Latest / Scalability School / Why AI Is Making Creative Strategists Lazy (And How to Fix It) | Hannah Houg & Matthew Gattozzi
Transcript
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- 1:41And now let's take a listen to the Scalability School podcast.
- 1:47Welcome to another episode of Scalability School. I mean, we have so much
- 1:52happening today. Honestly, this episode is
- 1:54going to be an absolutely wild one. First of all,
- 1:57we have Brad in his car because his kids are too
- 2:00loud and he's getting construction done at his house.
- 2:03Matthew Gattozzi is on the episode along with
- 2:06Anna Haug. This is a freaking insane episode.
- 2:10You need to just wherever you are, put on a
- 2:13seatbelt. If you don't, if you're not in a place where there
- 2:15is a seatbelt, you probably need to buy one.
- 2:17Brad, put a seatbelt on. Put a seatbelt on.
- 2:19Brad is literally putting a seatbelt on
- 2:21because we are going to just get into so much today.
- 2:25You know, the episode, I don't know if you guys remember this, but the episode is,
- 2:28is why AI is making creative strategists lazy
- 2:32and how to fix it, which is just, I mean, let's,
- 2:36let's like start some fights. I apparently is what
- 2:39our goal was with this. But the idea is really to
- 2:43kind of talk about AI in a real way as it
- 2:45relates to creative strategists and what's going on.
- 2:48And, you know, look, it's not a, it's like, it's
- 2:51so here, right? And we're all using it. And I think
- 2:55a lot of people are talking about this
- 2:57degradation of thinking and that's what we're into today. So
- 3:01welcome Hannah and Matthew and Brad, as always love you. So handsome.
- 3:07Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Live from, live from
- 3:09the car. Well, I think, I think both of you have
- 3:11like a really interesting perspective because
- 3:13we know that both of you use AI in your flows for
- 3:16sure. Right. Um, Hannah, you have some
- 3:18experience with Parker and you work with Parker and that's
- 3:21predominantly AI tool. Uh, and, and Matthew,
- 3:24I know we haven't talked too much about this,
- 3:26but like, I know you've used like definitely some
- 3:28backend tools, like help organize clips and things
- 3:30like that. And so it's not like we're saying
- 3:32don't use AI, but what we're saying is there's a,
- 3:34there's important parts of the process where you
- 3:37can't just outsource your thinking in your brain,
- 3:39uh, to AI completely. Uh, and so I think what
- 3:43we would love to just dig in with the both of you
- 3:46is, okay, how, where do those things differ? And
- 3:49if somebody walks away from this, I think they walk
- 3:51away saying, okay, I was doing that. That was
- 3:53dumb. I should stop doing this. And instead,
- 3:55this is where I insert my, my thinking brain or I
- 3:57hire some really smart person to help me with this
- 3:59part of the process because they just don't have
- 4:01the talent to do that. And so, um, I don't know
- 4:03there's anywhere in particular that you want to,
- 4:05either of you want to kick off on a hand. I know you
- 4:07have some, you have some thoughts on this, but,
- 4:08um, maybe where we get, maybe where it's worth
- 4:10starting with is just like, um, we can start
- 4:13with a simple, simple version of it is how good ads
- 4:15actually get made, or we could go right into the
- 4:18mistakes that people are making with AI. I don't
- 4:20know, uh, what, uh, what gets you more excited to
- 4:22talk about, but we can jump in in either direction.
- 4:24Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, this is such a
- 4:28loaded and like new, um, new and upcoming problem
- 4:34in the scene that I feel like because AI
- 4:36is just like came through like a waterfall,
- 4:39we didn't really have a moment where we
- 4:41stopped and thought about anything before we started
- 4:45executing and just running wild with it. Sort of
- 4:48like the gold rush, which has been an incredible
- 4:51thing. But me as a strategist and as somebody who,
- 4:54who continues to write briefs and hooks and do audits
- 4:58brands and, uh, help them through their creative
- 5:01processes, um, it's been incredible just to see
- 5:05and to understand some of the common pitfalls
- 5:08that I'm noticing are weakening my creative judgment.
- 5:12And so this is really just coming from a place
- 5:15of personal experience, like anything that I say
- 5:18today as well, because, and I do just want to
- 5:20be honest about the process because I think that
- 5:23that's, that's, what's going to actually be able
- 5:25to help people understand how to best use it and
- 5:29when to also pull back and reserve their human
- 5:32judgment and, um, thinking processes. So yeah,
- 5:36there's a million different directions that I
- 5:38could go with this, but I think like the biggest thing
- 5:41that I'm just like feeling myself and also seeing
- 5:45from some of my other strategist friends and briefs
- 5:49I'm getting back from so-called strategists
- 5:51in the space, et cetera, is just, um, yeah,
- 5:55we're seeing a lot of the same sameness. And the
- 5:58only thing that I can really attribute that to is
- 6:00that, um, you know, we haven't, is that we're,
- 6:04we're degrading a muscle that might have already
- 6:06been there, was strategically there before and
- 6:10is slowly being, um, like off-put to AI over time.
- 6:15So that's kind of like my biggest thing that I'm
- 6:18seeing and, um, yeah, I have a lot of different
- 6:22experiences from like the research phase all
- 6:24the way through the entire journey of where,
- 6:27you know, common mistakes that I've found myself
- 6:29in as well as, um, I'm just keeping very close eyes
- 6:33on myself. So yeah, I don't know what your, uh,
- 6:37overall thoughts are Matthew from what you're seeing
- 6:40from your team, from the agency perspective.
- 6:44Um, I'm more of a siloed creative, uh, consultant
- 6:47and like more boutique agency. So I only deal with
- 6:50a handful of, you know, a small handful of clients,
- 6:54but, um, yeah, it's, it's been very something that
- 6:58I'm passionate about stopping before it gets too far.
- 7:02Uh, if that makes sense. So we can talk about
- 7:04what that kind of looks like here in this episode.
- 7:07Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, I, I feel that I think
- 7:11it is really interesting to see how before it felt
- 7:18kind of dirty to use AI, like, especially like
- 7:21very early on, like even just a few years ago,
- 7:23felt like, uh, like, will people kind of see
- 7:27it as a bad thing that me as a service provider
- 7:30is using AI now it feels like it's stupid to not
- 7:34use it. Right. And it's also gotten way better.
- 7:37So it's definitely been this kind of this, this
- 7:40real big swing. Um, but I think what happens is,
- 7:45is that a lot of people, myself included, we think
- 7:49a lot about our workflows and how we're doing things
- 7:52and we want to be efficient. We want to be fast for
- 7:54our clients, et cetera. But I think, um, one thing
- 7:58that we always have to remember, and I think
- 8:00because we are so focused on creative at Goodo Studios
- 8:05is what actually has made great ads like in
- 8:09perpetuity. Um, so not even just thinking about
- 8:11in the last like year, but like what makes great
- 8:14ads. And it's usually when you can find an idea
- 8:18that can break through the noise, right.
- 8:21And can, can have something that is different,
- 8:24that is interesting, that usually breaks the
- 8:26rules. Um, and this is true. Like when you,
- 8:30when you think about like some of the best ad
- 8:32campaigns or whatever, they've done something,
- 8:34they had some sort of insight, they did something,
- 8:37they, they showed something that was very different.
- 8:39Right. And so I think that like, uh, AI is very
- 8:44good at following rules, right. But it's not good
- 8:47at breaking rules. And it, even if you're trying
- 8:49to prompt it, it has to kind of be confined in a
- 8:53certain space. And so I think what's happening
- 8:57oftentimes is that people are focused so much
- 9:02on efficiency and the creation of the ads and in
- 9:05the strategy and a lot of other facets that then
- 9:08they get a lot of ads out. And then they're
- 9:11thinking, well, why are we not hitting scale?
- 9:13Why are we not blank? And it's like, well, you
- 9:15need a different style. You need a different format.
- 9:18And usually your workflow is kind of set for a
- 9:21certain style or efficiency, like towards a certain
- 9:24way. And even if you took AI out of it, like, I
- 9:28still think that your team setup would kind of
- 9:31probably go the same route anyway. Like AI is just
- 9:33like making that even more obtuse. So the reality
- 9:37is, is that if you are not encouraging people to
- 9:43really have out there ideas and really get off of AI
- 9:47to do that, whether that's finding inspiration,
- 9:51trying to combine two different ideas from very
- 9:53different industries into one or whatever, if
- 9:56you're not teaching how to build formats and new
- 10:02ideas, then I don't think that AI can like really
- 10:05help you there. And I think that's what's getting
- 10:07missed for a lot of brands and agencies. And we're
- 10:10seeing that. And that's something that I've realized,
- 10:13like, we have to protect that. Or else, like,
- 10:16we're just going to be an efficiency shop. And
- 10:19that's not what Goodo Studios was built to do. And,
- 10:22you know, it's really about protecting the mission
- 10:25more so than anything else.
- 10:27So let's talk about this. So one is like, how
- 10:30do we go through and help people make better ads?
- 10:34Because I think right now, what's happened is
- 10:36you guys have talked about, you know, it comes,
- 10:38AI comes through and it's become a volume game.
- 10:40And it's like, how quickly can we get this stuff out?
- 10:43So where is the process being messed up? So I
- 10:47think right now, let's just as a creative strategist,
- 10:50what a lot of what people are doing is, you know,
- 10:53they're utilizing AI for research. And that I think
- 10:58that's okay. And I think that seems to be good.
- 11:00I think that where we have seen a degradation in
- 11:03quality of, and also like, help doesn't help in
- 11:08making a better ad is within the briefing process.
- 11:14I don't know what you guys think. But it's, it's
- 11:16almost like, there, you know, you look at somebody
- 11:19like who's Mr. Anti AI, like Harry Delmage, and he
- 11:22doesn't do any, you know, his team is like deeply
- 11:24researching. And that's, that's what that's
- 11:27what they're doing. And he talked about that in a
- 11:29previous episode. And so what are what do you
- 11:32guys see in terms of, you know, those that are
- 11:35actually making ads that are absolute bangers?
- 11:39You know, are they is it that they're researching,
- 11:43you know, manually, or they're using maybe
- 11:45AI little, and then they're briefing manually,
- 11:47as well? Or what is it?
- 11:51Yeah, for me, I mean, I, I'm with Matt on like,
- 11:56going back to the basics and keeping things very
- 11:59simple. Because those are the things that have
- 12:02worked time and time again. And so, like making
- 12:06sure that we're focused on just like, the basics
- 12:10of advertising principles, is it, is it real? Is it
- 12:13simple? Is it novel? Is it going to solve like
- 12:16the problem in the viewers mind? So those are like,
- 12:21from a very high level, some of the things I'm
- 12:23seeing, but I feel like right now, and I don't
- 12:26know, I feel like more of the thing that I've
- 12:32been heightened and aware of is what's making like,
- 12:36poor decisions and poor ads right now. And I know
- 12:39that that's crazy, because we always want to focus
- 12:42on like, what is making a good ad. But that's
- 12:45the whole point of even kind of like, my hypothesis
- 12:50around, around this is like, you, when it
- 12:55comes to AI, like, what I've realized it cannot do,
- 12:59is come up with the big idea, like, in plain old
- 13:03David Ogbe's like, understanding, and that's where
- 13:07I've seen it fall short, time and time again. So if
- 13:10you don't have a big idea, and you don't even have
- 13:13a format that you're like, thinking of between
- 13:16those two things, what do you actually really have?
- 13:19And so I've just seen like, this, this very
- 13:23ineffective form of prompting, hoping and doing
- 13:29all seemingly the right things with AI,
- 13:31finding extracting your personas, understanding and
- 13:35pulling out customer data to support it. But when it
- 13:39comes to like, actually building the ad, the literal
- 13:44idea, the connective tissue of it, like falls
- 13:47completely short. And that's just because AI doesn't
- 13:50have the opportunity to visualize an idea to an
- 13:55extent that the human mind can, we can find one really
- 13:59strong winner, and plug it into AI and say, like,
- 14:03hey, how can we make like multiple formats, and it
- 14:06will give us some like surface level ideas. But
- 14:09nothing will at this point in time, be able to beat
- 14:12the human ability to sit down and to understand
- 14:18all the different mechanisms from that audience
- 14:20perspective, format wise, that are possible within
- 14:24a simple ad. So right there, you're already breaking
- 14:28because you're leaving ads on potential ads on
- 14:33the table within something that's already worked
- 14:36before. And so I think like the the trap is
- 14:39like trying to use it to find not only yes, we're
- 14:43shortcutting thinking right now, which we can
- 14:46get into a little bit later. But we're also like
- 14:49shortcutting our end result or the open loop
- 14:52in our head, because the open loop becomes just
- 14:55efficiency, getting the ad out there versus
- 14:59like actually coming to AI with a true hypothesis.
- 15:04And now what I'm seeing is more and more
- 15:06strategists relying on AI to give them those
- 15:09hypothesis that are running their strategies.
- 15:13And I think that's such a dangerous game to play.
- 15:16And I have found myself. I found myself in that
- 15:20exact same trap before. And the the trade off is
- 15:26you're not able to validate. And if you don't
- 15:29have human mind that's able to validate, both with
- 15:32intuition and data, then you are you're you're
- 15:38walking, you're actually walking blind. So I don't know.
- 15:41Um, that's I'm, I'm super focused on the
- 15:43mistakes right now. Maybe that's just because I'm also
- 15:46building a tool that I'm able to really is like
- 15:50a red light of how people prompt and people work
- 15:55within these systems. Um, and it's, it can be
- 15:58alarming to see, um, what we're just so willing to
- 16:03accept without, um, and assume, and we already
- 16:06know what kills most ads are assumptions. And so
- 16:10if we are the ones that are prompting this tool
- 16:15and also taking those assumptions, then how much
- 16:20are we actually like leading on the table? Um, so
- 16:24it's something that I'm, I'm, I'm very cautious of.
- 16:29Um, and when it comes to making good ads, I
- 16:32have like, I know that sounds super kosher to say,
- 16:35go back to the basics, but this is what I mean.
- 16:39Like I do not go to AI to write a script first
- 16:43anymore. And I used to, um, I used to play
- 16:46around like that. We don't do that anymore because I
- 16:49realized, um, not just the quality of my copywriting
- 16:53or my scripts was degrading, but every time I would
- 16:56open up my laptop and try to go write a script, I
- 17:01would have a hard time doing it all of a sudden.
- 17:03And I've been doing this for five years. So
- 17:05then something, so where can this be attributed to?
- 17:08It can only be attributed to my brain knowing
- 17:10that there is a faster way of thinking, a more
- 17:14efficient way. And so for it to unlock from out
- 17:17of that, I actually have to untrain it already.
- 17:21And it's only been a few months since my mind's
- 17:24been operating this way. So I think it's just like
- 17:27really, really important to take a step back
- 17:30before you just like follow the races, which is what,
- 17:34which is the tendency and the, and the fear to
- 17:38continue moving on. Um, and that's how the best,
- 17:43the best ads are going to get made. And instead
- 17:45of like encouraging your team and making them like,
- 17:48understand how to be AI efficient, otherwise
- 17:51your job's going to get replaced. It's like,
- 17:53we actually have to be training the perfect
- 17:56balance of the two. And we don't know how to do that.
- 18:00Well, that is something that we actually have to
- 18:02use our brains to think about. Okay. I'm off my
- 18:04pedestal. No, that's good. It's good. And I think
- 18:07it'd be interesting to dig into. So I think there's,
- 18:09there's, there's the, there's the negative side
- 18:11of it, which I think is important to address. So
- 18:12people maybe stop making the mistakes that I think
- 18:14we're all seeing. So I think, uh, I think it'd be
- 18:17quick, cool to quick go around the horn and just
- 18:19say like, okay, this is something that we saw that
- 18:20specifically happened in the last week, or it's
- 18:22like, this is a really bad use of AI. And then
- 18:24we can kind of pivot into, okay. Um, like you
- 18:27mentioned, um, the idea, like actually having
- 18:29the idea and Matthew, you mentioned like finding
- 18:31the, finding the big idea and like actually knowing
- 18:33where to go to research that and come up with
- 18:35that. Uh, Harry talked about, uh, doom scrolling last
- 18:38time we, like last time we talked about this, just
- 18:40like doom scrolling organic. Uh, and so I'll kick it
- 18:42off with, uh, with some mistakes that I've seen.
- 18:45One of the, one of the things I've seen in the last
- 18:46like couple of weeks is, um, we've had folks who
- 18:49are just like, they do like, uh, how long is the
- 18:52ad analysis? And it's like, okay, uh, fit 10
- 18:54seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds. And
- 18:57here's the, here's the efficiency associated
- 18:58with that. It's just like, okay, what's in the ad?
- 19:02Cause you could, you can make a static ad
- 19:03that, that converts extremely well and there's no,
- 19:05there's no motion to it. Um, and so it's like having, just going to AI and saying,
- 19:09what's the most effective length of like video
- 19:11is just like, okay, well you can tell a story in a
- 19:14second or, you know, if you have good copywriting
- 19:16or you can, you can over explain it over the course
- 19:18of three minutes and get nothing accomplished.
- 19:20Um, and so like, that's a specific use case where
- 19:22I've seen, uh, some issues happen like recently.
- 19:25And, um, that's a common one that pretty, pretty
- 19:26often pops up. Um, but maybe as you all think
- 19:29about your process and math, I'll kick it over to you.
- 19:31Like, as you think about your process, um, where
- 19:34do you like refuse to use AI because you've seen
- 19:37these mistakes? Um, just like what, uh, specific
- 19:40example for where you're seeing a pop up would be
- 19:41sweet. Yeah. I think, I think the, the, the big
- 19:45ideas, right. So I think the reason why people are
- 19:49struggling with AI is because they don't
- 19:52actually know their workflow to come up with content,
- 19:55right? Like let's take AI out of the picture.
- 19:59Like, let's say five years ago, how did you make an ad?
- 20:02We, you know, like it sounds ridiculous. I was
- 20:05just saying that, but it's true. Like what was
- 20:06the process, right? Like you'd have to like
- 20:09find things you're searching, you're thinking about
- 20:11the world. So I find that like, anytime somebody
- 20:16is like prompting, like Claude to be like, give me
- 20:21like, like whatever, put in, uh, the CSV of,
- 20:27of, you know, Facebook ads report and being like,
- 20:29they're, what are they going to do? Like find
- 20:31out like from the naming convention, like what the
- 20:34best like ad, uh, you know, is. And ultimately
- 20:39like the problem with that is that it's because
- 20:41it's only looking at what is exists now, but the
- 20:44best brands are always creating ideas that do not
- 20:47exist, right? That is how you get scale. And you
- 20:50think about like what makes, uh, any brand successful.
- 20:53It's when they can open up the aperture of their
- 20:57marketing funnel. And how do you do that? You have
- 20:59to go through new messages, new styles, new
- 21:03formats, not what is already existing currently.
- 21:06And I think that what I try to get my strategist
- 21:09to do is they they're going on walks during the day.
- 21:14They're taking notes, right? They're thinking about things.
- 21:17We want people to use AI when they already have
- 21:22that idea, um, or they already have certain things
- 21:26that then it can help in like go quicker. So for
- 21:30example, it could be, I know I need to do research
- 21:33about how the weighted blanket can affect a
- 21:36man's testosterone and deep sleep. Okay. I, I can't,
- 21:40I can't, I'm not going to go read a medical book
- 21:43about that, right? I'm going to go to AI for that,
- 21:45but I, I myself found that link. Oh, that's a
- 21:50new persona that we should hit on. If we get more
- 21:52specific there, maybe there's a link that we
- 21:54could do, right? So that's me doing dishes,
- 21:57thinking about that, trying to solve the problem
- 21:59for my client. Now I'm going to go to AI to do that.
- 22:02Or I have this visual that I saw, like this would
- 22:06be the most incredible hook. We're going to do this.
- 22:09Now, when I go to AI, I already am, I have
- 22:13the purpose. I am using it to maybe make things
- 22:15faster, but you've got to be able to, you know, go in and, and, and get, uh, ideas.
- 22:22The word taste comes up a lot. The problem
- 22:24with when people use taste and usually it's people
- 22:27without taste, but, um, the, the, the problem
- 22:30with that is to have taste, you have to have
- 22:32experiences, right? And so you've got to go and
- 22:35live life. You've got to go and watch reality TV,
- 22:39watch commercials, doom scroll, do all of the
- 22:43things, right? Like that is where you're going
- 22:45to get ideas to then connect it. And like Hannah
- 22:48was saying, like, there's this idea and the idea
- 22:50is the connective tissue across like the ad itself.
- 22:53And it's like, most people are just not like living
- 22:57life to do that. And I think they're just hoping
- 23:00that this almighty Claude is going to like prompt
- 23:02them into like success. And like, the reality is,
- 23:05is like getting off your computer, reading books,
- 23:08like meeting people, talking to friends, like
- 23:11that worked five years ago, 20 years ago. And that's
- 23:14like the same thing. I think AI can accelerate how
- 23:18you do certain things, but it's got to come from the
- 23:20soul of the person. Um, so I think that's totally
- 23:24what's missing in a lot of the, a lot of marketing,
- 23:27I think to your point, Hannah, right. It like goes
- 23:28back to the classics and I think that's true. And I think
- 23:31you, you know, it's, it's like one of the things
- 23:33that a lot of folks are doing is they're outsourcing
- 23:37the insight to AI, like letting AI decide what's
- 23:41interesting about the customer instead of doing
- 23:43the research themselves. Right. And when you
- 23:45get to that stage, that's really dangerous because
- 23:48it loses the judgment that you have as a human.
- 23:51Um, and you know, so I think if I look across those
- 23:54people that are really successful right now
- 23:56that are creating ads that are really working, um,
- 24:00it's not to say none of them are AI generated or
- 24:04that AI hasn't played a role in feeding the deep
- 24:07context into it, um, of customer language,
- 24:10brand voice, the offer, that kind of thing.
- 24:13But predominantly there's been a heavier hand
- 24:16of the person doing, let's say 80% of that ad was
- 24:22generated or created by a human. And that that's
- 24:26like, and there's, you know, so it's like, it's
- 24:28aided, but it's not necessarily the whole thing.
- 24:30It's not even close to the whole thing. It's just
- 24:3220% of it. And I guess I would be curious of
- 24:34like, what else you have all seen of ads that are
- 24:40performing in accounts? What are the common
- 24:44traits of that ad? And where has AI played a role?
- 24:48All right, friends, quick break. This episode is brought to you by North beam,
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- 24:56marketer, I mean, you probably agree, right?
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- 25:51MTA, meaning you can easily see results alongside the rest
- 25:55of your data. Incrementality was broken. North beam
- 25:58fixed it. Or has AI played a role in that? I mean, I think I
- 26:02think what's winning right now that I'm seeing is just
- 26:05being able to be more hyper specific. So like, the more
- 26:10specific you can be the better, I think AI can help
- 26:13that because you can find like, for example, I'm looking
- 26:18at medical conditions. How can this one product
- 26:20touch all of these different people, but now I can be
- 26:23hyper specific. So instead of just being general in
- 26:26what I'm saying, like this thing can help with your
- 26:29sleep. I am saying this can help for this specific
- 26:32type of person. And you're really like going more specific
- 26:36to that. And I think meta now is at a place where
- 26:39you it's going to find the right people, the creative
- 26:43is the one that's doing the targeting, put in
- 26:45landing pages, you putting some other things, and you can
- 26:47really start to build like these super niche, like
- 26:50funnels, if you will. And I just think that like,
- 26:55that's what to me is working. And then there's
- 26:57just styles and formats based on that, right? Like,
- 27:00can a yapper work for one person? Yes, but maybe
- 27:03not for the other, right? So if you know exactly who
- 27:06you're trying to reach, then you would know what
- 27:08styles and formats they would need or want, and
- 27:11then go from there. But to me, it's about hyper
- 27:14specificity. How do you find like, are you doing,
- 27:19are you doing like manual research to find that is
- 27:21AI helping? Like, how do you like, if you even if you
- 27:23have an example top of mind, you meant you mentioned
- 27:25the weighted blankets earlier. It's like, how do you get
- 27:27that insight in the first place? Is it the
- 27:28review mining, and you're manually doing the review
- 27:30mining? Is it you have AI present? Here's like,
- 27:33here's, okay, we bucketed the 70, 70,000 reviews
- 27:37you have in these five personas. And here's like
- 27:39specific examples of language that people are like,
- 27:41yeah, like, let's dig into, okay, how do you
- 27:43take a take something and go deeper, and then more
- 27:46specific. And then the format thing you said was
- 27:49interesting, too. So if you want to tie in that,
- 27:51that's great. It's like, okay, now that we've
- 27:52gone more specific, we know that we're going for a
- 27:54mail 60 and up. We know that they spend a lot of
- 27:56time on Facebook. We know what they respond to.
- 27:58They say they spend all their time in Facebook
- 28:00marketplace. Like, how are you? Yeah, I think
- 28:02you know what I'm getting at. It's like, yeah,
- 28:03yeah. Well, how are the threads? How are you pulling
- 28:05those threads? So very like the downside of review,
- 28:08review mining, even if you did it manually and read
- 28:11through all the reviews is like, it's like, there
- 28:13are times where you will find a nugget where you're
- 28:16like, whoa, a persona that we haven't talked to
- 28:19decided to buy this. But a lot of times it's like,
- 28:23well, you're going to get reviews from the people you've already been marketing to,
- 28:26right? So like, you may or may not get like
- 28:30the new personas and the new things because like,
- 28:32you haven't been talking to those people. So they
- 28:33why would they come and buy from you anyway? Right?
- 28:36But first, this specific reason, our example, you
- 28:40know, we did see that some parents were using it
- 28:44for their kids, they mentioned ADHD with
- 28:46their kids. So then you're like, oh, okay, cool.
- 28:49Neurodivergence. You could do that for adults.
- 28:52And then you're thinking, okay, well, what other
- 28:54health claims could you go to? And then you
- 28:56start to expand that. And then using AI to say,
- 29:00how does a weighted blanket, maybe there's
- 29:03research that's connects to that. And there
- 29:04happened to be specific, like, because I searched
- 29:08on AI, there were certain medical journals that did
- 29:12link to certain things. And you're like, this
- 29:14is great. Now I literally have a case study or a
- 29:16clinical study on this. Like, I wouldn't have
- 29:18thought to have found that I'm not searching
- 29:20medical stuff. But I had some sort of insight.
- 29:24But I think also be careful because you may not find
- 29:27new personas in the reviews. So you also have
- 29:29to, again, think about how do you expand that.
- 29:31And that's, I think, where the AI falls short is
- 29:35because you always are needing to press and push
- 29:40and expand that aperture of the funnel. And
- 29:42that's, that's got to come from you and you alone,
- 29:45because AI is rules based. And you got to find how
- 29:48can we break those rules? How can we expand that?
- 29:52So, you know, then you go from there, you're
- 29:54like, okay, how can I use research? How can I like,
- 29:57you know, understand it? And I think that like, I
- 30:00think like the value of AI is that you can have an
- 30:03idea and you can validate it faster. And then that
- 30:06can give you, you know, do you spend the time and
- 30:10effort to get that made, that ad to get made and
- 30:13all that stuff. You can, you can test that out way
- 30:16sooner before, right? And you can also be able to
- 30:20test out, you can spin up an ad into a lander very
- 30:23quickly now. So you can test personas and more niche
- 30:27things way quicker than you were before. So there is
- 30:31value to AI, of course, but you've got to make
- 30:35sure that your team has space to think. And I think
- 30:40the problem right now is that AI is suffocating
- 30:44people because they are told to do more. And what
- 30:47we really needed to be is we need to give people
- 30:49space to think so that it can accelerate once they're
- 30:53ready to take action. So yeah, that's, that's my
- 30:56big thing right there. And I just said that yesterday
- 30:58I was talking about it in reference to
- 31:01copywriting and how, yeah. So I don't know, Hannah, I don't
- 31:06know if you want to talk about this, but you know,
- 31:08I know like, how do you feel like copy and the way
- 31:12to write copy and that type of like protecting
- 31:15copywriting almost like within this for a creative
- 31:19strategist? Cause I feel like that's a lot of
- 31:21the magic that a creative, like a real creative
- 31:24can put into a brief, um, especially within the
- 31:27cues and within like what the cuts might be. Um,
- 31:31if it's really strong, um, I'd love to hear your opinion on that.
- 31:34Yeah, no, I think, okay. And this is a hot take
- 31:38maybe, but like, I have yet to see a single LLM
- 31:43platform be able to like seemingly crack
- 31:46copywriting, like be able to actually create a good script.
- 31:52I mean, you guys are welcome to like fight, but
- 31:54like, even with deep context, with what is deep
- 31:59context to have like a perfectly copywritten ad is
- 32:03like almost near impossible at this point in time.
- 32:07Um, obviously those things can change, but I
- 32:10rather be on the side of things as a strategist,
- 32:13especially as I see how much is still out there
- 32:18that is subpar, um, when it comes to good copywriting
- 32:22from said strategy and strategist teams, and even
- 32:26founders, brand owners right now, still like common
- 32:29sense isn't always common practice. Um, so
- 32:33yeah, that's one of the biggest things that I have,
- 32:36um, been attuned to, like I said earlier with, um,
- 32:40just realizing that that is a muscle that needs to
- 32:44constantly be flexed and that I'm hesitant to give
- 32:49away to AI, because if you were to write a pros and
- 32:52cons list, the cons list is so much greater than
- 32:56what I would think is the, uh, a more appropriate
- 32:59balance because I'm obviously not, I'm also not
- 33:02for having the same strategist in the account writing
- 33:07every single ad, because you're kidding yourself
- 33:10also, if you don't think that that strategist, like
- 33:14assumptions, biases, tone of writing, it is effective
- 33:20for every single ad. Like that's also, um, on the flip
- 33:25side of quite being, you know, the dichotomy. Um,
- 33:30so where I have found success and where I've also
- 33:33seen you asked earlier, like what are the best
- 33:35brands that are actually hitting these numbers
- 33:37doing? I can guarantee you that they are providing
- 33:42the creator. So talent, that was one of the other
- 33:44things, Matt, that I do think was missed in
- 33:46terms of like the best, uh, brands right now. And for
- 33:50something we're super focused on is just that
- 33:53talent match. No longer can we just like afford to
- 33:57have a subpar creator, but they need to be
- 34:00able to affect, they are part of the message.
- 34:03They are not just an actor. They are literally
- 34:06part of the message. And so when you're writing copy
- 34:09for these ads, for these individuals, which we all
- 34:12know, Yapper ads and all these things, it's like,
- 34:14now it becomes less of like just a pure copywriting
- 34:18skill, but an extraction skill or a briefing skill,
- 34:22right? Extraction from the talent and briefing to
- 34:26them. And so where I found the balance is using,
- 34:29um, you know, AI through these research processes,
- 34:33through knowing your persona, I'm a big proponent
- 34:36of coming to AI already with your hypothesis,
- 34:39kind of like what Matt said earlier, and to use it as
- 34:42further validation and backup, uh, versus just
- 34:46like, what should I be doing here? What persona should I
- 34:48hit versus, um, and to, yeah, to create ads that
- 34:55give the creator and use AI to structure those briefs
- 35:00in a way that give creative strategists their best
- 35:03playing field, which is that ideation, that persona,
- 35:06uh, uh, identification, that, that big idea that
- 35:12they can craft the brief around, create talking points,
- 35:15potentially even hooks for the creator, and then let
- 35:18the creator speak or write the script in their own words.
- 35:23And then we get to tidy it up just from a very
- 35:26like pacing, um, you know, visuals standpoint.
- 35:31And that allows us to have more winners because we're
- 35:35actually authentically speaking in the customer voice.
- 35:37So yes, as a strategist, you can go, you can go
- 35:41mine, you can go and create ads from those reviews,
- 35:45but nothing's also going to, uh, change an actual,
- 35:48like as close to the real customer as you can get
- 35:51and letting them cook with a little bit of direction.
- 35:54And my process has only gotten stronger with AI
- 35:58with that. Um, but it's in a combination of me,
- 36:03again, stepping back because I cannot rely on AI
- 36:06for those big ideas to have that, those creative,
- 36:10um, formats, um, or to contextually apply from
- 36:16experience to experience. I can't offload that
- 36:20thinking. So, um, yeah, when it comes to
- 36:22copywriting, the biggest thing that I have done is to try to
- 36:26write the ad myself or to write it in the most
- 36:29simplest forms first, if I am writing the script
- 36:32and if not just like effectively crafting the
- 36:35message, um, in bullet points even so that if I can
- 36:40explain it through just that, then a creator is
- 36:44going to be able to speak upon it as well. Um,
- 36:47and so it's just, it's really helped get
- 36:49those authentic, like more authentic ads, um,
- 36:53from those, uh, specific talent, which is a
- 36:56huge portion of the unlocks right now, as we know,
- 36:59creators are pretty much make it or break it in
- 37:012026 and beyond. Yeah. I feel like you can get AI to
- 37:07like, you can get AI to give you a good script,
- 37:10but your input has to be so good and not from like a
- 37:15copy my prompt input. I'm talking like you
- 37:19already have had to have had the insights,
- 37:22the everything that you wanted, like you
- 37:24kind of need it to be like prebuilt. And like,
- 37:27that's kind of how I approach copywriting now is
- 37:29like, everything is prebuilt kind of in my head.
- 37:33And that's just like my process. Like it is
- 37:35about soaking things in. I'm seeing other things. I
- 37:38actually might be writing things down on paper or
- 37:40whatever. When I'm going to actually do the brief,
- 37:43this is pretty much done. Right. It's cause
- 37:45I already have the ideas. I already found the
- 37:47inspiration. I already know everything that
- 37:49I want. So like you can get that, but like,
- 37:52if you're starting the process, like way back
- 37:56with AI and just hoping that, you know, it's going to
- 37:58give you that output, it's just not, you know?
- 38:01Um, and so I think that's like the, the biggest
- 38:04difference is like how you, it is a tool, how you
- 38:07use it and how prepared you are when you are using
- 38:10that tool is the difference. Um, less so like,
- 38:14like again, like how good the prompt is. It's
- 38:17really about like the insights that you're
- 38:19pumping in and that's going to come from you.
- 38:21If you let it drive, I mean, it's going to take over the whole thing.
- 38:24Just want to ask a follow-up, like what, what are
- 38:26the good inputs look like? Like give, can you be,
- 38:27like give a specific example? Um, either of you,
- 38:30like what is, if you want to get a good output,
- 38:32what, what are the requirements going in? Is it
- 38:34a specific persona and how to find it is like,
- 38:37maybe use persona as the, as a deep example. It's like, what,
- 38:40what is the, what is the specific detail that
- 38:42you're saying? Is it, is it as simple as men's
- 38:4516 up? And I'm assuming it's not, right? Like
- 38:47there's a lot of more information that goes into
- 38:49it, but like what makes it, what makes a good input?
- 38:51Hmm. So we already have like our process where
- 38:57we've built out a brand intelligence document.
- 39:00That's like all of the information about the
- 39:02brand, everything is like there. So one, just having,
- 39:07you don't want to start the AI prompt with
- 39:10it, like starting to like crawl the website. So
- 39:12having everything already like dialed in
- 39:14and ready to go, that's like step number one.
- 39:17Then I'm coming in with like, I might just
- 39:21literally say like, I, I will like put whisper flow on and I
- 39:27will just talk it out. Like this is who I'm trying
- 39:30to reach. I'm trying to hit whatever the pain point
- 39:33or like, I really want to speak to this emotion.
- 39:35And there's, you know, plenty of things that we do
- 39:37in our process that like would relate to it. So
- 39:40it's not just like a generalized person. It's like
- 39:43personas to me, it doesn't really matter. I
- 39:45care more about like the psychographics of things,
- 39:47but like, I want to speak directly to like the
- 39:50parent that feels wired after a long day of work
- 39:53or ends with kids and like, they need the
- 39:55weighted blanket. Right. Um, you're speaking to like
- 39:59everything. I might even have like formats of
- 40:02like, Hey, I really want it to be like this.
- 40:04This is what I want to talk about. I might even
- 40:06like say lines. Like I usually have like lines or
- 40:10words that I really, really like that just feel
- 40:13really like, like it just energizes me when I'm
- 40:16thinking about the idea. So I'm giving all of
- 40:19that there. And then I'm just like seeing what comes
- 40:21back and playing with it. Sometimes if you already
- 40:24have, like, I love this script from another video
- 40:27and I want to use the structure of this, like
- 40:30there's things you can do. Um, but like, again,
- 40:33having a lot of that deep research already done
- 40:37and like, you know, exactly what you're trying to
- 40:39accomplish. And like one thing when it comes
- 40:41to briefing, and this is before you even get to
- 40:44writing the script is there should always be a
- 40:47one sentence goal or angle and everything else is
- 40:51judged by that. Like, does the, does the brief
- 40:55actually accomplish what you wanted out of this?
- 40:58And that's what I teach my strategist, because if
- 41:01I'm reviewing their brief, I need to know what's,
- 41:04what's the goal of this. Cause then I'm going to
- 41:06judge the script on that goal that you had set out.
- 41:10Right. And so I think the same is true. I think
- 41:12people just need to be clear what they're trying
- 41:14to accomplish in the first place. And then that
- 41:16will probably improve their outputs already because
- 41:19most people just don't even know what they're
- 41:21doing. Um, and not because they're not capable
- 41:23marketers, but more so like they are not, um,
- 41:28very exact about what is the goal of this ad.
- 41:33Um, and I think that that gets missed a lot.
- 41:36Yeah. Sorry. I didn't mean to jump in, but I'm
- 41:38curious, like what, what does the goal mean? Like
- 41:40if you, like when you ask a strategist to tell you
- 41:42what the goal, you said it's a one sentence thing,
- 41:43which I think is awesome. That's super cool. I like
- 41:45that a lot. Is it, we want this person to
- 41:47experience this emotion and then buy as a result of it? Or
- 41:50like, what is, can you give an example? What is
- 41:51the end by the end of watching this, uh, video,
- 41:55who do you want to be continuing to watch this
- 41:58and what do you want them to gain feel or see?
- 42:00Right. And so, cause part of it should be like,
- 42:04are you kicking the right, the wrong people out?
- 42:07Right. Like you really want it to be like, I don't
- 42:09want a random dude watching this. I want a specific
- 42:11parent that has a specific, uh, you know,
- 42:14experience to, to, to be the person watching
- 42:17this. And this is what I want them to know or
- 42:19learn at the end of it, that their kids can improve,
- 42:23you know, their neurodivergence, you know,
- 42:25experience, whatever through this weighted
- 42:26blanket and this can help them, blah, blah, blah,
- 42:28blah. Great. Now does that brief that you just sent
- 42:31me, does that, do we get to that end state? Right.
- 42:35And so it's really about what's the end state of the
- 42:37viewer. Most people are not even thinking about that. Right. And that's just like,
- 42:41now we're not even talking about AI. And I
- 42:43think that's the problem is people, you just
- 42:44throw in AI now they're just like tool, tool, AI
- 42:47quad. And it's like, let's just get back to the
- 42:49basis of great advertising. Like, what are we
- 42:52trying to get people to feel at the end of watching
- 42:54something? Most people just can't even answer
- 42:57that question. And so that's like, that's why like AI
- 42:59sucks or is good or bad, whatever is because
- 43:02like, they're not even thinking about the practical
- 43:04parts of like what is advertising. It's to get
- 43:07people to feel something, to make a decision to
- 43:10buy something. Yeah. Hannah, are there any other
- 43:12inputs that you would add? Yeah, I would absolutely
- 43:15double down on, and I'm right with Matthew. Like
- 43:18when I think about AI, even script writing, for
- 43:22example, if we want to just like stick in the
- 43:24script writing, it's like there, it is virtually,
- 43:28it is a death sentence just to start from zero,
- 43:30as we all know. And so having what Matt was saying
- 43:34was like a big idea or a format are really kind
- 43:39of like the only two things outside. I mean, you
- 43:43can do some person, like you could have your, when
- 43:45I say persona, please know that I don't just mean
- 43:48like 65 plus and, you know, gray haired man, like
- 43:51we've, we've done the work to, to hone in on one.
- 43:55And I think that that's something that I've seen
- 43:58in terms of like input versus an output right now.
- 44:01So everyone is super excited about Andromeda and
- 44:05it being able to like serve to persona. So personas
- 44:08become like this hot topic, right? And so the trap
- 44:11that I've seen a lot of brands fall into right now
- 44:14is just like relying on AI to like, and from an
- 44:17endpoint standpoint, just like extract those. Great.
- 44:20They're done. Found them because that's better than
- 44:23I could do as a human. And what I have found to be
- 44:27more effective is to focus in on just one, like,
- 44:31and to focus in on the one that's like already worked
- 44:34for you. And to, because there's likely you, you
- 44:37have left so many potential angles and messaging on
- 44:42the table. So when it comes to like my input
- 44:45with, when prompting and through my research phases,
- 44:48I've really stopped trying to, and I'll have a
- 44:51lot of brands like come in and say like, okay,
- 44:53I'm hiring you to like, help me figure out who
- 44:55my personas are. And I really have to come back to
- 44:58them and say, and understand too, like, this is
- 45:02all great, but like, does your budget even support
- 45:06being able to effectively reach seven different
- 45:09personas, even though AI told you that it's a good
- 45:12idea too? We cannot even effectively reach them
- 45:15because we haven't effectively reached one yet.
- 45:18You can't effectively spend on all those ads.
- 45:21Oh, I automated a hundred ads. You're not even
- 45:24spending enough to statistically
- 45:26significantly find out if those hundred ads work. I mean,
- 45:29it's so true. It's so true.
- 45:31It's so true. And sacrificing the name of your
- 45:34brand or like not growing in parallel. And that's like,
- 45:38you know, a whole different conversation, but just, yeah, from an input standpoint,
- 45:43I have like really tried to dial it down
- 45:46because I did find myself getting lost in analysis,
- 45:50getting lost in just all, all these kinds of
- 45:55emotional mappings and trigger analysis. And,
- 45:59and then I would go in prompt with a LLM on a basic
- 46:01standpoint and realize that when it comes back to me
- 46:04for a persona, it's actually telling me that
- 46:07what I would consider are just plain triggers.
- 46:10That is a persona. I'm like, so you have to
- 46:12even know what you're looking for to begin with,
- 46:15because you get in there and someone can blindly
- 46:18say, great, these are my personas. An example might
- 46:21be, um, I don't know, like a Catholic
- 46:25mother, whatever for this thing. And it's like, no,
- 46:30just the fact that she's Catholic, isn't her
- 46:32persona. That's what I would call an identity be
- 46:35overlay, which is just a thing that she assumes
- 46:39because of her religion, but that can go across
- 46:42many different personas. So when you start
- 46:44segregating this quickly, it, you, you really
- 46:48get lost. So from an input output standpoint, I'm
- 46:52just like focused on like dialing it into like a very
- 46:56narrow focus of, um, what I am trying to accomplish
- 47:01or the goal of that ad, the persona that I'm trying
- 47:04to build and we can get to the rest. Like, I
- 47:07think that the trap is like, we just think we have to
- 47:10keep up with everyone else because they're having
- 47:12answers for their personas. And, and my, I actually
- 47:15am on the opposite standpoint, because like Matt
- 47:18said earlier, they're like, the reason we're in
- 47:21this position is because most strategists don't
- 47:23even know why they believe what they believe. Um,
- 47:27and that's like really forced. They'll come to
- 47:30prompt or to create an ad and they're just really
- 47:33going off of best practices or what they've heard
- 47:35on Twitter is working for someone else, but it's
- 47:38really through those lived experiences that we're
- 47:41able to like have that judgment. So if you take that
- 47:44away and the lived experience becomes AI, then
- 47:47like, yeah, we're, we're, we're in trouble there.
- 47:51So from a, from a prompting standpoint, I, I,
- 47:54I just, I just rather teams take the long road.
- 47:59And that's like my biggest takeaway is, and what
- 48:01I mean by the long road is like, everyone throws
- 48:04around the idea of deep context. Like, what does
- 48:06that mean? What is deep context? Like, cause everyone
- 48:09says, Oh yeah, I brought deep context in and I'm
- 48:12like, how it's been a month. So you mean to tell me
- 48:16you brought a up or AI up to speed on the past five
- 48:20years of your business and you now know everything
- 48:23like in order to, what does deep context mean?
- 48:26How do you actually feed it into your systems?
- 48:29And that's like a whole nother conversation we could
- 48:31have. But my, my, um, big thing is for brands to take
- 48:36the long road when it comes to like building out the
- 48:39systems that support like this balance alongside of
- 48:43your creative strategists and to focus almost
- 48:46on that first versus like the output of your ads,
- 48:50because that will come. And if you can help
- 48:53your strategists and your teams build the, the,
- 48:57the true deep systems, which I can't go into all
- 48:59of that now, but like the true architecture and deep
- 49:02systems of your brand the right way and play that
- 49:07longer road and allow them in the process to just
- 49:10experiment and have fun, use AI in your own life,
- 49:14not for like work all the time. Then I think that
- 49:18we're going to be able to see, um, just like more,
- 49:21more like long-term efficient ads, or those are the
- 49:24brands that are going to be around longer who
- 49:26are taking that longer road. So shortcut thinking
- 49:29kills. Absolutely. And it can happen at an org, org
- 49:33level too. I've seen it. I've seen it happen every
- 49:35day. It's, it's scary. Yeah. I think it's, I think,
- 49:38I think it's interesting because I, I think there's
- 49:40a whole bunch of stuff that was talked about there.
- 49:42And I'm, I, to me, the most interesting stuff that
- 49:45we got into was, and I think the thematic pieces
- 49:49of this are there's people are trying to take a lot
- 49:54of shortcuts, right? That's not necessarily a bad
- 49:57thing. There can be shortcuts to manual things that
- 50:01took, you know, that did take a long time
- 50:02previously reading reviews, whatever, right? Like that can be
- 50:06efficient. But I think in terms of actually
- 50:08speaking long-term to the customer and having a plan
- 50:12and having a goal, as you talked about, right?
- 50:14Which the goal is, I mean, we're all in advertising,
- 50:16like trying to make more money for these people
- 50:18really is like what we're trying to do is, you know,
- 50:21having, having a vision of what, what's the
- 50:24reasoning behind doing this. So I think is really
- 50:26fascinating. I think we've, there's, and I think
- 50:29it's also not necessarily around creative strategists.
- 50:33I think creative strategists are in a hard place
- 50:36because they're given an edict if they're within
- 50:39a brand or, you know, they're given an edict
- 50:41to like, go do this more efficiently with AI.
- 50:44And the strategist is like, I actually want to
- 50:46go slower. Yes. Right. Like, and, and so I think
- 50:50there's, there's a, um, a challenge there as well.
- 50:54So I think those of you that are listening to this
- 50:55episode that are agency owners or brand owners,
- 50:58like, I think there's, there is a really important
- 51:01conversation to be had with your strategists
- 51:04around what do you believe we are doing long-term
- 51:09well and like in short-term well, and then, you
- 51:12know, the inverse of that, what do you think we're
- 51:14doing poorly? Like, are we trying to push on
- 51:16efficiency too much? And I think there's also this,
- 51:20this idea that if you do these things, like
- 51:21you talked about deep context is a great example.
- 51:24There's a, there, if you, if you do that
- 51:27buzzword, then you're like ahead. Right. Or, you know,
- 51:31it's like, if you, whatever it might be, I mean,
- 51:33persona building is a huge one too. That's like,
- 51:35if you do that, then you just unlock. But the
- 51:38reality is like, I think sometimes I had a professor
- 51:42in college that always said, there's two types
- 51:44of people. There's simple problem complicators and
- 51:47complicated problem simplifiers. And I think
- 51:50that like, that's what it's, it's simple problem
- 51:53complication in a lot of ways. In terms of like
- 51:56trying to develop seven personas on a $10,000 a
- 51:59month budget or whatever it is, you know? And
- 52:02so, and you know, it's hard because you have these,
- 52:06these messages that are all over the place of
- 52:08like, you know, you look at somebody like Zach,
- 52:11we did an episode talking about a lot of their
- 52:12funnels and stuff. And like, you know, they had,
- 52:15it was some, I mean, they're spending tons and
- 52:17tons of money, but they had like 80 landing page
- 52:19tests live and they had, you know, some 300
- 52:21variants live. And it was about, it was about
- 52:25volume. And then you kind of, you know,
- 52:28these smaller brands look at this and say, well,
- 52:29it's about volume. And it's, it's not though.
- 52:33It's like about, it's about quality as it relates
- 52:36to volume and like, and the, and what the inputs
- 52:40are that brought you there. So anyway, I was just
- 52:42trying to summarize all of the things that we
- 52:43talked about briefly. I don't know if there's
- 52:47anything else you guys want to mention, but
- 52:48it's, it's an interesting topic. And I think
- 52:50the greatest thing that we can all do is go and
- 52:52have a larger conversation with, with our creative
- 52:54strategists or with the people that work with us
- 52:57and set in that, in the, in the creative realm and
- 52:59say like, look, we want to make this more
- 53:00efficient. We both have the same goal. We want to sell more
- 53:03stuff and grow this baby. So like, what else do we
- 53:06need to do to be able to do this? And what's your
- 53:09opinion on this? Because I think there's, if you
- 53:13don't, that, that widening gap between what the
- 53:16creative strategist wants, which is to slow down
- 53:18and what you want, which is efficiency as an owner
- 53:20or an agency owner is going to become more
- 53:23disparate. And it's not ultimately going to serve
- 53:24the end consumer. Yeah. I think it's a leadership
- 53:27conversation. I think that's what, for me, I was
- 53:29going to say that even before you mentioned it,
- 53:31but it's true. It's the leadership conversation,
- 53:33because if you're in, if you are an agency owner,
- 53:38like you want to, like, why is somebody going to
- 53:40stay with you? It's not because you were more
- 53:42efficient. It was because you got them performance,
- 53:45right? If you're a brand owner, what do you want
- 53:49your people to do? Do you want them to make more
- 53:51ads or do you want them to make ads that are going
- 53:53to win? Right. And so I think the problem is, is that
- 53:56when you are focused on volume, then you are
- 54:00building systems to do more of the same. It's easier to do
- 54:03that. It's easier to do similar stuff. You've got
- 54:06the people in place, just do more. You have the SOPs in
- 54:09place, just do more of that thing. But sometimes
- 54:13the best ads are going to take 10 X the time. And
- 54:16you don't have, if you're not building in Slack to
- 54:21have moments where somebody can take 10 X the time
- 54:24and take the bet that it could even work, it
- 54:26could even fail, but like, you've got to be able to do
- 54:29that and allow them to do that. Like, but if you're
- 54:32just focused on, did we get 20 ads out every single
- 54:35week? Then, you know, the problem is, is that
- 54:38you're going to say, well, we, we doing, we got
- 54:40the 20 ads out, but now we're not, we're not, we're
- 54:42not winning. It's like, yeah, because you're doing
- 54:4520 of the same ads every single week because they
- 54:47are, that's what their success in their role is.
- 54:50And I think that oftentimes, like, did we ever
- 54:53have like an efficiency problem? Like, I don't think
- 54:56we had, I don't think oftentimes bandwidth was the
- 54:59problem. I think we're saying that. I think people,
- 55:02leaders are saying that, but I'm like, I don't
- 55:04think that was the problem five years ago. I think
- 55:07now you just want to stuff more clients into one
- 55:09career of challenges. That's a problem. But like,
- 55:12I don't think that the efficiency was the problem.
- 55:16I think performance has always been the main issue.
- 55:19And so I think like, if you can use AI to help you
- 55:23with performance, amazing. But you also have to be
- 55:26ready as a leader to realize that it's not always
- 55:31about efficiencies. It is about ultimately performance
- 55:35and you have to be okay. And building a space
- 55:39where people can really take shots on goal that are out
- 55:44there that are different. And that's going to look
- 55:46different than how things are set up. Now, again,
- 55:50it's all about breaking rules. Every brand that
- 55:54stands out, they break rules. That's what great
- 55:57advertising is all about. Right. And so it's
- 56:00like, yes, do the things that work and like, like, not
- 56:03trends, but like, if creator content works, like
- 56:05do creator content, like don't not do the basics,
- 56:08right, that is working in the current moment, but you
- 56:10have to have these moonshots. And then, you know, I think
- 56:13just like, as a leader, you've got to be able to
- 56:16like, open up that capacity for your people. But I
- 56:21don't think it's ever been an efficiency problem.
- 56:23And I think leaders just want it to be. And they're
- 56:25saying that, but I think that's just because
- 56:27they're just looking after their margins. And it's
- 56:29like, no, you got to break your margins, you know,
- 56:32like, like, break your margins today so that you can
- 56:35have like crazy performance later. Like, that's
- 56:38how I'm thinking. I'm like, if I need to spend extra
- 56:40thousands of dollars to make this video idea
- 56:42work, great, because if it works, my client's
- 56:45going to stay with me for like, years to come,
- 56:47right? Like, that's worth the $2,000 if they're
- 56:50going to continue to play my retainer later on.
- 56:52Like, if something is like not working, oh, but I
- 56:55saved my my margin. It's like, what? So you got
- 56:59to be able to like, really think about performance.
- 57:03That's the biggest thing. You know, good, good
- 57:05wrap up. I mean, look, this thing, this episode is
- 57:08this episode is packed of information. So we're
- 57:11just gonna might even have to split this into two.
- 57:14I mean, it's got a lot of stuff that I think is
- 57:16really important to get into. And I think it is
- 57:18a fairly relevant conversation and
- 57:21identifies a lot of problems and hopefully can give,
- 57:24you know, some some some ammunition to good
- 57:27creatives among us to to say, like, hey, look what
- 57:30they said here, right? Like, slow down, right?
- 57:32Like, this is what's been said on this podcast,
- 57:34because I think a lot of it is like, what
- 57:36I did to make 3 million ads by, you know, a
- 57:40week ago or whatever. Like, it's so much. So
- 57:42do you remember the Michigan method, Brad? I do.
- 57:45Oh, man, I know. I'm really old. The Michigan
- 57:50method was when you had a bid, and you then put,
- 57:56it was the only type of manual bidding. It
- 57:58was like, and you would basically do a bid at
- 58:01a dollar amount and you take the same ad
- 58:03and then you do if the CPA was $30, you do,
- 58:06you do $20 below and $20 above and the same ad
- 58:10in each ad set. So it'd be like $31, $32, $33.
- 58:14It was and and then one of them would get spend
- 58:17and they'd vary like depending on what the bid was
- 58:19that day, you were just trying to play the auction. So that still works. I think
- 58:23there you go. Hey, if you guys want to start a
- 58:26drop shipping company, let me know. That's that's
- 58:30but thank you everybody for joining us.
- 58:32Appreciate it. Thanks for being here. And as always,
- 58:35please leave us a review. And if you have
- 58:36questions, we'd love to hear from you. Andrew at
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