(Image generated from Dall-E with really rubbish prompting)
Well merry Christmas ya filthy animals. And as we look back at another year in employer branding, what have we learnt?
Well, I don’t know about youse but reviewing my year I’m struck by how all encompassing the thrill of AI was; drawing us (and me especially) into its alluring promise of less work and greater output.
This thought has returned to me this week with a few posts and conversations. First off is something that Ben Phillips posted about his work with AI. Ben is a properly smart guy, and if you’ve read his posts on employer branding then you’ll know that he knows what he’s talking about. In this, he approaches the use of AI in really practical and transparent way; dealing with using it as a way to spin out content from a single idea ie. you make a video, ai turns that into a blog post and LinkedIn post and an Instagram post etc.
In the same week I was talking to our lead researcher, Ed Emery who has been following the use of AI from a research perspective. With this it really is about using the technology as a way to augment the research, acting as another pair of hands to sift the data or act as another person in the room to whom you can ask questions.
For both of these applications I am at once both in awe of what can be done and (probably) overly thinky about what it means.
For the first instance I completely get it. People gotta content produce and the demand is incredible. So being able to take short cuts to produce it (with a human overseer) is a natural step. And it may not mean a job reduction either, because as Ben points out, what it means is that creative people can concentrate on doing the heavy lifting at the beginning stage, developing the creative ideas that are the starting point for the AI factory.
My concerns come in at the point where I start thinking how that subtly changes our relationship with that content. There is something inherent in the thought behind writing or an image. If I was dressing it up I would say we are trying to convey something about the human experience. Even if it is the working experience and is less important say than writing about love or peace, as an old copywriter, I feel there is something in that craft of choosing what to say and how to say it in order to have someone pay attention and emotionally resonate with what is being written or portrayed. And I do worry about what happens when that is removed. On the other hand I am also aware that I’m being over sentimental. As we all know, this has happened before. Craftspeople fashioning toys or porcelain or art who have been usurped by factory made replacements. And us, like them, will end up having to change our mindset. We need to keep pace with the need for content. And this is how we do it. Perhaps one day, in the same way that fast fashion is experiencing a tremor, there will be a point where hand crafted content has more cache. Or that, as Ben writes, the way to have more use for the content we do create is to make it better in the first place – so it stands up to repeat watching.
For both of these examples my other concern (which I have written about before) is the way that this changes the landscape of the training ground for more senior level roles. If AI does the grunt work, how do we provide the proving ground for those people who still need to learn the ropes? The pessimistic view is that you will have a dearth of skills as the ones who know how it works die off, leaving only those who don’t have the deep knowledge to question how things are done. The positive view is that the nature of all this work will fundamentally change to something that I can’t even imagine. To be honest, I think I’m going to stay warm and fuzzy with the thought of the latter for this Christmas period.
Other things going through my mind.
You’ve probably seen but the stats around men are pretty grim reading. I’ve been trying to educate myself on some of the stuff going on, prompted by reading Caitlin Moran’s excellent book “What about men?”. If you’re interested I’ve also found these things:
This is a really good podcast setting up the situation facing men at the moment. Bruce Daisley is really worth listening to if you don’t already.
Rob Henderson has done some writing on what is Young Male Syndrome, which I think is interesting and tries to at least frame the problem in some way, even though I don’t think I totally agree with all of the conclusions.
This is branding and marketing thinking about how to tackle some of the issues
Richard Reeves “Of Boys and Men” – somewhat controversial but an important voice in framing this not as a zero sum game battle between the sexes.
Branding
Duolingo has had a great approach to Tik Tok, spearheaded by Zaria Parvez. Here the approach is broken down and you get a real insight into what did make it happen and how they learnt on the job.
Xbox has a good promotion that means, if you win, you get to be a tactical advisor for a real club.
Interesting take on something going on in the UK with PG Tips. Setting the scene for people not from here, PG tips was one of the biggest brands in tea. They have since been outshone by brands like Yorkshire tea who do some great advertising with people like Patrick Stewart and a little earworm sung by Skipton Alfie (thanks to Sophie Rogers for showing me this). PG tips response was to go back to the drawing board and, instead of fighting fire with fire and doubling down on advertising, they've gone to the product, re-engineered it and then done some benefits led campaign. The way that this is seen in ad world is worth reading. Check out the comments below as well.
The Apple Christmas ad is my favourite. So much so that, in the car this week, my wife said that we should watch it again.
Love the idea of this photography – a single roll of film shot by different photographers. Reminds me of this one from 2019 where disposable cameras were sent out around the world to capture football at grass roots level.
World of work
Doing some digging around work experience for a work research project which also tied into being a school parent governor. Some crazy statistics here which clearly illustrate the reason why there is a lack of diversity in some industries.
Students at private schools are 4.5 times more likely to secure work experience through “the family or some of their friends” than their state-educated peers, a social mobility charity has revealed.
What sort of worker are you? (BTW This is very very high-falutin’ and some of it went over my head).
Employer branding
This solicitors in Ipswich is smashing it on Tik Tok at the moment.
I don’t know about anyone else but the “of course” stuff is really getting on my nerves.
What does your actual work environment say about you to others. In this article, the writer posits that Amazon’s use of an old prison speaks volumes. Whether you think it’s true or not, it’s interesting to think about in the larger discussion about an “employer brand experience”.
And finally, I’ve been going through the EBMA awards to see what we can learn and if there are any good things going on. One thing stood out head and shoulders above the rest. The Turkish Aerospace approach to early careers recruitment is all encompassing, (starting at around the age of 4) and includes a blummin’ musical. I thought it was great.
And that’s your lot for 2023. Thanks for sticking with me. If you want to follow up with me to have a chat about any of the above or chew the fat, then please feel free to get in touch.
Big baubley covered hugs to you for this festive season. May your punch be always smokin’ – catch you in 2024 byeeeeeee
Will