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Hello!

Anjali and I went to drinks and dinner events this week organised by our friends at The Communications Network, the US organisation connecting communications professionals in non-profits and foundations. We presented our work at their Atlanta conference a few years ago, and it was an incredible event. They’re looking to start running events in the UK, and we had a fascinating discussion over dinner about the challenges facing communications, the rise of AI, and lots of other issues. Some of the things we discussed have made it into the newsletter today, so thanks to Sean and Carrie for inviting us - if you are interested in attending future events by them in the UK, sign up via the link above.

And of course, if you’re a non-profit org and need help with your content strategy and formats, we’d love to help. Hit the button below and we’ll be in touch asap.

Right - it’s Friday, you’ve almost finished work - here’s ten links to see you into the weekend.

Matt

Is Your AI Idea Any Good? (5-min read)

Why Digital Projects Fail (Very Insightful Report)

The Who Cares Era (11-min read)

How CEOs Talk About AI (5-min read)

Nathan Fielder On How He Made The Rehearsal Season 2 (10-min read - paywall)

Searching for MF Doom (50-min listen)

How To Do Things You Can’t Measure (4-min read)

How To Test Your Prototypes (8-minute read)

The Debate Over Animal Personhood (10-min read)

Impossible Challenges by AI Influencers (2-min video)

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Is Your AI Idea Any Good? (5-min read)
I’ve read a lot of stuff this week trying to work out where we are in the current AI revolution. Are we about to see AI change everything? Or are we not seeing the impacts and benefits that we would expect for so much investment? I’m not sure we can tell just yet, but this framework from Stella Garber at Every is a good way to think about your own AI ideas. I particularly like the focus on jobs-to-be-done and pains/gains - we use those concepts in our value proposition frameworks all the time with clients.

Why Digital Projects Fail (Very Insightful Report)
We might be talking about AI changing the world, but a lot of orgs are still managing their way through the previous era of Digital Transformation. Our friend Ash Mann has spent the last few months gathering stories about how digital projects fail, and his report, although it’s based on arts organisations, is hugely valuable, with lots of really practical insights and tools.

The Who Cares Era (11-min read)
Dan Sinker’s mini-manifesto has been shared a lot this week, but that’s because it’s a pithy and insightful analysis of how a lot of cultural trends reveal a lack of care - automating away the things that make us human. His response is a call to care about what we make: “In the Who Cares Era, the most radical thing you can do is care. In a moment where machines churn out mediocrity, make something yourself. Make it imperfect. Make it rough. Just make it.”

How CEOs Talk About AI (5-min read)
Nathan Brier is, for my money, the smartest person writing about the impacts of AI on branding and marketing right now. This great post uses one of his favourite tools - the 4×4 square - to analyse how big tech CEOs are talking about their AI strategy. He categorises them into four groups - Peacocks, Bettors, Stagecraft and Executors. Spoiler - there’s a lot of Peacocks and Bettors around at the moment.

Nathan Fielder On How He Made The Rehearsal Season 2 (10-min read - paywall)
My second favourite Nathan, after Brier, is Fielder. It’s really hard to recommend, or even describe, the second season of his incredible TV show The Rehearsal. If it’s the kind of thing you like, it’ll be the most extraordinary thing you’ll see this year. If it’s not, you’ll find it incredibly odd and frustrating. I absolutely loved it - its an example of an artist pushing his ideas much, much further than you could ever imagine, and yet still sticking the landing. This brilliant Rolling Stone interview reveals the humanity and heart behind the project.

Searching for MF Doom (50-min listen)
Our very own Podcast Master Christopher Mitchell just dropped this incredible hour long docu-drama about the history of MF Doom’s album MM FOOD. Presented as a journey through Doom’s fictional land called Latveria, it’s a work of pure audio artistry, and a great example of what Dan Sinker said in his essay linked above - you can tell Chris cares.

How To Do Things You Can’t Measure (4-min read)
I thought this was really interesting - a LinkedIn post by Alex Schultz, the CMO & VP of Analytics at Meta, on how they judged the brand impact of their recent Netflix doc about F1 and Whatsapp. How you measure Brand v Performance is an ongoing debate in B2B marketing, so hearing someone working firmly on the Performance side talk about things you can’t measure on the Brand side is very enlightening!

How To Test Your Prototypes (8-minute read)
I’m three epsidoes into my new Attention Matters series on building a prototyping culture, and this week, I talked about why you might be testing the wrong thing when you make content prototypes. Instead of using audience tests to find out if people like your content, you should start by asking how they would find the time to give it attention in the first place.

The Debate Over Animal Personhood (10-min read)
At one of the Communications Network events this week, I ended up talking to someone leading the Narrative Change department for a charity working on animal legal rights. And then I saw this very interesting, and wonderfully deadpan, article on whether we should recognise Animals legally as Persons. Worth reading just for the link to the legal case U.S. v. Approximately Twenty-Three Pit Bull-Type Dogs.

Impossible Challenges by AI Influencers (2-min video)
A lot of the links this week revolve around our shifting sense of what is real, or human. So lets finish with a very funny, and uncannily real, short video made using Google new VEO 3 AI service. The video is extraordinary, but the fake influencers feel all too real - “I hope you’re happy algorithm!”

Well done if you got this far! I’ve had one of those weeks where every conversation seemed to be a rabbit hole into something that challenged the way I think about the world. Which is always really exciting - what is the one thing you’ve read or seen that has made you rethink the way you see the world? Hit reply and send me your links!

In the meantime, enjoy the weekend!

Matt, Anjali, Hugh and the rest of Team Storythings