#31 – On synthetic data, better questions, big turkeys, drive-throughs, and the rise of meh-diocrity
Happy Friday,
this week’s Strategy Bites is a bit of an AI/culture mix, looking at how AI can meaningfully (and not so meaningfully) contribute to the strategic/creative process, looks at the quality and diversity of the (pop) cultural output in general, and the output of ad land for Christmas in particular, before ending on a light read on the resurgence of the Drive Through and what that tells us about the human psyche.
Enjoy the read.
This week’s Six Links of Inspiration:
AI Can Help You Ask Better Questions — and Solve Bigger Problems. Dug up and shared by Zoe Scaman, this article explores how AI can enhance question formulation and problem-solving capabilities. It’s yet another reminder for our industry to keep exploring the possibilities of this technology more open-mindedly rather than outright dismiss the change it will (inevitable) bring.
Synthetic data is suddenly making very real ripples. In the same vein, Mark Ritson argued a few weeks back that synthetic data (i.e. data created by AI and isn’t organic) is poised to make an impact on marketing decisions. He’s citing a research paper that shows how AI generated responses to ‘brand perception questions’ can create perception maps that compare pretty well with “the real thing.”
What Does It Mean That Elon Musk’s New AI Chatbot Is ‘Anti-Woke’? In other AI news, we now have a chat bot called Grok. And it’s basically Elon Musk in a tin. The way Elon describes it, it “has real-time access to info via the 𝕏 platform, which is a massive advantage over other models. It’s also based & loves sarcasm. I have no idea who could have guided it this way.”
Best Christmas adverts of 2023, including John Lewis, M&S and more. It’s Christmas season in ad land and I’ll leave it up to you to decide which ad is the best or the worst and whether one particular ad is better this year than the year before.
But what I wanted to share with you instead is this clip from Lewis Black from 2002. Things have gotten worse since then.
The rise of ‘meh-diocrity’. I shared a piece about cultural stagnancy last week – so consider this a continued exploration of the theme. Here, Accenture Song’s Katie Burke identifies some of the reasons why this is. “We are witnessing a growing efficiency culture in the entertainment industries, which is bringing about a stagnation in creative cultural products. […] Averse attitudes toward creative risk and an unwavering belief in the formulaic strategies of the past are increasingly shaping our pop culture landscape.” The piece offers some familiar stats from the movie and music industry (the dominance of the sequel, the rise of old music) that we’ll surely soon see turn up in a lot of strategic argument for creative bravery and distinction. Annoyingly, those stats won’t change the opinion of those marketers who’re playing to not lose while those who are playing to win probably already know this.
Hungry (but Not for Human Contact), Americans Head for the Drive-Through. This is a fun (or depressing) little piece about the rise of the drive-through – and how it’s come to dominate the fast-food purchases in the past years. Drive-through traffic rose 30% from 2019 to 2022. The number of people eating inside fast-food restaurants in the first half of 2023 fell by 47% from the same period in 2019. Drive-throughs now account for two-thirds of all fast-food purchases. The article goes on to share a few possible explanations, identifying “a societal sea change: People emerged from the pandemic with less tolerance for interacting with strangers. ‘These are all sorts of ways people are prioritizing safety. The drive-through mentality keeps people both physically and psychologically safe,’ said Shelley Balanko, a social scientist. ‘Fellow shoppers are disgruntled. Staff are equally unhappy and difficult to be around,’ she said.”
This is it for this Friday. Enjoy your weekend when you get there – and see you again next week!
Maximilian