The Ad Wars, Gemini & Saying No
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #183 ❤️
This week, we bring you the latest in the ad wars going on in the Musk Multiverse of Madness, a dissection of Google’s new AI offering and how teachers are changing their lives with AI.
Plus, is McDonalds going up against Starbucks, and how to say no to work opportunities like a pro.
Let's get into it.
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#1 - The GFY Effect
In another unsurprising turn of events from Definitely Not A Mad Man Musk, he has told advertisers to go eff themselves, literally this time.
Last week, when asked how he felt about firms pulling ads from X (Twitter) he only had one thing to say to the advertising firms “trying to blackmail him” and that was, you guessed it, GFY.
He has since then, singled out Bob Iger, Disney boss, who has cut ads from X saying he should be immediately fired.
Paris Hilton has also been victim to his vitriol after pulling the ads for her cookware line from X, prompting Musk to diss the campaign saying it wasn’t very convincing anyway, as he doesn’t think she cooks a lot. What do you know about how Paris Hilton lives her life!
Incase you’ve been living under a rock, Iger and Hilton are among many advertisers who bit the bullet and finally cut ties with X over the antisemitic content that Musk has been accused of endorsing on the platform.
What we find interesting about this ongoing advertising situation with X, is how much Elon Musk seems to feel that his platform is entitled to funding from advertising, simply because his so called commitment to free speech is a passion project for him. And because he is Elon Musk, we better all get in line to fund it.
By not advertising on X, companies are not, as he says, trying to blackmail him. They’re not trying to do anything at all TO him, they’re trying to advertise their company in a way that makes them money, gains them customers, and doesn’t make them look like they’re endorsing Hitler content in any way. Which is, shockingly, much easier said than done when advertising on his platform.
Yes, this is because of choices that Elon Musk has made, but he can’t have his free speech cake and eat ad revenue too.
#2 - Google Gemini Has Arrived
But it still can’t steal the limelight from OpenAI.
Google launched their AI software Gemini this last week, with the unusual timing in what is usually a dead zone between US Thanksgiving and Christmas, which just goes to prove they’re on the back foot, having struggled for a year to get something out to market to compete with ChatGPT.
What they’ve launched, Gemini, is better than ChatGPT on almost all of the measuring points for AI capabilities - high school physics, professional law and moral scenarios and other basic aptitude tests.
However, it’s only better than ChatGPT by a couple of points each time, and critics are keen to point out that OpenAI have already had a year to improve upon the ChatGPT we’ve been using for the past year.
And this is without mentioning the debacle – if we can be so dramatic as to call it that – of another “doctored” promotional demo.
The demo was described as “jaw-dropping” but Google admit that the video is edited, noting in the YouTube description that “latency has been recuded and Gemini outputs have been shortened for brevity”.
So, it’s not really a demo, it’s an ad, with a caveat added much in the same way that video game ads note “not actual gameplay”. Plus, commentators have noted that ChatGPT can do much of what Google shows off in their demo anyway – they just never brought out an ad like this one.
OpenAI don’t seem to have left much space for latecomers. The proof, Bloomberg are keen to note that although Google may look to be sprinting ahead right now, they’re definitely coming up from behind…
#3 - The Best Use Of AI So Far
We’ve all heard a lot of scaremongering about the use of AI in schools, and how essay-based homework and marking is about to die a death thanks to automated writing, but there’s a new wave of people using AI to improve education – teachers.
And most of them are using AI in the way it was intended to be used to begin with – just making their lives slightly easier.
According to a recent government report, many teachers are using AI to save time by “automating tasks” such as adapting the reading age of texts, creating handouts and writing emails to parents.
Only a small number say they use it for grading and feedback, with the vast majority recognising the limits and potential for bias.
One example given was that of a German language teacher who couldn’t find the exact right kind of image he needed for an exercise where children would be labelling a face with the correct labels – none of them had their teeth showing in the right way. Rather than wasting precious time scouring the internet, he used AI to generate a face with all the right components.
Another report said that for some teachers, using AI "reduced their overtime, improved their work-life balance and increased job satisfaction". If it can do all that, without ending up teaching them the wrong answer for two plus two – then that’s not a bad outcome at all.
#4 - Is McDonalds Coming For Starbucks?
McDonald’s just opened a drinks-focused restaurant, designed in retro tones of purple and yellow and named after an old mascot – CosMcs – who was a burger loving orange alien who appeared in ads in the 80s and 90s.
They’re coming for the specialty drinks market, with offering such as a Churro Frappe and a S’Mores Cold Brew, along with fruit green teas with boba bubbles inside, and the BBC even went so far as to name their article “McDonald’s unveils its answer to Starbucks”
We don’t think they’re coming for Starbucks, we think they’re coming for bubble tea.
Bubble tea is the cool new thing that teenagers have been going for when they meet up in town and blow their pocket money on simply hanging out, and they don’t do that in Starbucks anymore.
Starbucks brand is synonymous with millennials, but McDonalds may be coming for the Gen Z market, and they need a little bit more novelty than the classic Starbucks cup selfie – that’s so ten years ago.
Enter an orange alien mascot from the 90s, that must be the solution, right?
#5 - How To Say No At Work
Sometimes in the professional world it’s hard to say no, whether you’re employed, freelance, or CEO – someone often needs some of your time, and sometimes you just don’t have it, or maybe you don’t want to give it.
From coffee meetings to talking at a conference to a role change, how do you actually say no? We’ve found some concrete examples on the web that it can’t hurt to have in your repertoire.
1 – Open with an appreciation instead of an apology – you don’t need to apologise. i.e. “Thank you for thinking of me but I can’t take on any more responsibilities right now”.
2 – Suggest someone else you think could be good for the job. i.e. “I can’t give this the attention it deserves but I know someone who could.”
3 – If it’s a time issue but you are interested, keep your options open by giving another date. i.e. “I don’t have enough bandwidth right now, but I would love to discuss it again in January.”
4 – Establish a rule. i.e. “I only take on one conference per year.” Or “I keep Wednesdays meeting free so I can get focused work done, how about Thursday?”
5 – Be completely honest. “I’m not interested in that at the moment, but I will keep you posted if things change.”
Saying no can be daunting, but we hope these guidelines help in our eternal quest to claw back our work life balance.
Brave & Heart over and out.
Bonus
Do you talk more like a Boomer, a Millenial, or a Gen Z at work?
From the way you use emojis to the office lingo you have, apparently there’s an answer…
According to this quiz from the Washington Post at least.
To find out more on how you can retain your top talent, or how we can help you with digital solutions to your business and marketing challenges, check out our case studies.