The Future of Marketing AI is Built In

Very interesting report and white paper here from Intuit Mailchimp about how while most people are using freestanding AI tools (GPTs, et al) for their marketing right now, eventually it's going to be mostly integrated into our existing toolsets. I agree. No cost, and worth a read.

Your Website is Just an Intermediary

On a related note, I was recently a guest on the Design Rush podcast (this is the video, but it's available audio-only too), talking about AI making your website less important than ever, and what to do about that.

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Turn a Crisis into an Oasis

Eventually, something bad is gonna happen.

It's just math. At some point either you're going to mess something up, someone in your business is going to make a mistake, or a challenge will be thrust upon you by the universe.

For fast food chicken chain El Pollo Loco, is was the last one.

They were just minding their own business, making delicious chicken at nearly 500 locations (you may not know them, because they are only in six southwestern states, but have a big presence there).

All of a sudden, over on the massively popular Inside the NBA television show, noted cultural anthropologist Shaquille O'Neal joked (poorly, as is his custom) "How do you say fat *ss college students? El Pollo Loco?"

To which equally nimble Latino expert Charles Barkley chimed in: "El Pollo Loco, that's a good restaurant. They got some good chicken noodle soup boy."

"El Pollo Loco" means "The Crazy Chicken" So Shaq was as off on his translation as he used to be on his free throws.

And the don't serve chicken noodle soup. Never have. So Barkley was pretty far off-target on menu recommendations.

So if you're El Pollo Loco, what do you do in this situation?

What MOST businesses would do is:

A. Laugh it off and figure "any national mention is a net positive"

B. Get defensive and fire off a press release pointing out the errors

El Pollo Loco crashed through Door C: turn a crisis into an oasis.

They put out this "statement" in social media:

They poked gentle fun at the situation, donated 100 meals to Shaq's foundation, and sent Barkley some chicken TORTILLA soup (which they do serve).

The next night, Shaq and Chuck talked about the whole affair again, with Barkley proclaiming his love for the tortilla soup.

MAJOR free advertising. Not to mention dozens and dozens of media mentions of the exchange (plus: The Baer Facts!)

This is the way.

Of course, if something tragic or untoward occurs, it may not be appropriate to make light of the situation, nor to use your own social media to amplify it.

But in this case, El Pollo Loco's instincts were correct: it's not a huge deal, let's be cool about this and see if we can turn it into a win.

As I wrote about in my first book, The NOW Revolution, the best plan for this kind of scenario is to HAVE a plan.

If a crisis occurs, WHO gets contacted in the business? Where do you respond? How? When? If the CEO is fishing, how is she reached? These kind of desktop "what if?" exercises are very helpful if the real thing ever occurs.

So as we turn the page to 2025, remember: tomorrow COULD be your El Pollo Loco moment. Are you ready? If not, maybe it's time to talk through some potential scenarios with your own team?

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The Books Report

A fun read with an intimate tone, I really enjoyed Stanley Tucci's newest book: What I Ate in One Year and Related Thoughts.

It is as described: a journal of Tucci's food for a year, which is used as scaffolding for commentary on travel, culture, family, acting, and more.

Interesting, full of good recipe ideas, and easy to read a few minutes at a time.

I was on page 7 when I realized "Jay Baer: the tequila I drank in one year and related thoughts" book is totally doable!

Would you buy that book?

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Jay's Faves

If you're of a certain age, you may already have watched this one, because many in my cohort were FIRED UP about this. Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary is on HBO now, and it is awesome.

Lots of fascinating tales, and the intersections between many of the Yacht Rock superstars is new info for me.

It's very good, and produced by Bill Simmons and his team from The Ringer. Sailing!!