ChatGPT. It’s the chatbot that exploded a couple of weeks ago, and even reached its global capacity this week. It’s hard to remember what anyone on LinkedIn talked about before ChatGPT. But what is it? The name stands for ‘Generative Pre-Trained Transformer’. Hello marketers, that’s proof alone you are still needed!
This ‘large language model tool’, owned by OpenAI (a non-profit partially funded by Elon Musk), is a monumental leap in AI. The main difference being its impressive conversational user interface. It can make human-like interpretations of questions and provide expert-like answers to virtually anything using huge volumes of information on the internet. The bot remembers the thread of your dialogue, using previous questions and answers to inform its next responses.
It can code, write poetry and plan your holiday, so what does it mean for humanity? There’s no shortage of opinions from the optimists through to the purists, with Nick Cave calling ChatGPT ‘A grotesque mockery of what it is to be human’. That’s our Nick.
As marketers, the big question is how will it change our roles in trying to connect with audiences and build brands? When should we lean on AI to work smarter and when will only the human connection do? The answer is evolving every day as we the research monkeys make the bot better and smart every time we use it. Here’s our take:
Research
Whilst ChatGPT has it covered when it comes to making large sets of data and numbers easier to digest, it doesn’t have that same edge with qualitative data. It doesn’t understand the dark art of crafting survey questions and it doesn’t have human experience to draw on when it comes to unearthing a real human insight. It can help identify themes and patterns, but still requires human strategic thinking to narrow down key insights, develop recommendations and make predictions or informed decisions about what to do next. You’re still needed for your nuanced understanding of the organisation and to inspire people to do something with the research insights.
Do: use it to help with analysis by summarising your data and research reports.
Don’t: expect it to predict trends or be able to craft a focus group discussion guide that will get people talking.
Strategy
We all know a strategist’s favourite word is ‘why’. Questioning everything about our audiences to dig deeper and unearth that killer insight. This is another thing that ChatGPT can’t do. When is the last time you saw ChatGPT with a large butcher’s paper decked out with post it notes, in a scribbling frenzy? It’s never going to be able to understand a brand’s DNA by talking to its people or define a brand’s point of difference by interviewing its customers. It can’t be single minded in narrowing down a customer value proposition or convince a board to make a disruptive move. A successful brand moves people, grabbing attention from customers and inspiring employees to work toward a bold vision, all of which rely very much on human curiosity and understanding.
Do: use it as a starting point for understanding the market and competitor landscape. In terms of how the brand needs to respond, strategy is more about what you leave out, so that’s where your sharp marketing genius is needed to seize the white space.
Do: use it to help with analysis by summarising your data and research reports.
Don’t: expect it to build a brand that makes people feel something. This can’t be learned by a machine or algorithm and is the fun part of what we do.
Creativity
Co-creation is where the real magic is made. Think of ChatGPT like your little sidekick or that cup of coffee in the morning to give you a boost and get your creative juices flowing. The magic of ChatGPT is to find out what’s been done before and help you generate random ideas. It’s a starting point to get you going (which to be honest, we all need every now and then, right?!). It’s important to remember, that everything ChatGPT writes or creates is based on what it understands about something that has been written before, so it can only re-tread an already worn path. It can’t push boundaries, defy category conventions or change the game.
Do: outsource the more mundane and repetitive tasks, to give you some breathing room to get more creative. Use it when you have a creative block, but do a test. We guarantee the human generated ideas get the nod in your next brainstorm.
Don’t: expect it to come up with radical or original ideas, or decide how a brand’s visual identity should be designed to nail the strategy and positioning. It’s not capable of this kind of creative thinking or having that ‘aha’ moment when you just know an idea is winner.
Copywriting
Writing that grips the reader requires human intelligence. It’s always the personal edge of vulnerability and humanity that creates the most engaging and relatable work. Writing that is thought provoking and tugs on your heart strings can’t be authentically created in the same way by a bot. Only re-created, i.e. an imitation of what it is to be human. So whilst it can write a TV ad, it doesn’t have the ability to understand how to connect with our key audience like we can in our tone of voice. It is not advanced enough (at this stage anyway) to have the nuance to replace our creativity and originality, and should be used sparingly to attempt humour. Using too much ChatGPT will mean your unique voice is lost, so whilst it can make some smaller snappier tasks easier, fear not, your team’s creative edge will always be required!
Do: use it to make the complex simple (a win for B2B marketers!). But put some of your time savings into triple checking its content and add human experience to provide meaning.
Don’t: expect it to nail humour and don’t use its content unedited without adding the real and human lens. ChatGPT can give you succinct information, but marketers add the human connection to make audiences feel something and avoid becoming a bland brand.
The bottom line is that ChatGPT is here to stay. It’s made a monumental leap in AI algorithms which are now able to generate highly realistic text, images, and even videos that are indistinguishable from those created by humans.
It won’t be the last tool to shake up our industry. Senior Marketers, remember when social media was going to change everything??
The great news is, human connection, creativity and strategic thinking will become invaluable, with customers seeking out authenticity, shared experience, and relationships as they try to discern what’s real and what’s an autogenerated bot response.
It’s equal parts incredible and scary in what it can do but let’s not get carried away. Could ChatGPT have developed some of Australia’s best success stories? The kids TV show Bluey? The movie Priscilla Queen of the Desert? Or even brands like the global behemoths Atlassian and Canva? Absolutely not. They all come down to human stories, great ideas, and inspiring people.
A full AI takeover is not imminent. It’s not here to replace you, it’s here to help you. In fact, it’s really nothing without you. It can’t tell you or do anything for you without you prompting it. It can’t think outside the box like you can. It’s not a rule breaker or a risk taker. It can’t read a room like you can to make people feel heard and part of something bigger.
As marketers and creatives we are irreplaceable when we are human. Use ChatGPT to save time on the grunt work so you can come up with creative and strategic ways to connect with audiences and stand out in a unique and real way. This is really the feel-good part of being a marketer and why we love what we do.
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