A good listen on how to think about the current landscape of AIs and LLMs.
Add some Douglas Rushkoff quotes for additional context:
AIs are probability engines.
If AIs are based on us (our writing, knowledge, etc.), the only way to raise better AIs is to be better ourselves.
Emotional labor has become a competitive advantage. Our commitment to showing up as a human, even (especially) when we don’t feel like it is precisely how we create value. And it’s this human work that helps us feel seen and valued as well.
-Seth
Why am I extra bullish on podcasts right now?
TV and film producers prepare for potential post-strike production logjam
Once the actors’ strike ends the shows and movies still need to be made and the backlog will be big.
Content owners (Disney, Nickelodeon, Dr. Seuss, PBS, etc.) have been turning to audio to fill the entertainment gap and ad dollars are pulling back from TV because of the lack of new content.
The longer it lasts the more likely habits are to change in a meaningful way towards channels producing new entertainment.
Shocks cause shifts.
Marketing nerds unite! A chewy piece comparing ecomm promo language performance.
Thrown in the ring:
- $ off vs. % off
- Free vs. Fast delivery
- Promo code error codes
- “Black Friday” vs. “Cyber Week”
And maybe some more ideas you can steal.
Google is further signaling the decay of attribution modeling with the announcement:
First click, linear, time decay and position-based attribution models are going away
None of these were great. Data-driven replaced position-based and GA4’s shift to user (and event)-based measurement over session-based made first click redundant.
But I think this is an admission from Big G that (aside from last click) accurate attribution is hard to do in a post-cookie world, so it’s all about data modeling now.
Streaming’s big pain point: there’s too much stuff to watch
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Despite more available programming than ever, 1 in 5 viewers abandon streaming sessions out of frustration, according to Nielsen.
The Great Unbundling into the infinite shelf space of the internet still has a major problem: discovery.
Modern search has largely the same issue.
Maybe AI can fix it, but what does the knowledge graph underlying the model look like?
Pandora always underwhelmed me when, and this feels like the likely analog for TV and movies. But podcasts could be prime for AI discovery thanks to LLMs and transcription.
TikTok doesn’t want marketers obsessing about last-click attribution. In part because TikTok looks really bad when viewed as a direct performance channel. But also, attribution is less helpful these days.
It’s not about what a specific channel does. It’s about what it adds to your marketing mix.
Steal This: Fake Pork
How can you turn an L into a win?
The ad above is from La Vie Foods, a vegan food company from France. The translation of the ad below should make everything clear. But first, the setup:
Vegan bacon producer La Vie has been accused of unfair competition by a French pork lobby.
INAPORC claims that the company’s plant-based lardons are too similar to conventional pork alternatives, thereby copying the originals.
Now, the response:
The light pink portion at the top of the ad reads:
The pork lobby is attacking us because our veggie lardons are indistinguishable from pork lardons.
The small, darker pink bar in the middle reads:
Help us defend ourselves, by sending them this letter.
The postcard looking bit at the bottom says:
Dear pork lobby. Thanks for the compliment. We think that your pork lardons are indistinguishable from our veggie lardons. Would you mind changing your recipe? Thanks.
We may not talk about Bruno, but what's something your sector doesn't usually talk about that you can turn into a differentiator?