Happy Tuesday! This week I sat down with Mark Schaefer: speaker, consultant, professor, and the author of twelve books. Yes, twelve.
One of Mark's latest, Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World, is exactly the topic we explore in this newsletter. So let's dive right into the key takeaways Mark teaches his students at Rutgers.
Watch the full episode on the Jolly TL;DR Podcast.
"AI Slop" is just "Lazy AI" (don't be Tank Day)
I asked Mark to define AI slop. His answer: lazy AI.
He pointed to research showing roughly two-thirds of marketing campaigns produce no emotional reaction at all. He calls it a "pandemic of dull," and AI is pouring fuel on it.
He then gave an example from May that did produce an emotional reaction. But it's the nightmare scenario that exemplifies why I'm not a fan of the saying "all press is good press":
- Starbucks South Korea used AI to invent a fake holiday called "Tank Day."
- They did not realize it referenced the day the government sent tanks into the streets to oppress citizens.
The lazy AI marketing campaign outcome:
- Starbucks fired their CEO in South Korea the same day.
- The president of South Korea condemned the marketing campaign.
- Starbucks closed more than 2,000 stores for "social sensitivity training," sacrificing an estimated $1.4M in sales.
- And they faced national boycotts and online vitriol.
"Don't be Tank Day" is our new mantra. AI with no human in the loop, no context, no creativity: that's lazy AI, AI slop, just adding to the noise.
Spiky content is how you stand out
Mark teaches a concept he calls spiky content: it's based in facts, but it adds an opinion that can be debated.
You see an article on the three ways AI is changing search and you think, wait, there's a fourth. So you make that case. It's debatable, but defensible.
The key guardrail: attack problems, not people. Spiky isn't reckless or offensive.
But the hard part is getting spiky content approved in a corporate bureaucracy.
Mark's suggestion: a monthly lunch-and-learn with top executives.
The only two things you can own
This was my favorite stretch of the conversation. Mark argues there are only two things your competitors can't copy:
The first is your brand.
Liquid Death is the fastest-growing water brand in America.
Sure, anyone could copy the product, the flavors, the vitamins, anything. The one thing they can't copy is the brand.
A brand is an emotional connection between you and your customer. It's what stops you from being a commodity.
The second thing you own is how you treat your customers. Mark's rule: "we do the right thing even when it hurts."
I shared we once had a campaign run three months longer than a client intended, after a miscommunication. The only right move was to deliver everything and give a refund.
Ten years in business, and one thing is clear:
All we really have is our name.
This is exactly why we frame our earned linkbuilding the way we do. The stuff that's hard to fake is the stuff that holds its value.
The most human company wins
Mark's best-selling book is Marketing Rebellion, and its mantra is "the most human company wins."
He's had to revisit that in the age of AI, because AI can be convincing, sometimes even more human-seeming than we are.
His refined answer: real humanity is becoming a luxury. The most human company isn't necessarily the one with the most humans, it's the one with the right blend.
The discernment is the skill. When is it mission-critical to have an actual person in the conversation?
For Jolly, that's meant making sure we have a human in the loop at just the right moments, so we give clients experiences like this real client testimonial:
"Your Reddit comments are getting updated in Google's index. You took the time to really understand what OwnerWebs is and it shows in your comments. Your comments are spot-on, deadly accurate, and reflect exactly the service we offer."
Dennis Thompson, Owner at OwnerWebs
If your brand is known for a personal touch, don't let AI quietly erode the thing you're known for.
That's the balance we're all navigating right now.
Until next week,
Greg
P.S. If you want to talk through where a human still beats the algorithm in your own funnel, book a strategy call.
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