I’m working on a new training webinar focused on AI and marketing. And by working on it, I mean I haven’t started it yet but feel so stressed about telling you that I now need to do it #productivityhack. Seriously, if you’re a marketer and have a specific question about AI please reply back and let me know what’s on your mind. It’s tricky to wrap your arms around this topic, so knowing your interests will help me focus. More to come.
General, Generative AI Weirdness
They’re here. After years of warnings about deepfakes, they’re now all over the place and the Canadian government is trying to take steps to combat them for the upcoming elections – even recommending that people watch debates live. From an advertising perspective, Meta is now requiring those running political ads to disclose if ads have been digitally altered, which I doubt will make much of a difference.
If you’re skeptical about deepfakes, try HeyGen and see how powerful and accessible these tools are. I’m not sure about the ethics of deepfaking yourself, but I gave it a go. Here’s my avatar reciting the climax of a classic children’s story.
Gen AI continues to be used to create art based on the works of existing artists. Dudesy recently released a bizarre AI-generated comedy special impersonating George Carlin (‘I’m Glad I’m Dead’) much to the dismay of his daughter. AI was also used to ‘complete’ Keith Haring’s Unfinished Painting raising ethical and intellectual property concerns (Note: I went to the Keith Haring AGO exhibit with my non-AI generated daughter and it was amazing).
I’ve also been tinkering around with the new ChatGPT Store – OpenAI’s equivalent of Apples’ App store. Currently only users with a paid tier can use and create GPTs. The most popular GPTs seem to be for research and graphic design. Another popular category is apparently AI Girlfriends which have potentially disturbing implications. My Stratbot GPT only recommends marketing planning frameworks – sorry fellas!
If you’re thinking of building your own GPT, this resource from the Nielsen Norman Group has a really useful breakdown of different types of chatbot experiences.
Cool Beans
Peloton & TikTok: Peloton shares surge 15% as it partners with TikTok to offer short-form fitness classes. I’ll invest in any stock that gets me off a stationary bike faster.
Circle to Search: Cool, smart UX enhancement from Google – allows users to use their finger to circle something on their phone and have Google look up information about it without switching apps.
Apple Vision Pro: The Apple headset is launching in February and experts are grappling with the most interesting question – how does it fit into the real world? For a more narrow use case, check out these Smart Binoculars that identify the birds you’re looking at.
Pre-Internet Times: I don’t know what's funnier – that young people are interested in what life was like before the Internet, or the captions in this article describing earnestly how pay phones and Yellow Pages worked.
Evolution of the Web
Speaking of nostalgia, remember when the web was weird? Early users visited many different websites and regularly stumbled across bizarre blogs and niche communities – without guidance from an algorithm. Websites also looked very different, as everyone was experimenting with the form and not uniformly optimizing for Google. People could more freely express themselves in new semi-public ways.
It seems like some folks are longing for these times, and curating resources to help people serendipitously wander the web - like Youtune that shows original songs posted on Youtube with relatively few views, and Scrubstrack that takes you to random Substack newsletters (see more ways to escape the algorithm here).
Fresh Reports
2024 Creative Playbook (Recess): A super useful / fun collection of tips, tools, and resources collected from 30 different creatives and strategists. I’ve already bookmarked a few of the free online tools included in here.
B2B Sales Gap Report (Publicis Sapient): If you’re a B2B marketer looking to make your case for more funding for digital, this report is your friend. Survey results show the importance of a strong website for corporate buyers.
2024 State of Email Newsletter (beehiiv): Recent data on email newsletters that is helpful for benchmarking metrics (and setting expectations).
2024 Social Calendar (TikTok): If you’re still putting your social media / content calendar together for the year, this report from TikTok highlighting different cultural moments throughout the year is a handy input.
Media Universe Map (Evan Shapiro): An amazing chart that illustrates the size / value of different media companies and properties. Really puts the scale of the large tech companies (Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft) in perspective.
