “make money online” ethos of its audience.
🛠️ AI tools as amplifiers – A stacked pipeline (Claude for context, Crea for art style, Luma AI for animation, Astra AI for upscaling) streamlined production without sacrificing creativity.
🤝 Organic distribution – Featuring real creators and inside jokes (like Tai Lopez’s “here in my garage” clip) turned viewers into evangelists.
🎯 Story > tech – Emotional resonance and authenticity, not technical polish, drove engagement and shares.
🚀 A marketing shift – AI video slashes production costs and timelines, making creativity and taste the new marketing moat.
Taste is now a competitive advantage. Anyone can spin up an AI video, but only those who understand the cultural codes and values of their audience will stand out. The GTA ad worked because it wasn’t trying to appeal to everyone—it polarized, resonated, and sparked conversations.
How to hack your sprint planning with Zapier
TL;DR: Most project management tools track tasks but fail to give clear visibility into team capacity or sprint health. Zapier’s automation-first approach—combining dynamic tables, Slack updates, and an AI-powered sprint chatbot—turns messy boards into actionable, real-time insights. Instead of manual digging, you get instant answers to questions like “Who’s overloaded?” or “Which tasks are at risk?”
🗂 Centralized sprint table – Zapier Tables collects all tasks, with custom fields for effort, capacity, and status, so you can spot overload before it becomes a blocker.
🔔 Slack-triggered updates – One-click buttons send instant notifications when a task slips or a conversation is needed, cutting down status-chasing.
🤖 AI-powered sprint chatbot – A Zapier Chatbot connected to your table can answer questions like “What’s the sprint health?” without logging into your PM tool.
🔍 Built-in filters – Quickly surface overdue tasks or overloaded team members with a few clicks instead of endless board scrolling.
🔗 Integrate, don’t replace – Zapier plugs into existing tools (Jira, Asana, Trello), pulling tasks directly into a sprint view without duplicate work.
🚦 Real-time visibility – With automation orchestrating updates and AI summarizing sprint health, you spend less time managing the process and more time unblocking your team.
Sprint planning fails when you can’t see the big picture—who’s at capacity, which tasks are late, and where risks are hiding. Zapier’s approach automates the grunt work, creating a real-time command center for sprints. For founders and product teams, this means less reactive firefighting and more proactive decision-making.
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The 20-year-old who built a $700K/month Instagram empire
TL;DR: At just 20, Ava Jurgens has scaled a short-form video agency to $700K/month by mastering Instagram Reels. Her formula combines meticulous niche research, viral hook adaptation, and authentic storytelling. With a team of 100+ producing 15–30 reels per client for 350+ clients, Ava proves that operational discipline and sharp creative strategy (not flashy editing) drive viral growth and long-term revenue.
🚀 $2M from a single viral video – Ava reverse-engineers virality by studying top Reels and adapting winning hooks with her clients’ expertise.
🎥 Talking-head videos dominate – Clean, value-packed videos with clear verbal hooks outperform over-edited, visually complex content.
🔍 Data-driven hooks – She tracks outlier content (5x+ average views) to extract trends in opening visuals, captions, and scripts.
⚙️ SOPs = scale – A 100-person team, strict quality controls, and personal script review allow her to handle 350+ clients without diluting quality.
📈 Instagram > TikTok for business – She leverages Instagram’s Reels tab and Explore page for reliable lead generation and client growth.
Pattern recognition paired with consistency and authenticity is key. Ava’s focus on hooks over hacks creates content that resonates and converts. The real differentiator isn’t editing software or ad spend; it’s deep audience research and a repeatable system for turning viral formats into revenue.
Vibe coding is great, but what about building apps that last?
TL;DR: “Vibe coding”—where AI whips up apps from prompts—is great for rapid prototypes but falls apart when real-world complexity (permissions, compliance, workflows) kicks in. MakerThrive’s latest video shows how Knack’s AI-powered no-code builder bridges that gap, letting teams build secure, production-ready apps without touching messy code. Knack pairs AI speed with human-friendly customization so non-developers can take ownership of the final product.
⚡ Vibe coding ≠ production-ready – AI-generated code often leads to brittle, unmaintainable apps that can’t handle evolving business rules or permissions.
🤖 AI + no-code fusion – Knack’s AI builder generates full-stack apps (front-end, database, workflows) in minutes, while its visual editor lets teams refine them without dev bottlenecks.
🔐 Security and roles built-in – Role-based permissions, compliance-ready logic, and user access control come standard, solving the “final mile” problem of vibe-coded apps.
🛠️ Empowers non-developers – Operations, project managers, and internal teams can directly own and iterate on apps without IT gatekeeping.
📊 Complexity handled automatically – From e-commerce inventory to booking systems, Knack pre-builds data models, dashboards, and workflows that would otherwise take weeks of dev time.
AI alone isn’t enough for real-world app development. It’s the combo of AI’s speed with no-code’s control that creates scalable, maintainable software. Knack demonstrates that the future isn’t about replacing developers but empowering domain experts to build secure, production-ready apps with zero code debt.
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