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The Eurovision Song Contest, the European musical showdown known for its glittery outfits, unusual performances, and over-the-top fanfare, is returning in 2026 for its 70th year. To usher in the anniversary, the competition just unveiled a rebrand, and fans arent thrilled. Next May, Eurovision (which moves to a new city every year) will be held in Vienna, according to a recent Instagram announcement. There, it will officially roll out its new logo, custom font, and brand symbol, all of which were revealed on August 18 and have since begun to appear on the contests social media accounts. [Image: Eurovision] The new look, which apparently was designed to bring more cohesion to Eurovisions look and make the brand more versatile on digital platforms, has attracted droves of negative feedback from fans. Commenters across social media say the branding has veered into cartoonish territory, with some even implying that the new wordmark and logo were generated by AI rather than human artists. Martin Green, director of Eurovision, says he was not at all surprised by the negative fan reaction, given that Eurovision has such a massive fanbase and any form of creativity is ultimately subjective. While he says that none of the rebrand was generated by AI, hes actually encouraged to see fans advocating for artists over AI. It’s really good to see the fans on this, actually, because from a personal and professional point of view, I agree with a lot of them, Green says. Inside Eurovision’s new branding The new Eurovision branding was designed through a collaboration between the European Broadcasting Unions in-house design team and the British branding studio Pals. Green says there were a few reasons for Eurovision to rebrand in 2026, starting with the fact that the competitions branding has remained largely unchanged for close to 15 years. We deal in pop music, and that pop music keeps us young and tells us what’s going on in the world, he says. As a brand, we want to keep refreshed as well. Pals took the main Eurovision logoa hand-drawn script that launched in 2004 and was later refined in 2014and plumped it up with chunkier, curvier letters. Its a typographic choice thats been popular among companies across categories in recent months, from Burger King to Goodreads and Glossier. The former capital E in Eurovision has been swapped for a lowercase version, and the words song contest are now a more prominent part of the logo rendered in the same custom script. In addition, a bespoke typeface called Singing Sans will serve as the Eurovision brands main font. Its a sans serif that can be used for day-to-day needs like press releases, but its also available in an iteration with exaggerated curls for out-of-home messaging and social media. Adapting the brand for digital uses was another of Greens main goals with the new look. I think the last time we refreshed was about 14 years ago, Green says. Even back then, digital was still relatively early. Now we are enormously digital: We reach billions through our social media and our digital activity. To make Eurovisions identity more versatile online, Pals broke out the main logos heart symbol into its own asset called the Chameleon Heart, which can adapt to reflect the host nations identity, a performers individuality, or a particular theme, a press release reads. It can also stand alone in places like the competitions app icons. The key thing was that it really was a refresh and an evolutionwe didn’t want to rip up the page, Green says. The brand obviously has great connectivity. It’s got great recognition, but it felt a little too informal and laid-back. We wanted to boost it forward. Eurovision’s director addresses AI accusations So far, the fan reception to the new branding on social media has been overwhelmingly negative. On Instagram and TikTok combined, the reveal has received nearly 5,000 comments, ranging from fans accusing the designers of using AI to generate the new assets to comparing it to the Pampers logo and Picsarts color gradient. [H]ey chat gpt, can you generate a new logo for eurovision, make it look childish, close to the old one but [Junior Eurovision Song Contest] coded, one Instagram commenter said. [I]ts like comic sans ms lol, another on TikTok added. This font came straight out of ChatGPT, a third said. Green has a long career history of working in major events, including serving as head of ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympics, which received massive criticism at the time for its abstract logo. He says the fan backlash did not come as a shock. It’s like the songs in the show: People love them, they hate them, they comment on them, he says. You always have to accept when you’re refreshing anything that the fans are going to have an opinion. All we ever ask is, Be kind, but you can be criticalit’s absolutely fine. As fans begin to see more of the new branding, Green adds, hes confident tha it will ultimately become more familiar and less controversial. To those speculating that the team used AI to generate Eurovisions branding, Green says that AI may have been used in the very early stages to brainstorm initial concepts, but none of the final branding was generated by AI in any way. A lot of this was hand-drawn by great artists, Green says. We haven’t used AI to create this. The fact that people feel it might be reminiscent of it, I think, is more about how AI is influencing design subconsciously, if you like. That’s the same thing as looking at the way that digital has influenced design, in terms of how legible and clear it is. The influence might be there, but it wasn’t used to create it.
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E-Commerce
Theres a growing paradox at the heart of the modern workplace. Artificial intelligence is advancing at an unprecedented rate, capable of generating pitch decks, summarizing meetings, writing RFPs, analyzing spreadsheets, and even sending our avatars to video call meetings. Yet, for all the noise around productivity gains and disruption, most organizations are still stuck in neutral, disappointed by the underwhelming results of their various AI pilots. The recent MIT report noted that while AI pilots with tools like ChatGPT and Copilot were improving individual productivity, vanishingly few were contributing to P&L improvement. If these tools are making individuals more productive, but thats translating into company performance, we have to askwhats the point of that work? The dirty secret? AI is is revealing just how much work doesnt need to exist in the first place. Welcome to the BS economy. Defining the BS Economy The term “BS jobs” was coined by anthropologist David Graeber to describe roles that are, even in the eyes of those performing them, fundamentally pointless. These are the jobs where if someone stopped showing up, no one would notice; or worse, everyone would be relieved. Entire categories of white-collar work, from middle managers pushing PowerPoints to consultants writing reports no one reads, fall under this umbrella. The BS economy is what happens when these roles are scaled, celebrated, and institutionalized, perhaps to the point of becoming hyper-normalized, the paradoxical state in which everyone knows the official version of reality is false, but because no one can imagine an alternative, society collectively accepts and reproduces the lie as if it were true. Importantly, this state is not limited to a few unlucky job titles, but endemic to modern corporate life. It rewards process over purpose, optics over outcomes, and bureaucracy over impact. For decades, this system sustained itself with rituals: long and useless meetings, excessive documentation, convoluted chains of approval, and performative busyness that drive up headcount and slow down progress without any delivering any appreciable improvement in outcomes. But AI is stripping away the theater, automating the symbolic and intangible aspects of work, precisely the tasks that were never truly value-generating to begin with. AI Isnt (Yet) Disrupting Work. Its Exposing It Lets be clear: AI hasnt fundamentally changed most jobs yet. Its not that large swaths of the workforce have been replaced or redeployed. What AI is doingfaster than most companies can reactis mimicking the performative layer of knowledge work. Drafting emails. Creating status updates. Rewording proposals. Polishing presentations. Transcribing and summarizing meetings that arguably didnt need to happen in the first place. As Yuval Harari recently noted, AI is already a better storyteller than humans. It is also challenging humans when it comes to not just work, but also pretending to work, in the sense of replicating a range of job-related activities that more clearly result in being busy than actually productive (in the sense of adding value). If an AI can instantly generate a companys glossy annual report (complete with letters from the CEO and strategic road maps), it exposes how formulaic these documents really are. They read less like authentic reflections of vision or performance and more like templated PR exercises, optimized for investors expectations. The ease with which they can be faked shows just how little originality or substance was there in the first place. Were witnessing a productivity revolution without a purpose revolution. Tools are improving, but the work remains hollow. Instead of using AI to invent better ways of working, many companies are simply using it to churn out more of the same, only faster. But running faster in the wrong direction just means getting lost fasterand if everyone is doing it, we risk just getting lost in a forest of sameness Theres a risk here. Without deliberate redesign, AI wont just expose the BS economy, it could entrench it. If leaders dont challenge the status quo, we may end up amplifying the noise, not reducing it. Well layer new systems on top of bad processes and wonder why things havent gotten better. If automation means that machines are mass-producing work products that then only get reviewed, summarized, and acted upon by other machines, what have we really gained? Value Comes From Humans, Not Bots The crucial insight is this: AI can optimize how work is done, but it cannot tell us what work should be done, or why it matters. Thats still a human responsibility. And its where the opportunity lies. The value of AI will not be measured by how much it automates nonsense, but by how much it liberates human potential. If AI saves a manager 10 hours a week by eliminating report writing, the real question is: what will they do with that time? The answer depends on leadership and HR. Not on the tech or AI. To unlock real value from AI, organizations must help people reimagine their roles beyond routine output. This means identifying opportunities for human contribution that are creative, relational, strategic, and judgment-driven, the domains where AI is still weak. It also means empowering people to use freed-up time to think, learn, explore, connect, and innovate. Fixing Work: Four Imperatives for Leaders Redesign Work AI wont fix broken workflows. Leaders must rethink work processes and roles from the ground up and focus on the ones that are truly driving business value. Start by asking: What outcomes matter? What activities actually contribute to those outcomes? What capabilities are required to complete the work and are those best suited to people or machines? And what can we stop doing altogether? Aim to eliminate tasks that exist only to justify someones presence or to feed internal reporting machinery. Design roles that are lean, outcome-focused, and infused with a clear sense of purpose. Re-skill Managers to Lead in the AI Era Managers are the keystone species in any organization. Yet many are unequipped for an AI-enhanced world. Re-skilling managrs should focus less on technical mastery and more on human leadership. They need to understand how to coach teams, set meaningful goals, recognize contribution, and create psychologically safe environments that foster experimentation. They should become amplifiers of human potential, not compliance officers for productivity software. Rethink Performance Management Most current performance systems still reward confidence over competence, style over substance, and politics over performance. That must change. AI gives us better data and more granular insights, but we need to ask better questions. What value is someone actually creating? Are they helping others succeed? Are they solving meaningful problems? Moving forward, performance should be measured by contribution, not presence. Output, not optics. Impact, not volume. Experiment, Iterate, and Learn The AI transformation is not a plug-and-play exercise. Every organization will need to experiment with new models of work, test ideas, and learn from failures. The organizations that thrive will be those that adopt a learning mindset: try, measure, adjust, repeat. Dont expect one grand solution. Instead, cultivate a portfolio of small experiments across teams and functions, and scale what works. The goal is not just to do more with less, but to do better with less noise. AI Can Help Us Fix WorkBut Only If We Let It Taken together, these imperatives represent a set of cultural and operational changesand thats where the hard work is. Real change wont come from turning on an LLM; it will come from those with the courage to tackle deep-rooted practices and beliefs. At its best, AI can serve as a mirror: reflecting the absurdity of modern work back at us with eerie precision. But the mirror itself doesnt solve anything. What we choose to do with that reflection is what matters. We can continue pretending that busywork equals value, or we can use this moment to make work more meaningful. That means getting serious about human contribution. About designing roles that tap into curiosity, creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking. About automating the things that are formulaic and joyless, and creating space for people to do the things machines cant. In short, the rise of AI is not just a tech story, its a leadership challenge and an organizational challenge. The biggest risk isnt that AI will replace humans. Its that well fail to replace the nonsense that AI is finally making visible. Lets not waste the opportunity.
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E-Commerce
When the economy feels volatile and companies are navigating change, many of us instinctively wait before initiating a raise conversation. But the truth is, uncertainty isnt a signal to stay quietits a call to lead. Asking for a raise during times of flux doesnt mean youre tone-deaf. It means you understand your impact and are choosing to advocate for it with clarity and courage. You deserve that raise. Heres how to ask for it. Frame your true impact A key part of preparing for this conversation involves framing your contributions through the lens of business value. Dont just mention what you dodescribe how it moves the organization forward. Maybe youve streamlined reporting processes that previously consumed hours each week. Maybe you led a team through onboarding a new platform with minimal disruption, or prevented client churn by intervening early in a cross-functional issue. When you frame your impact as solving problems, reducing friction, and advancing team performance, your raise request shifts from transactional to transformational. It becomes a narrative of strategic contribution: not a personal ask, but a business case. Position yourself as worthy of a raise This framing becomes even more powerful during moments of organizational change. Promotions, restructures, new leadership teams: these transitions often create ambiguity, and in ambiguity, visibility tends to shrink. Thats why it’s critical to position your role not just as a stabilizing force, but as a value driver. If youve stepped up to clarify goals during a leadership shift, kept morale high during a merger, or coached teammates through re-orgs, youre not just doing your jobyoure enabling continuity and accelerating progress. Being a value-driver means connecting your work to the organizations needs. For example, if your team is navigating a new product launch, and youve helped streamline cross-functional communication or anticipate customer pain points, youre not just executing: youre shaping outcomes. If youve identified inefficiencies and proposed solutions that saved time or budget, youre demonstrating strategic foresight. These are the kinds of contributions that deserve to be surfaced in a raise conversation, not as a list of tasks, but as evidence of leadership in motion. Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, once said, If you want to improve the organization, you have to improve yourself and the organization gets pulled up with you. Your value isnt about self-promotionits about lifting the organization through your growth, insight, and initiative. When you frame your contributions as catalysts for team performance, innovation, and resilience, youre demonstrating why investing in you is a strategic decision. In times of change, leaders look for people who bring clarity, calm, and momentum. If youve been that person, your raise request isnt just timely, its essential. Make a narrative, not a plea Constructing a raise request as a narrative, rather than a plea, is about shifting the tone from need to impact. Its not about asking for more; its about demonstrating why more is deserved based on results, readiness, and relevance to the business. A well-structured narrative helps leaders connect your individual contributions to larger organizational priorities, creating a stronger and more strategic case for compensation. Start with foresight. What challenges have you anticipated this year? Did you proactively prepare your team for a new workflow before a system migration? Did you pitch a customer retention idea that quietly prevented churn? These moments of anticipation speak volumes about your leadership capacity. Blend this with feedback and formal or informal. Perhaps your manager described your collaboration as a calming force in high-stakes conversations, or a senior leader acknowledged your ability to navigate complexity with grace. And then align everything to business goals. Whether you contributed to cost reduction, accelerated project delivery, improved engagement scores, or drove innovation, tie your impact to measurable outcomes and organizational growth. Tell that story over time Crucially, this story isnt delivered all at once. Your most important channel for building credibility and visibility is your regular 1:1 conversations. These ongoing touchpoints are where you showcase progress, context, and the evolution of your role. Think of them as a trail of breadcrumbs leading your manager up the hill, and not just to understand your work, but to advocate for it when it matters most. Leaders rarely respond well to surprise compensation asks. They want time to think deeply about equity, team dynamics, and fair recognition. When theyve seen your progression over time and had the opportunity to reflect on your influence, theyre far better positioned to reward it with integrity. These touchpoints are where you build not just your case, but trust. And that trust is what turns a raise request from a transactional moment into a thoughtful conversation about leadership, potential, and continued investment. Keep using timing as a strategy Now consider timing. Every organization has its own rhythm: bonuses may be awarded quarterly, biannually, or just once a year. Salary increases are often tied to fiscal budgets, performance cycles, or leadership reviews. Pay attention to when your company makes compensation decisions and calibrate your conversations accordingly. For instance, if merit reviews happen in July, but budgets close in May, the ideal moment to showcase your achievements isnt midsummerits late Q1 or early Q2. Strategically sharing progress updates, wins, and feedback in the months leading up to those decisions helps your manager build a case on your behalf. You’re not just asking them to advocate for you; youre equipping them to do it well. A confident ask is a leadership signal Ultimately, asking for a raise during uncertainty demonstrates something powerful: confidence. It signals that you’re aware of your value, committed to progress, and willing to engage in meaningful dialogue about your role. This kind of clarity isnt just good for your career; it uplifts the workplace. Because when professionals speak up with intention and resilience, they strengthen the very culture theyre part of. So as you consider making the ask, remember: in this economy, resilience is currency. Your earned worth isnt a luxury and its part of the solution. And when you advocate for yourself thoughtfully, youre modeling leadership that others will remember and follow.
Category:
E-Commerce
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