New Is Only Sometimes Better

Let’s look back to the summer of 2021: Consumers were spending freely, interest rates hadn’t yet spiked, and the crypto, metaverse, and Web3 crazes had reached new heights. If you were lurking on Reddit and Twitter during this time, it was easy to feel like these technologies were everywhere, and everyone wanted in. 

Even though the value proposition was never really accessible, simple, or clear, it’s not surprising that brands (and the people running them on both agency and client side) felt like they had to be there, as we in this industry are saddled with the belief and burden that new is always better. Facebook went so far as to rebrand its entire business to Meta as proof of its conviction that this is the future, even as most other efforts from brands went to waste. 

Fast forward a year and a bit later and the beast of inflation forces us all to rein in our spending. It has also meant brands no longer had the same luxuries to satisfy stakeholder egos with vanity projects that fulfil their desires to be cool and hip.

So after mostly getting burned in the last round of tech hype, it’s not surprising that they haven’t publicly rushed into this next wave of technologies like Midjourney and ChatGPT with the same blind enthusiasm. 

Firstly, there are the potential legality issues that have been raised about the output of these technologies regarding copyright and content ownership. 

Secondly and more importantly, rising marketing costs have hopefully forced agencies and brands to get back to the fundamentals and focus on solving real problems for their consumers. 

I’m pro technology, but I’m more pro problem-solving. If technology can help us do our jobs better, then we should lean in and take advantage of it. 

At Brave, we recently worked with NJA and director, Ayla Spaans, to create a truly original vibrant fruity world for Naked Smoothies using AI as a jumping off point, and Unreal Engine 5 as a way of realising it. These tools meant we could fully immerse ourselves in creating an ad that really felt deliciously original, colourful and fresh.

And Expedia has already shown how ChatGPT can be an amazing tool to help everyone build their perfect vacation, highlighting key amenities or top reasons to go to a particular destination, prices, and discounts all in an easy conversational format.  

It’s important that we stay informed about what’s out there, but we shouldn’t be changing for the sake of change. It should only be when it improves the value equation for the problem at hand. 

New is only sometimes better.