Greetings from Miami. I'm at the Fontainebleau for POSSIBLE, and the show is off to a great start. I'm pretty sure that if I stood in the lobby long enough, everyone I ever met in the business would walk by. If you're a marketer, POSSIBLE is "the" place to be this week.
In the news: Get ready for the world's first AI beauty pageant, featuring AI-generated models competing for the title of Miss AI. Unlike conventional beauty contests, this competition evaluates participants not only on aesthetics but on the technical sophistication behind their creation and their social media influence.
The event is organized by the World AI Creator Awards (WAICA) with support from Fanvue, a platform known for hosting virtual models. The winner of Miss AI will receive $5,000, promotional opportunities on Fanvue, and additional public relations support valued at more than $5,000. Contestants will be judged by humans, of course.
My first instinct was to completely ignore this as a publicity stunt, which it absolutely is. However, the fact that there's an audience for this speaks volumes about consumer behavior changes, the importance of virtual influencers, synthetic friends, and the trend toward spending time with anthropomorphized generative AI products.
Most modern business owners (and the marketers who support them) go to great lengths to be "authentic" to their brands. Are these "authentic" virtual influencers? "Authentic" synthetics? "Authentic" anything? The answer is an unequivocal "yes!" These artificial beings are authentic to their audiences, so we need a new marketing mantra: "Authentic to them, not to you."
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. Just reply to this email. -s
ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.
