topuria’s “stubborn”, alta’s ai scandal & black friday in newspapers

For the marketing world, November is synonymous with Black Friday –  meaning the first half of the month is usually spent building campaigns, and the second half… surviving them.

But amid thousands of Black Friday offers, a few stories cut through the noise.
Here’s what November looked like.

 

TBC x Ilia Topuria — “I Always Come to Win”

 

In October, we learned that Ilia Topuria –  the first Georgian UFC champion –  became an ambassador for TBC.

By November, the campaign hit full speed, with the main spot launching under the line: “I always come to win.”“Stubbornly, as long as you believe.”

 

Outdoor posters and banners covered the city as well.

 

“Stubborn” is a continuation of the Independence Day campaign TBC launched earlier this year: “This is Georgia – a country of the most stubborn people.”

 

Back then, we wrote that the word wrapped together perseverance, resilience, pride, and dignity –  all at once.

 

And really, who better embodies relentlessness than a two-division UFC champion whose entire story is proof that nothing is impossible when you believe and push forward?

 

A quick reminder: not long ago we compared the brand platforms of TBC and Bank of Georgia. “Stubborn,” tied with “as long as you believe,” serves as an emotional counterpoint to Bank of Georgia’s “Drive.”

So yes – the competitive war continues. Let’s see which narrative wins: stubbornness or drive.

 

Alta vs Salome Kalandadze — The AI Scandal

Salome Kalandadze, a well-known content creator, produced videos for Alta at the beginning of the year. After the company allegedly breached their agreement, Salome ended the partnership. (Her full story is on TikTok.)

 

Shortly after the breakup, Alta introduced an AI girl named Año – who, very visibly, looked a lot like Salome. Her friends and followers noticed it immediately. At first, Salome responded with comments and stories on her profile.

 

The situation escalated on November 20, when another AI-generated video appeared. Salome and others commented, but the company began deleting Salome’s comments – and yes, screenshots exist.

 

Salome then recorded a full video explaining the entire story. It went viral: 822K+ views and nearly 500 comments on TikTok alone.

 

 

Alta’s Response

 

Alta had two options: stay silent or make a statement.
They chose the latter – and then, within that, they chose both defense and offense.

 

Their official statement called Salome’s claims false and explained that the AI model, Año, was created by a partner agency, which confirmed that no specific person’s photo, face, voice, or biometric data was used in the model.

 

Before this statement, the agency itself had released a video saying they did not use any specific person’s visual data.

 

Alta ended its statement by noting that the company would pursue legal action.

 

This whole thing brought to mind the PSP x Mizon drama  when the company was heavily criticized for flying influencers to South Korea. Interestingly, PSP never released a statement, and that turned out to be the right call.

 

So what happened with Alta?

 

Alta issued a statement in the middle of one of the most commercially critical windows of the year – Black Friday campaigns. As a result:

1. The issue reached many people who previously had no idea it even existed.
2. Fully denying the accusations without strong evidence irritated audiences even more.
   

And here’s the interesting part: in Alta’s latest video, they replaced the AI model with a real human. Planned or reactive? Hard to say.

This story raised three big questions for me:

1. Will AI actually replace content creators — and what will that mean for quality, creativity, and the job market?

2. How should brands behave during a crisis, and how do they fight campaigns that threaten their reputation?

3. In the AI era, how can we protect our face, voice, and body from becoming tools for commercial or personal use without consent?

We’ll talk about AI ethics and legal boundaries in marketing soon.

 

Black Friday in Newspapers — Trend or Copycat?

If you also noticed that many Black Friday campaigns used the same newspaper aesthetic, let me remind you of something: Everything new is well-forgotten old. And this phrase fits marketing perfectly.

 

Black Friday – the last Friday of November – is one of the busiest days for brands. In recent years, some brands have stretched it into a week, others into 10 days, and some keep it strictly to Friday.

 

This year, the most striking observation was how similar the campaigns looked. Naturally, social media asked: Why is everything suddenly in newspaper style? A coincidence or AI-generated sameness?

 

The answer is simple: Just a trend.

 

The newspaper aesthetic has been rising since 2022 and remains a strong visual trend. Brands use it both for new launches and seasonal marketing – as a symbolic way to announce “breaking news.”

 

So if PSP, Aversi, and Ici Paris all used newspapers, it’s not imitation. It’s trending.

 

But even trends must be executed well. A standout example was the Wes Anderson–inspired video for PSP created by Foxy-Eleniko (Elene Rukhadze), echoing The French Dispatch.

It proves a simple rule: Any trend can be boring or brilliant — depending on how you shape and style it.

 

November in a Nutshell

Because November is dominated by Black Friday and followed immediately by the New Year rush, marketers live between two major waves.
This month left me with three questions:

1. Who will be TBC’s next ambassador, and how will the “stubborn” narrative evolve?
2. Will the Alta story end on social media or move into legal territory?
3. Where was the real Black Friday this year?

You can answer only the third one.

I’ll start working on the Year in Review for December.

 

 

the photo materials used in the visuals belong to the respective brands and constitute their intellectual property.