The hype around the doll in the plastic, fantastic world has not lost its touch in the last 64 years, as proven by the hype surrounding the latest Barbie movie. 

Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and directed by indie film queen Greta Gerwig, the buzz is showing no signs of slowing. But, what led ‘Barbie’ to succeed despite facing harsh criticisms for what it portrayed?

The Barbie doll is a veteran of the toy industry. Having survived for more than 60 years, the 11.5 inch blonde-hair, curvy-waist doll has a brand value of AUD $880 million today.

In spite of being dismissed by masses for ‘setting unrealistic expectations for women’ and ‘reiterating misogynistic values’, film critics and long-time fans are gleaming with excitement to see the live-action version on the big screen.

Besides, when the official Barbie trailer and cast posters dropped, the internet jumped on the cheeky social media wagon. It even birthed a new meme: “She’s everything, he’s just Ken”. This was an indication that there’s room for everyone in Barbie’s world. 

From people announcing their redundancy to recruiting new people on LinkedIn, the Barbie movie posters are enabling people to fully embrace the utopian world in pink. 

Even Barbie has her ups and downs

Growing up, Barbie was seen to appeal to young girls (from three years and older), but the brand grew beyond the idea of just being an average doll. Mattel’s marketing campaign for Barbie can be credited to its responsiveness and adaptability to the changing tides in the society as well as the political discourse around the doll. 

Moreover, the company made a smart move by including clothes, accessories, cosmetics and supporting characters like Ken, which contributed to the long-term success of the doll. 

However, Barbie didn’t have an easy life.

To begin with, the most popular Barbie conversation has been around the doll’s unrealistic body proportions. In fact, the backlash was so severe that feminists in the 1970s burned the doll as a symbol of breaking free from the shackles of oppression. 

The backlash was immense to a point where a Barbie that uttered ‘Maths class is tough’ had to be immediately replaced by the toy company as it offended the people’s sentiments.

Today, the doll is continuing to be the talk of the town and has managed to surpass a range of controversies to generate worldwide sales of around US$1.5 billion (roughly AUD $2.25 billion) in 2022.

It is said that Mattel has deployed multiple marketing strategies to extend Barbie’s lifespan, one of which involved re-modelling the traditional look of the doll to different shapes, sizes, ethnicities and more.

Although this may have been a risky endeavour, the campaign turned out to be a commercial success, catering to the mass audience for making Barbie a diverse and inclusive doll. 

Barbie’s omnichannel marketing trends 

Mattel has always capitalised on the nostalgic feeling to generate and retain trust and positive attitudes by selling relatable dolls to little children and more sophisticated, limited edition collectibles for adult fans.

Over the years, Mattel has experimented with a mix of traditional marketing tools like banners on a bus station to collaborating with lifestyle influencers on social media platforms to get the word out about new changes or launches in the Barbie world.

One of its notable works is the Barbie Dream Gap Project, which is an ongoing global initiative that gives girls the resources and support they need to continue believing in themselves. 

Since March 2019, Barbie has funded $250,000 to different charities throughout the year who are directly working with girls to enable them to pursue their dreams.

Mattel also responded during tough times like the Covid-19 pandemic by partnering up with YouTube channels to create intriguing activities that kept kids entertained at home. However, it’s important to note that each of Barbie’s campaigns soaked in empowerment and confidence to really move away from the notion of subjecting girls to look and dress a certain way. 

The film promises to move the needle on the ‘perfect’ girl phenomena

Spoiler alert!*

Life is not all fun and fantastic in the plastic world. 

Barbie is no longer just a pretty face but is a ‘doll in a pink, shining armour’ who is going to be seen fighting against the wrongs in the world. From tackling feminism, misogyny to challenging gender stereotypes, Barbie is set to share some untold stories of overcoming a tremendous amount of obstacles, as a woman, in the real world.

“Bringing Barbie to life was something I just couldn’t say no to,” says Margot Robbie during an interview. 

“It’s a fun movie – a comedy – but it’s also going to have aspects people don’t expect.”

“I don’t think Barbie can be accused of being a dumb blonde as she has been a surgeon, a vet and a pilot so, if anything, she is a pioneer,” she adds.

Robbie also says how people had a preconceived idea about the movie even before its release but “when it was ­announced Greta Gerwig was ­directing, all these ideas went out the window.”

The city Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is airing out New Yorkers’ dirty laundry through a series of funny yet brash ads on their illegal dumping habits with an anti-litter campaign.

New York City’s sanitation department is carrying out the city’s first new trash pickup marketing plan in 15 years, and the campaign aligns with the recently refreshed We [heart] NYC slogan.

The department is openly shaming litterers and careless dog owners for leaving a mess on the streets, alongside encouraging them to join the ‘tidal wave of cleanliness.’

The ad campaign, designed for the good of the public, is a collaboration between DSNY and a creative agency, VMLY&R. The ads are intended to push New Yorkers to help tidy the city they live in. 

“New Yorkers have had enough of litter, enough of filth on our sidewalks, and enough of feeling like there’s nothing they can do about it,” says Mayor Eric Adams in a press release. 

“This administration has committed to ‘Get Stuff Clean,’ and our strategy is working, but we need everyone to do their part, and that’s what this campaign is all about.”

The substantial marketing effort is an open-ended invitation that calls out New Yorkers who resort to annoying habits in the public. 

“If you litter, you’re garbage”

“Don’t leave __it on the sidewalk”

Anti-litter campaign tells litterers to stick it

DSNY’s commissioner, Jessica Tisch says that the latest campaign is part of a “tidal wave of cleanliness” unleashed on the city.

However, she believes that some [not all] residents are guilty of disposing of their trash or not picking up after their dogs. 

“I don’t know why they do it, and frankly, I don’t care why they do it,” says Tisch. 

“All I know is, if I see someone littering, I’ll tell them where to stick it.”

The city actually has a dirty history of dumping.

New York was known for being infamously and disgustingly dirty in the past.  According to a 2013 article in Collectors Weekly, New York had a Department of Street Cleaning but it was not made effective until 1895. 

This department would later go on to be renamed the Department of Sanitation in the year 1929. 

Some photographs taken for Harper’s Weekly also demonstrate the ‘before and after’ images of street corners in 1893 and 1895 respectively, and the pictures show a filthy New York city with unbothered people standing knee-deep in the muck. 

Although the hygiene levels of New York City have progressed since the 1890s, the litter and poo problems still needed serious governance. As a measure, the DSNY team imposed new rules which put the onus on the residents, but also reduced the ‘waiting’ time for trash to be collected from the streets.

Hence, the reason for choosing a brash and bold messaging tone as “it speaks to New Yorkers in the language that we all speak,” says Tisch. 

“We know that the vast majority of New Yorkers do their part. They don’t litter on the street, they don’t leave dog poop on the street,” she adds.

“But for that small percentage who do – we want to shame them.”

The sanitation ad campaign will appear on bus shelters and LinkNYC kiosks in all five boroughs through the end of April.

Check out some of 2023’s best marketing gimmicks for this April Fool’s Day.

Through the popular Disney show, Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus rose up the artistic ladder and went on to become a musical sensation. And, a lot has changed since then. Today, Miley Cyrus has the top spot on the Billboard 100 and might just be a ‘marketing genius’.

The song Flowers broke the Spotify record in just a week for becoming the most-streamed song, taking over the title from Adele’s Easy on Me. 

Miley Cyrus’ Flowers was the number one single on the ARIA charts in Australia and managed to grab the world by the lapels, landing itself in the first place on the Billboard 100.

But, what is so phenomenal about an artist releasing a track when it’s what they do for a living? 

If there’s anything we can learn from a pop icon like Taylor Swift, it’s that there is an undeniable need for artists everywhere to find clever ways to initiate a real buzz before releasing the song. 

That’s exactly what Miley Cyrus and her creative team at Campaign Edge tapped into. 

While the song was as iconic as the direction of the music video itself, there were some hidden marketing gems that slipped under the radar. Campaign Edge’s creative director Dee Madigan calls it, “an example of marketing genius.”

Miley Cyrus is talking straight to the fans

Madigan believes that until two decades ago, an artist would follow a top-down approach when it came to releasing a song. 

It would start off by pushing the song to journalists first, followed by critics and finally pushing it to the radio heads to try to get fans interested.

“Now, it’s a bottom-up approach,” she says.

Artists aim to get the fans excited about it first because, “in a way, they start to do their marketing for you,” she adds.

Be it Lady Gaga with her ‘Little Monsters’, Justin Bieber fans being called ‘Beliebers’ or BTS having an army (of fan following), hardcore music lovers have the biggest share of the pie in relation to promoting an artists’ journey. 

The same algorithm clicked for Miley Cyrus. 

Supplied: Campaign Edge | Dee Madigan

Madigan says that “[Artists] start to talk about it on social media.”

Since Miley’s marketing manager is a ‘super’ fan of her work, the marketing team knew how to play their cards right and “released a few little Easter eggs.”

“They let rumours go. I don’t know whether the rumours are coming from them or not, but I suspect some of them are.”

Madigan adds that ‘not addressing the rumours was an example of marketing genius’.

“It’s smart,” Madigan says of the pop star. 

Recollecting that even before the song was released, Madigan points out that little teasers started to drop on social media platforms like TikTok, which really piqued the fan’s curiosity levels. From Miley’s much spoken about golden dress to the gigantic mansion the song was filmed in, everything led to a ton of speculation, keeping fans hooked from the very beginning.

Social media: the real hub for labels

As an artist, it is important now more than ever, to keep up with the social media trends, and aim to be in the list of songs that influencers use as a critical part of their storytelling. Lizzo’s famous soundtrack About Damn Time can be seen as a prime example. 

The star not only earned the title as 2022’s number one music artist on TikTok, she also secured the fourth spot among top-trending songs last year.

As TikTok is now becoming the number one music discovery platform, it’s clear that GenZ is spending a lot of time on TikTok to purely consume musical content. This indicates that fans have a control over the rise and fall of content in today’s world.

In the article titled, The Backbone of the Music Industry – Fans, there’s an estimation that fans make up 85-90 percent of the revenue in the music industry; record labels, streaming services, and media corporations are always innovating new ways to remove power from the fans.

@riristea Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Becomes The Most-Streamed Song In A Single Week On Spotify! @Spotify #spotify #mileycyrus #flowers #mileycyrusflowers #mileyflowers #riristea #entertainmentnews #celebritynews #celebnews #rivetsoro ♬ original sound – RiRi’s Tea

However, the fans’ speculations played a key role in shaping the lifecycle of a song, and as Madigan says, “It keeps the intrigue up. It keeps them talking. Is it true? Is it not true? So, in a way, the speculation keeps the song current, it keeps people interested in it.”

“It’s such a great song. I love it. It’s so empowering,” she adds.

It’s evident that as long as social media trends exist and continue to expand its reach by either paying creators to promote songs on TikTok or resorting to the magic of ‘micro influencers’, content will gain traction in the most unconventional way.

And, in the case of musicians, even the slightest hint dropped online would make fans go gaga since it “makes them feel like they’re part of something and like they’re in the inner circle.” says Madigan. 

Here’s an interesting one for marketers who wish to captivate audiences with the power of music.

The ‘tech wreck’ just keeps getting worse as Amazon continues to slash its workforce in a sea of mass layoffs. But, that’s not all. As of 10 April 2023, Amazon will wash its hands entirely of what is possibly the best site for reviews of digital camera gear – Digital Photography Review.

According to a blog post published on the DPReview website, the general manager of DPReview, Scott Everett made the announcement that the website will be “locked, with no further updates made after 10 April 2023.”

“The site will be available in read-only mode for a limited period afterwards,” Everett adds.

What is DPReview?

Digital Photography Review or DPReview was a standalone website, which has been active for the last 25 years, but has been under the Amazon wing for almost 16 years now. 

The website has been considered to be a stellar review platform that gives expert reviews on camera lenses and other gears. 

Presumably, Amazon conquered the site because people visited the website to hear honest reviews from real people about relatively high-valued camera products, which then linked back to Amazon that sold the product. 

But, as times changed, people’s purchasing habits saw a drastic shift.

Although these are speculations, there are rumours that with more and more review websites popping up and YouTubers jumping on the review wagon, the number of visitors visiting DPReviews took a hit.

As one of the internet’s rarest websites. The site was full of rich content from camera enthusiasts who wrote and reviewed the things they were passionate about, the website was always catering to a small niche. 

Ultimately, this may have led to Amazon losing out on adequate amount of traffic being generated on the website and converting the site into just another SEO spam site on the internet.

Despite being the default place that people visited when they wanted an honest review of anything – from the latest camera in the market to a vintage camera model they plan to pick up – the kind of content no longer resonated with Amazon’s brand identity.

In reality though, having websites like Digital Photography Review can be more advantageous than one can imagine since it provides expert guidance on which products to rely on and for what reasons. 

In fact, some of the reviews were known to have been extensively researched, which showcased the professionalism of the team that analysed camera products — from budget-friendly models to high-end cameras — in an unbiased and in-depth manner. 

On that note, tell us what you think about Amazon sacking the popular review channel.

It’s no secret that AI technology has managed to do what was once unthinkable. As more and more AI tools seep into work cultures, it’s essential to know which ones can add value to your company. 

The AI revolution is here to stay and is changing the landscape of how business can be done across nearly every sector. While AI is transforming work as we know it and is widely being seen as a threat — from rendering some job roles obsolete to replicating the ‘human’ touch — it’s also helping people focus on what’s important.

In today’s workforce, particularly for marketers, the chances of not using AI in some shape or form are highly unlikely. In order to help employees get more done in less time and create room for big picture thinking, founder of Digital Marketers Australia, Stephen Esketzis shares some stellar AI tools.

The household Bot, ChatGPT

We’ve heard too much about ChatGPT, and most of the conversation tends to revolve around how useful it is. According to OpenAI’s website, ChatGPT is an AI program that can generate detailed responses in a paragraph format due to its ‘reinforcement learning’ habits.

When ChatGPT was asked to describe itself to someone not familiar with AI, it responded, “Think of it like a chatbot that you can talk to, but with advanced technology that allows it to understand and respond to your questions and statements in a more human-like way.”

“Its responses are generated based on its analysis of vast amounts of text data, so it has the ability to understand language and learn from its interactions with people.”

So, how does it act as a support system for marketers?

From generating copy for marketing collaterals, content ideation, providing shortcuts for reporting and analytics to generating a survey based on your target audience, Chat GPT can empower marketers to workshop a range of ideas.

Drawbacks: Although ChatGPT can be a gamechanger in the SEO space, it cannot help develop an entire blog post. This is a bit of a stretch for ChatGPT. And as stated on OpenAI’s website, there are limitations to ChatGPT’s functionality. For instance, the AI program’s answers don’t always make sense.

No code chatbot builder – LandBot 

People say: ‘Accept no one’s definition of your life, define yourself’, and LandBot lives by this philosophy. Here’s a snippet of how a conversation transpired with the code chatbot builder, LandBot.

LandBot can serve as the right hand to help businesses manage both communication and process automation operations. 

So far, it’s earned a reputation as a user-friendly, no-code solution for creating conversational chatbot applications, which basically allows you to set up your welcome chatbot option or an exit chatbot for your website. This way, your website can establish a connection with your website visitors from the get-go.

Another massive advantage of conversational AI apps is that they combine the benefits of an interactive conversational interface with rich UI materials while tracking advanced data workflows that keep your business running.

Landbot is a key interactive bot player that is helping organisations optimise every stage of the customer journey. From lead generation to customer support on the website, WhatsApp or Messenger, without the stress of coding. 

Drawbacks: Its keyword jump feature requires significant modifications. For big businesses like Amazon that advertise a range of products, there can be overlap in terminologies. For example, Amazon sells multiple product types that have a similar name structure like ‘Beats Studio3′, ‘Beats Wireless’ or ‘Beats Solo3’. In such a scenario, the bot may struggle to find the exact keyword, which meddles with the user experience and doesn’t necessarily direct customers to the right product.

ElevenLabs, the speech AI tool

According to ElevenLabs’ official website, the AI speech tool is regarded as ‘the most realistic and versatile AI speech software, ever’.

At the heart of every marketing strategy or idea, there is an overarching theme that needs to be conveyed. Simply put, there’s always a narrative that needs to be communicated to the widest possible audience. And Eleven provides some of the most intriguing, rich and lifelike voices to influencers and creators who are looking for the right speech toolkit that can boost their storytelling abilities. 

The British AI firm’s studio tool is the most advanced and multipurpose AI speech tool currently available to marketers. It generates top-quality spoken audio content in any voice and style, but it was recently coined as the most ‘controversial’ AI tool to exist.

And this brings us to its setbacks.

Despite having the capacity to render human intonation and inflections with unmatched fidelity and adaptability to deliver any type of context-based blurb, it was abused to recreate deep fake celebrity voices that were filled with racist and discriminatory slurs. 

The company came clean on its Twitter platform, saying that it’s seeing an “increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases” and that it’s workshopping a way to address the problem by “implementing additional safeguards”.

Crazy weekend – thank you to everyone for trying out our Beta platform. While we see our tech being overwhelmingly applied to positive use, we also see an increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases. We want to reach out to Twitter community for thoughts and feedback!

— ElevenLabs (@elevenlabsio) January 30, 2023

ElevenLabs is currently working on a course of action to prevent further misuse of this technology. The company is also thinking of dropping its Voice Lab tool feature to instead have users submit voice cloning requests that will be manually screened.

Kartiv, an AI that inspires your visuals

Kartiv is an AI tool for designers, and the visuals are a literal depiction of what you describe in layman’s terms. Kartiv sells itself as an easy-to-use tool and appeals to the wider audience of marketers who prefer getting things done on the go. 

This AI visual tool sets a new bar for creatives. Set to release this year, the AI creative tool almost has a similar user interface to Canva. 

On the website, on huge block letters, we see Kartiv assures its users that one ‘doesn’t require any design knowledge or experience’ to use the tool, which is quite identical to how Canva as a platform gained popularity in the first place.

Kartiv also has an in-built AI assistant, provision to collaborate with fellow peers, an auto-resize function and has a range of creative tools that makes the designing process quite plain sailing.

Drawback (or more like how it sets itself apart): Only time can tell if Kartiv can overtake Canva as the sole design renaissance for creatives in the long run. 

PromptBase

PromptBase offers a marketplace for users to find and sell prompts that can be used across a range of artificial intelligence language models, including DALL·E, GPT-3, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion.

The platform is a one-stop source that enables visitors to browse across an array of prompts that are structured to generate specific types of content. From psychedelic or abstract illustrations, potential names for businesses to fantasy gem game assets, the AI tool proves itself to be quite effective. In fact, it also offers an option to hire creators to produce customised prompts for your individual needs.

Colorful Expressionist Graphic Posters by glorydays using #midjourney pic.twitter.com/PgpWECq6kj

— PromptBase | Prompt Marketplace (@promptbase) April 3, 2023

This AI programming tool is trying to fill a gap in the industry related to the difficulty of finding good quality prompts, and presents itself as a marketplace that facilitates the neat transaction of buying and selling prompts.

Drawback: One of its major drawbacks is that its ability to sell prompts may seem ground-breaking, but in reality, this human-to-machine translation service has existed in the form of SEO jobs for more than a decade now. 

So, the AI tool is not bridging a gap or simplifying the AI programming process.

Alana Smith, a principal product manager, content and platform experience at LinkedIn puts forth her expectations from the AI tool in her article.

“I really wish that Promptbase would have some automated scoring to offer some pre-review details,” she says.

“Given that you can’t see many stats on the prompt itself except a few images and a word count – user reviews are your only indication of quality.”

Want to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the creative industry space? Here’s an interesting read on the ongoing tikTok bans.

Starbucks’ newly appointed CEO, Laxman Narasimhan has completed 40 hours worth of training to earn a barista badge. Moving forward, alongside entry-level baristas, he will cover half-day coffee shifts once a month in an effort to stay close to his employees and the coffee loving customers.

Last week, Narasimhan officially became the widely popular chain’s chief executive, taking over after Howard Schultz. But here’s the twist – Narasimhan joined Starbucks as interim CEO in October last year, and has since spent time getting familiar with the company – including earning a barista certification.

According to a report published by cofactor, the year 2019 witnessed an all time high in CEO exit rates – many as a result of the chief executive officer’s professional and personal conduct. Moreover, COVID-19 pandemic has not been easy on businesses, leading to the emergence of ‘micro-cultures’.

Fully aware of the era of remote work and dispersed work cultures we operate in, Narasimhan embarked on this unusual idea of working the front lines. 

He also raised the stakes for chief executives across the world by undergoing a 40-hour training program, just as a newbie would, to become a certified Starbucks barista. 

In a recent letter addressed to his employees, Narasimhan wrote: 

“With you, I’ve experienced every aspect of the business to learn what it truly means to wear the green apron. You’ve welcomed me into our stores, trained me in how to be a barista, and helped me deeply understand what we do, how we do it, and the challenges and opportunities facing us.”

It’s astoundingly uncommon that we hear a public company’s CEO working side-by-side with baristas in coffee shops. And there are a couple of learning curves to take advantage of.

Building trust and connection with your employees 

As a chief executive of a global beverage chain, it can be challenging to find adequate time to personally participate in the growth of a company’s culture. However, Narasimhan wanted to operate differently, and be at the forefront of experiencing firsthand what baristas, store managers and supervisors deal with. 

In a 2018 study of CEO behaviour conducted by professors at Harvard Business Review, they say ‘where and how CEOs are involved determines what gets done. It signals priorities’. The study also found that chief executives only spent about six percent of their time with rank-and-file employees and even less time with their customers.

To help bridge the gap between a chief executive and an in-store barista, Narasimhan got involved at a ground level. This can help him to gauge what Starbucks culture is being influenced by, not just those sitting in cubicles or working in home offices, but the people who make the drinks for their customers.

“I felt it was very important to start as a barista. I wanted to really understand what they do and how they do it,” Narasimhan says.

“I’ve loved and learned so much about the retail experience from working in our stores, and can now make an excellent French press if I do say so myself.”

With Gen Z rejecting work as we know it, Narasimhan’s attempt at putting on a barista’s heart half day a month can be a great starting point to come face-to-face with the real issues plaguing today’s young workforce.

Redefining the ‘customer is king’ notion

Customer service can’t be ignored when talking about working in-store. 

Evidently, that’s an important area of focus for Narsimhan while carrying out his barista duties. As the newest addition to the barista team, no one quite recognises Narasimhan, which puts him at an advantage to interact with regulars as well as newcomers.

Interestingly though, as a barista, he gets to participate in direct, real conversations, which serve as untampered evidence to help improve customer satisfaction strategies in the long run. 

“The past six months of my immersion into the company have been shaped by so many of you who have taught me about our very special culture at Starbucks,” Narasimhan wrote in his letter.

As Narasimhan rolls up his sleeves to get closer to workplace issues like understaffing and unsafe working conditions at Starbucks, it can be interesting to see how his involvement can set the beverage chain up for success. 

There’s research that suggests that a boss’s technical competence is the single strongest predictor of a worker’s well-being. Therefore, this stunt could pave the way for higher-ups, like Narasimhan. to stay on top of their employees’ daily struggles.

For more on workplace culture, read how this agency helps clients lead and influence culture in advertising.

Prominent clothing brand, Levi’s, has new plans in the works to ‘replace’ human models for AI-generated images online to improve the representation of models. But, it’s receiving backlash for promoting ‘artificial diversity’.

A lot has changed in recent years in the fashion industry when it comes to representation of plus-size runway models who are above the size of 10. 

Recently, Levi’s announced its partnership with Lalaland.ai, an AI-centric studio with a history of working with fashion brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and is known for its ability to generate ‘hyper-realistic’ fashion models. 

Levi’s adopted this approach to escalate its diversity efforts through AI models that can help customers see more and more of its products on models that looked like themselves.

The global head of digital and emerging technology strategy at Levi Strauss & Co, Dr. Amy Gershkoff Bolles says “While AI will likely never fully replace human models for us, we are excited for the potential capabilities this may afford us for the consumer experience.”

The brand has gone on to assure shoppers that it will create “a more personal and inclusive shopping experience”, however the means to achieve this has many people questioning the intention.

Real models are (not) enough 

Levi’s Strauss claims that diversity, equity and inclusion are a ‘top priority’ for the company and sees AI-generated,  body-inclusive models as a way to help reach this important goal. 

What will be interesting moving forward is how other companies will combine the use of AI technology in their day-to-day, especially as traditional job roles in the creative industry are starting to become obsolete by AI.

A Levi’s spokesperson says, “We believe our models should reflect our consumers, which is why we’re continuing to diversify our human models in terms of size and body type, age and skin colour.” But, they also firmly believe that working with real people isn’t going to cut it if a company desires to drive stronger diversity and inclusion efforts.

Moreover, with Levi’s partnership with the technology at Lalaland.ai, customers can create personalised avatars to ‘virtually’ try on potential outfits on a single model before making a purchase. 

Levi’s comments on its concerted efforts at working towards increasing its workforce to be more diverse. But those both in front of and behind the camera reflect its “broad consumer base.”

This is where industry experts find a concerning gap.

Is this the demise of human models?

Levi’s ‘Artificial Diversity’, written by author, Tariro Mzezewa for The Cut concludes on a thought-provoking note and advises the folks at Levi’s to focus on hiring real-life humans who work as professional models, fashion photographers and stylists to be the way to achieve diversity and inclusivity rather than relying on AI-generated images.

With mass lay-offs dominating news headlines for quite some time now, Levi Strauss is no exception to this. The jeans’ company had over 15 percent of the workforce laid off amidst restructuring plans at their company last year. 

The cuts paved the way for the company to save $100 million a year, but at the cost of losing the backbone of any company – its employees.

While Levi Strauss is on a mission to advance their diversity targets, it is unclear on how they are moving the needle on diversity by replacing real photos of actual people by AI-generated models that are non-existent. The announcement also comes at a crucial time as the fashion industry is struggling to endorse a ‘realistic’ representation of models. 

Currently, if a shopper is browsing on the Levi’s online store, they can see most things on one model instead of having one model boast one item at a time. This shows the power of AI in fashion, and with big brands normalising AI-generated models, it might soon be difficult for an average person to tell the difference between a ‘fake’ model from professional models.

For more on AI, read about the AIpril’s Fools campaign generator and how to use it effectively.

Ahead of April Fool’s Day, Reprise Digital is launching the ‘AIpril Fools Campaign Generator tool’. But, the head of growth and integration at the marketing agency advises people to not be fooled by the tool.

ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. From ideation to creating content, generating images to copy writing, ChatGPT is fast becoming an indispensable tool for aspect of work. But the question remains: is ChatGPT an ally to or does it spell doom for human creativity? 

Reprise Digital’s latest AIpril Fools campaign generator tool has been introduced to inspire creative teams to develop 2023’s most intriguing April Fools campaigns. But, it says the tool should not be the only means to get those creative juices flowing. 

“The aim of this stunt is to show we still need people to drive creativity and salience for marketing campaigns,” says head of growth and integration, Mychal Whittle. 

Powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the campaign tool uses the latest in AI Large Language Models (LLM) technology to help creatives churn out quirky campaign ideas on the fly.

Despite the fact that ChatGPT has proven to be incredibly useful, true creativity comes down to one thing: human intellect. 

At Reprise Digital, many products have built-in AI to deliver client-specific insights, content and data solutions at scale. However, chief product officer at Reprise, Andrew Holford says, “there will continue to be a need for our people to bring the creativity and context to ensure clients get the bespoke and tailored strategies they need to succeed.”

Don’t be fooled by ChatGPT

ChatGPT is “dumber than you think”, wrote Ian Bogost in an article published in The Atlantic shortly after ChatGPT launched in November. Bogost advises readers to use it like a toy rather than a tool. 

“On the one hand, yes, ChatGPT is capable of producing prose that looks convincing. But on the other hand, what it means to be convincing depends on context,” he says.

The developers of the campaign generator are advocating for the same: a future that combines both the human mind and AI to facilitate and deliver high-quality creative concepts and results.

“Don’t be fooled by the AIpril Fools Campaign Generator, we don’t expect any Cannes Lion- winning ideas. This is more of a tongue-in-cheek creation highlighting the functionality of AI tools and how marketers should – and more to the point shouldn’t – be using them,” adds Whittle.

Although the AI tool has the potential to generate peculiar ideas, for any kind of industry, Whittle does not expect users to turn them into real campaigns. Instead, he expects them to be relatively generic. 

He sends out a message to all the users to go on an experimental spree with the tool and bring a fresh spin on ideation ahead of April Fools Day.

For more on AI, read about how AI generative image software underrepresents women in senior roles.

Tourism Fiji’s latest campaign, the ‘Shot of Happiness Project’ via Red Havas, wants to reclaim ‘happiness’ in a world dominated by social media. 

For 24 hours, starting 20 March at 12:00 FJT, Fijian locals have been tasked to capture 24 unfiltered shots using classic, disposable cameras of the archipelago of 333 islands with ‘zero’ chances at retakes.

Social media has changed the way we live our lives. Despite social media platforms being so entrenched in our lives, a 2021 survey conducted by UNICEF-Gallup showed that both young and older people are least likely to trust these platforms. Although the hashtag #happy has over 688 million posts on Instagram, there’s evidence that almost one third of people around the world do not feel happy because social media widely propagates an utopian lifestyle.

As a constructive mechanism to help people, not just in Fiji but across the world, to celebrate those little unedited joys in life and live life as it comes, Tourism Fiji’s newest Shot of Happiness Project campaign is telling a compelling story of the Fijian land and its people through a series of unfiltered visuals. 

What’s more is that this campaign is also “flipping the narrative” as Tourism Fiji chief marketing officer, Emma Campbell puts it, and “shares the story from a visitor’s perspective”.

“We know consumers are looking for meaningful travel experiences and in a world where Instagram versus reality is a culturally relevant phenomenon, the Shot of Happiness Project aims to debunk the world’s perception of what happiness looks like on social media and give the world a taste of what they can see and experience in Fiji,” says Campbell.

Saying goodbye to an ‘edited’ life

Following the successful launch of Tourism Fiji’s global brand platform, ‘Where happiness comes naturally’, the latest campaign aims to encourage the world to rework their muscle memory to cut back on the time spent on social media and instead spark more moments of authentic happiness.

An expert in Positive Psychology, specialising in happiness, Dr Lea Waters talks about the negative impacts using social media has on our daily lives since. She says there is a desperate need to constantly draw comparison between personal experiences and the fake depictions of happiness online.

“Exposure to sunlight, connection to nature and being within a community that focuses on sharing can help us feel more stable and valuing these things over material possessions is something we can learn from Fijians, as this is what makes them so happy. With this in mind, there’s no better nation suited to take the lead on changing perceptions of happiness around the world,” she says. 

So far, @tourismfiji has posted some of the most genuine photos. These aim to take audiences back to a bygone era of film photography and give the world a taste of the atmosphere in Fiji. 

Executive creative director of Host/Havas, Jon Austin says, “We’re thrilled to be working with the wider Havas Village to build on the ‘Where happiness comes naturally’ brand platform and narrative.”

“We reckon the world can learn a lot from Fiji, and we’re proud to be the ones who get the opportunity to shine a light on the incredible island nation and a way of life that requires no filters, effects, or multiple takes to show true happiness,” he adds.

Celebrating life in its purest form

For more unconventional tourism campaigns on social media, see how ‘unfluencers’ traveled to Esperance last week.