AI (As If)
Vanilla artificial intelligence has become passé, apparently. The new vision? Superintelligence, an AI system that – supposedly – surpasses what the human brain is capable of.
“Supposedly” being the key word, seeing as it doesn’t exist yet.
Meta is on its way to opening a new AI research lab in the hopes of creating the first real superintelligence model with the help of Alexandr Wang, founder and chief executive of AI startup Scale AI.
The short-term plan is to build artificial general intelligence, or AGI, which is a machine that can match human intelligence, again, in theory. The New York Times describes the development of AGI as “an ambition with no clear path to success,” and seems similarly skeptical of superintelligence.
Meta “has recently grappled with internal management struggles over the technology, as well as employee churn and several product releases that fell flat,” two individuals told the Times.
Recently, multiple employees of Meta’s AI division have left to work for rival companies.
Zuckerberg might be optimistic about the future of superintelligence, but getting others on board is going to take some work.
Sweet Treats
One surprise hit in the candy world over the past few years is Nerds Gummy Clusters, which are gummy candy balls rolled in Nerds, those crunchy little sugar pebbles anybody older than Gen Z is well familiar with.
These newbie candies (based on an oldie) have even surpassed Skittles as the top sugar confection in the US market, Marketing Dive reports.
Yet Nerds Gummy Clusters didn’t actually score well with customers at first, says Katie Duffy, VP of global brands at Ferrara, which owns the candy brand.
But Ferrara did give Gummy Clusters a bounty of marketing support, including back-to-back Super Bowl ads and consistent influencer and other brand engagement campaigns.
The candy is a useful case study that demonstrates the delicate dance between pricing, promotional spend and distribution. As a non-chocolate candy, Gummy Clusters enjoy a major pricing advantage compared to better-known chocolate brands. (This is to do with the soaring cost of cocoa.)
It’s hard to say to what degree Ferrara should credit the Super Bowl spots and the lower price floor and/or perhaps just people’s tastes going in a gummier direction.
Who knows.
But with lower, stable pricing and a better profit margin, Nerds Gummy Clusters are a good bet for big marketing pushes.
Vibe Shift
AI is already transforming demand-side platforms by taking over campaign planning, execution and optimization. There’s just one task handled by DSPs left for AI to transform, according to Scope3 CEO Brian O’Kelley, and that’s targeting.
Currently, advertisers can submit a campaign prompt to their AI chatbot of choice, which advises them on how best to target the desired audience. Chatbots suggest which IAB Content Taxonomy categories to hit, for example, or which audiences or deal IDs to activate within a DSP’s targeting interface.
But, O’Kelley writes, isn’t asking a chatbot which checkboxes to tick in a DSP woefully old school? Someday soon, the prompt itself will be the targeting, according to O’Kelley.
Once that shift occurs, it will enable what O’Kelley calls “vibe targeting,” where marketers can simply describe the vibe of the audience they’re going for, rather than interpreting human characteristics through taxonomies and checklists.
At first, this prompt-based targeting will be facilitated by third parties (like Scope3, of course) before eventually being added directly to DSP interfaces, O’Kelley predicts. And, eventually, it could even give rise to a new category of vendors that centralize management and calibration of prompts across platforms.
So, even in a brave new AI-powered world, ad tech middlemen will find a way to stay relevant.
But Wait! There’s More
Google is offering voluntary buyouts to its employees in search and ads, which could be a prelude to layoffs. [The Information]
Apple is beating a sound tactical retreat after overpromising on Apple Intelligence last year. [Stratechery free article]
Disney will pay an additional $438 million to complete its purchase of Hulu. [CNBC]
What does Apple’s new “advanced fingerprinting protection” mean for advertisers? [Mobile Dev Memo]
MLB has acquired a minority stake in creator-led, social-native sports media startup Jomboy Media. [The Hollywood Reporter]
You’re Hired
Roblox hires Paramount’s Naveen Chopra as CFO. [Bloomberg]
Influencer marketing platform CreatorIQ names Jennifer Cho as chief customer officer and Brig Graff as SVP of strategic services. [release]
