While the deepfake video generators that fraudsters use can be persuasive, the 6-second videos created by the free version of Grok haven’t reached that level of fakery. Yet.
In my experience, Grok is better at re-creating well-known people with more distinctive appearances. Good at Gene Simmons and Taylor Swift. Bad at Ace Frehley and Gerald Ford.
So I present…Willie Nelson.
Grok.
Willie with two turntables and a microphone, and one of his buds watching.
If you thought “Stardust” was odd for him, listen to this.
Once Grok created the video, I customized it to have Willie rap about bud.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it doesn’t sound like the real Willie.
And for the, um, record, Nelson appeared in Snoop’s “My Medicine” video.
As an added bonus, here’s Grok’s version of Cher, without audio customization. It doesn’t make me believe…
Grok.
Reminder to marketing leaders: if you need Bredemarket’s content-proposal-analysis help, book a meeting at https://bredemarket.com/mark/
As some of you know, my generative AI tool of choice has been Google Gemini, which incorporates guardrails against portraying celebrities. Grok has fewer guardrails.
My main purpose in creating the two Bill and Hillary Clinton videos (at the beginning of this compilation reel) was to see how Grok would handle references to copyrighted music. I didn’t expect to hear actual songs, but would Grok try to approximate the sounds of Lindsey-Stevie-Christine era Mac and the Sex Pistols? You be the judge.
And as for Prince and Johnny…you be the judge of that also.
Repurposing can be found all over the place. Let’s look at the history of the Cure song “A Forest.”
Somehow I escaped hearing “A Forest” until decades after it was released, when the song was used on the old Fox Soccer Channel. This song was originally released in 1980, very early in the Cure’s career, and was a goth-yet-driving track that fit in with the times. And Robert Smith had not yet become Edward Scissorhands.
“A Forest” official video.
But then another Robert, Robert Palmer, would inject himself into the story.
Palmer had not yet become The Mannequin Guy (that would come four years later), but he was still pretty big. Big enough to rank higher than the Cure in the lineup for the Rock Werchter Festival on July 5, 1981. And when you’re a supporting act like the Cure was on that day, things don’t always go your way.
“The day before in Torhout the band had been able to play 15 songs, in Werchter they would only play 13 songs skipping “Three Imaginary Boys” and “Faith”. The Cure, consisting of Robert Smith, Simon Gallup and Laurence Tolhurst, was scheduled to play just before Robert Palmer and while they were playing, they were told to cut their set short by Robert Palmer’s managers.”
So the Cure was only allowed to play one more song. Robert Smith announced to the crowd:
“This is the final song because we’re not allowed to carry on anymore, cause everybody want’s to see Robert Palmer I think. It’s called ‘A Forest.'”
Cue malicious compliance.
The band starts playing the slow introduction to the song…with a few extra flourishes that stretched the intro out a bit.
After a minute-long introduction, the song finally picks up at the normal tempo. Well, with a little more of an instrumental introduction before Smith starts singing.
He sings the verses of the song, through the final words “again and again and again and again and again.” And five minutes in, it appears that the Cure has “a bad case of loving” the song, because they keep on playing.
And playing.
And playing.
With less of a drum beat and bass line as Smith explores every chord, and every note, on his guitar.
Six and a half minutes in, as you start to see backstage activity, Smith begins to sing new lyrics, “parting is such sweet sorrow” among them.
But the Cure didn’t part. They kept on playing. And at seven and a half minutes in, they picked up the pace again.
By the 8 minute mark, Smith is channeling his inner Hendrix/Townshend as the band finally concludes the song, “encouraged” by Robert Palmer’s roadies.
You can see the performance for yourself. Language warning at the end.
The Cure playing “A Forest” in 1981. The infamous “F Robert Palmer” performance.
This sudden, provoked improvisation permanently affected future live performances of “A Forest.” Here’s a 1992 example, in which the song stretched for over 13 minutes. Minute-long slow intro, four-minute song proper, and a coda as long as the entire Werchter performance.
The Cure playing “A Forest” in 1992, “addicted” to the new longer arrangement.
So feel free to repurpose YOUR content, longer or shorter as you wish. The original piece may resonate with some, while the newer pieces may resonate with others.
If the Fox Soccer Channel had played “A Forest” more often, maybe it would still be around today.
Are you a technology marketing leader who lies awake at night worrying about the following?
“Keeping up with the speed and complexity of the digital landscape.”
Well, maybe not that exact phrase. That sounds like something generative AI would write.
And in fact, my buddy Bredebot wrote it when answering a question about Chief Marketing Officer pain points relative to content.
Bredebot is the one in the middle.
But I’m not going to let Bredebot write an entire post about it, because I’m going to write it myself.
The human way to reflect the sentiment above is to ask whether your content is up-to-date, or is as dated as a Pentium.
And that’s something that a marketing leader DOES worry about, because they (usually) want their firms to be perceived as innovative, not old fashioned.
Let me give you an example of outdated content that persists today.
SEO, AEO, GEO…I believe they’re different
For years we have been discussing search engine optimization, or SEO. The whole point of SEO is to ensure that your content appears at the top of results when you use Google or Bing or another search engine to launch a search. (Ignore “sponsored content” for a minute here.)
In case you haven’t noticed, fewer and fewer people are using search engines. Instead, they are searching for answers from their favorite generative AI tool, and now the new term the kids are using is answer engine optimization, or AEO. Or perhaps you can follow the lead of Go Fish and refer to generative engine optimization, or GEO.
Now some people are continuing to use SEO when they mean AEO and GEO, under the theory that it’s all just optimization, and it’s all just searching but just with a different tool. Personally, I believe that continuing to refer to SEO is confusing because the term has always been associated with search engines.
“Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on ranking for keywords, AEO concentrates on providing comprehensive, authoritative answers that AI systems can easily process and deliver to users….
“Think about how you use AI tools today. You don’t ask for ‘electrician Auckland residential services’, you ask, ‘What’s causing the flickering in my kitchen lights?’ or ‘How much should it cost to rewire a 1970s house?’ You want answers, not search results.”
But forget about XEO and let’s return to the content YOU create.
How do you keep YOUR content up-to-date?
Let’s say that you’ve reached the point in your content calendar where you have to write a blog post about pop music.
And let’s also say that you’re old enough to remember the 20th century.
You may have a problem.
For example, when you see the words “pop music,” you may immediately spell the second word with a “z” and a “k” when you TALK ABOUT.
And now that I’ve lost half my reading audience, you can see my point. While personas are approximations, you need to refer to them when crafting your content. If your hungry people (target audience) tend to be in their 20s and 30s, they’re probably not going to understand or respond to songs from M (Robin Scott) or Kraftwerk.
So how does a marketer ensure that their content is not dated? By remembering to ask, then act. Question your assumptions, do your research, write your content, then check your content.
Question your assumptions
Before you write your content, ensure your premise is correct. For example, I didn’t assume without questioning that “keeping up with the speed and complexity of the digital landscape” was a pressing issue. I KNEW that it was a pressing issue, because I encounter it daily.
Do your research
Next, take a moment and check what you are about to say. Was your assumption about fingerprint examiner infallibility affected by the NAS report? Was your assumption affected by activities that occurred after the NAS report?
Write your content
At some point you have to stop asking and start acting, writing your content. Write your draft 0.5 to get your thoughts down, then write your draft 1.0. And keep your personas in mind while you do it.
Check your content
Once it’s drafted, check it again. Have your dated assumptions crept into your writing? Did you use the term “SEO” out of habit, by mistake? Fix it.
The results of up-to-date content
If you do all these things, you’ll ensure that your competitors don’t laugh at your content and tell you how out of touch you are.
Ideally, you want your competitors to show how out of date they are.
“Look at WidgetCorp, who doesn’t even know how to spell! Their writer’s left finger slipped while typing, and they typed the so-called word ‘AEO’ rather than ‘SEO’! Everybody know the term is SEO!”
Which gives you the opportunity to write a succinct reply to your bozo competitor.
I’ll give you the joy of writing it yourself.
Unless you want Bredemarket to write it, or other content. Book a free meeting to discuss your needs. https://bredemarket.com/mark/
I am a fan of song mashups…when they’re done right. Such as Mike Jones vs. the Cure in “Mr. Jones in a Forest.” Or a recent discovery of mine, Blondie vs. the Doors in “Rapture Riders.”
At their best, song mashups attract the hungry people for each component song and bring them together to appreciate the whole.
And in this case there IS a lesson for B2B marketing. While most marketers prefer emphasizing a single uncluttered message, a well-structured marketing mashup can be powerful. Take Tide and Bud Light.
By the way, I’m also a fan of shreds, such as “I Get Around.” But I haven’t found a B2B marketing lesson in shreds yet.
Bredemarket 