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The marketing trend of 2024:

In: AI (& context)
Out: Control

Early this year this was based on lots of prediction posts and podcasts (& my own crystal ball).

As the year has unfolded it’s been based on reality.

If you’re chasing “better” analytics or attribution, you’re behind the curve.

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Our culture leans toward the idea that we should intervene and that our results should be visible. To manipulate and control without really questioning why we are doing what we do. Much of the time, I have found you only need to fix things if they have been put out of kilter in the first place.

As in gardening, so in marketing.

The easiest way to prove you’re working is to do stuff. Pull levers, twist knobs, change settings, etc. But campaigns and messages take time.

Don’t change things for the sake of looking busy.

Algorithms as plants.

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a VR headset is about withdrawing from interactions, whereas augmented reality is obviously about adding that layer onto existing reality. And so in that way, I think it's a lot more similar to a smartphone. So if you're trying to figure out what does the next platform look like, VR looks very different from that and AR looks much closer to the existing interactions we have while using our smartphones.

Why I’ve been on the AR bandwagon for years.

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My major design goal here was…I wanted to push controls, as much as possible, down the screen. So I want the most frequently accessed things to be accessible when you’re holding the phone in one hand and you just want to hit something with your thumb. 

This is pretty common in apps now, it should be way more common on websites.

Respect the thumb zone (image via Smashing Magazine)

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that’s really the single core question about the future of Generative AI - is this a new general purpose tool, where one product from one company does the work of hundreds of pieces of software from hundreds of companies, or is this a generic technology that will enable features inside products from hundreds or thousands of companies?

I lean towards the latter.

It’s easier to imagine AI turbocharging all kinds of existing tools and features than a general purpose AI platform that gets mass adoption.

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I think most companies fear that they don’t have enough of a young person’s perspective. 

But…like so many things in this world, it comes down to trying to have a mix of old thinking and new thinking. 

The “youth” are like catnip for marketers, but it’s imperative to know who your actual audience is.

Your message needs to reflect your audience.

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The manager looks at him and says, “HA! You think I am in the music business? No. I’m in the Iron fucking Maiden business.” The publishing industry? The retail business? These are not the businesses I am in–just like you’re not in the coffee industry or B2B. No, you’re in the business of you. You’re in the business of serving your customers in your city with your unique offering.

What matters is their relationship with their fans. That’s who they are in service of. That’s the job. And so it goes for all of us, whatever we do.

Everything is customer service.

Know who you’re serving and what they expect.

Business is a series of promises.

Success is based on delivering.

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Meta just casually announced an AI-powered AR glasses prototype.

Ambient computing accelerates.

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Word spreads because taste aligns…not because of wild interruption.

Find the stories that mesh.

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Adobe’s holiday shopping predictions are in:

major discounts this season–up to 30% off listed prices–as retailers compete for consumer dollars

Biggest discount wins?

share of the most expensive goods is set to increase by 19% compared to pre-season trends—driven in large part by competitive discounts

Inflation and price sensitivity who?

I think post-election holiday shopping is gonna pop like a champagne cork.