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Can we build it up?

With Halloween only a week away, there’s a race to close out Q4 strong. While the pressure to meet year-end goals can be intense, it’s also a time to reflect on the progress made throughout the year and rally the team for a final push. Keeping a positive and motivated mindset is essential to tackle the challenges that come with closing out the year.

Give this song by Rival Sons a listen and see what the experts are saying this week.

The Power of Video & Animation

Last week we talked about the power of the human voice in the buyer’s journey – what about video? Simply put, being able to tell and show at the same time helps your audience understand better and stick around to hear more of your message. Seems like the perfect balance between that human voice and digital touch, right?

Our friends at Flikli explain that we absorb 80% of the information we see in visuals (as opposed to only 20% from reading). When you couple this innate preference for visuals with the dynamic, colourful nature of animated videos, it’s no surprise that they attract and hold attention more effectively than textual content: human beings are predominantly visual creatures.

So what other characteristics does video have that increase engagement?

  • Simplicity: processing ease and enjoyment
  • Emotion: creating connection and driving action
  • Narrative: storytelling for memory enhancement
  • Novelty: tapping into curiosity

Next time you’re looking for a compelling and interesting tactic for your marketing, maybe it’s time to try video or animation. It’s unique, spans both the human and digital channels and hopefully works for your money and earns its keep!

The Power of (Cloned) Voice???

There’s a new bootleg war – and it involves human voices!

The Recording Industry Association of America recently released its annual Notorious Markets List, which it submits to the US Trade Representative in hopes that the American government will do something about it. It names countries that are either ignoring the theft of music or not doing enough to combat it.

This year, the list cites a new problem: voice clones.

The year 2023 saw an eruption of unauthorized AI vocal clone services that infringe not only the rights of the artists whose voices are being cloned but also the rights of those that own the sound recordings in each underlying musical track. This has led to an explosion of unauthorized derivative works of our members’ sound recordings which harm sound recording artists and copyright owners.

Only one site is mentioned by name: a cloning service designed by a 20-year-old computer science student in the UK. Voicify.ai features vocal models of artists like Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Elvis Presley, Bruno Mars, Eminem, Harry Styles, Adele, Ed Sheeran and many others – and even goes beyond the music industry to include the likes of Obama, Trump, and Biden! Within seconds, anyone can have any one of these people say or sing anything you’d like.

Is this illegal? It’s unclear. The law has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to artificial intelligence.

What do you think? With pressure and time, some countries will likely introduce legislation around this… but maybe not everywhere. How might that affect the B2B landscape?

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello. Or even better, have one of the above artists or celebrities say hello on your behalf!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat