Global Digital Marketing & Retail by Alex 137
Goodmorning everyone! Another edition of my newsletter on everything I find interesting. Mostly on Global Marketing & Retail. Go check out this edition.
🤩Revolut introduces AIR (AI by Revolut)
Wow so amazing, what a team, what a development! AI not as a feature but to help getting things done. Or as others say it: from features to interface. Revolut has released (in the UK for now) : 𝗔𝗜𝗥 (AI by Revolut).
You can ask questions like:
Instant clarity: "How much did I spend on subscriptions last month?"
Real-time interventions: "Freeze my physical card and order a new one."
Lifestyle companion: "I’m in Tokyo next week. Set up my eSIM and check my insurance."
As Revolut says it: "The era of navigating through endless tabs and menus is over, with AIR we're delivering a new level of money intelligence that's both powerful and endless".
This will set the bar for other apps as well. Not only the bar but also expectations.
Details: https://www.revolut.com/blog/post/air-ai-by-revolut/
https://www.connectingthedotsinfin.tech/connecting-the-dots-in-fintech/
Incredibly cool and I am a very happy customer of Revolut because of these things! I encourage every app/web development team to look at what Revolut does and to see how these kind of ideas can be applied to your own app or service.
🌎 Vitaly Friedman with the UX localisation guide
Vitaly Friedman shared a nice infographic on localisation:
Translation: “We adapt messaging to resonate in other markets”.
Localization: “We adapt UX to local expectations”.
Internationalization: “We adapt our code to work in other markets”.
In summary of what Vitaly added to this infographic:
✅ English users ≈ 26% of total
✅ Top written languages: Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese
✅ Users prefer native-language content
✅ French text ≈ 20% longer than English; Japanese 30–60% shorter
🚫 Flags ≠ languages — use text labels for languages, globe icon for country selector
🚫 Not everyone has first/middle names — use “Full name” instead
✅ Reserve ~30% space for longer translations
✅ Test visuals and colors with local audiences
✅ Share annotated wireframes with translators for context
✅ Mark special “branding moments” early
✅ Stress-test UI via pseudolocalization (make text 40–50% longer, flip formats)
✅ Adjust numbers, formats, units, addresses per locale
💡 Localization goes beyond translation:
Arabic → more line spacing
Chinese → higher info density
German → detailed, precise layouts
⚙️ Always review with native speakers to ensure clarity, familiarity, and cultural fit.
🌍 Design to adapt and scale globally — you’ll learn more with every new market.
I know from experience these things are very important (for most brands) but often not followed. Do so and you will improve conversion and experiences. Now with AI I think even more important as expectations per country (may) differ!
🤖 Zapier AI fluency bar for every new hire
Let me share this here from Zapier, as I think it’s good to realise for anyone working in tech. Zapier released the AI fluency bar for every new hire. Check it out and see how AI fluent you are. I think I am for sure in Capable but also in partly in Adoptive. I will get to “Transformative” for a large part I think. On route!
Details:
https://zapier.com/blog/raising-ai-fluency-bar-in-hiring/
🇦🇷 🇧🇷 Mercado Libre and the Williams Sponsorship
Mercado Libre built its reputation on one thing: delivery speed. It’s one of the clearest differentiators they have in Latin America and their F1 sponsorship with Williams racing is a smart extension of exactly that story. Fast cars, fast delivery. It just makes sense. A campaign that makes you smile and reinforces the brand perception in one video. It’s those things that make them stand out against Amazon.
🇸🇬 Two ads, two continents, one lesson: Checkout the Grab ad
One more I stumbled upon, I’m a big fan of Grab, I use it every time I’m in Asia. Their CNY ad is fun actually it’s more of a mini movie. It showcases Grab’s wide assortment in food and grocery delivery, and they pulled it off cleverly. Most likely, I think, all the brands featured paid for their spot, making this a cost-efficient production for Grab, while what sticks with the viewer is just how much Grab actually offers. On top of that, it stands out sharply against the usual emotional, family oriented CNY ads.
Details: https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/wait-whose-cny-ad-is-this
What stands out for me
What strikes me in both ads Mercado Libre and Grab is that strong brand advertising doesn’t need to do everything. Pick one USP, make it memorable, and wrap it in something people actually enjoy watching. Mercado Libre owns speed. Grab owns assortment.
So branded ads can be useful, and brands can now create spin-offs more performance driven follow-up campaigns to convert the attention. Perfect for Andromeda for example.
📈 YouTube doubles in AI mode citations
I have written about it many times before, make YouTube centric in your content strategy. Now this research from Promptwatch makes it even more clear. YT doubled in citations for Google’s AI mode. TikTok seems also to speed up.
Crystal clear data, thanks Klaas!
🧐4 Levels of AI marketing use, where are you at?
It’s a bit of an AI edition today.
A growth marketer from Anthropic (from Claude) called Austin Lau he mapped 4 levels of AI marketing use. I think it’s interesting you can map it against your company’s status f.e.
level 1: automate what you already do (reporting, copy, data pulls)
level 2: use AI as a thinking partner where its better than you
level 3: do work that was below the ROI threshold before
level 4: build custom tools only you would ever build
Some attention to Level 3, work that never existed before. Stuff nobody did because the manual cost was never worth it. Think of mining negative keywords across every ad group. Checking your full site for broken links every day. All work that existed in theory but nobody had the hours for. I think that could be a nice goal as it can already be done and isn’t that difficult and you can also use it in your agency for mapping out clients AI marketing maturity and help them achieve a higher level.
Thank you for reading,
Alex
I am Alex Baar, I publish this weekly newsletter with links I find interesting on the topics: AI, cross-border e-commerce, marketing, retail, and a little bit of Fintech. Subscribe if you like!
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