Your last two newsletters have been great. I love when someone that has domain expertise looks at emerging technology and says "let's look at what unexpected outcomes might occur in the future"
thank you! Glad you are enjoying them. These technologies are so unpredictable that it's hard to really figure out where they will go, but at work we often find ourselves speculating, and hearing what founders think will happen. Fun to share here
The problems that plagued Coca Cola and consumer goods companies do indeed still remain - we see this in loyalty programs for coffee chains today - the dynamics are indeed tricky. I think we will definitely see AI companions sponsored by companies - for both consumer and business use cases - anywhere an audience can be defined (in general terms e.g. parents, or specific e.g. CMOs, or horse riders etc) and AI can help, a sponsored free version will emerge - I see WeTransfer as an interesting model for this.
Fascinating read on how Coke began marketing to households via the Post Office at the very beginning of a new direct to consumer cycle, and how, after decades that channel has become saturated, less effective. So many parallels we can draw from this on the importance of and maturity of cycles in the launching of a new product/service.
And now, a new cycle in AI-powered marketing has provoked me to consider how we could incorporate it into the marketing of our game either as an input (reduced cost to produce creatives) and/or output (interactive agent of sorts).
Yes - I sort of glossed over that point, but worth reinforcing. Every marketing channel has a lifecycle, and direct mail had one that started in the late 1800s and eventually became completely worthless a hundred years later. Email of course has also had this lifecycle as well. The key is to pounce on the channels that are first developing though! In the past few years that might have been video -- we might be at the point where video becomes oversaturated soon as well, particularly if gen AI tools fully get there
Spot on! Contextual UX powered by AI will completely separate winners from losers moving forward.
This incredibly fuels my conviction around how I think about the future of UX and how users want to be marketed to.
At Onepod (we applied to Speedrun btw lol), we are giving our core service out for free and costs us ~$0.05/user/day to run. They get enough value from comparing their health baseline to the general public's for every given day and are happy to actually pay to see more! And what's crazy is that we don't market in an overt way - we simply subtly nudge you that there's more interesting stuff to see and it's $0.50 to unlock.
Interesting stuff how we use AI to create a super contextual view super dependent on behavior for not a long of investment.
I can't wait to see how people actually squeeze delightful experiences beyond texts, but contextual UX out of AI in useful applications
Companion ads has me thinking of "The Truman Show". I agree that AI companions weaving ads into conversation definitely seems like where we are headed.
This is really insightful, Andrew! As a technologist who has embraced marketing, I totally agree that tech and marketing are deeply intertwined.
I’d love to see you explore the topic of giveaways in a future article, as they share many similarities with coupons. For instance, the recent Liquid Death giveaway reminds us of the famous "Pepsi Points" campaign from the 1990s.
Groupon was once valued at 10 Billion. A coupon is an asset. What's the value to the intended target? A new vision is coming on mobile. Web2/3 digital dynamic programmable integrated and interactive GUSI asset tokens. GUSI: A user-generated Graphic User Storytelling Interface. I own the utility patent on mobile. And the token is multimodal with Gen AI boost. Now imagine what this coupon can and will do. I invented it in 2013, Web3 tokenization just weaponized it. An entire newly defined asset class.
Nobody has figured out Web3 for the mainstream, yet. IMO, you need a hybrid Web2/3. for mobile. NO blockchain crypto yet. 95% of mainstream don't know a BLT from an NFT. Off-chain storage for tokens with zero cost and scalability for the masses. Tokenized programmable real-time payments closed & open-loop systems. Maybe an equity token one day after CMF. Give the masses a taste of Web3 with Web2 revenue verticals first. Crawl, walk, run strategy. Centralized on the back-end for systems, decentralized on the front-end to the user/owner for privacy, data, and UGC. And use Gen AI responsibly as an app layer assist bot to start. But for enhanced personalized UI/UX feeds and healthy algorithms managing the massive virgin data sets that the user/owners voluntarily supply to purpose-built LLMs to train on to monetize for the data owners. Data is EVERYTHING. Reddit did a 200M data license with the big data dogs, but none for those who generated the content. It's only taken me 18 years to figure out. Two new patent filings for mobile in 3 weeks. You must own all the IP to own-your-market as the 10,000 lb domain Gorilla. a16z funded Story IP protocol as a solution to copyright law. TBD. The USPTO is engaged. Side Note: Bilt now worth 3.1 billion in 3 years. Points/rewards for paying your rent. Really! How original. IMO, just another rewards CC(WF). The thieves are the Visa/MC markets. 87 billion profits/yr. The future of payments is mobile payments. IOW, just own the entire value chain. It isn't easy, and takes time but it is a beautiful thing for a consumer marktplace.
Another great newsletter following How AI will Reinvent Marketing. It's interesting that you call it "companion." I am curious to see how digital twins of celebrities/influencers will leverage their likeness and play a role in marketing, e.g. The Rock's digital twin to become a personal trainer while occasionally plugging in Under Armour, Zoe, and even Teremana. Also, I am wondering the importance of personality of these agents, e.g. Character.ai commanding x10 engagement than ChatGPT. Looking forward to see more newsletters!
Your last two newsletters have been great. I love when someone that has domain expertise looks at emerging technology and says "let's look at what unexpected outcomes might occur in the future"
thank you! Glad you are enjoying them. These technologies are so unpredictable that it's hard to really figure out where they will go, but at work we often find ourselves speculating, and hearing what founders think will happen. Fun to share here
The problems that plagued Coca Cola and consumer goods companies do indeed still remain - we see this in loyalty programs for coffee chains today - the dynamics are indeed tricky. I think we will definitely see AI companions sponsored by companies - for both consumer and business use cases - anywhere an audience can be defined (in general terms e.g. parents, or specific e.g. CMOs, or horse riders etc) and AI can help, a sponsored free version will emerge - I see WeTransfer as an interesting model for this.
Fascinating read on how Coke began marketing to households via the Post Office at the very beginning of a new direct to consumer cycle, and how, after decades that channel has become saturated, less effective. So many parallels we can draw from this on the importance of and maturity of cycles in the launching of a new product/service.
And now, a new cycle in AI-powered marketing has provoked me to consider how we could incorporate it into the marketing of our game either as an input (reduced cost to produce creatives) and/or output (interactive agent of sorts).
Yes - I sort of glossed over that point, but worth reinforcing. Every marketing channel has a lifecycle, and direct mail had one that started in the late 1800s and eventually became completely worthless a hundred years later. Email of course has also had this lifecycle as well. The key is to pounce on the channels that are first developing though! In the past few years that might have been video -- we might be at the point where video becomes oversaturated soon as well, particularly if gen AI tools fully get there
Spot on! Contextual UX powered by AI will completely separate winners from losers moving forward.
This incredibly fuels my conviction around how I think about the future of UX and how users want to be marketed to.
At Onepod (we applied to Speedrun btw lol), we are giving our core service out for free and costs us ~$0.05/user/day to run. They get enough value from comparing their health baseline to the general public's for every given day and are happy to actually pay to see more! And what's crazy is that we don't market in an overt way - we simply subtly nudge you that there's more interesting stuff to see and it's $0.50 to unlock.
Interesting stuff how we use AI to create a super contextual view super dependent on behavior for not a long of investment.
I can't wait to see how people actually squeeze delightful experiences beyond texts, but contextual UX out of AI in useful applications
thanks for the comment! And glad to hear you applied to speedrun. Fun stuff.
Companion ads has me thinking of "The Truman Show". I agree that AI companions weaving ads into conversation definitely seems like where we are headed.
This is really insightful, Andrew! As a technologist who has embraced marketing, I totally agree that tech and marketing are deeply intertwined.
I’d love to see you explore the topic of giveaways in a future article, as they share many similarities with coupons. For instance, the recent Liquid Death giveaway reminds us of the famous "Pepsi Points" campaign from the 1990s.
Keep up the great work!
We’re building the AI alternative to coupon-led-acquisition (discovery) for DTC brands in India.
Would love to get your advice for https://seekrewards.co
Your writing has always helped us build the right frameworks, thank you for inspiring a generation of Marketers.
Aside, I’ve been quoting this Coca-Story for a while and I think I picked it up from one of your decks/talks.
Groupon was once valued at 10 Billion. A coupon is an asset. What's the value to the intended target? A new vision is coming on mobile. Web2/3 digital dynamic programmable integrated and interactive GUSI asset tokens. GUSI: A user-generated Graphic User Storytelling Interface. I own the utility patent on mobile. And the token is multimodal with Gen AI boost. Now imagine what this coupon can and will do. I invented it in 2013, Web3 tokenization just weaponized it. An entire newly defined asset class.
Are you bullish on the intersection of AI and Web3? Think there's an opportunity to finally build something super meaningful and profound on Web3?
I totally see how agents may need "wallets" or want to protect and monetize their "IP".
Thoughts?
Nobody has figured out Web3 for the mainstream, yet. IMO, you need a hybrid Web2/3. for mobile. NO blockchain crypto yet. 95% of mainstream don't know a BLT from an NFT. Off-chain storage for tokens with zero cost and scalability for the masses. Tokenized programmable real-time payments closed & open-loop systems. Maybe an equity token one day after CMF. Give the masses a taste of Web3 with Web2 revenue verticals first. Crawl, walk, run strategy. Centralized on the back-end for systems, decentralized on the front-end to the user/owner for privacy, data, and UGC. And use Gen AI responsibly as an app layer assist bot to start. But for enhanced personalized UI/UX feeds and healthy algorithms managing the massive virgin data sets that the user/owners voluntarily supply to purpose-built LLMs to train on to monetize for the data owners. Data is EVERYTHING. Reddit did a 200M data license with the big data dogs, but none for those who generated the content. It's only taken me 18 years to figure out. Two new patent filings for mobile in 3 weeks. You must own all the IP to own-your-market as the 10,000 lb domain Gorilla. a16z funded Story IP protocol as a solution to copyright law. TBD. The USPTO is engaged. Side Note: Bilt now worth 3.1 billion in 3 years. Points/rewards for paying your rent. Really! How original. IMO, just another rewards CC(WF). The thieves are the Visa/MC markets. 87 billion profits/yr. The future of payments is mobile payments. IOW, just own the entire value chain. It isn't easy, and takes time but it is a beautiful thing for a consumer marktplace.
What'sApp? I know What's App, Signal, Telegram, etc. A better way is coming.
Ignore the spam account.
It's masquerading as Andrew Chen.
Deep fakes? I have content nobody has seen yet and can't imagine.
Send me your personal email. Or connect on LinkedIn. Gene Haba Jr
It will be exciting to see how your law of shitty clickthroughs will affect AI experiences.
The UX switch might become the biggest drop-off point.
In some cases, humans are already irritated with vague/repetitive messages from chatbots but I guess that’s fixable with advancements in gen models.
Will we see banner blindness as well with AI, where people start ignoring AI experiences and stick to conventional web UI?
Another great newsletter following How AI will Reinvent Marketing. It's interesting that you call it "companion." I am curious to see how digital twins of celebrities/influencers will leverage their likeness and play a role in marketing, e.g. The Rock's digital twin to become a personal trainer while occasionally plugging in Under Armour, Zoe, and even Teremana. Also, I am wondering the importance of personality of these agents, e.g. Character.ai commanding x10 engagement than ChatGPT. Looking forward to see more newsletters!