The new viral loop that doesn't die after 24 hours 🌋

"Status marketing" is how companies hack social proof in 2025

Last week, Notion released faces.notion.com — an extremely viral tool that turns your photo into its iconic black & white cartoon style.

But here’s what makes this actually interesting:

Until now, only Notion employees had these avatars. It was like a secret club badge. When you saw someone with that cartoon style on LinkedIn → you knew they worked at Notion.

Suddenly, everyone has them.

💡 The marketing idea

Build a “Profile Picture Generator” that gives people an instant status upgrade. 📈

Notion’s Profile Picture Generator (faces.notion.com)

🤫 The secret = “Status Marketing”

When you give people a way to look more successful (through their profile picture) → they’ll do your marketing for you.

The trick is understanding what “higher status” means for YOUR audience:

• 💻 Tech people want to look like they work at cool startups (e.g. Notion)

• 🌈 Creators want to look artistic/creative

• 👔 Consultants want to look professional/successful

🎨 Which profile pics should you generate?

Here are your options (pick one that fits your brand):

1. 👨🏻‍🎨 Transform their current photo

• Minimalist line drawings (like Notion)

• Watercolor portraits

• Comic book hero versions

• 3D character renders

• Custom emoji style

• Pixel art avatars

• Draw people as a specific animal (Duolingo could do that 🦉)

2. 🌈 Add specific decorations

• Achievement badges

• Glowing auras

• Floating symbols

• Signature brand/industry elements

• Status indicators e.g. as trophies

3. 🌫️ Upgrade their background

• Professional environments

• Industry-specific settings

• Abstract brand patterns

• Dynamic effects

• Custom color schemes

Even a simple frame on top of their current photo could work. I liked what Sweet Security did for their employees:

🛠️ How should you build your generator?

You basically have three options:

1. ⚙️ Build an AI generator: Let people upload their current pic and immediately get an instant AI-generated transformation. Fast and easy but less personal (less IKEA effect).

2. 💦 Manually edit profile pictures yourself: Ask people to send you their current profile pictures and do the transformation for them, one by one. This is great if your audience is relatively small!

3. 💚 Create a Sims-style builder: Let people customize every detail themselves (like Notion does). More time-consuming, but people love making it their own.

It’s like Apple’s Memoji creator for iMessage - people love customizing their digital identity. They’ll spend time getting it just right.

🎯 What's the perfect 3-week launch strategy?

After you build a profile pic generator, I suggest doing the following:

Week 1: Seed the trend

• Get your entire team to switch pics simultaneously

• Create that first “big splash” moment

• More profiles = more FOMO

Week 2: VIP early access

• Pay influencers to change their profile pics (like Notion did with Snoop Dogg)

• Send secret access codes to thought leaders

• Build a waitlist

Week 3: Open the gates

• Release to waitlist first

• Share the best transformations from your brand account (it’s super flattering!)

• Let it spread naturally

🥊 Why profile pictures > viral posts

A few months ago, I wrote about mini tools being 10x more powerful than free trials.

I believe this is the ultimate mini-tool. Why?

Because every time someone with YOUR branded profile picture likes, comments, or posts anything online → your brand spreads. Not for a day. Forever.

And unlike one-time viral hits, profile pictures compound. The more people switch = the more others want to join (because of the FOMO). That’s a viral loop.

⚠️ The only rule that matters

Your profile picture style must be instantly recognizable as your brand — even without a watermark or logo. The magic happens when people choose your brand’s style not because it promotes you… but because it makes them look good.

Smart, right?

See you next week ✌️

Tom

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P.S. Apple just released a Severance profile picture generator for Season 2. This trend is just getting started…

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