By Katy Nally

Image by Rachel Adams

Transitioning from the free-trial stage to a paid subscription model is a big leap for your customers. This major decision is the culmination of hundreds of positive interactions they’ve had with your brand. The fact that they’re now paying customers signifies you’ve earned their trust and they believe in your product. 

Well done, marketing heroes! 😊 So, how did you do it? Chances are, you developed well-positioned content along the buying journey that showed a deep understanding of the customer’s challenges, demonstrated the value of your brand, and framed your ideas in a way that was worth listening to. 

With trust coming under the microscope this year for big tech companies, establishing trust with your audience through precise content marketing will be key. Here are the top assets that can help you build trust—all the way from awareness to conversion. 

Thought leadership blogs prove you’re defining the industry 

Ghostwrite blogs from your CTO, CIO, or other C-suite executives. This signals to customers that your leadership has a defined product vision and path to get there. Interview your team members to capture high-level perspectives that demonstrate their authority on subjects. 

Pro tip from our team: Try a Q&A format that gives you the freedom to cover a wide range of topics and comes together quickly. 

Ebooks and playbooks answer common questions

Tailor your deep-dive content so that it responds to the challenges customers face in particular stages of the funnel. If they’re just looking to learn more, keep it light and easy to navigate. If they’re evaluating your product against competitors, give them the technical details that make your product stand out. 

Pro tip from our team: Gather insights from top sellers and customer success managers to truly understand blockers along the buying journey, then structure your ebook around them. The clearer you are on what customers are getting and why they should care, the more trust you build in your brand. 

Case studies showcase success within the customer’s industry 

Find compelling customer stories, then dig for pithy quotes and validating metrics. If it’s a great story, give it legs. Start with a written version so you know the main points, then turn it into a video testimonial. Once you’ve established a relationship with that customer, they can join webinars and co-present at conferences. 

Pro tip from our team: Do the legwork upfront to ensure the customer has actually used your product, achieved success, and will discuss it publicly. 

Product demos give customers a taste of what your product does 

Deliver a curated version of your product that showcases 3–5 features or experiences that users love. These demos walk through real-world use cases from your existing customers and illustrate tangible benefits. Being able to see firsthand what your product can do alleviates concerns and layers on the trust. 

Pro tip from our team: Link your product demo as a CTA in complementary assets like case studies to move customers through the funnel. 

Hopefully this list sparks some ideas on how to build trust with your audience. And if you need help thinking through the content journey, we’re here for you. Now go get ’em, marketing heroes! 

By Aaron Wendel

Image by Emily Zheng

The elevator pitch is dead—what you need is a promo reel. At least, that’s what we’ve created to introduce ourselves to prospective clients and help them get a better sense of what we offer. Our latest reel tells a broad 2A story using recent examples of work—everything from eye-catching animations to impactful keynotes to long-format whitepapers. It’s a jam-packed 66 seconds in which you might see something you recognize! 

This release marks the sixth reel we’ve created for 2A in the past year. Why six, you may ask? Because we had so much to cover! The other reels we created are tailored to specific clients and deliverables. They’re all about a minute long and they showcase dozens of marketing assets. 

Promo reels bring the sizzle and get our team jazzed  

Each reel is a moment-in-time snapshot that demonstrates how much we continue to grow and evolve, which makes them effective as internal and external promoters. Like any internal promotional piece, the reels are inherently aspirational, while also taking into consideration areas for future growth. With the latest release, you can see the impact of smaller partner brands among our core clients and how that pushes us into new spaces. As an agency, we’re excited about these new influences! They keep us sharp and good at what we do best—ramping up quickly and delivering compelling content. 

Of course, no single reel captures everything that makes us unique, and not all of what we do can be captured in a quick clip. Sometimes the value of the work we provide comes from a strategy that puts ideas into motion, how that strategy scales, or what story it tells. Overall, though, these reels reflect what we’re capable of as a team and are a great opportunity to see our ever-evolving body of work. We hope you find watching them as fun and inspiring as we do! 

By Olivia Witt

Image by Brandon Conboy

Remember when “generative AI” was the buzzword of the century—and every company scrambled to adopt it? Well, we’ve arrived at the “cool kids all wear the same sneakers” stage of the trend. If you’re marketing a generative AI solution in 2025, you’re probably wondering, How do I stand out in a saturated market? 

Here’s how to ditch the clichés, earn trust, and make your AI messaging as sharp as your solution. 

1. Center humans, not hype 

The robots aren’t taking over, but your audience might think they are. To cut through the doomerism fog, focus on how your AI augments people instead of replacing them. 

• In your copy, keep the focus on how it helps humans—saving time, simplifying complex tasks, or unlocking creativity. 
• Replace that tired tech stock image (you know the one) with pictures of actual humans benefiting from your solution. 

2. Prove it works and delivers ROI 

Enough with the endless beta testing: people are tired. Show them how your solution delivers real, tangible results. 

• Swap “features talk” for benefits. Instead of “Our tool has a GPT-powered summarizer,” say, “Our tool saved SynergyAITechCorp 10 hours a week.” 
• Add content to your resource library for every stage of the funnel: start with the why, warm them up with the how, and close with the results. 

3. Build trust through transparency 

Let’s face it: AI hasn’t existed long enough for anyone to promise sky-high engagement or flawless content. 

• Acknowledge concerns about AI accuracy or limitations and show how your solution overcomes them. 
• Keep your messaging grounded. Transparency builds trust faster than buzzwords ever can. 

4. Spotlight your differentiator 

Right now, most AI marketing reads like a checklist: it saves time, reduces busywork, and improves efficiency. Yawn. What makes your solution different? 

• Highlight unique use cases and real-world examples. Tell a story. “Our AI helped this company reduce customer complaints by 30 percent in six months” is way more interesting than “It reduces busywork.” 
• Be specific about your technology. Clarify whether it’s generative AI, natural language processing, or a mix of both, and how exactly it uses those methods to deliver results. 

5. Skip the jargon and keep it fun 

Your audience isn’t a roomful of robots, so don’t talk to them that way. 

• Reread that webpage and delete corporate buzzwords like “game-changer” and “best-in-class.” 
• Use natural language: start instead of embark; fast instead of swift; use instead of utilize (seriously, who says utilize in real life?). 

Gen AI might not be the hot new thing anymore, but your messaging can be. Keep it human, focus on the results, and tell a story that sticks. 

By Forsyth Alexander

Image by Nicole Todd

A few months ago, I read the first novel in a new series by Richard Osman, author of the Thursday Murder Club mysteries. (I highly recommend all his books.) In the first chapter, a criminal mastermind instructs ChatGPT to write emails in a threatening tone using a voice and style that isn’t his own. Since truth is stranger than fiction, I decided to investigate whether generative AI is being used for nefarious purposes in real life. At 2A, we continuously look for new ways to use generative AI for good work. But it turns out other people are using it for bad work. Here’s what I learned. 

Phishing and fooling with gen AI: The personal touch 

Most smartphone users I know have received a text from the “USPS”—from a number with a Philippines country code, demanding their response in 24 hours to receive a valuable package. (Okay, as far as I know, that just happened to me, but I’m sure you’ve gotten one like it.) We’ve been trained to spot these texts because of their strange URLs or international phone numbers and to ignore or report them. Our IT and security friends also remind us not to respond to texts from CEOs or managers telling us to buy gift cards or share account information—without verifying first. 

But now, according to two very different companies—one that builds databases and one that offers networking—hackers are creating deep fakes of voices. These deep fakes create the illusion that a victim of the hackers is talking to a real person. As a result, the victim is more apt to share financial or sensitive information. Some hackers even search for videos of someone online to create a biometric reproduction for illegally unlocking devices and applications that use facial recognition. 

Generating fraud and identity theft with dark LLMs: Isn’t that malicious? 

Large language models (LLMs) enable us to ask questions and have conversations with generative AI. Basically, they’re the reason we can type instructions or questions in a prompt and get answers in our own language and not a computer language like SQL. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini all use LLMs that are trained not to generate malicious code. Yet, that’s not stopping the bad guys. LLMs are a great way to spread disinformation, which can mislead, harm, or manipulate a person, social group, organization, or country, all because LLMs cannot distinguish between fact and fiction. 

In addition, it’s possible to purchase dark LLMs which, unlike mainstream LLMs, have no restrictions. For example, FraudGPT and WormGPT are used to create deceptive content that fools people into sharing sensitive information. Other LLMs can be used to infect systems and applications. 

Finding a security blanket for your identity, data, and systems 

The good news is that companies from all corners of the tech world are building AI solutions to protect against and defeat these new tactics. A graph database added to an existing fraud-detection application can identify hidden patterns that indicate the use of generative AI to exploit identities and systems. APIs provided by a telecommunications giant use AI to ferret out fake videos generated to unlock systems protected by facial-recognition software. A data and network protection company offers AI-powered solutions for protection against personalized threats from emails, chats, and texts. These are just a few ways our tech friends are improving security and keeping customers safe with generative AI. 

By Jane Dornemann

Image by Julianne Medenblik

As a writer by trade, I’m supposed to tell you that generative AI technologies such as ChatGPT aren’t good enough—that you need a human like me to tell your story. In reality, that statement is only half true. 

Having already moved through the stages of grief, I can honestly say that generative AI has already changed how we work…and it will continue doing so. It wouldn’t have that impact if it were entirely useless, right? There are many ways I now use platforms such as Claude to ideate, tweak a sentence, summarize, or ask for explanations. It’s pretty good, and there are times when it produces something that only needs slight refinement. In quantitative terms, I give it a 7 out of 10. 

But other times, it needs real work, and businesses are taking risks by copying and pasting generative AI content onto their websites or marketing materials. Whether it’s a notably inaccurate summary, a word-bloated paragraph, or a straight-up hallucination—all of which I’ve seen—it’s a bit of a time bomb for brands that aren’t using writers as gatekeepers (as opposed to product marketers, for example). 

It also begs a really big question: Do you want to send 7-out-of-10 content into the world? Does 7/10 content give you a competitive edge, or does it file you into the ranks of the average, along with all the other companies doing the same thing? 

Embracing the writer–generative AI hybrid 

If you’re thinking about using generative AI more, we won’t stop you—but we strongly advise you to still include professional writers with subject-matter expertise throughout your process. At 2A, we know the risks companies take by avoiding this route.  

Here are four essential ways writers can protect you from the pitfalls of generative AI. 

1. We keep you from sounding like everyone else 

Whatever generative AI is writing for you, it’s also writing for everyone else. You may have noticed that marketing content, such as product descriptions, sounds too close to those from competitors. Content often includes overused transitional phrases such as “Additionally” and “In summary.” 

This leads me to ask: Is this a ninth-grade book report? 

Generative AI is good at business rhetoric. It sounds professional, intelligent, and confident. But it’s a mirage. The technology creates content based on all the content it has received or been trained on, and it doesn’t differentiate for you. It doesn’t filter out mediocre writing because it doesn’t understand what mediocre writing is. As a result, it’s not uncommon to receive content that uses passive voice (a no-no in “good” writing) and features wandering sentences. Sometimes, you have to feed it back its own content, then ask it to remove redundancies, be more concise, or stick to active voice. While generative AI can be impressive, it still can’t match—or beat—writing with a human brain. Do you think it could write a blog just like this one? Nope. 

In summary, it’s not there yet (see what I did?). 

Would this opening really hook readers and differentiate 2A’s brand more than the opening we wrote above?  

2. We know all the tools and prompt hacks 

I’ve found that most non-writers who are using generative AI tend to use one platform. For example, they solely use ChatGPT or Copilot. They usually provide relatively basic prompts, such as “Take this marketing brief and turn it into three lines of social copy.” We use generative AI as an assistant in various ways, such as brainstorming, catching typos, and summarizing our human-created content—but we never use it as a primary creator. That’s because it takes as much work to refine as it does to just do it ourselves. The key to reducing the work is a stellar prompt. 

At 2A, our writers have experimented with the full spectrum of generative AI platforms and learned how to craft an excellent prompt that yields the best results. There’s a science to it that takes time, study, and practice to perfect. Some platforms are better for editing or rephrasing, while others are best for context setting. A good prompt should have several elements and set clear parameters. Nuanced content requires several rounds of prompting—and cobbling pieces of each result together. If you’re going to rely on generative AI, it’s your best bet to consult a writer with subject-matter expertise in creating the prompts, running iterations, and finalizing content. 

When you’re a prompting pro, the results are so much better.

3. We safeguard from lies, lies, dirty rotten lies 

Last week, I asked a generative AI platform to explain the concept of a cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP). What I got back had enough inaccuracies that it would have created problems if it ended up in public-facing marketing content—and this wasn’t the first time that I’ve received incorrect information. When I was writing a personal blog, I asked generative AI to provide a brief history of an organization, and while 99% was correct, it gave me the wrong founding year and the wrong number of organizational members. I have no idea where it pulled those from. Imagine if that kind of nonsense was in your global marketing assets! 

If no one is fact checking and verifying sources in every aspect of what generative AI is producing, you’re absolutely taking risks. So, love your human writers, who will go through your generative AI content with a fine-toothed comb. 

We’re not into zippers. 

4. We bend it to your brand 

Brands that hire us have a thorough set of style guidelines we follow. This keeps their content both unique and consistent. For example, some brands ask that we not spell out certain acronyms, while other brands provide a list of terms we need to avoid (such as “execute”). For assets focused on cybersecurity, we’re often asked to avoid fearmongering. These notes are still too abstract for generative AI—but not for us. 

If you’re using generative AI casually to create content, you aren’t using a robust program that allows you to feed it an 80-page style guide. And even then, generative AI can get it wrong. 2A’s writers can customize AI-generated content to follow your brand guidelines in ways that technology simply can’t do right now. 

Want the best of both worlds? Great! You have options: Send us your generative AI–produced content for us to vet and improve, or just send us your resources and provide access to your subject matter experts. We’ll use our know-how to create a stellar final product…one that won’t tell you David Bowie invented the elevator (or that the elevator was invented by David Bowie). Contact us. 

By Andrea Swangard, The 2A Team

Image by Thad Allen

2024 was quite a ride. Whether you found it exhilarating, exhausting, or both, new music from artists we love—or are just discovering—makes things exciting. The talented team at 2A is into a wide variety of tunes, which makes sharing our favorites so much fun. Plus, swapping songs often takes us to interesting places. Did a bold new sound spark an idea for an innovative animation we recently delivered? Possibly! 

To start your year off on a high note (or with a sweet synth solo), we’ve rounded up some of our favorite albums of 2024. Whether you gravitate toward introspective, mellow melodies or like to move your feet, we hope you find something that inspires you. Happy listening! 

Only God Was Above Us—Vampire Weekend 
Most reviewers say that there isn’t one skippable song on this album, and not only do I agree, but I also haven’t felt that way since Hole was around. Vampire Weekend brings the best of its signature sound, from slamming on those piano keys to some indie rock synth. The lyrics are timely—only Vampire Weekend can pull off upbeat melancholy and optimistic nihilism.
—Jane Dornemann 

Canto De Un Ángel—Raymix 
Raymix is Edmundo Gómez Moreno, an aerospace engineer and musician who blends traditional cumbia sonidera with electronics; he calls it electrocumbia. In all his songs, he says “Esto es la electrocumbia con Raymix, woo hoo!” His joy in his music is infectious and always lifts my spirits.
—Forsyth Alexander 

Short n’ Sweet—Sabrina Carpenter 
The pop girlies have been dominating this year, and the rise of Sabrina Carpenter and her newest album is no exception. You’ve definitely heard singles such as “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please” on the radio everywhere, but taking a deeper dive solidifies that it’s a no-skip album. Expertly curated, and I keep coming back for more!
—Julianne Medenblik 

Adult Contemporary—Chromeo 
I have a fever, and the only prescription is more Chromeo! Thank goodness they treated us to a new album in 2024. Honestly, whatever mood I’m in, if Chromeo comes on, I can’t sit still. If you’re not familiar with the band, it’s kinda like…futuristic funk? Electro-soul? Synth-pop? It’s so much fun and I’m here for it.
—Andrea Swangard 

Running River—John Butler 
John Butler’s Running River is a meditative album that soothes the rough edges of modern life over an almost two-hour journey. As the first installment of his Four Seasons project, it serves as a stellar soundtrack for moments when my nervous system needs to downshift. I’m excited to see where his next release will take us in this transformative musical exploration.
—Melanie Hodgman 

TAKE CARE—BigXthaPlug 
EYYY. When you hear this calling card from the man who is not only the biggest but also the largest, you know it’s time to TURN UP. A combination of the unabashedly southern twang of PimpC (half of the legendary Houston group UGK) and the deep, guttural flows of Biggie, BigXthaPlug delivers something for everyone on his 2024 release TAKE CARE. With samples ranging across genres (Ray Martin’s “Under cover”) and mediums (The Clang from Law & Order), BigXthaPlug intricately weaves tracks of self-reflection (“Therapy Session”) and head-bouncing/face-scrunching anthems (“Mmhmm”).
—Evan Aeschlimann 

EELS—Being Dead 
This is the second album from Austin-based band Being Dead. The two founding members, Falcon Bitch and Shmoofy, play almost every instrument and perfectly pair their sweet harmonies with catchy, scuzzy hooks. This has been my go-to album when I need something energizing, fun, and a little weird to pick me up.
—Suzanne Calkins 

Tigers Blood—Waxahatchee 
I was a bit late discovering Waxahatchee, and I’m so glad I finally did. Her voice on this album is so powerful, and the songs are so well-written and catchy. Once I started listening to it, it was on repeat for months…and it was just the right companion for me in a year of change and self-exploration.
—Nora Bright 

Girl With No Face—Allie X 
The throwback synth-pop genre has become pretty saturated in recent years, but this dark moody album (a solo writing/production effort) is distinct! Enjoy entrancing gothic rhythms, delivered across grooves ranging from driving and intense to glittering vibe-outs that evoke everything from throwback heavy-hitters Clan of Xymox and Depeche Mode to modern contemporaries such as Kaleida and Vestron Vulture. Cohesive yet with such variety—it’s a real challenge to pick a favorite track. This scratched that darkwave itch in a way that a new album hasn’t for a while.
—Thad Allen 

I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!—girl in red 
This album is a love letter to reclaiming yourself after trauma and during mental-health struggles. It’s quirky, darkly peppy, and happily sapphic. Girl in red may only be 25 years old, but don’t let that number fool you. She has an old-soul sapphic vibe, kinda like King Princess. I especially appreciate her song “Pick me,” which feels like an emo ballad inspired by Hayley Kiyoko’s song “Curious.” Complex, big queer feels!
—Ren Iris 

Total Blue—Total Blue 
While probably better categorized as something between New Age and ambient jazz, I personally think this LA trio’s music can only be described as “cave/water-level music from the seminal Super Nintendo game ‘Donkey Kong Country,’” or adult contemporary for the millennial soul.
—Brian Dionisi 

Brat—Charlie XCX 
Is cloud marketing brat? Did I listen to a song called B2B over a hundred times this year? Why am I passively doing the apple dance at my desk right now? This album answers these questions and more.
—Jack Foraker 

Manning Fireworks—MJ Lenderman 
To quote a rando YouTube commenter, this album is “like if Stephen Malkmus and J Mascis started a country band,” which I think is spot on and a large part of why I’m loving this album. 2A’s own Suzanne and Nora opened my eyes to MJ Lenderman last year and I’ve been a fan ever since. Give him a listen and maybe you’ll become one, too!
—Mike Lahoda 

A LA SALA—Khruangbin 
This is the ultimate co-worker for design sessions—chill, inspiring, and never interruptive. With smooth, groovy, and hypnotic beats, it’s like a creative espresso shot without the jitters. Ideal for getting into the zone, when you need your ideas to flow as effortlessly as this band’s basslines.
—Jenni Lydell 

Viva Tu—Manu Chao 
Viva Tu is Manu Chao’s first album in 17 years, and its arrival felt perfectly timed. It shares sounds of resilience and optimism during turbulent times. I’ve always loved his all-over-the-map sound, and this was a welcome soundtrack to end the year.
—Daniel Schmeichler 

My Method Actor—Nilüfer Yanya 
This album is packed with dreamy, layered sounds and lyrics that really hit. Yanya’s mix of indie rock and experimental vibes feels super personal and is easy to get lost in.
—Mitchell Thompson 

I Love You So F***ing Much—Glass Animals 
I have a terrible habit of determining how good a song is based on how much it makes me cry, and this album got the waterworks going too much to not earn the spot as my top album of the year. Listening to Glass Animals always feels like watching a thousand memories crash together into a movie I’ve somehow never seen. And, if we’re being honest, sometimes nothing hits harder than a good old-fashioned nighttime walk getting lost in ya feels.
—Emily Zheng 

Romance—Fontaines D.C. 
Admittedly, it was 2022’s “Skinty Fia” that made me fall in love with Fontaines D.C. Their 2024 album, Romance, brings a more diverse range of styles, including synth rock, chamber pop, and shoegaze into their post-punk foundation. Each track delves into themes of love, loss, and the human condition, all while maintaining the band’s signature intensity and poetic flair. “Favourite” is one of the first singles from the album with a music video, and it turned my sappy mom heart to goo.
—Alyson Stoner-Rhoades

By Jane Dornemann

Image by Suzanne Calkins

Gossip (for nerds) 

• A survey found that 87% of Amazon employees expect their productivity to slide when they return to the office (RTO). And 45% said that even with RTO, they’ll still be in a different location than their manager. Unsurprisingly, 48% of staff are actively seeking new jobs. 
• Maybe that last stat will help with a minor detail: Locations such as New York and Atlanta don’t actually have the room for everybody to RTO. 
• Apple is using custom AI chips from AWS to power its search services. It’s evaluating the newest chip to pretrain Apple Intelligence and similar models. This could make AWS more competitive with NVIDIA. 

Wheelin’ and dealin’ 

• Product design software provider Ansys and generative AI simulation platform Cognata are collaborating with Microsoft on a web-based testing solution for autonomous vehicle sensors and driver assistance systems. 
• Philips has expanded its collaboration with AWS to unify workflows for integrated diagnostics, such as bringing together pathology, cardiology, and radiology.  
• GitLab is combining its Duo AI Assistant with Amazon Q to “accelerate software innovation and developer productivity.”
• Microsoft bought 485,000 NVIDIA AI chips—twice as many as Meta. 
• Marvell—not the cool superhero franchise (that’s one “l,” Marvel), but the “leader in data infrastructure semiconductor solutions”—has signed a five-year deal with AWS. Marvell will supply essential silicon technologies to AWS while using the cloud company’s scalable compute capabilities to design new stuff. 

Ma’am, I’m going to have to call security 

• Let’s start with the good news: Microsoft patched three flaws in Dynamics 365 and Power Apps Web API. Yay! 
• Now, for everything else: Microsoft says passwords are over, and it will delete them for ONE BILLION users (say that like Dr. Evil). They’ll be replaced by passkeys that use biometrics and PINs. 
• That plan might work after Microsoft addresses weaknesses in its multi-factor authentication (MFA) process. Hackers found a way to bypass a couple flaws in the MFA alert systems and gained unauthorized access into Windows accounts. 
• AWS will not deploy Microsoft 365 for at least another year—not until Microsoft fixes all the security issues that AWS has identified. 

World domination 

• Somehow, Microsoft has become the first big tech company to receive certification from South Korea’s Cloud Security Assurance Program. Not only that, but South Korea’s public institutions—which face “constant cybersecurity threat from North Korea”—will use Azure. 
• Two French “cybercrime gangs”—ShinyHunters and The Nemesis, both of which sound like great band names—stole AWS credentials by scanning millions of websites for vulnerabilities. But they got caught after misconfiguring the Amazon S3 buckets that held the stolen data. “We’re the wet bandits! That’s W-E-T….” 
• Norwegian-owned telecom company Telenor is moving all of its TV streaming services to the AWS Cloud. 
• After moving one million 5G customers to the AWS Cloud, Telefonica Germany is working with AWS to test quantum technologies on its mobile network. Just in time: Google announced Willow, its latest quantum chip. 

New stuff 

• Quantum computing hype is starting to replace AI hype. The new AWS Quantum Embark program will help businesses learn how to use the technology when it’s ready, including pinpointing use cases and figuring out technical enablement. 
• The AWS Education Equity Initiative has committed $100M to training students in underserved communities in AI, cloud computing, and more. Oh, but don’t think a penny of this will go toward teachers—no, no. This is $100M in cloud credits. The way AWS pushes cloud credits, you’d think it’s the new dogecoin. ::Fans last spark of willpower to stay alive:: 
• Coming soon is Azure OpenAI’s o1 multimodal model, which early adopter customers say provides improved response accuracy and can fulfill complex requests, such as automating tasks for lawyers. 
• Hope you’re not thirsty! Water usage has been a big concern for data centers, especially with the advent of mainstream AI. Currently, Microsoft consumes 125 million liters per data center annually. Lucky for us, Microsoft is planning to apply a zero-water design for data centers starting in 2027. 
• AWS is also looking at resource optimization for power and cooling, such as direct-to-chip cooling for energy efficiency. 
• Azure AI Agent Service helps developers build and deploy AI agents without having to manage compute or storage. 
• AWS has created a “Buy with AWS” button that partners can add to their websites, making it easier for customers to make purchases through their AWS accounts. 
• Security, at your service: AWS launched Security Incident Response, which helps security teams resolve ransomware attacks and other security intrusions. This journalist says that the new service isn’t too different from what other incident response services have to offer, including those from AWS partners. 
• AWS customers can upload their data to physical terminals called Data Transfer Terminals. It requires a scheduled date and time at a place where there are no signs for any kind of terminal because it’s a secret mission-type thing. Seriously: Look at these pictures! 
• A total of 10 new products (via five keynote speeches) were unveiled at re:Invent (wow, they are SO edgy, starting the name with a lowercase letter). Read a summary in TechCrunch (and also here), which felt like the only news source heavily covering re:Invent this year. 
• The general availability of Trainium2 AI chip-powered EC2 instances was announced at re:Invent, along with Trainium3 chips and “UltraServers,” which allow customers to connect multiple servers to a giant one. 
• Amazon Nova is a foundational model only available on Amazon Bedrock that lowers costs and latency for generative AI tasks. 
• Amazon Aurora DSQL is a new, serverless distributed SQL database that’s four times faster than “leading distributed databases” such as Google Spanner. 
• Oracle has released a limited preview of its Oracle Database@AWS. Customers can connect their enterprise data in Oracle to the AWS Cloud. 

Best Friends Forever 

• Saifr, which provides financial compliance technology, added its AI models to Microsoft’s Azure AI model catalog. 
• New to Microsoft Marketplace: Keyless, a biometric authentication solution; DigiCert ONE, a trust management platform; and Aquant’s Service Co-Pilot, an AI model that improves troubleshooting and proactive maintenance. 
• Marchex, an AI and analytics provider for vertical markets, joined the Microsoft Cloud AI Partner Program. 
• Mirakl’s Marketplace Platform, which helps businesses manage marketplace and dropship operations, is now in AWS Marketplace. 

By Jane Dornemann

Image by Rachel Adams

After taking graphic design as a high school freshman in Missoula, Montana, Nicole was hooked. She was so diligent about immediately practicing her newly acquired skills that classmates came to know Nicole’s design prowess, to which she applied her great sense of humor. 

“I used to photoshop my classmates’ faces onto images. When Miley Cyrus released her ‘Wrecking Ball’ video—I had fun with that.” Soon, she was flooded with requests. It’s rare to be so certain about a career path at the tender age of 14, but Nicole’s passion for digital creativity never wavered. And sometimes, it even got her out of math class. “If the school newspaper needed something, I’d be excused from whatever class I was in to help,” she said. 

From real estate, to public health, to Gartner 

Nicole majored in graphic design at Montana State, where she interned for the athletic department’s marketing team. And she may have completed one of the more unique theses on Earth for graphics students: to raise awareness of a chronic condition from which a family member suffered, she designed a website for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Not long after graduating, Nicole moved to Texas and embarked on a professional journey that can best be described as eclectic. She created beautiful things for a boutique real estate brokerage business; inventive images for a logistics company; stunning designs that supported public health awareness campaigns; and corporate creative at Gartner, the tech research and consulting firm. 

Finding a home away from home 

With a desire to continue trying new things and build on what she learned at Gartner, Nicole applied to 2A. “What I love most about 2A is the people—we have a great team,” Nicole said. “Everybody here cares, and that’s hard to find at other jobs.” 

Nicole learned this firsthand, when she flew to Washington state for her first 2A retreat—only to be struck down by food poisoning. “I was excited to meet my coworkers in person and was like, ‘Hi! I have to go throw up!’” she recalled. “So many people at 2A helped me get through that.” Since joining 2A, Nicole has learned a lot and said 2A’s culture has fostered that growth. “I love that we have creative freedom and are encouraged to try to do things differently.” 

A bit of botany 

Outside of design, she has a love for two kinds of living things: dogs and plants. Nicole recently added a puppy to accompany her dog Odie, and she and her husband tend to a collection of 117 plants—a habit that began after she was encouraged to take a spider plant home from the office years ago. Beyond that, Nicole paddleboards in the summer, but mostly appreciates spending time with family. Every now and then, she makes a point to check out Austin’s food truck scene. “If there is a plant nursery near a food truck, that’s where we go,” she joked (but come on, we know she’s totally serious). 

By Liz Mangini

Image by Nicole Todd

So, your solution has a story to tell. But most people won’t have the time—or patience—to read a wall of text about its benefits and features. A solution brief is the answer. It distills key details into a format that’s easy to read and hard to ignore. These two-page assets pack a punch: they reinforce benefits, highlight features, and position your offering as the best choice. Use them to grab attention at events, re-engage leads, or convince your audience to take action. 

In short, a solution brief is your pitch in its most polished form: clear, sharp, and informative. To nail this format, you need tight, focused messaging, smart design, and the right amount of white space. Here’s how to make your solution brief shine. 

Start with why, then move on to how 

It’s tempting to dive straight into all the bells and whistles, but your audience needs context first. Why does your solution exist? What problem does it solve? Once you’ve established that, you can provide a few details about the coolest features to hold your reader’s attention. 

Tighten up your marketing message 

Less is more in a solution brief, which means your messaging should focus on the most essential points. To get there, zero in on your differentiators, benefits, and core features. (If that sounds daunting, don’t worry—2A can help!) 

Develop a framework and stick with it 

A framework is a useful way to organize a brief, but don’t overcomplicate things by using too many approaches. Whether you’re presenting your solution as a step-by-step journey, a three-phased approach, or a problem/solution pairing, pick one framework and stick with it. 

Keep the design clean and engaging 

A solution brief is as much about how it looks as what it says. Use plenty of white space to make your content easy to skim. Pair your copy with visuals that support your message, such as charts, icons, or product screenshots. 

Focus on the next step for your customer 

A solution brief should do more than educate—it should drive action. What do you want your customer to do next? Contact your sales team? Download a demo? Visit your website? Be clear and specific about next steps. 

Bonus tip 

Creating a great solution brief takes expertise. At 2A, we’ve perfected the art of pairing short, punchy copy with clean, impactful design. Let us help you create an asset that communicates your value and drives results. 

Reach out to get started! 

By Jane Dornemann

Image by Suzanne Calkins

Gossip (for nerds) 

• Trazillionaire Elon Musk has upped the ante on his lawsuit with OpenAI, because he apparently has nothing better to do before he starts running our government so deep into the ground that it touches the Earth’s lava core. He claims that both Microsoft and OpenAI have prevented competition from surviving in the market—in addition to prioritizing profits over the public good. Kind of like…releasing self-driving cars that burst into flames and run people over…BUT I DIGRESS.
• The principal just walked in and asked Microsoft to step outside—the US Federal Trade Commission has its sights set on the technology company’s anticompetitive practices, which include Azure’s restrictive licensing. In a couple months, I’m sure the Department of Government Efficiency will be thrilled to help. 
• Remember all those AWS employees who were “so excited” about the return to the office (RTO)? Well, they might be surprised to hear that a bunch of “distraught” employees wrote an open letter to CEO Matt Garman being like, WTF, dude. The RTO deadline is in January, which is also when the TikTok ban starts, so I hope you like misery. 
• Between January and August of this year, Amazon cut its US advertising budget by 20%. Including its AWS arm, Amazon’s budget for all types of promotional costs has decreased by millions. 
• Increased spending on AI will slow Microsoft’s growth this quarter. Financially, the company can’t address its AI capacity constraints until the second quarter. 
• It hasn’t been announced yet, but Microsoft will use HarperCollins books to train a mysterious AI model. Authors can opt in for the low, low price of one human soul. 

Wheelin’ and dealin’ 

• Amazon doubled its investment in AI startup Anthropic with another $4B in funding. Moving forward, Anthropic will use AWS Trainium and Inferentia chips to train and deploy its largest AI models.
• This is just in time to give US intelligence the power of generative AI, along with Palantir. The press release can’t actually tell us what the CIA will do with this technology, so hats off to the author, who somehow managed to craft six paragraphs of absolutely nothing but filler text.
• On the other side of the spectrum, the press release about the expanded partnership between AWS and MongoDB tells you waaaay more than you want to know.
• Nokia will provide routers and switches for Azure datacenters in an extended agreement between the two companies. This is funny because Amazon sued Nokia a few months ago for patent grabbing. Which happened a year after Nokia sued Amazon for patent infringement—and blogged about it! Let’s all just sue each other back and forth forever until we die.
• AWS announced a Generative AI Partner Innovation Alliance that will help customers build their own AI solutions. It’s launching with nine partners, one of them being a government intelligence and weapons systems contractor, which makes complete sense because we are the worst.
• Cognizant is partnering with AWS to deliver smart manufacturing capabilities for the industrial sector. Maybe they can smartly manufacture a way for me to get out of this country.
• Technology and communications company Lumen will supply AWS with its fiber network to improve datacenter connectivity. In turn, Lumen will use AWS solutions, including those for generative AI, to modernize its systems.
• Outbrain has agreed to improve its advertising platform by scaling its operations on Azure and enhancing its services with generative AI solutions from Microsoft.
• Money launderers, we just wanna get to know ya. Is green your favorite color? AWS is partnering with Binance to help the crypto platform better screen customers using an AI integration. This comes after a shakeup in Nigeria, where one Binance exec escaped detention and left the country while another was thrown in prison for “suspicious cash flows.” But, please, focus on the customers.
• Europeans want a more compliant cloud. They’ll get one by the end of 2025, when the AWS Europe Sovereign Cloud launches, complete with regulatory-friendly partner solutions in its Marketplace.
• It’s now easier for AWS customers to extend their on-premises Nutanix environment to the cloud. Thank you, Nutanix!!!!!
• A collaboration between Microsoft and Kyndryl makes it easier for customers to extend their on-premises environment to Azure. 

World domination 

• Microsoft ran out of places to shove Copilot, so it has expanded to a larger market—the limitless universe. In partnership with NASA, “Earth Copilot” will help us collect petabytes of data from observation satellites and make it easier for the general public to access it.
• If you Google news out of Sunbury, Ohio, you’ll mostly find obituaries and an inordinate number of animal-hoarding instances (What? Why? How?). Aside from that, you’ll learn that AWS is going to open a $2B datacenter there, which will be finished in 2028.
• AWS is giving away $110M in free computing power to researchers so long as they use Trainium AI chips. 

Ma’am, I’m going to have to call security 

• I need to learn how to code or something for Microsoft’s bug bounty program, which is awarding $4M to those who uncover security flaws. Look, if I win this thing and go on vacation and return to work suddenly looking a decade younger, I did NOT get a facelift, I just rested…with whoever Lindsay Lohan has been resting with. And if I DID get a facelift…no I didn’t.
• As I write this, millions of personal data points are up for grabs, thanks to developers who used Power Pages to build a website without implementing proper access controls. 

New stuff 

• It was a party at Ignite, starting with Microsoft’s unveiling of a custom AMD processor for virtual machine instances and two Microsoft-made chips, which is very demure and mindful of them.
• Azure AI Student has been packaged with other services and rebranded as Azure AI Foundry.
• Azure Local is a new cloud computing platform that allows companies to extend Azure to their on-premises and edge environments.
• Microsoft launched not one, but two infrastructure chips, meant to accelerate AI adoption and increase security.
• Leaving no stone unturned and no career unthreatened, Microsoft is building AI agents for lots of specific tasks, from real-time translations using your voice to processing invoice approvals and customer returns. Does Microsoft know that we, uh, need to like, buy food and stuff? To live? Pretty please, may we?
• It also introduced new AI models for industry. It has been building these pre-trained, fine-tuned models with big partners such as Siemens and Bayer.
• Fabric Databases, an addition to Microsoft Fabric, provisions autonomous databases in seconds.
• Redis can now be fully managed by Azure.
• Not on my 2024 bingo card (then again, neither was the CEO of the Worldwide Wrestling Federation becoming the head of education), but AWS will make it possible for Amazon Q to integrate with Microsoft Office 365.
• AWS App Studio is now generally available. It uses generative AI to build enterprise-grade apps. 

Professional Pivots 

AWS has hired Julia White (who killed Mr. Body in the library with the candlestick) as the company’s new chief marketing officer and VP. She previously spent 20 years at Microsoft and several years at SAP. 

Best Friends Forever 

• Splunk’s security observability and security platform is now available on Azure. 
• AI governance company Saidot can now integrate with Azure AI. 

New to Azure Marketplace 

• IBM subsidiary Apptio’s Targetprocess solution, which helps finance teams plan and manage budgets
• DataChant’s BI Pixie, which sounds like a little booster for Power BI
• Awardco, for employee recognition and rewards
• Shift Technology offers several products for property and casualty insurers
• Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux AI, a foundation model platform
• Cribl, which is too close to an offensive term for my comfort, is a data engine for IT and security
• IntelePeer’s SmartAgent and SmartOffice, which offer AI-powered communications automation 

New to AWS Marketplace 

• Jitterbit, which is also now an AWS Partner, a SaaS service that solves “hyperautomation issues”
• SugarCRM’s Sugar Sell and Sugar Market
• AttackIQ, which provides breach and attack simulation solutions
• Coder, an open-source platform for self-hosted development environments