I have been going around the world giving two new speeches. One on “Harnessing AI for Your Business” and a new one based on my new book Audacious.

In the AI speech I make an important point — The rate of change will impact us as individuals and businesses as much as the change itself. To thrive we need to adopt a new mindset, a mindset of continuous change at a scale that is unprecedented in the history of our planet.

Think about it. The moment you read this sentence is the slowest rate of technological change you will ever experience.

If you’re in marketing, the problem is doubly difficult. It’s just nuts out there, and we need help coping!

I thought it would be interesting to discuss coping strategies with Jay Acunzo. We are both regarded as thought leaders in our spaces, and there is no halfway. Either you’re keeping pace, or you’re not.

In the new episode of The Marketing Companion we reveal our own strategies and secrets to stay ahead. Fasten your seatbelts! The world of blazing change is ahead. Just click here to listen:

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 312

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Illustration courtesy MidJourney

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I am a fan of internet pioneer Kevin Kelly. His futuristic projections and books have informed much of my work. And while I don’t always agree with him, I pay close attention to his writing.

Last week, Kevin wrote a blog post titled The Handoff to Bots, which thinks through the implications of two colliding megatrends: global de-population due to a rapidly declining birthrate and the inevitable rise of AI bots taking over human jobs.

This collision seems calamitous — how many businesses depend on steady population growth for their economic progress? The specter of the population and job market simultaneously crashing in a freefall seems horrifying.

But Kevin is optimistic, even in the face of this probability. His thesis is that AI is not only capable of manufacturing and innovation but also driving consumption and economic growth. He contends this “handoff” from human labor to machine efficiency is essential for sustaining and improving living standards despite a declining human workforce.

What AI Utopia?

Kevin’s article repeats a familiar futurist theme: When the bots come, we’ll be able to do whatever we want to do! No more careers, no more toil. We will be living in Leisure World.

Go play. Or volunteer. Or write poetry. Hurray!

When will a transition to a dreamy AI Utopia arrive? Job loss is already occurring in some sectors, like customer service, where thousands of jobs have been replaced by AI agents.

But the initial tendency for these displaced workers isn’t to start watercolor painting or gardening. They’re looking for another job because there is no safety net for AI-replaced workers. There is no AI Utopia, at least not for the foreseeable future. There are bills to pay.

When will we see job displacement at scale? Many AI advocates say it’s soon, but I think it will be at least two to three years away. Why? Because every time a big tech shift seems imminent, it’s not. Tech moves fast, culture moves slowly, so there will be an adjustment period.

But, it’s coming. And when it does, there will be no mass migration to AI Utopia, as the futurists like to say. Most displaced people will be looking for jobs, not fishing trips. This is what’s nagging at me. What are the plans to help people navigate to a world without work? Who is planning for this?

Our smartest visionaries, like Kevin Kelly, think it’s inevitable.

But how?

Surviving AI Utopia

To get to the next step in my thought process, let’s assume we figure this transition out. The AI bots and humanoid bots arrive. They take millions of jobs. Somehow, the government extracts bot-created wealth from the technocrats, and re-distributes it equitably to the unemployed, and we indeed enter a new era of AI Utopia for humanity.

So we’ve arrived. But there is another aspect of this “do whatever we want” vision of Leisure World that’s unsettling. What exactly will we be doing with all this free time? Take endless vacations? Sit around writing poetry? Plant flowers?

If many careers go away, realistically, how will people fill their time? How many flowers can a person plant? My mind is boggled by the prospect that billions of work hours could suddenly be shifted to … what?

If and when we get through this transition to AI Utopia (5-10 years away?), there will be significant business opportunities ahead. Think about what businesses could thrive if they focus on 1) occupying all this vacant time and 2) creating meaning in our lives.

Occupying time

Part of the new AI Utopia will indeed be leisure. Follow your dreams! Thinking this through, there could be a huge surge for any products and services that serve these areas:

• Creative Industries: Art, music, literature, and design could experience a renaissance as more individuals pursue creative expression and innovation. Lessons, art supplies, crafts.
• Entertainment and Media: Immersive virtual reality experiences, gaming, and digital content production would evolve to offer personalized, high-quality entertainment. High-end electronics, gaming, gambling.
• Travel and Experiential Tourism: As disposable time increases, tourism may shift toward experiential and culturally rich travel, emphasizing unique, transformative journeys. Hunting, fishing, premium travel.
• Wellness and Personal Development: Sectors focused on physical health, mental well-being, and self-improvement—such as fitness, mindfulness, and holistic health services—are likely to expand. Trainers, studios, fitness apps, gear.
• Lifelong Learning and Education: Education could transform into an ongoing, enrichment-focused experience rather than a strict career path, fostering personal growth and new skill development. It could be a niche for universities or, more likely, community colleges.

Not an exhaustive list. But if you’re looking at a transitional career, these areas might be good bets.

Creating meaning

When the bots come, some people will just drop out, take the government replacement income, and sit on the beach all day. But I think most people will want something more than a hobby to occupy their time. They’ll need to replace the meaning and personal value that comes with having a job.

This will be a significant problem: Creating personal meaning for millions of unemployed people! So if you figure out a way to do that when AI Utopia arrives, you’re probably on a path to success. How might people find new meaning?

• Community and Social Engagement: Social clubs, local cultural events, and artisan markets might thrive. Might be an opportunity for a fresh approach to local service clubs.
• Spiritual Pursuits: I think there will be a renaissance in religion and religious studies. Joining a church community can provide meaning as well as companionship.
• Volunteerism. Perhaps the greatest benefit of Leisure World will be a passionate workforce ready to solve problems, protect our planet, and lift up the needy.

Another interesting side note on volunteerism. A recent experiment with a universal basic income found that when people had a stable monthly flow of money, their charitable giving increased. So the AI Utopia future might mean more volunteers and also more funding.

The asteroid we’re ignoring

There was news recently about an asteroid that might hit Earth in 2032. The probability is less than 1%, but scientists have already tested processes to alter its path. Cool.

What are the chances that AI and robots will displace millions of jobs by that same year? Far higher than 1%. Yet we have no deflection plan. No preparation strategy. No safety systems.

As we move closer to this inevitable collision of depopulation and unemployment, you’ll hear this refrain about humans being “free to pursue anything they want” over and over again. That’s not a solution. That’s the beginning of the real problem.

The next time the AI experts claim how we’ll all be free to do whatever we want in this AI future, ask them what that actually means.

Ask them who’s building the bridge.

Ask them who’s creating the safety nets.

And, ask yourself, what are our business plans for preparing for both the problems and opportunities of a drastically changing world?

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Image courtesy Mid Journey

The post From Work to What? Surviving the AI Utopia Narrative appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

“The most human company wins.”

If I ever had something close to a “catch phrase,” it’s probably this. I use these words to end most of my speeches. It is the central theme of my Marketing Rebellion book. Of the millions of words I have written, this is the only phrase I have trademarked.

But I had to pause this week and wonder if it’s still true. The data is in, and it’s startling. AI isn’t just matching human empathy—it’s now exceeding it. What happens when the AI bots are more human than humans?

The empathetic bots

If you’ve immersed yourself in the world of AI (and I hope you have), you’ve witnessed the inexorable and explosive improvement of these systems on every level.

Recent breakthroughs show that AI can now reason through problems instead of just collating web data, demonstrating human-like logic. And now, AI can express empathy and understanding in a way that is more human than humans.

New research (first reported by Mike Kaput of the Artificial Intelligence Show) suggests that AI may not just match human empathy but, in some cases, exceed it. A team of researchers tested whether people could tell the difference between responses from GPT 4 versus licensed therapists when presented with therapy challenges. The participants struggled to tell AI from human responses, and when they were asked to rate them, they preferred the AI responses in key areas like empathy, therapeutic alliance, and cultural competence.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the AI therapist was more effective in producing results in a patient. In fact, there is evidence of harm coming from bot-therapists. However, the breakthrough idea is that AI can produce empathetic responses that are preferred over highly skilled professionals, and there are some interesting implications for that.

Is it real human emotion? No. But it doesn’t seem to matter.

The leap to the business world

It doesn’t take much imagination to see how scaling soft skills like this could provide immediate value in the corporate world.

Allstate, one of the largest insurers in the U. S., is using AI to generate nearly all its emails for communications about claims. The reason — responses from bots are less accusatory, use clearer language, and express more empathy than humans, according to the company.

Allstate is using ChatGPT to fuel the customer replies, while grounding them in company-specific terminology.

Implications for our human work

Some people have soothed themselves by hoping that we could never take real human empathy out of our jobs. But these developments show that extracting humans from a process can produce results that are more empathetic,  patient, kind … and profitable.

AI might represent perfect empathy. It never tires. It never judges. It maintains unwavering patience and understanding, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It can instantaneously access and process vast databases of human psychology, cultural contexts, and communication strategies. It can read micro-expressions better than humans, understand vocal tone with greater accuracy, and predict emotional responses with superior precision.

If a customer receives better care, feels more understood, and achieves better outcomes with AI, what possible value is there in knowing their customer service rep or account manager is a human who has “real” feelings?

The harsh truth is that in many cases, human empathy will become a liability. Organizations that cling to human-delivered empathy will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage, unable to match the consistent, scalable, and superior emotional intelligence offered by AI.

Right?

Does human empathy matter?

About 20 years ago, I went through the darkest time of my life, an episode I describe in Chapter 1 of my book KNOWN. I would not wish that experience on anyone, but I emerged with a new superpower.

When I meet somebody who is “below zero” in their life, I can look them in the eye and express empathy based on my own experience. It’s not perfect. I’m not a trained psychotherapist. But sometimes, the perfect empathy isn’t based on a database or interpreting micro-expressions. It’s messy. It comes from a hard, lived experience. It comes from scars.

When you’re just trying to get through life hour to hour, you need something more than a bot.

It’s a paradox. While AI can demonstrate behaviors that appear more consistently empathetic than humans, this very fact illuminates something profound about human nature and our future role in an AI-dominant world.

The human advantage isn’t in flawlessly executing empathetic responses — it’s in our capacity for genuine connection, especially when we’re imperfect. We can relate to others precisely because we share the messy reality of being human: we know what it means to struggle, to doubt, to sit in a dark corner and sob. Our empathy comes from going through an existential war, not AI pattern recognition.

What emerges isn’t a story of replacement for human empathy, but of evolution.

The most human company

Yes, the most human company still wins. But the most human company will be the one that thoughtfully blends AI’s reliable, empathetic responses with unique moments when we need our messy, vulnerable, beautiful, authentically human selves.

Those companies will recognize that while AI can handle the day-to-day empathetic heavy lifting, breakthrough human connections — those moments of real understanding, creativity, and growth — still require human hearts and minds.

One time, I had a coaching call with a young man who had a resume-writing service. This is a pretty boring product that has been commoditized. I struggled to help him find a meaningful niche where he could stand out.

“Why do you do this job?” I asked.

He became emotional and animated. “I see people every day who have not looked for a job in 20 or 30 years,” he said. “They are terrified. I know I can help them. I will hold their hand through this process. I will not let them down.”

I told him to record a video of himself saying exactly that and post it on the front of his website immediately. His humanity was his niche.

Sometimes, true human empathy is everything.

The most human company wins. Now and forever.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Image courtesy Mid Journey

The post When Robots Care More: The Evolution of Human Empathy appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

It was March 15, 2023, and I snapped a photo that changed my life. And I’ll explain how it can change your life, too.

On that date, I was attending the annual SXSW festival in Austin, TX, and enjoying a wonderful late-night meal with my friends Joseph Jaffe and Eric Qualman. Suddenly, people stood up and quietly walked out of the upscale restaurant. It was surreal, like being in a Stephen King movie!

My back was to the door. Where were these people going?

Nowhere. They stood on the sidewalk, pointing their smartphones to the big Texas sky. My friends and I had to see what was going on. So we left our hot food and walked outside.

It wasn’t an alien invasion, but it was close. A dazzling drone show lit up the heavens, telling the story of a new sci-fi television program coming to the Paramount Network. Hundreds of drones were programmed along custom flight paths to depict scenes from the show.

To top it off, the display ended with a sky-high QR code that sent viewers to a website with the show’s trailer.

While drone shows have become a staple of city celebrations and sporting events, this was novel—the first time we had seen such a display.

We all took a photo of the drone-ad to share with our social media audiences:

In that moment, the line between marketing and magic blurred. We weren’t just watching an ad; we were living inside one.

The mesmerizing advertisement became the epicenter of buzz at SXSW, and with more than 300,000 influential people in attendance, that’s a perfect place to make a rumble.

Now, we get to the interesting part. How did this photo change my life, and possibly yours?

The revelation

I’ve spent nearly two decades researching and writing about one crucial problem—how can our marketing messaging become the signal above the noise in a world of oversaturated content?

I witnessed one of the most astonishing examples of a brand becoming “the signal.” Every person in this restaurant abandoned their hot food and cold cocktails to stand on a street in Texas to see an ad—not just see it, but record it and share it with social media audiences worldwide. It wasn’t just a signal above the noise—it was a supernova.

Remarkable.

Unprecedented.

Perfect.

For weeks, I couldn’t get this drone show out of my head. I played this mind-game: If somebody gave me the challenge to create an ad so disruptive that people would leave their hot meals to see it, could I do it? No.

What was the lesson for businesses desperately wanting to be “the signal” to their customers? Was there a scalable process behind this brilliant idea that could guide breakthrough marketing strategies? Was this a clue to the future of creativity and our place in a world dominated by artificial intelligence? I became obsessed with this story in the sky.

One word kept pounding in my brain: Audacious.

Audacious! Is that what it takes to stand out in the world today?

Audacity as a strategy

AI is here. Nipping at the heels of our skillsets and jobs.

Being merely competent won’t cut it. Competence doesn’t create conversations. Competence is ignorable. But audacity? That’s the currency of attention in our overstimulated world.

What if the key to becoming “the signal” isn’t shouting louder, bending AI prompts, or spending more, but the simple human bravery it takes to be … a little nuts?

I discovered that Giant Spoon had created this viral sensation, an agency behind many of my favorite marketing success stories over the years.

I called Marc Simons, one of the agency co-founders, and asked him if he and his team would reveal all their creative secrets to me for a new book. “Absolutely,” he said. The opportunity was irresistible, a siren call to a marketing geek like me. I jumped on a plane to visit him in New York City, the beginning of a journey that included meetings with some of the greatest creative geniuses from around the world — and they all gave me their secrets!

They helped me answer this question: In a world where AI is overwhelming our content world, how do we fight back? How do we unleash the uniquely human fireworks of marketing creativity?

And today, my friends, please welcome one answer to this question:

The reveal

After more than two years of research and writing, I’d like you to meet my new book, Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World.

So, you see how the story in the Austin sky truly changed the course of my life. But how does it change yours?

Whether you’re a marketer, entrepreneur, or business owner, you’re longing to be seen, to be heard, to be discovered, and that is more difficult than ever. How do you establish brand awareness in a world where content from bots already dominates more than half the internet?

Here’s a little movie preview of what’s in store for you with this book:

Filled with inspiring stories, hundreds of practical ideas (for businesses with any budget!), and all-new case studies, Audacious describes the essential human elements needed to:

• Disrupt the story narrative
• Disrupt where the story is told
• Disrupt show tells the story

Early readers of the book have been delighted, calling it “a masterpiece,” and “an essential path forward.” This will fill your head with ideas and your heart with hope. And, it’s a lot of fun!

You might have noticed that the book cover is a one-of-a-kind AR experience — the first book of its kind in the world! The cover will display abstract art based on the stories in the book!

Inside the book there is a puzzle, videos, and secret surprises. After all, a book named Audacious better be audacious, right?

Why did I spend all this time writing and publishing this book? I’m desperate to get my ideas out to you. I’m a teacher. I know that people need help navigating this overwhelming marketing world, and I have ideas that will help. I’ve spent thousands of hours bringing this to you and I know you will love it. This is my best work.

And this cool little book does not cost much money. Please order your copy today, and let me know how you like it!

CLICK HERE TO FIND AUDACIOUS ON SALE!

PS I also have an all-new speech to go with my book. This new talk was recently the highest-rated speech at a national marketing event, and I would love to bring it to your company or association. Drop me a line! 

Need a keynote speaker about brand communities? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

The post The photo that changed my life (and maybe yours) appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

A common click-bait technique is to write a blog post with “The death of …” in the title. I’ve learned to ignore these, but I’ve seen such an avalanche of headlines with some version of “the end of brands” that it was time to comment. It’s not just a sensationally ridiculous idea, it’s a dangerous one.

I’d like to insert some common sense into the dialogue and explain why brands are more important than ever.

What is a brand?

Let’s take it from the top. A brand is an emotional expectation.

Here’s a little exercise I use in my classes: If I told you Coca-Cola was building a hotel in your city, could you imagine what it looks like?

Your mind immediately starts painting: Red velvet everywhere. Curved, flowing architecture like a bottle. A fountain in the lobby bubbling with happiness. The air smells like vanilla and spice. Even the receptionist’s smile sparkles.

You can see it, can’t you? Feel it? Hear it?

That’s a brand.

It’s not about sugar water. It’s about an emotional promise that’s so strong, so consistent, you could architect an entire building around it.

You can count on this “Coke feeling” in any circumstance, in any place. The trust in this consistency keeps that company at the top of your mind and maybe even at the top of your heart, almost everywhere in the world.

It doesn’t appeal to everyone, especially if you are health-conscious, for example. But the brand means something to enough people to make a difference, and make a profit.

There is no utilitarian advantage of a pair of 20-year-old Nike Air Jordans selling for thousands of dollars in Japan. There are better shoes, even pricier shoes. But this shoe makes us FEEL something and that makes it rise above the fray.

Creating this emotional shorthand isn’t easy. It’s like composing a symphony that plays in people’s hearts every time we see a logo.

But here’s why it’s worth it: When everyone else is competing on features and price, you’re competing on feelings.

And feelings? They’re priceless.

There are a few reasons critics claim brand marketing is in decline (or dead!). Let’s knock those down:

1. The Customer is in Control

One reason critics cite for the diminishing importance of brand marketing is the shift in power between businesses and consumers. In the past, brands held sway over public perception because they controlled the narrative through traditional media channels. Today, the internet has democratized influence, empowering consumers to control the narrative through their opinions, reviews, and posts.

I’ve written about this extensively, most notably in the book Marketing Rebellion, which suggests that nearly all the power to drive sales is in the hands of the customer. This doesn’t mean brand marketing is dead. It means that we can’t count on advertising any more. The new imperative is to create value and experiences so insanely great that people can’t wait to spread the word.

The Real Job of Brand Marketing Today:

1. Stop trying to control the narrative (you can’t)
2. Start creating experiences worth talking about
3. Give your customers something so amazing they become volunteer marketers

The customer is the brand marketer. How do we help them do the job?

2. The Rise of Performance Marketing

Over the past 25 years, performance marketing (SEO, targeted ads, etc) gained prominence over traditional brand marketing.  Businesses love how advanced analytics tools can track and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns in real-time. By comparison, assigning sales attribution to brand-building activities can be difficult or impossible.

Performance marketing is vital to many companies, especially early-stage companies that need to fill a pipeline and generate customers fast. But arguably, in the end, the brand is all you have to differentiate yourself.

In my book Audacious: How to Win in an AI Marketing World, I feature a case study on Liquid Death, the fastest-growing beverage in the world — a five-year-old startup! Founder Mike Cessario said:

“You’re only going to win with branding. You won’t win with some functional ingredients you can’t own. In that case, when you’re big enough, Coke or Pepsi or someone else will just produce the same thing—same ingredients, cheaper, more widely distributed, and then you lose. With water, there’s minimal, if any, functional difference between the brands. The difference is purely marketing. People want to walk around with this thing instead of that thing. None of the water brands were interesting. I did my homework. There was a huge opportunity to tell a different story.”

A successful company can’t stick with only performance marketing in the long-term. Building brand awareness powers long-term growth. When consumers recognize and trust your brand, performance ads become more effective. Case studies show that smart brand marketing can slash Customer Acquistion Cost by up to 70%.

Branding creates distance between you and your competitors, paving the way for future growth.

3. The Commoditization of Products and Services

Some say that the commoditization of many industries is killing brands.

Perhaps the poster child for this argument is Temu. Temu is an eCommerce company that ships generally non-branded, low-cost commodity products directly from Chinese factories. It is a company that has exploited digital technology and eCommerce psychology to the maximum and pioneered a new way to serve bargain basement shoppers.

Here’s the thing about Temu: They’re not killing brands. They’re just showing us what happens when price is the only story you need to tell.

There has always been a segment of consumers who love to hunt for bargains instead of brands for economic necessity or perhaps just for fun. Temu has digitized the treasure hunt.

Side note: I predict that at some point, Temu will create its own simple, reliable branded products, just as Amazon did. So, brand would matter, even in the commodity sphere.

4. Categories?

A recent exchange on LinkedIn offered an idea that creating “categories” is more important than brands.

Here’s an example: Dude Wipes. This company created a better, environmentally-sensitive way to wipe your rear. I literally never thought I would use those words in a blog post, but there you go.

Let’s break this down, from the bottom-up (pun intended)!

Dude Wipes didn’t just create a category — “premium man-focused bathroom hygiene.” They built a brand that makes guys feel okay about buying fancy toilet paper.

But creating a category without building a brand is like inventing a new sport and not telling anyone about the rules. Being first means nothing if you’re also forgotten first. Your brilliant new category is a sitting duck if you don’t wrap it in brand awareness. Your competitors are watching, waiting, and probably have deeper pockets than you do.

Look at what happened to:

• Friendster (created social networking, Facebook owned it)
• Zune (an early device to carry songs in a small device)
• Palm Pilot (invented PDAs, now a trivia question)

They all created categories. They all got steamrolled by brands that did it better.

Category without brand is silly.

5. The Impact of Social Media Influencers

Social media has fundamentally altered the way consumers interact with brands. Influencers, who often have more authentic connections with their followers, have emerged as powerful voices in the marketplace. Rather than relying on brand-created content, consumers turn to influencers for recommendations, reviews, and inspiration.

Hey … it’s still a BRAND! Whether it’s a person or a product, you’re still creating an emotional expectation. And the influencer is a lot more effective if their audience has heard of the brand!

Branding Forever

There is simply no rational argument for the declining importance of brand marketing. In fact, it is more important than ever, especially in an AI world. Here are a few quick takes:

• Branding alone creates differentiation in a crowded marketplace (like Liquid Death!)
• Brands are beacons of trust in a world of deep fakes and misinformation
• Branding isn’t replaced by “categories” or performance marketing. It enhances these initiatives.
• Loyalty to a brand enables consumer brand advocacy and influencer marketing.
• Brands and brand stories resonate across generations.
• In times of crisis, a well-established brand is better positioned to weather the storm.
• Brand trust and recognition is the fuel of international expansion.

In a world where anyone can make anything, brands are the difference between:

• Trust and uncertainty
• Loyalty and indifference
• Premium prices and commodity status

Declaring the death of brands isn’t just wrong — it’s like declaring the death of trust, loyalty, and human connection.

Need a keynote speaker about the future of marketing? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

The post The end of brands, or the end of common sense? appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

One of the most significant periods of my life was the three years I studied under the world’s greatest business consultant, Peter Drucker. Dr. Drucker is known as the father of modern management, but he also contributed to the creation of marketing as a professional discipline, wrote extensively about entrepreneurship and innovation, and is generally regarded as the greatest business philosopher of all-time.

There is not a single day that I don’t hear his voice in my head as I work through customer problems. His advice has become the foundational pillars of my work and in many respects, my life.

But there is one piece of advice he gave me that is remarkably useful to me in this overwhelming world of change, and I think it will help you, too. Let’s reveal that today.

Immersed in the problem

I studied under Dr. Drucker while pursuing an MBA at the Claremont Graduate University. He had retired from most of his professional life and devoted his time to mentoring students in the business school that now bore his name.

He would sit on the edge of a desk with a carafe of coffee and talk about his books. It was impossible to outline his talks as he took us on a jagged journey through his life and the fascinating people he met along the way.

Dr. Drucker taught us through the Harvard case study method. We were assigned a long text detailing a complex business problem. Over weeks of classes, we would dissect the issues from every angle. As business leaders, our tendency was to try to solve the case and resolve the problem.

And that’s when Dr. Drucker would go nuts.

It’s not about the right answers

This class was filled with experienced leaders eager to display their intelligence and insight by “solving” the case study.

Nothing irked Dr. Drucker more.

“The people in this case study have been working in their business for 30 years or more,” he would say. “What makes you so arrogant to think that you can solve the problem when they can’t? Your job is not to have the right answers. Your jobs is to have the right questions.”

This might be the most important advice of my professional life and informed how I approach all my business consulting assignments. I approach business problems very humbly because I am never the expert in the room. Why would I have the right answers?  However, I can guide people to the right questions — the real key to a resolution.

I’ve found that most leaders have the knowledge and insight to solve their problems if they know where to find an answer.

Relevance of the right questions

The marketing world is far too complex to be an expert in everything. I’m not sure you can be an expert in anything! However, you must be immersed enough in the day’s issues to ask the right questions. You have to have a sense of what is possible.

I think curiosity is the most important soft skill for marketers today. For me, asking the right questions is not just a prerequisite to effective consulting. It helps me become a better author, speaker, and teacher.

Asking the right questions is also the true heart of all great content creation. If you put the work into finding the right questions, great content will surely follow.

Jay Acunzo and I just dropped a fun podcast episode demonstrating the opportunity to ask the right questions. We challenged each other to pose questions that the other person had never been asked before. And it worked! I invite you to have some fun with us and enter a world of challenging questions.

All you have to do is click here >

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 305

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Illustration courtesy MidJourney

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What were the most popular blog posts of 2024?

This is more difficult to answer today than a few years ago because my posts are read in so many different places today. I don’t spend the time curating social media views across all the various channels (like Medium, Substack, and LinkedIn) but certainly can see when a post goes “viral.”

Here at least is an estimate of the most popular posts of 2024 based on post views.

1. How to Reimagine Universities for the AI Era

Although this post appeared just a few weeks ago, it was “boosted” by Medium and appeared on the front page of the platform’s website. There is some wild thinking here, and most people agreed with my view that colleges need a radical new start.

2. In Defense of Jaguar (I think I’m the Only One)

A post that caused a rumble, earning 17,000 views on LinkedIn. I almost didn’t comment on this car controversy, but so many people wrote to me to ask what I thought about it that I took the plunge.

This is a good example of “spiky” content. I posed a contrarian view, not to be contrarian but to expose a defensible argument.

3. The Real Reason Marketing Content is Getting Worse

The idea is that a creative dependency on technology limits people’s ability to innovate because they don’t know the craft. This hit a chord with people, resulting in hundreds of reader comments across the web.

4. The Biggest Threat to Free Speech and Democracy Isn’t Speech. It’s Amplification

There are so many arguments about protecting free speech and the limits of free speech but most people are missing the point entirely. The opportunity for vast amplification of any view was something the Founding Fathers never anticipated.

5. It’s Time to Create a Creator Guild

One of the major limits on AI progress is a lack of access to high quality content. I would happily turn over almost 20 years of content to my AI overlords for fair compensation. Wouldn’t you? Solves so many problems.

6. Ten Non-Obvious Social Media Trends

In my early days as a blogger, I commented on social media almost exclusively. I thought it would be fun to return to my roots and point to some trends that seem to be passing many people by.

7. How Blogging Changed My Life

2024 marked the 15th anniversary of my blog. I normally don’t dwell on the past but this was an opportunity to reflect on how far I’ve come as a blogger. While blogging might seem like the OG social media content, it is still as vital as ever and still growing.

8. Why AI Will Not Doom Marketing

Open AI founder Sam Altman blurted out that AI will easily and rapidly eliminate 95% of all marketing jobs. I don’t know AI, but I do know marketing and I had to point out why this is view is simply wrong.

9. How to be the Best Fake Possible

If I hear the word “authentic” one more time I think I’ll hurl. Do we really want authentic? It never crosses my mind when I watch a spectacular action movie created almost entirely by CGI. If I value spectacular in the real world, why not in the business world. Should we embrace the Era of Spectacular?

10. The Biggest Mistake Content Creators Make Today

This might seem like a click-bait headline, but it’s not. I’ve done hundreds of personal coaching calls, and 90% of the people I speak to have grotesquely sub-optimized their content because of this one mistake.

So that’s a wrap. I’ll add that my top five podcast episodes of the year were:

1. Why it was time to burn this community to the ground

2. Beyond Imposter Syndrome

3. Creating your signature story

4. What business are you in — really?

5. The inescapable role of humans in an AI world

If you’re a fan of the blog, I think you will love The Marketing Companion podcast! 

Thanks for being here, and here’s to a great 2025.

Need a keynote speaker about brand communities? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustrations courtesy MidJourney

The post The most popular blog posts of 2024 appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Jaguar has been an easy target for critics after the company re-branded itself with a foppish, silly ad and a strange new logo. However, I am not one of those critics. Today, I’ll explain why I’m the only marketer on earth defending the Jaguar strategy. In fact, they are on the only reasonable path for the brand.

Let me be clear that at this point, I am separating the ad/logo from the strategy. In fact, I hate the ad, which seems like an AI fever dream of what “creative” is supposed to be:

I also abhor the logo re-design because Jaguar had one of the coolest logos on the planet and they ruined it.

Why am I pro-Jaguar? Because I think the strategy is brilliant, even if the execution (so far) seems disastrous.

Why Jaguar needs a new strategy

Beyond the disdain of the brand creative, there are three main criticisms of the Jag re-brand:

1. Ignores a legacy of “Britishness” and performance / luxury
2. The ads didn’t feature a car
3. Targeting a creative customer base seems like nonsense.

Let’s break down each criticism:

1. Ignores a legacy of “Britishness” and performance/luxury

I would probably be considered a potential Jag customer. I have owned a luxury car for decades, primarily Audi or BMW. But I have never considered a Jag. In fact, I’ve never known a person in my life who has owned a Jaguar, which, in hindsight, seems remarkable.

Jaguar is not even in the top 10 of luxury car brands. In terms of market strength, it is a has-been, an unprofitable, forgotten also-ran. When was the last time anyone said, “Man, I can’t wait to get my hands on that new Jag!” Right. Probably somewhere between bell-bottoms and Beta video tapes.

In addition to style, research shows there are two big considerations when deciding among luxury cars: performance and maintenance costs.

How does Jaguar stack up? Automotive engineering is dominated by Germany, Japan, Italy, and America these days. To most, Jaguar means frequent break-downs and high maintenance costs. Am I rolling old tapes? Maybe. But that is the brand’s image and it would cost a lot to change people’s minds about that. Is the classic image of James Bond driving a British car relevant for young buyers today? Is it worth holding on to? Do you really want a mercurial British car as your first choice in a luxury car?

I put Jag in the same category as another recent brand rebel — Nutter Butter. Nutter Butter is Jaguar’s brand chaos soul mate — an also-ran in the cookie business with no strong brand meaning. Creating bizarre, unsettling TikTok videos upends cookie marketing tradition and any brand heritage. But who cares? Nobody was talking about Nutter Butter, and now they are.

Could Oreo go down this road? No. They’re the leading brand and have spent millions to develop “meaning” with its customers. BMW can’t suddenly start acting like a TikTok influencer on a sugar rush. Mercedes can’t go full re-brand gonzo. They’ve got too much to lose.

But Jag isn’t a leading brand. It’s a losing brand. So why not shake it up in a bold and conversational way? The content of the advertisement is a red herring. We’re looking at Jaguar for the first time in decades.

2. The ad didn’t feature cars

One of my favorite ad campaigns in recent years never featured a product. Never even mentions it.

A Chick-fil-A employee sits on a red couch with a customer and talks about how the employee met a special customer need. For example, an employee learned sign language to serve a customer who was deaf. Another bonded with a child who had a heart transplant.

What does this have to do with chicken sandwiches?

Brand marketing is about creating an emotional expectation between you and your customers.

To illustrate this in my speeches, I’ll ask the audience to shout out what they think of when I say “Coca-Cola.” Without exception, they say “polar bears.” There was the one time when a guy in the front row said “sadness,” but that’s a story for another day.

My point is that Coke has spent billions to move your mind away from brown sugar water to playful, happy Christmas bears. Coke is a feeling. 

Chick-fil-A has its critics, but it is more than fast food to its raving customers. It’s a warm and happy feeling reinforced by food-less commercials.

So I don’t dismiss the Jaguar ads just because they are car-free. Will you buy a luxury car for its engine dimensions and gas mileage or because it actually means something to you? Jaguar’s brand meaning before last weak was as thin as Earl Grey Tea.

Finally, let’s address the target market strategy, which is aimed at …

3. Designers and Creatives

Years ago, I worked on an influencer marketing project with a luxury automotive brand. The company was introducing a stylish new car and wanted to host events nationwide for social media titans.

But I found that every car company was going after the same small group of luxury car influencers. It was nearly impossible to get their attention. So I started researching adjacent demographic markets. What other categories of people talk a lot about cars?

I discovered two groups obsessed with cars: technology geeks and creative directors. That makes sense, right? Cars are about tech and style.

Tesla has probably cornered the market for techno geeks. But what car brand has a special and unique appeal to creatives? There isn’t one. I think Jag studied the market data long and hard and saw a seam they could own. Brilliant. Early feedback shows creatives applauding the brand.

And by the way, the “copy nothing” appeal to creatives is a direct line to the Jaguar brand heritage.

The holistic strategy

Jaguar prototype

An ad is not a strategy. A logo is not a strategy. So what else do we know about the re-brand?

• Jag has built a radical new electric car that will sell for roughly double the price of current Jaguar vehicles. The car is expected to debut soon at the Miami Art Show. In an interview with Automotive News, Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell said the still-secret Jaguar GT will make people “salivate” when they see its styling.
• They are targeting young, wealthy, design-minded people. After the internet / AI boom, there are a lot of young millionaires out there wanting to make their own statement.
• The new all-EV Jaguar cars will be positioned as “exuberant,” “modernist,” “compelling,” and all about “fearless creative.” The strategy is spearheaded by an experienced and respected auto brand marketer, Gerry McGovern. So this re-brand is not the whimsical idea from some GenZ agency. There is data and insight behind the strategy. By the way, McGovern already turned the Range Rover brand around. So I am willing to give him a pass on the ad fumble.
• The company is overhauling its dealership network which will also feature high-end art and cusine. That is a BOLD reinvention of the auto dealership.

Jag is re-imagining the whole automotive experience through the lens of the creative class. It’s ludicrous to judge the entire strategy based on one ad.

Let’s give it time.

I just finished writing a book about disruptive marketing (“Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World“). I see the underlying logic of what Jaguar is trying to do. Jag might be a competent brand. But competent doesn’t cut it. Competent = commodity. Competent doesn’t create conversations. My book explains how the world’s best creatives are breaking through the noise by disrupting the:

• Narrative
• Medium, where the story is told
• Who is telling the story

From what we know about the brand’s holistic strategy, Jag is completely upending the luxury car narrative. This is exactly what they need to do. 

The risk? There is none. You can’t kill what’s already dead. The only risk is continuing to be forgettable.

They’re in that sweet spot where “nothing to lose” meets “everything to gain.” They’re in the perfect position to pull a Nutter Butter — to be so outrageous, so unexpected, that people can’t help but notice.

The new car is supposed to be introduced in a few weeks. If it’s as sleek and cool as it is rumored to be, if the dealerships become something more than a place where people hate to shop, if Jaguar creates a story that truly connects with a creative class longing to be understood … Jag will be newly relevant.

Perhaps it’s already on the way. After all, when was the last time we spent this much time talking about Jaguar?

Exactly.

Update: Jaguar has now introduced the car. The first look:

Here is the introduction video:

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy Jaguar

The post In defense of Jaguar (I think I’m the only one) appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Today, I’ll explain the Parasite Economy and why it is destroying businesses but opening up new opportunities for creators.

For many years, I’ve subscribed to Ted Gioia’s newsletter, “The Honest Broker.” It’s hard to describe this newsletter. Ted is a music critic and historian whose musings tend to wander all over the cultural landscape. But he has a knack for consistently connecting the dots in insightful ways, and I almost always learn something from his posts.

In an article titled “Are We Now Living in a Parasite Culture?” Ted makes an observation that is profound in its simplicity and wisdom. It goes like this:

“Nowadays, parasite businesses are the largest corporations in the world. Their technologies do many harmful things, but lately they have focused on serving up fake culture, leeching off the creativity of real human artists.

“Just take a look at the dominant digital platforms—and consider how little they actually create. But the amount of leeching they do is really quite stunning, especially when compared with the dominant businesses of the past.

• What does Facebook really create? Almost nothing. It relies on 3 billion users to create content (ugh!—their word, not mine), and then monetizes these people and their unpaid labor.
• What does Google really create? Almost nothing. Just look at how it destroys newspapers, while doing zero journalism itself. The comparison with a parasite could hardly be more apt. It feeds off the news, but never adds to it.
• What does Spotify really create? Almost nothing. The folks at Spotify don’t worry about their lousy app, because they’re so busy sucking blood from the creative economy, to which they contribute not one whit. Meanwhile, their CEO is now richer than any musician in the history of the world.
• What does TikTok really create? Almost nothing. This company relies on one million creators—none of them are employees. Most of them are working for hopes and dreams. TikTok is run like a Hollywood studio, but without cast, crew, directors, scriptwriters, or any creative talent whatsoever. But that hardly matters when you’re just a parasite living off unwitting hosts.

“Consider the case of the woman who attracted 713,000 TikTok followers and generated 11 million views for her videos—and got paid $1.85 over the course of five months. No that’s not $1.85 million—it’s one buck and eighty-five pennies. You can practically hear the lifeblood getting sucked out of the creator economy.”

Ted’s post continues, and he concludes by saying, “For the first time in history, the Forbes list of billionaires is filled with individuals who got rich via parasitical business strategies—creating almost nothing, but gorging themselves on the creativity of others.”

As usual, Ted made me think long and hard. I agree with him, but there is another side of this coin. In fact, the Parasite Economy is the best thing that ever happened to me in my professional life. And it can be for you, too. Today I’ll explain why.

The Parasite Economy’s Poster Child

On the surface, I am the poster child for “Victims of the Parasite Economy.”

I’ve probably added 20 million words to the social web through my blog and podcast alone. Google and its algorithm brotherhood crawl the internet like bugs, chewing my content like termites and then hurling it back out as an indistinguishable paste. The molecular material of my precious content is within everything now—no attribution, no money, no customers.

The years of effort behind this content are now part of the immortal glue that holds AI together. How have I been compensated for my significant content contribution? Nothing at all. I’ve never received one penny from Google, social media sites, or an AI company.

And yet, after 15 years of blogging and 12 years on the podcast, I keep churning out more. In fact, I think I’m doing my best work ever, giving away my most valuable ideas and insights every week.

Through Ted’s view, I should be incensed. But I’m grateful. Here’s why.

The Benefits of the Parasite Economy

While it’s true that I’m not making money from my content, I’ve made millions of dollars over the course of my creator career because I built an audience. You can’t have an audience without awareness, and you can’t have awareness without giving away valuable content.

I can see why Ted or any creative would feel abused because their content is consumed, loved, and shared without compensation. The key to surviving in the creator economy is not counting on your content for revenue. Those days are gone. So go ahead and grieve that reality, but get over it and look for other profitable ways to serve your audience.

I have 24 revenue streams. The most important ones are:

• Keynote speaking events and corporate workshops
• Personal coaching
• Book sales
• Private marketing retreat (The Uprising)
• Online classes

Until last year, I would have had marketing strategy consulting on the list — this was number one for many years. But I’ve been turning down these opportunities due to the wear and tear of travel.

My point is that, purely based on the awareness provided by the Parasite Economy, I’ve reinvented myself in a way that has allowed me to move away from the 9-5 corporate job.

The economics of our world today

I’ve never received a dime from Google or Facebook, but I’ve also never paid them (or anyone) a dime in advertising. So, at least for me, it’s been a fair trade-off.

Likewise, even a media company like The New York Times has been able to reinvent itself by diversifying into new media properties like podcasts, events, books, and speaking (they are building personal brands for their best reporters).

I am NOT dismissing the galaxy of negatives about internet parasites, including many of the good points Ted made in his post.

But I wanted to provide an alternate view that, with some creativity and resourcefulness, a creator can thrive, even under these strange circumstances.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy of MidJourney

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