I recently became a grandfather. My grandson is a year old now — beautiful, smart, and strong (obviously!). I am mesmerized by how he meets the world with all his senses. Every blade of grass. Every beam of light. Pure, unguarded wonder.

I can’t help but look at him with immense pride and joy. But if I’m honest, there is fear sitting right next to the joy. A quiet, persistent fear about the kind of world ahead of him. An unknown, AI-dominant world.

So I’ve thought a lot about this — what it means to raise a child (or grandchild) — in a world filled with malignant uncertainty and unsettling change. How is parenting different now? What kind of world can we expect? And how do we prepare the people we love most for what’s coming next?

Let’s start at a very high level and dive down to baby level — what parents should know about AI.

Navigating the Poly Crisis

My friend Jola Burnett of Ipsos presented at The Uprising retreat last year and described our age as one of “poly crisis.” It is unique in that we’re surrounded by concern on all fronts. Environmental, political corruption, economic, and now this AI thing lurking in the shadows.

Perhaps this is small comfort, but we can recognize that the world has always been a shit show.

Who would have wanted to live in the Middle Ages? The World Wars? Through slavery, or the American Civil War, or Covid? Every generation has looked at the horizon and seen something that felt unsurvivable.

And yet. Here we are.

Humans found a way through. Overall, the world is becoming safer, healthier, and more prosperous, despite the parade of shit shows throughout history.

Humans don’t just endure hard times — we build institutions, laws, and social norms specifically designed to prevent the worst from happening again. That’s not naive optimism. That’s the solid truth of human history.

Whatever happens next, it’s just another opportunity for a resilient human race to conquer chaos.

Opposing the non-human world

We live in a deeply polarized and angry world. But here is one thing (mercifully!) we can all agree on — nobody wants to live in a non-human world.

Human beings want safety. We would like to have meaningful work. We want to have agency and the freedom to choose. And we don’t like to be bossed around.

If we reach a point where our livelihoods and families are threatened by AI, progress will certainly come to a screeching halt. Whether through legislation or resistance, we will not tolerate a non-human world. Human self-interest is a guardrail against AI dystopia.

A survey of 2,400 knowledge workers found that 44% of Gen Z employees admit to actively undermining or sabotaging their company’s AI strategies.

This isn’t dysfunction. It’s democracy working at the ground level.

This is people saying: not like this.

Watch the news for the signs. The direction of AI is now radically unpopular. The revolution, my friends, is already beginning.

The messy middle

AI will transform our lives for the better. I genuinely believe that. But we will have to earn it. We’ll have to walk through the messy middle first.

The Industrial Revolution offers us an example. It wasn’t just about job disruption, though that was real and brutal. There were many other negative outcomes through this cataclysmic economic transformation.

Foremost was pollution. In my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, the smoke from steelmaking operations was so thick that streetlights would come on midday.

And the mills were unsafe. The city had a “death calendar” during the early 1900s tracking the daily fatalities from industrial accidents. The Industrial Revolution enabled an incredible concentration of wealth (the robber barons) built on the backs of workers who risked their lives to build the country. And there was rampant political corruption.

But these were transitional setbacks that ultimately led to a better future. We cleaned up much of the pollution, created laws about working conditions, benefited from higher wages, and so on.

The AI Era will have its own messy middle. Career insecurity. Environmental costs. Misinformation. Algorithmic bias. Surveillance creeping into corners of life we haven’t yet thought to protect.

These are real. I am not asking anyone to minimize them. I am asking us to hold them alongside something else: the possibility that we are moving toward a world in which AI delivers medical, environmental, and economic miracles for society.

By the time my grandson is ready for college or is entering the workforce, I think we’ll be through the messy middle and live in a dramatically different and better world. He will take for granted that we have abundant free energy, longer lifespans, and unimaginable new work opportunities untethered from a desk, a wrench, or a computer screen.

Our fear is not their fear

As I thought through what I wanted to say in this post, I realized that I’ve been projecting my fear onto a one-year-old who has no idea any of this is happening.

AI has turned my professional world into a daily negotiation with irrelevance. The skills I spent decades building are now, in some form, available to anyone with a prompt. That’s disorienting, and it seems unfair.

My fear is about losing the status quo that I built my identity around. Reliable truth. Professional value. The sense that what I know matters. I grew up in a world that rewarded intelligence. Now, intelligence is a commodity.

But here’s the thing I keep coming back to: that fear is mine. It belongs to my generation, my context, my particular moment in history.

Our children are walking into a different story entirely. They’re not losing something. They are inheriting a new normal, and they’ll adapt to it the way every generation adapts — with a natural fearlessness that will astonish us.

We cannot protect them from their own new, unique anxieties. But we can refuse to hand them ours.

Let’s show them the world of hope that is ahead.

Easing into the future

While we watch the new world reveal itself, there are some things parents (and grandparents) can do to help our children navigate this future.

Curiosity

As I researched my book How AI Changes Your Customers (which many have told me is a parenting book!), one thing became clear: The future belongs to the curious.

If you’re curious, AI will feed you and educate you.

If you’re not curious and just want to get the answer and move on, you will wither.

So, encouraging curiosity is an important life skill. Maybe, the most important.

Comfort with ambiguity

The messy middle I described isn’t just economic — it’s psychological. While my baby grandson has time to ease into a new normal, teens who crave certainty will struggle. The skill of tolerating “I don’t know yet” while still moving forward is increasingly valuable.

When I watch my grandson play, he doesn’t need to understand something to engage with it. Eventually, AI will surround us like the air that we breathe. But in the messy middle, tolerance for ambiguity will be a plus.

Basic human skills

Perhaps I should write an entire post about this, but I am seeing research and personal evidence that young people addicted to screens for companionship are not developing basic human skills.

Empathy, storytelling, ethical judgment, the ability to read a room. These aren’t consolation prizes for people who can’t code. They’re what AI can’t replicate and what leadership increasingly requires.

These are also the skills being eroded by screen addiction and a preference for non-human relationships.

Will our children need “AI skills”? Probably not in the way we imagine. I can already do nearly anything with AI just by talking to it. It will be even more intuitive for our kids. What they will need is the ability to be human in a room full of humans. That will always matter.

Make tech part of the parenting process

Technology is an important part of life, and it needs to be an important part of the parenting process.

A view from my friend Anna Bravington:

“My son is a gamer. He’s grown up with Roblox and Minecraft, and I made a conscious decision to learn those platforms myself. I play Roblox with him. We use Minecraft Java Edition, download mods, install them, and explore it together. I wanted to understand not just what he was doing, but how these platforms work, where the risks are, and what opportunities they offer.”

If you are alongside your child as they learn about technology, you can help guide them into the world of AI in a healthy and balanced way.

The courage to be known

In a world where AI can generate anything, the people who build real relationships and a genuine reputation will have compounding advantages. Teach kids to show up as themselves, not to hide behind a screen.

Encourage your child to create and publish. I know that sets off some alarms, but the person who is “known” in their chosen industry will always have more doors open in a competitive world.

A human personal brand is our last, best defense against AI. Authenticity still sells. Real still matters. Eventually, we will need to talk to a person to navigate our world.

Grit and determination

I’m sure you’ve seen lists of jobs likely to be replaced by AI: legal, marketing, copywriting, etc.

I know it sounds trite … and I am anti-trite … but I do believe you should follow your dream, even in the face of troubling news.

If you are deeply and sincerely passionate about a career choice, go for it, but be prepared to sacrifice. To compete against AI, you’ll have to be extraordinary, and that costs something.

Side note: Law school graduates hit a record level this year. I see that as a sign that people are doubling down on a dream.

Community

For most of my life, I was a lone ranger — head down, self-sufficient, convinced I could figure it out alone. I was wrong about that. The AI Era, with all its isolation and disruption, is not a problem to be solved in isolation. I’m in the RISE community of forward-thinking marketers, and it has made all the difference.

My daughter and son-in-law have already figured out what took me decades. They are love magnets — always surrounded by people, always building something with friends. My grandson will grow up inside that. He will know, every day, that he is not alone.

That is not a small inheritance. In a world this uncertain, it may be the most important survival skill.

A world of awe

As I said, my grandson is one now. Every single movement is an exploration for him. Every leaf, stone, and stick is a new experience. Picking up a flower is a revelation. Just wait until he discovers stars!

We have a choice, every single day. We can tune into the painful world like a police scanner, absorbing the steady frequency of crisis and threat and crime. Or we can tune into it the way this boy does — as a place overflowing with miracles, where every bird and bug is a joy to behold.

The boy will be OK. And maybe I will be OK too … if I can just be more like him.

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

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What happens when everyone reaches for the AI Easy Button?

I have a lesson today about an emerging danger of AI and marketing. But to get to the lesson, you’ll have to hear my story. It’s an old story, but it matters a lot. Here we go.

I was the CMO for a large business unit of a Fortune 100 company.

Each year, we sent teams out to visit customers to learn how they were using our products and how we could improve. These three-person teams were well-trained for this activity, and the lessons we learned would inform my marketing and R&D strategy for at least the next 12 months.

This was a long and expensive process — our customers were scattered around the world. We were wrapping up our final trip of the year and saying goodbye to our hosts when one of the customer scientists said offhandedly, “By the way, did you happen to see this preliminary research report on coating ingredients from the U.S. government?”

We had not. When we looked into it, we found the new research could potentially ban a key ingredient that my industry had used in its products for decades. It was still early, but if the research found a problem with these chemicals, my company and its customers would be imperiled.

Changing a fundamental ingredient in an industrial product used worldwide is no easy matter. It would take millions of dollars and years of testing to make a change. But with this early alarm and the potential risk, we proceeded on an R&D path to find a replacement ingredient.

Three years later, the government changed the regulations on this chemical. Our competitors were panicked. We were safe because we had listened, learned, and acted responsibly, thanks to our deep and unique understanding of the market.

And that brings me to AI.

The AI Easy Button

I have a number of friends working in market research. Their workload is drying up because companies are turning to AI as an inexpensive shortcut.

Not only can AI scan the universe for the information you need, but synthetic AI audience panels can simulate what your customers might say in real interviews.

The general feedback is that using AI is about an 85% solution, and that is good enough to justify the cost savings over human effort.

Except when it isn’t.

Let’s go back to the story I told to begin this post.

There is no way we would have found that critical information through an AI scan or synthetic customer panels.

If I used AI for my customer research, I would probably have the same information our competitors had. What good is that?

The real marketing insight and innovation doesn’t come in the 85%. It comes inside the 15% that you get by doing the hard work and digging into unique customer insights.

Challenge and opportunity

The use of synthetic data for research poses both challenges and opportunities for traditional researhers.

Ray Wang, founder and chairman of Constellation Research, agrees there is a danger in relying too much on synthetic research. “At some point, the regurgitation of insights will lead to a brain rot like we’ve never seen,” he said. “Folks are going to be craving for authenticity and insight, and that only comes with years of human experience.”

Liz Miller, VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, told me, “Market research got itself into a bad hole because because 80% of their answers come from the same 20% of the population that answers questions. They then keep renewing the panel with the same people and give them a Starbucks gift card, hoping they will answer the same questions differently.

‘We’re in a disappointing space when it comes to market research, if we’re being really honest with it. So there is a place for AI research, but it also gives traditional researchers the chance to be brave and ask the hard questions, the questions they’ve never been able to have answered before.”

Pause before using AI

I know there are always budget pressures. I’ve been there. I know you have to make responsible decisions abotu your research. But before you hit the AI Easy Button, think hard about what you’re giving up.

Information that transforms your company?

A unique competitive advantage over everyone else opting for shortcuts?

An insight that secures your future?

Maybe your future lies in that 15% that only human experience can pick up on.

Need an inspiring 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 MidJourney

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I often consult with people who want to begin or jumpstart a speaking career. I have one key piece of advice and let’s start with a little piece of data I’ve been using in my classes for a while:

Look carefully at the top five ways that speakers are found by meeting professionals: they are seen and recommended by someone else.

The key action here is … you MUST BE SEEN.

Jumpstart a speaking career

When new speakers ask me for advice, I always tell them the same thing: Don’t worry about the money. Just get out there and SPEAK.

The more you speak, the more you’ll speak because you’ll be seen and recommended.

Be humble. Take anything and learn, learn, learn. The momentum will begin to roll.

Of course, you need a great speech — something that is new, interesting, and appeals broadly to audiences. But when you’re ready, get out there any way you can.

And don’t wait for an invitation. Get out there and make something happen yourself. Take control of your career.

The beginning

I have about 25 different revenue streams, but speaking is my most important.

I didn’t plan to be a professional speaker. But as my personal brand began to grow, I started to get invitations. You ARE working on your personal brand, aren’t you??

Here is how my speaking career began.

I live in Knoxville, TN, a wonderful city, but not a hotbed for budding marketing speakers. When I started my speaking career around 2009, I developed a speech titled “Five Things You Need to Know About Social Media Now.”  Social media was a red-hot topic back then, and I had immersed myself in studying the topic.

Then I went out to the chamber of commerce, community service groups, marketing clubs, and anyone who would be interested in hearing me speak. I landed 10 or 12 talks (all free) and kept getting better and better.

Then, somebody from Nashville saw me at one of these talks and asked me to speak at their marketing event. That is a three-hour drive from Knoxville. I asked if they could find $500 to cover my travel expenses, and they agreed.

Now I was speaking in a major city and a bigger venue. At the Nashville talk, somebody saw me who was representing a professional association. They were impressed and asked me to speak at their annual conference in Nashville in a couple of months. I asked them if they could cover my travel and pay me $1,000. They agreed, and I was officially a professional speaker.

At that event, somebody from a big trucking association saw me and asked if I could speak at their event in New Orleans. I said sure … could you pay me $2,000? Yup.

And I was on my way. The momentum was building.

Speak to speak

This is how the world works. The more you speak, the more you speak!

The hardest part is swallowing your pride in those early days and starting at the bottom. My first talk was for the Farragut, Tennessee Lions Club! The AV didn’t work. The chicken lunch was dismal. Two fellows fell asleep. But that’s OK. I was learning. I was moving forward.

When nobody would hire me to speak, I even started my own event called Social Slam. 450 people attended in the first year, and I got some great photos and videos for my website.

That’s how it works. If you want to jumpstart a speaking career, get out there and take control of your own destiny.

Be humble, don’t wait for an invitation, keep working it, and the momentum will build.

Need an inspiring 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

The post The best way to jumpstart a speaking career appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

There has been a flurry of new evidence emerging about mysterious Rage Farms and their relentless attacks on politicians, businesses, brands, and individuals.

The Cracker Barrel example was just the most recent meltdown. Companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, McDonald’s, TD Bank, and American Eagle have suffered withering attacks from legions of coordinated, fake social media accounts.

“Disinformation-as-a-Service” has become a profitable, global criminal enterprise: low-cost, high-impact bot networks hired to attack and destroy businesses and individuals … like you. And the social media platforms that could stop them won’t, because chaos is profitable.

Propelled by AI, these strikes are targeting brands big and small. And the financial consequences are real — sliding stock prices, damaged brand equity, ruined careers.

There has been a lot of online chatter about the anonymous AI agents wreaking this havoc, but I wanted to know more. WHO is doing this? WHY are they doing it?

I’m alarmed that any of us can be attacked by these anonymous criminals. So I went down the rabbit hole to find out who’s behind this … and what we can do about it.

Today I will cover:

• How these bots attack controversial issues at blinding speed
• The evidence that these are coordinated attacks 
• How AI bots “prepare” for their next fight
• How momentum from fake bots enters the culture and becomes amplified by real people
• The probable goals of Rage Farms, including financial gains from stock market manipulation
• Why Rage Farm controversies are disconnected from true consumer sentiment
• Expert views on preparing for a Rage Farm attack

A clue: The speed of attack

The first clue that we’re observing sophisticated, coordinated efforts at Cracker Barrel and other brands is the speed of the online attacks. Once a small amount of negative sentiment circulates about a brand, the disinformation ramps up immediately and relentlessly.

According to The Wall Street Journal, AI-powered bots rapidly spin up “grassroots-looking” campaigns around incendiary or divisive issues (like culture-war topics), and keep them trending.

Fake bots authored 44.5% of X (Twitter) posts mentioning Cracker Barrel in the 24 hours after the new logo gained attention on Aug. 20, 2025. That number rose to 49% among posts calling for a boycott.

Within a few hours, X saw around 400 negative Cracker Barrel posts per minute. Seventy percent of the accounts promoting boycotts at that point used duplicate messages, a key marker of coordinated bots, said Molly Dwyer, director of insights at PeakMetrics.

Rage Farms: The business of creating chaos

A Cyabra investigation revealed more specifics about the coordinated Cracker Barrel attack. By analyzing thousands of profiles engaged in the conversation, Cyabra mapped inauthentic behavior patterns and exposed a coordinated strategy.

The data show a substantial portion of the negative discourse was manufactured by fake accounts working to amplify hostility, promote boycott narratives, and undermine public trust.

• Multiple reports found that about 35% of online activity criticizing Cracker Barrel was driven by fake accounts, with at least two organized bot groups fueling much of the outrage.
• Fake profiles created hundreds of posts and comments specifically crafted to damage Cracker Barrel’s reputation, and the manufactured campaign had nearly 5 million potential views.
• These fake profiles also triggered 3,268 direct engagements from genuine profiles. This is important because when real people engage with fake information, it gives fake posts a powerful boost on the X algorithm.

Fake profiles pushed hashtags like #BoycottCrackerBarrel and #CrackerBarrelHasFallen, creating the impression of a massive consumer revolt … that was not happening in real life.

The attack momentum

These accounts made exaggerated claims about an imminent financial collapse, often stating that the company’s stock price would “crash” and that restaurants would soon close nationwide.

They promoted deleting the Cracker Barrel app and announced they would never set foot in any of the chain’s stores or purchase any of its products. By falsely portraying the boycott as successful, these profiles created a self-fulfilling prophecy of declining consumer confidence.

Noting the online wave of attention (and unaware that most of it was fake), prominent political accounts like Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Donald Trump Jr. piled on with their own takes on the controversy and began targeting the company’s CEO, Julie Messino.

After his son’s post, President Trump weighed in on Truth Social against the new logo. And when that level of celebrity contributes to the conversation, the illusion of failure becomes reality.

On Aug. 26, Cracker Barrel reversed course and cancelled a $700 million rebrand.

This effort, primarily backed by two organized Rage Farms, succeeded in:

• Creating an illusion of consumer rejection: Flooding platforms with negative content manufactured the appearance of widespread customer abandonment.
• Framing a routine change as catastrophic: What might have been viewed as a standard brand refresh was positioned as a devastating mistake through coordinated messaging.
• Generating mainstream media coverage: The manufactured outrage attracted attention from most major news outlets, further amplifying its reach.
• Establishing persistent negative narratives: Strategic hashtag deployment ensured negative framing dominated search results and social conversations about the brand.

The obvious question is, who did this?

Who is behind a Rage Farm?

Cyabra CMO Rafi Mendelsohn told me that his research firm checks 600 to 800 parameters, including location, posting frequency, and the use of AI-generated avatars, to declare whether accounts are human or not.

Some of these fake accounts “prepare” for attacks by posting real content for months to build credibility and attract an audience. The accounts within a Rage Farm also interact with each other, further enhancing their status within the X algorithms.

But who is creating this coordinated mayhem?

“The answer to that is — who is behind all crime?” said Mendlesohn. “It could be a range of different actors, including state-backed crime or organized crime, syndicate crime, political crime, or small networks of lone individuals. It could even be competitors or financial players looking to impact the share price.

“The anonymity that malicious actors are allowed through fake social media accounts enables them to operate without much risk. We can detect fake accounts, but we can’t tell exactly who is behind them. We can look at the behavior of those accounts and their content, and if it’s manipulated, but we can’t tell you the IP address because we don’t have access to that information. We can’t say, ‘this is an office block in Moscow, or it’s a group of angry people in Texas.’ It’s impossible to do that, and that’s by design, right? That’s why it’s so effective. The anonymity is powerful.”

According to Rafi, the main motivations behind coordinated brand attacks include:

1. Money, power, and influence
2. State-backed actors looking to cause chaos and disrupt social harmony
3. Financial manipulation (e.g., targeting ticker symbols)
4. Ideological reasons and culture wars (e.g., “go woke, go broke” narratives)
5. Amplifying emotional or controversial topics to sow chaos
6. Commercial adversaries creating false narratives about a brand’s stance on social issues to harm the brand’s reputation

In addition to the obvious “anti-woke” ideological amplification in the Cracker Barrel example, there could have been stock market manipulation since this is a publicly traded stock (CBR). If a Rage Farm can manufacture a rapid change in brand sentiment, it increases the odds of gap-downs and forced follow-on selling — the environment where short sellers make the most money in the least amount of time.

Criminals behind the attack could have manufactured the online sentiment slide, and made millions by shorting the stock.

The disconnect from consumer reality

I think it’s critical to add that there is probably no correlation between online rage — whether real or manufactured — and true customer sentiment.

In a comprehensive analysis, researchers Brad Fay and Rick Larkin compared the online sentiment of 500 brands versus the sentiment of everyday consumers. They concluded that there was “no meaningful correlation between online and offline discussions for brands.”

Of course, this also means that brands can’t rely on “social media listening” as a proxy for broader consumer sentiment or to evaluate the complete impact of any decision or campaign … but that’s a story for another day.

In summary, AI-propelled, fake social media accounts created and amplified a national controversy, and even if some of the online discontent was genuine, it almost certainly didn’t reflect the sentiment of the company’s real customers.

“In any other crime, you can see it being committed,” Rafi Mendelsohn said, “You can see the act. But in this case, you are consuming content in your feed. You can’t grasp the big picture. You have no idea the crime is being committed, and you might be part of it.

“We’re just this passive victim, not even knowing what it is that we’re seeing, but we know it made us feel angry, or it tapped into a certain emotion, and we might even want to move on from the brand … and that’s what it’s designed to do.”

While companies like Cyabra can’t pin down IP addresses and eliminate bad actors, X can. But they won’t. Controversy of any kind drives engagement. Engagement drives advertising. In summary, hate is good for business.

“Brands can find themselves in hot water, not just because of something they’ve done, but purely by virtue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Rafi said. “Fake accounts can escalate a situation to the point that it gains media attention and impacts the brand’s reputation.”

What can we do about Rage Farms?

So the only organizations that can protect us (like X and Facebook) won’t do so because it would hurt their businesses. What are our options?

In addition to Rafi from Cyabra, I solicited advice from corporate communications experts Kami Huyse and Daniel Nestle. Here is the advice:

Keep your head down.

If a controversial topic is brewing, Rage Farms are looking for anything they can grab onto in order to amplify chaos. Brands are easy targets. (Rafi)

Prepare.

If you’re launching a rebrand, product change, campaign, or major announcement — map out how it could be framed negatively. What narratives could be constructed? What emotional triggers (tradition, identity, politics) exist? (Rafi)

Monitor as if you’re NORAD.

Invest in the right listening platforms that flag anomalies and suspicious activity in real time. Spot the patterns before they explode. (Dan)

Be proactive.

It has reached a point where brands must have a bot-attack crisis plan. Even if they aren’t in a traditionally controversial company or industry. We now have a decision tree in all of our clients’ communication playbooks, from large to small. We have pre-written some messages that allow our team to quickly without waiting for multiple approvals. This allows us to identify patterns early, remove harmful content, and escalate issues when needed. (Kami)

Run crisis simulations using AI.

Create and maintain personas for all of our audiences (especially media and investors), and if we have synthetic data, even better. We can use these to role-play scenarios, test messages, and get feedback. Learn from the simulations, load pre-approved messaging, and accelerate response speed and accuracy. (Dan)

Relentlessly build trust and credibility with audiences.

This should be what we already do, but most of the time it’s just lip service. We should create experiences, invest in brand marketing,  deploy frequent and authentic executive communications, treat our employees as our most important audience. All the important stuff. We won’t stop the bots, but we can short-circuit them with a durable, believable, well-loved, and very human brand. (Dan)

Show active listening.

If a crisis hits, acknowledging legitimate concerns, showing willingness to listen and adjusting (rather than doubling down blindly) helps reduce amplification of negativity. (Kami)

Don’t engage.

AI bots comment on each other’s posts to trick algorithms into thinking there’s an authentic conversation, which then makes the malicious conversation start to appear to people who might have the same or opposite point of view, or both. Engaging with bots rarely helps and often amplifies the problem. (Kami)

Activate fans.

When bots rush in, your best defence isn’t more bots — it’s real people. Loyal customers, brand advocates, influencers who genuinely care and share. Build and mobilize this community ahead of time so that when something hits you, the “real counter-voice” is already in place. (Rafi)

Don’t treat this as a “PR problem.”

This is company-wide reputational security. (Rafi)

In this environment, every brand must assume it could be next. Preparedness is no longer optional. The networks, the bots, the narratives are waiting. The brands that win will be those who anticipate and build resilience now, not just after the storm hits.

Rage Farms: Final thoughts

Everything above is good advice.

It’s also exactly what the attackers want.

They want brands to be bland. Executives to be scared. Marketing to play it safe. Democracy to be fragile. Trust to erode.

The Cracker Barrel case is not an outlier — it’s a harbinger. This is our new, true reality, and I am concerned on three levels:

1. Great marketing is not about conformity. It is about non-conformity. Will surviving in this Rage Farm world mean that everything is vanilla now? What level of creativity is worth an attack like this?
2. Marketing has changed the world for the better by taking risks, by helping people speak up and stand out, by calling attention to societal problems and new solutions. Will that aspect of our profession wither?
3. I am deeply sad and concerned that the Rage Farm attacks focused on individual executives. These are hard-working people with families and careers, trying to do their best for a company. We all make mistakes. But nobody deserves to live in fear of physical attacks on their families because of a logo redesign.

When anonymous criminals can destroy careers over a brand re-launch, they’re not just attacking our businesses. They’re attacking our ability to speak truth and stand for something.

There is hope

Let me end this article with a ray of hope.

I’ve been around long enough to say with authority that every technological development is eventually weaponized. But we figure it out and neutralize it over time.

Regulating technology to protect our personal and business interests is a slow process. But it does happen, every time. Remember … Rage Farm attacks on our brands are a secondary concern. They are also attacking our democratic processes.

Watch the news. Countries will begin to fight back.

• A few years ago, Singapore introduced a statute that explicitly targets what it calls “false statements of fact” disseminated online, signalling a governmental willingness to treat bot campaigns and manipulated networks as more than mere marketing or PR mishaps.
• The EU requires the biggest social platforms to report and act on manipulation campaigns and bot-driven disinformation, providing a blueprint for how law can begin to counter Rage Farm attacks.
• In the U.S., law enforcement isn’t just watching. The DOJ recently announced the seizure of nearly 1,000 social media accounts tied to an AI-powered Russian bot farm that spread disinformation.

A solution is not easy or imminent, but I don’t think Rage Farms will be free to sow their chaos forever.

And remember, the best defense against synthetic rage is authentic trust, earned one customer at a time.

The Most Human Company Wins. Stay strong.

Need an inspiring 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 Rage Farms: The Hidden Industry Weaponizing Outrage Against Brands appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Some mornings, you just want somebody to serve you breakfast.

And on those days, I would drive to Cracker Barrel. Despite the fluffy eggs and smoky sausage, I never felt like I quite belonged in this place of silver-haired “old timers” and boxed sets of The Beverly Hillbillies. But it was close to my house, and I was hungry.

Then a new place opened — First Watch. This restaurant was clean and bright. It offered healthy alternatives as well as creative new options such as lavender pancakes, breakfast cocktails, and the GenZ signature dish, avocado toast. There were no Patsy Cline CD collections. And they leave the coffee pot on the table!

I have not stepped foot inside a Cracker Barrel since.

Apparently, millions of other people made the same choice. Traffic to Cracker Barrel declined by 16% in the last five years.

Something had to change for this brand, and fast. It was time for a refresh … and you probably know what happened next. Chaos.

What can we learn from this fiasco?

I won’t re-hash the debate, but as this unfolded, I couldn’t help but wonder … could a social media brand backlash like this happen to me? Could it happen to you and your company?

What do we need to do so that our own marketing efforts aren’t Cracker Barreled?

Was the backlash even real?

The most visible and public display of the change was a re-branded logo that eliminated the “old timer.”

The new logo was part of an effort to reach younger customers with a sleeker, more contemporary look. But this conflicted with the company’s old-fashioned, down-home image.

I thought the design was soulless, but I also approach these things humbly. I assumed this logo was probably the result of millions of dollars of testing and development. I was not in the meetings. There had to be a customer-driven logic here.

The backlash over the new design was swift and intense. Social and mainstream media lit up with criticism, including commentary that the brand had gone “woke” (more on that later).

My first instinct was to feel defensive and support the marketing team. It seems like everything in America is politicized these days. But would real Cracker Barrel customers even notice a logo change?

Research shows that there is almost no correlation between true public opinion and social media sentiment — a small number of angry people with large audiences can hijack the conversation and make it seem bigger than it is. Are the online critics even Cracker Barrel customers?

According to Cyabra, a social analytics firm that specializes in detecting coordinated inauthentic behavior, 21% of the outrage was generated by fake accounts and artificial amplification.

These weren’t throwaway spam bots. They were sophisticated actors creating 916 coordinated content units that reached “more than 4.4 million potential views.”

Despite being artificial, Cyabra found a measurable real-world impact. The manufactured posts generated more than 3,000 genuine engagements, peaking August 22 — coinciding with a 10.5% drop in Cracker Barrel’s stock, much of it triggered by signals that never represented genuine community sentiment in the first place.

When the backlash came, I hoped Cracker Barrel would remain steadfast and see the thing through.

I recalled a similar outcry — the famous Nike brand partnership with Colin Kaepernick. Some people were so angry that they burned Nike gear in the streets! However, the company stood by its position, and the stock price soared within a week.

Cracker Barrel should stay the course, right?

How to avoid being Cracker Barreled

As the backlash intensified (including a tweet from Donald Trump), Cracker Barrel reversed its logo rebrand and returned to its original emblem.

Had a political agenda defeated a rational marketing strategy?

Does this mean we abandon solid business priorities when Twitter runs hot?

Could any well-meaning, professional marketer be Cracker Barreled?

We need to examine the entire story. Information began to seep out that there was inadequate research behind the rebranding. The company cut corners by moving to creative before a thorough market analysis.

They committed the great marketing sin: Creative before strategy.

Polling showed that three-quarters of Americans preferred the old design, with only 23% viewing the rebrand positively. That should have been evident in the research before the rebrand. But there was no research.

What was different about the Nike example? Nike had extensive research on the values and priorities of its customers. Aligning with the controversial quarterback made sense. The company knew there would be a backlash — and they accounted for it. But the people who complained were not their core customers. Nike held the course and accomplished a great marketing success.

The Cracker Barrel debacle serves as a poignant reminder of a fundamental lesson in Marketing 101: Strategy begins with research.

Commit to research

There are no guarantees in marketing. But if there’s one thing we can control, it’s whether our big bets are informed by reality or driven by guesswork and emotions.

Research isn’t just a line item in a budget. It’s marketing insurance. Cracker Barrel cut corners and went straight to creative. Nike didn’t.

And for a big bet like this, research has to be something more than polling or running a focus group. Great research is multi-layered:

• Quantitative data — surveys, polling, and yes, even new synthetic AI-generated panels that can test ideas in hours.
• Qualitative insight — focus groups, interviews, or just observing how real people interact with your product in the wild.
• Cultural listening — paying attention to the broader conversations, memes, and movements that shape how people interpret your brand.

Starbucks doesn’t guess on something as small as cup designs. They study cultural shifts related to sustainability, digital convenience, and identity before taking action.

Doritos ran a campaign stripping its logo from packaging/ads, betting people would recognize them anyway. They validated the idea through brand recognition studies and social listening before going public.

Chipotle monitored viral TikTok “menu hacks” (like the quesadilla + vinaigrette combo) and tested them in small pilots. Basically, this was free R&D that shaped product decisions.

Treat every decision — a new logo, a pricing change, a product feature — as a hypothesis. Test it before you scale it.

Why didn’t Cracker Barrel pilot the idea first? Brand arrogance.

Wokification

If Cracker Barrel had robust research that supported the rebranding decision, would it have made a difference? I’m not sure.

The lack of research was only part of the story.

Much of the social media backlash centered on the opinion that the Cracker Barrel CEO was a “woke woman.” When the attack takes that ugly, polarizing direction, reason and data don’t make a difference.

Christopher Rufo, a right-wing activist, posted on X: “It’s not about this particular restaurant chain — who cares — but about creating massive pressure against companies that are considering any move that might appear to be ‘wokification.’”

The logo commentary was unhinged. Sean Davis, the chief executive of The Federalist, a right-wing website, wrote, “Cracker Barrel’s CEO and leadership clearly hate the company’s customers and see their mission as re-educating them with the principles of gay race communism.”

In what universe is a boring logo and new menu items a manifesto for gay race communism?

And if you followed this story, you’ll know that the president eventually weighed in.

Even if your research is sound, will a board of directors support your rebrand when the president of the United States piles on with negative tweets?

The new layer of fear

It’s impossible to know, but I don’t think any amount of research could have prevented the political backlash. It was a slow news cycle. The activists smelled blood and needed to stay in the culture wars spotlight.

Cracker Barrel messed up, but it didn’t deserve that level of hate. An interesting thought experiment: Could the highly successful Nike campaign be successful in this political climate?

For me, this incident highlights a new layer of fear in the marketing world. In my recent book Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World, I named “fear” as the biggest reason why most marketing is boring.

We play it safe and create boring work because of fear.

Fear of upsetting a customer.

Fear of a reaction from the legal department.

Fear of being ridiculed.

Fear of losing your job.

Fear of being the next Cracker Barrel.

We’re no longer in a comfortable world where a brand is what you say it is. The brand is defined by what others say it is. Including the social media rabble rousers. Including influencers trying to catch the wave of public opinion. Including the president.

The enigma is, “safe” is lousy marketing. “Safe” is ignorable.

The surest way to avoid being Cracker Barreled is to realize that your customers are the strategy. Start with research and, like Nike, make sure your leadership team is on board with the risks.

Research and organizational alignment don’t eliminate political risk, but they ensure you’re betting with data, reason, and a defensible strategy on your side.

Before you redesign, research. Before you publish, pilot. Before you fold, fight.

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

Illustrations courtesy Mid Journey

The post How to keep from being Cracker Barreled appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

This summer has been a grand experiment.

For the first time since I was 13 years old, I took the summer off. I’m still blogging and podcasting, but I had no deadlines, no business trips, no customer responsibilities. I was determined to explore this concept known as “slowing down.”

This hiatus was self-imposed. I’ve had some health issues creep up on me, so I needed to spend more time relaxing, exercising, and healing.

Well, that was the plan, anyway. I’ve been partially successful. My health issues are under control. I’ve read a few books. I took some magnificent hiking and kayaking trips. I painted a few (not very good) watercolor pictures.

And then, the weirdest thing happened. This unfamiliar shudder came over me. I felt bored.

I do not believe I have had this feeling in over a decade. When you’re building a business, there is always something to do! But for a brief shining summer, I put that entrepreneurial frenzy aside, and I felt this paralyzing and scary feeling.

My moment of boredom was followed by a massive wave of guilt. How dare I feel BOREDOM! Am I wasting my life?

I was unprepared for this shock of emotion.

Can you be happy and bored?

Perhaps I am part of the last generation to have truly known chronic boredom. As a kid, there was no internet, let alone TikTok, YouTube, Netflix, or Candy Crush. I was always bored, especially when I was in the back seat of the car.

Does anybody feel bored anymore, ever? I mean, can’t you always pick up Wordle or something? The second we feel the tiniest lull, we dive into our phones like we’re rescuing a drowning puppy.

I began to think a lot about boredom.

How did people in pioneer days keep from going crazy during winters on the prairie?

As you get older and can do less, see less, and hear less, is boredom inevitable? How will I handle that?

Can I be happy and bored at the same time?

I began to wonder … is there any benefit to boredom? 

I went down the rabbit hole to figure out if boredom is just a waste of perfectly good oxygen or if it actually has some merit. Turns out, science has been poking at boredom for years — probably because some researchers got bored and thought, “Hey, this is publishable.”

The case for boredom

On the plus side, there’s scientific evidence that boredom is a springboard for creativity. A study found that participants who performed a mind-numbingly dull task (such as copying numbers from a phone book) performed better on creative tasks afterward.

Why? Boredom can give your brain space to wander, connect dots, and hatch weird, wonderful ideas you wouldn’t have had while bingeing The Bear (love).

I came up with this idea that boredom is “psychological fasting.” Clears the decks.

Boredom can be a signal, like your brain’s low-battery warning. Psychologists refer to it as a “self-regulatory emotion,” prompting you to seek meaning or a challenge. That restlessness is your brain saying, “You are built for more than scrolling Instagram.”

And boredom might even make you a better person. Research suggests boredom can push people to volunteer, donate, or help others, because they’re looking for something fulfilling to do.

Maybe the whole world needs to be bored for a day or two.

The case against boredom

Before we start handing out “Bored and Proud” bumper stickers, let’s be honest — boredom can also be the fast lane to bad habits. Boredom eating? Check. Impulse online shopping? Double check. Endless YouTube spirals leading to“How to Survive a Moose Attack”? Don’t ask.

In extreme cases, boredom isn’t just annoying — it’s linked to higher risk-taking, reckless driving, and substance abuse. A study found chronic boredom can correlate with depression and anxiety.

It’s not that boredom causes these issues, but left unchecked, it can create a nasty loop of “nothing feels interesting, so I do nothing, so nothing feels interesting.”

Plus, in our hyper-connected world, boredom tolerance is at an all-time low. This robs us of the chance to sit in stillness long enough for our minds to do anything useful with it.

My boredom breakthrough

I realized my unexpected feeling of guilt wasn’t because boredom is bad. It was because I’d forgotten how to do it. It was literally a shock to my system. My default mode is perpetual motion: write a book, launch a project, book a flight, repeat. Slowing down felt like driving a Ferrari in first gear.

Here’s the amazing part. The moment I dipped into boredom, I launched into a creative frenzy. All these new ideas just came flowing out.

And I wrote a book. Not kidding. Three weeks.

But that’s a story for another day.

Boredom as a luxury?

Like anyone, I feel a range of emotions every day. Except boredom. If you have YouTube in the palm of your hand, there is just no excuse, right?

But shouldn’t we want to feel bored sometimes?

I think boredom has gotten a bad rap. Until this century, boredom was a common fact of life. I’m beginning to think God wanted us to be bored every now and then. It’s a fertile little re-set. You never know what will happen.

I have a new practice of sitting outside with no distractions, no books, no technology. At least an hour per week. Doesn’t that seem weird … boredom is a luxury?

Curing boredom with Wordle is a bit like sating hunger with M&M’s. Give boredom a chance. Take it for a walk. Ask it what it’s trying to tell you. You might just find your next big idea hiding in the quiet.

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 Mid Journey

The post Stop the presses. I think I was just bored. appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

A few months ago, I was asked to participate in a university-sponsored study on how AI will impact humanity by 2035. The resulting research paper is extraordinary, as 300 futurists weighed in on the subject — Being Human in 2035. This is a roadmap of how AI will change your customers in the next 10 years and a vital perspective for marketers.

Sure, there is a lot of discussion about how AI will impact our content, our businesses, our careers, and our personal productivity. But isn’t it at least important for marketers to know how AI might fundamentally change the humanity of our customers?

Today, I’d like to present six conclusions from the study, which the authors deemed the most probable scenarios. This is not a new marketing gospel. It’s a starting point for reflection and discussion. Our customers are almost certainly about to change dramatically, and we need to start thinking about this now.

Some of these predictions might cause concern or even alarm, but remember that these probabilities also suggest new opportunities and realities for forward-thinking businesses …

1. AI deteriorates critical thinking

The futurists found it highly probable that AI will inevitably wear away at critical thinking skills for an obvious reason. Humans are generally averse to deep thinking.

We look for shortcuts and easy answers. AI makes it easy to skip the work and go right to an answer.

The researchers pointed to a concept called Phronesis, the context-sensitive capacity for self-correcting judgment and a resulting practical wisdom. This capacity is expected to be reduced in an AI-dominant world.

Here’s a personal example. For me, writing a book is the equivalent of earning a master’s degree. For two years, I research, write, and dig deep into new ideas. And I internalize this learning. At the end of the process, I can consult and teach about my book subjects … like personal branding or brand communities.

But if I have AI do the work and write the book for me, the opportunity for phronesis is gone. I’ve internalized nothing and gained no new practical wisdom that will propel my career.

2. AI and emotional intelligence

You undoubtedly have seen reports of humans preferring AI in customer service situations. Bots never get tired, irritable, or frustrated. Harvard recently reported that the number one use case for AI today is “therapy and seeking direction.”

We also see AI compassion and patience in ongoing human friendships (and beyond friendships!). Imagine having a partner who always knows the perfect thing to say.

The majority of the experts believe that many humans will prefer AI relationships to human ones. Why not opt-in to a relationship that requires no work, no compromise, no heartbreak?

A friend left this comment on one of my LinkedIn posts:

“I’m so immersed in my conversations with ChatGPT, that I completely forget it’s not human. It’s like having an incredibly powerful and knowledgeable friend. Yesterday we had a long discussion about the rhetoric of a legal document that ended up in a philosophical exploration on how linguistic arrogance corrupts us.”

The new research also pointed out that as these human-synth relationships strengthen, we will become less adept at reading human social clues.

3. AI and human agency

What will it feel like to live in a world knowing that a machine can do almost anything better than you? The experts predict that when machines commonly exceed human performance, it will disrupt our sense of autonomy and free will.

Similarly, when we can expect the perfect intelligent answer to any question, our tolerance for risk will be muted. I wonder what the implication is for word-of-mouth marketing? Will we trust the AI overlords above all?

4. AI and the search for purpose and meaning

The futurists predicted “daunting challenges ahead for maintaining a coherent sense of self with human-synth experiences becoming as important as human-to-human connections.

We will feel less important, especially as the job landscape changes and AI overtakes many job functions, departmental activities, and corporate functions.

5. AI and cognition

As AI mediates decision-making, humans may lose confidence in their own reasoning abilities and default to AI recommendations without critically assessing them.

In other words, we will trust part of our brain to the cloud, abdicating much our knowledge and decision-making to our exo-brain.

6. AI and truth

There will be no difference between real and synthetic content so truth can be whatever we want to make it. There will be no shared truths because people can surround themselves with whatever content supports their own truth.

Of course, we don’t need to wait for 2035 to see that. It’s already happening.

The rest of the story

This is just a small summary of the report. There are hundreds of pages of ideas and insights that are well worth exploring.

I think the value of this research is clear. Nobody knows what’s coming next in the AI world, but it will certainly be surprising and powerful. Having a consensus of expertise, or at least a high probability of the future scenario, can help us stay ahead of the curve. We can begin to see new human needs that will require business solutions.

I also believe that for many of these predictions, there will be an “anti-reality.” While many people will turn to bots for love and support, others will determine to stand apart from that future. Some may flock to AI for their decision-making while others will drop out and form a more humanistic society.

Still, as AI leads us to a world of ease, speed, and personalized service, there will be pressure to conform and be part of the mainstream.

The thing is, we’ve seen this movie before. We said we’d never carry devices that track our every move, store our private conversations, and expose our children to bullies. Yet here we are, inseparable from our smartphones.

This isn’t about panicking. It’s about paying attention.

The marketers who thrive will be those who understand both sides of this shift — those embracing AI’s benefits and those deliberately stepping away from it. Both groups are your customers. Both need to be seen.

The opportunity is clear: solve for the new human needs emerging in this transition. Because while the AI-enabled world might seem somewhat dystopian, the benefits will be too great to resist. And the businesses that help people navigate this shift with their humanity intact? They’re the ones that will matter.

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

The post 300 Experts agree: AI will change your customers appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I recently participated in a Q&A on the future of AI and content hosted by my friend Mark Masters. I thought the quality of questions was so good that everyone might benefit from this content. Here are the questions and my answers covering automated content, strategy, humanity, and more:

There’s a quote going around about people who aren’t using AI being replaced by people who are using AI. What’s your take on this and the broader impact of AI?

I detest that quote. This framing misses the mark. We’re not talking about a tool that simply accentuates our jobs. This is horse-and-buggy territory—if you’re in the horse and buggy business, there’s nothing you can learn about cars that will save your business. Let’s not sugar coat it: this is a fundamentally new day.

The honest truth is that nobody knows—not even the experts—what’s ultimately going to happen or how fast change will occur. I have what I humbly call the Schaefer Rule: when you look at a transformational technology and think it could change everything in the next year, triple your timeline. If you think it can happen in a year, it’ll happen in three. Technology changes quickly, but culture, society, and business infrastructure change relatively slowly.

That said, the opportunity to replace FTEs and cut costs is likely to be a major driver for AI adoption. A recent study of researchers who began using AI revealed something fascinating: as expected, they made more discoveries, filed more patents, and launched more products by using AI. But here’s the intriguing part—the best researchers became even better, creating more distance between themselves and those who are merely competent. This is a rallying cry: if you’re good at what you do, embrace AI fully. Experiment with it every day. No matter what you do, AI has the opportunity to make you better and distance you from the competition.

The Real Concerns About Automated Content

My biggest worry is, what if AI is quietly becoming the author of our work, shaping our voice and our choices. What concerns you about how we use AI as a tool for business and work?

We need to get over characterizing AI as merely a “tool.” That’s a misconception. We look at Word or Excel spreadsheets or podcasting platforms as tools to help us do something. But AI is like electricity or heat—we’re not going to be able to do business without it. It’s not just a tool; it’s something transformational.

In terms of owning our voice and content, I think of it in two ways. I love art, but I’m not an artist. I wish I could be an artist and illustrator, and AI helps me be that. I use AI to illustrate my blog posts, and there’s a lot of thought behind each one. They all look different, and some are really nuanced to reflect what’s in my writing. AI has become a search engine for my creativity, unleashing potential and giving voice to the voiceless, helping people who could never write become writers. That aspect is fantastic.

It gets concerning when AI becomes indistinguishable from human content. There was a pundit recently who said we’re going to reach a point where if you can’t tell whether content is AI or human, you won’t care. Here’s the battle plan: make them care. If you’re merely competent, you’re ignorable. If you’re competent, AI will run right over you.

Art will persist. The things we cherish most in our lives have a human connection. Right here at my desk, I’ve got a drawer full of pictures and cards my children made for me over the years. There’s a story, a connection. Art is the interpretation of the human experience, and that will always persist. Therefore, for us to thrive, our content and work must approach the level of art.

This is nothing new. The subtitle of my book Marketing Rebellion is “the most human company wins.” That’s the battle plan—add your story, heart, and passion. Show compassion in everything you do. This approach is different for many businesses, but it’s necessary.

The Future of Creativity and Work

There’s a concern that working with AI might reduce the fun of digging in and doing the work because we’re outsourcing the work. With automated content, we’re outsourcing the fun part of the work.  What are your thoughts on this?

One of my concerns is that humanity will change because we won’t want to do the hard work anymore. We’ll happily abdicate deep thinking to AI.

Let me give you an example: AI can write a book, but when I write a book, it’s like getting a master’s degree. I have researched and written for two years, and by the end, I’ve internalized the content and reached a new level of expertise. The psychological term for this is “phoresis.”

When we give up on the work, we lose this phoresis, which enables critical thinking and new intellectual capabilities. There’s an enigma here: everyone says that in this world of AI, we need better critical thinking, but AI will actually diminish our critical thinking abilities. It’s going to be an important life skill to fight for, especially for our children, because the world is moving in the opposite direction.

The problem is that if you’ve done the work yourself, you understand how to evaluate AI’s output, but if you haven’t gone through that messy middle bit, you don’t know if the output is any good.

Your concern is valid. It’s real, and it’s going to get worse because we’re not going through the work. We don’t understand the process or the output. The enigma is that while everyone is saying we need better critical thinking in this world of AI, AI will actually diminish our critical thinking. It’s going to be an important life skill we have to fight for with our children because the world is going in the opposite direction.

The Evolution of Marketing and Content

If you started your blog today, would it look different, or would you even have a blog? What would that be like?

It would not be different at all. Not in a single way. My blog and thinking evolve because I’m growing as a person. My interests shift and change, but I still write about the intersection of marketing, technology, and humanity. That’s a big umbrella. I’m a writer who enjoys intellectual challenges and conversations like this one, which are based on ideas from my books. The blog still works.

In all your years in the industrial world and marketing, is this the biggest shift you’ve seen in your career, or is it just another new thing like when the web came along?

The difference now isn’t just the importance of the shift but the speed of change. We need to look at our competencies—our personal brand or business capabilities—as the surfboard. To thrive, we don’t need to change the surfboard; we need to find the next wave.

Another key strategy is community. We can’t do it all ourselves. We need to rely on others around the world to say, “Look what I found—this might help everyone.” Community is a key survival skill.

Do you think we’re on a deep dive to automated content mediocrity, just recycling average material?

Who cares? That’s not going to be you—it’s an opportunity! If the world is average and you’re not, you’re going to stand out.

About two-thirds of all marketing and advertising gets no emotional response from consumers or businesses. If there were a CEO of world marketing and advertising, they’d be fired for incompetence. You’ll be ignored if you’re merely competent—but you don’t have to be.

My entire book (Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World) is about disrupting the narrative—the story, where the story is told, and who tells it. Just give people something a little different. In most industries today, it’s not even that hard because everything is so boring. You just have to be one notch above crap.

Being Human in an AI World

For brands, shouldn’t tone of voice and being human be a given rather than something special?

What’s missing in brand marketing today is a true human voice that’s friendly, accessible, and vulnerable. How can you have a human voice without being vulnerable? Businesses are almost never vulnerable, so we have a long way to go, but vulnerability is what’s being listened to and cherished today.

There’s importance in being “lo-fi”—not Hollywood, not polished. We see this backlash in video games, where companies spend millions to make games look like movies, but players say, “No, we like it raw. We want it old school.” There’s a tremendous opportunity to embrace that authenticity.

I’m seeing people lose their edge or identity because they’re becoming over-reliant on AI. What are your thoughts on this?

They’re using AI as a crutch because they never had an edge in the first place.

Great marketing and content isn’t about conformity—it’s about non-conformity. If AI is taking us down a tunnel of mediocrity, great! That’s our opportunity to shine. Our rallying cry should be: “I’m quirky. I’ve got personality. I’m not going to be mediocre or average. I’m going to twist and turn things.” If everyone is zigging, I’m going to zag. That’s always been what makes marketing great.

ChatGPT is not just automated content. With a little tweaking, it can write and create really well in a human voice. How should content creators respond to this?

When ChatGPT came out, I called Shelly Palmer, a famous tech analyst here in America. I said, “What do you think?” He said, “I’m terrified. I’ve blogged almost every day for 15 years. I asked ChatGPT to write a blog post in my voice, and it did a perfect job in three seconds. I am 80% replaced.”

That does seem terrifying, but the more important question is: what is that 20%? That’s his personal brand, his humanity, the investment he’s made in blogging consistently for 15 years, building an audience that matters and cares for him. He has nothing to worry about. He’s known, trusted, beloved, and people will always turn to a human when they don’t know what’s true or real.

I feel the same way. I’m not worried people will stop reading my blog or books or hiring me when they’re confused because of my personal brand. I put in the work. On my blog, every post says “100% human content.” Proof of human is going to be super important going forward.

Do you think there will be more awareness around the responsible use of AI, and does that create a positioning opportunity for businesses with integrity?

It’s an interesting question. We see Gen Z caring more about the planet and environment than any generation ever, yet they’re driving fast fashion brands like Shein and Temu, which are terrible for the environment.

One thing I’ve been thinking about is that to fully participate in the AI world, the next evolution will be AI agents that can do work for you. But for an agent to make hotel and airline reservations, it needs your credit cards, passport, past experiences, and preferences. ChatGPT can now remember this information.

One theory is that there will be a demographic split between “AI in” and “AI out” groups. But someone recently pointed out it might be like social media or smartphones—why would you carry a device that tracks your behavior and tells companies who you are? But we do, because we’ve resigned ourselves to the benefits. People might care more about the personal benefits of giving their lives over to AI than about environmental or ethical concerns.

With all the changes happening, how can we know that humans will still win in the end?

Despite AI’s capabilities, I’m using it extensively to boost my productivity, accomplishing tasks I always hated doing. The traffic to my website is soaring, and financially, I’m having the best year of my entire life—all while AI supposedly should be doing everything I do better.

I think what people appreciate about me is that they know it’s genuinely me. I care deeply, and it means a lot to set an example and lift people up. I want to be bold, honest, and unafraid to help people sort through the truth without trying to sell them programs.

I’m not worried about AI. I see this as the most fascinating time ever. Embrace it, have fun with it, but keep your eyes open about what’s coming next—and rely on your community.

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 MidJourney

The post Finding Your Edge in a World of Automated Content appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

A new Apple ad is a marketing case study taking the world by storm. As I write this — four days after the video’s debut — it has already been viewed 19 million times on YouTube.

The visually stunning, cinematic long-form ad reunites Apple with Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Jonze, who directed the brand’s lauded “Welcome Home” in 2018. Like its predecessor, the new work—called “Someday”—leans heavily on inventive choreography, catchy music, and lavish sets. And the new video features popular star Pedro Pascal.

Of course that’s going to be a winning formula. But something more subtle is happening in this video. The theory behind my new book Audacious is that by disrupting the story, where the story is told, and/or the storyteller, you’ve got a chance of catching viral magic. I thought it would be fun to dissect this incredible video and unravel the less-obvious, non-Pedro lessons of why it went viral.

Let’s start by watching the video:

OK, let’s tear this marketing case study apart and find the magic.

Never make an ad

While researching my book, I interviewed the great Michael Krivicka, the king of viral videos. He said:

“The first key to success is, never, ever make an ad. Of course, almost every customer wants to make an ad because they think they need an ad. Perhaps that’s all they know. But the moment you start with that mindset, you’re failing.

“We’ll make something so cool, unique, and entertaining that it’s worth sharing. As soon as it pops up in your social media feed, you want to see it immediately, watch it again, and share it. You start with the viral mindset, not an ad mindset. People rarely share ads.

“If people sense they’re watching an ad—the moment they think you’re selling something—they stop watching it, or they’re going to watch the content through a filter, knowing there’s an agenda. So, if you lead with ‘Nike presents …’ Boom. People stop watching it.”

As the ad begins, we know that Pedro Pascal is sad. And if he is sad, the whole world is sad. And dreary, and frigid, and hopeless. But the beloved internet daddy doesn’t stay blue for long, as the magic of music turns a frigid wasteland into a raucous dance party.

We don’t know for sure who sponsored the ad until the final moments.

Disrupt the medium

How did this marketing case study disrupt the medium (where the story is told)? It was just a YouTube video, right? Nope.

First, this breaks the mold because it’s an ad that’s nearly six minutes long. Next time somebody tells you that people have a short attention span, call B.S. on it. People don’t have a short attention span. Your marketing has a short interesting span. This epic video is worth every second.

Next, it’s literally a music video. Think about it. What ad format will AirPod fans love? A music video. Smart marketers don’t fight for attention—they earn it by respecting their audience enough to create something worth their time.

Apple is “leaning into the signal” because it understands that remarkable marketing doesn’t interrupt what people care about — it becomes what people care about.

Disrupt the story format

This is paradoxical, but sometimes, to be disruptive, your story should be the radically non-disruptive. Research shows that ads following a classic dramatic story arc create a heightened physiological response. Let’s dissect it into five parts:

• Exposition—Pedro has girl problems. He’s depressed.
• Rising action—In a lonely, frigid existence, he recalls a happier musical memory.
• Climax— Pedro is a joyful dancing machine! He goes from forlorn to fabulous.
• Falling action—The dance sequence ends and the “old Pedro” gives an encouraging glance.
• Denouement—Pedro’s problems aren’t over, but a small smile crosses his face as he trudges on.

This is an example of Freytag’s Pyramid, a classical dramatic model developed by German novelist Gustav Freytag. There is something magical about this sequence that taps deeply into the human psyche. Professor Keith Quesenberry and his research team discovered that this classic format and advertising success are so closely connected that they could predict which Super Bowl ads would go viral before they aired.

“Beyond any other technique like sex appeal, animals, humor, or celebrities, telling a full, five-part story made the difference between a great marketing narrative and an unremarkable one,” Keith told me. “And the likability of this story format can be tied to word-of-mouth buzz, purchase intent, recall, and other success factors.”

This insight doesn’t just apply to big-budget ads. Keith discovered that storytelling success holds true for YouTube videos and other social content. On average, four- and five-act videos were shared over 400% more compared to product-based or informational videos.

Beyond Vanilla Valley

There’s something unexpected that makes this video memorable: It’s sad.

Marketing has conditioned us to expect the emotional arc of a children’s birthday party—everything must end with smiles, high-fives, and neat resolutions. But real human connection doesn’t work that way, and neither does this video. This story starts sad and ends … well, a little less sad, but still sad.

Research by Dr. Jonah Berger shows memorable marketing doesn’t just come from “happy.” Something that makes you feel anxiety, sadness, and even fear can trigger a strong emotional connection. This video breaks an emotional norm — an Apple ad that ends with unresolved pain.

The genius here is in the emotional tension. The lingering pain isn’t a mistake; it’s the point. It signals trust in the audience’s emotional maturity and creates space for a deeper, more authentic connection.

Most brands are terrified of negative emotions. The remarkable ones understand that emotional authenticity—even when uncomfortable—is what separates the signal from noise.

Grab ’em fast

More advice from the great Michael Krivicka: “You have to grab the viewer in two seconds. You can have the greatest video in the world, but if you don’t hook them in the first two seconds, it’s over. It’s a sad reality, but that’s all you’ve got. Open with something incredible that people haven’t seen before. Surprise them immediately.”

The opening seconds of this video are profound. Not a word is said, but the pain is thick, and we need to know, “What is happening here?” This is not an ad. It’s high drama.

Disrupt the storyteller

This six-minute video is being sliced and diced into television-sized ads but the true success lies in the fact that fans are sharing the long-form video like crazy. It’s a beloved story. Apple isn’t promoting the product’s functionality, price, or durability. It’s promoting a feeling. Brand marketing at its best.

Today, the successful marketer isn’t holding the microphone, shouting about their product. They’re writing a script and handing the mic to their customers. This is the essence of modern brand building: create something so meaningful, so resonant, so worth talking about that your customers eagerly do your marketing for you.

The audacity story

Everyone reading this post has one goal for their business: You want to be seen, heard, and discovered. You want to be the signal against the noise.

And the noise is worse than ever.

To stand out, competent doesn’t cut it. Competent is the new invisible. Competent is what gets replaced. The middle of the road is where roadkill happens.

In a world drowning in meh, disruption isn’t just an option—it’s survival. The AI revolution isn’t coming for the remarkable; it’s coming for the replaceable, and most marketing today is precisely that.

Yes, this Apple video has advantages—a recognizable star, a visionary director, a budget with breathing room. But those aren’t prerequisites for standing out. In fact, as I demonstrate throughout my book, constraints often fuel creativity while abundance breeds complacency.

The barrier isn’t resources. It’s courage—the courage to stand for something, the courage to make something that might not work, and the courage to create marketing that feels nothing like marketing.

The choice is simple: disrupt or be disrupted. Make waves or drown in the noise. What will you choose?

Keep an eye on the marketing stories that break through the noise. Like the Apple video, you’ll see a pattern—the narrative, medium, and storyteller are disrupted. I urge you to climb aboard the Audacity train and take advantage of the hundreds of ideas in my new book, Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing 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

The post Dissecting Apple’s disruptive marketing case study appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

One of my favorite strategic brainiacs is Mathew Sweezey, and we used our latest podcast episode to explore the ideas we’re most excited about for the New Year. I think these are non-obvious, interesting, and worth your time!

Some of the items we discuss:

• Why enterprise-level AI integrations will finally begin to drive ROI
• The human-driven opportunity of experiential marketing
• Why brand communities are the new media
• Why marketing success might depend on change management
• How marketers will overcome a pandemic of dull

… and more!

Sit at the table with us, won’t you? Listen in as Mathew and I explore what the year has in store for us. All you have to do is click here:

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 306

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this fantastic episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now, any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

The post Six marketing megatrends we’re watching right now appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.