099: Wait this is the 99th?
[Before the Super Bowl] Previewing GenAI image creation with DALLE3, Gemini and Firefly
99 is a funny number mostly because it’s a stepping stone, the briefest of numerical moments. And here we are, 99 newsletter posts into this adventure, and on Super Bowl Sunday to boot.
Advertising’s biggest moment offers us a wonderful opportunity to think about all facets of creativity—concept, casting, direction, editing—all the myriad details worthy of $7 million for 30 seconds.
I really like the sentiment behind Less Social Media More Snapchat. Their SB58 spot is on the money, too, for what they’re trying to say—but the execution wasn’t as memorable as last year’s.
“Tom Has Won Enough” for BetMGM nails a classic ad formula: Pick a (heroic) fall guy, then rinse and repeat the gag. The Tim Birdie/Wayne Gretzky bit was perfect for this type of ad.
I want to be in the room when the team at Ogilvy pitched Michael Cera as the secret behind CeraVe. It’s just weird enough to work.
And then there are ads about the ads. Conceptually, I like what DoorDash is doing. The quite literally communicates their benefit; the challenge is really on the PR side trying to get Monday’s news cycle to focus on the winner.
Never underestimate simplicity. The Reese’s Caramel Big Cup ad works.
Comedy is hard enough. Nostalgia is an editor’s nightmare. Who ever edited VW’s “Arrival” threaded the needle. Having worked on the brand for nine years, I salute the line, “We shape its metal / You shape its soul.”
Tomorrow the AI for Artists and Entrepreneurs course will begin a two part examination of GenAI text-to-image tools. The prompt for this episode’s artwork was “Hyper realistic sports photo of very athletic Owls celebrating a touchdown - the lead Owl's jersey has number 99 on it.” Judge the results for yourself.
And on Tuesday we’ll focus on the beginning and flourishing of mass media for Persuasion & Marketing.