Everyone’s doing it. The need for high-volume, s**t posting using AI is starting to drive me mad; I don’t know how you feel about it. You go onto LinkedIn; every post now feels automated with the same type of communication style - reading like some CNN/BBC teleprompter. Writing this post without AI feels like I’m in an artisanal tin mine in the 1400s, with my pick axe and Canary by my side to ensure I don’t die from lack of oxygen (in an age of automation my brain feels like it's running out of oxygen, due the lack of creative thinking). 

AI is great; it means we can get more stuff done, but it also makes me feel like we’re all communicating like machines. I used early forms of GPTs around 8 years ago; it has gone from finishing my sentences to now in a literal whizz and click, producing articles that look fine, work for SEO and sound fine. But they lack the personalisation or even the character: I’M HALF MAN, HALF MACHINE.

I hark back to the days when the typewriter, films looked like Withnail, and I and things were a bit meh and analogue, but at least they sounded good…. the way Gwain Towler, ex-Comms Chief of Reform & UKIP writes. Take the film Everything, Everywhere All At Once; just because you can use AI and create something for the ADHD-addled mind doesn’t mean you should; I’d much rather watch Nothing, Never and Not at All than watch that tripe again. 

Marketing Used to Be Fun

The time it took to do marketing before was part of the fun, creating materials that people would read, engage with, and enjoy. One of the reasons I enjoy reading The Spectator Magazine (when I get time to read it, not store it) is that each columnist has a fundamentally unique writing style. Each person has a unique perception of the world, with views ranging from centrist boomers to right-wing firebrands like Douglas Murray and Rob Liddle. 

Everything now feels safe and scripted, without heart or soul. One of the things I struggle with in B2B marketing is the lack of human connection to what you are selling; it’s one of the hardest things in the world to explain to someone why my widget is better than yours.

Events are not just for Christmas Parties 🎄

Bringing ‘the real world’ into your brand

Over the past six months, I’ve been at a motivational impasse. Every business I’ve collaborated with has, for the most part, required online-only channels. It has required me not to go out into the world but to sit diligently and be motivated in my office, promoting away and becoming more machine-like. Being part of the AI machine makes me feel like Mr Smith and less like Neo, which is what my creative, ADHD-adled brain craves.

Events

Brunches - Startup Breakfast 

Networking - Canary Connections

Community Projects - like SaaStr or SaaStock 

Partnership Exclusive Events - 

Industry Roundtables -

Pints - Organising Drinks - 

Taking things in perso - Is where I think the future of B2B brand marketing will be.