Rob Davis’ Post

When I read my LinkedIn profile or career bios, I always see gaps. No, there’s not some nefarious deed or wild excursion from reality I intentionally leave out of the timeline. Though in retrospect, I wouldn’t mind having “1990-1994: Toured with The Dead” to document. Alas, not. No, the gaps in my story are the successes of people I managed; the joy from watching team members grow and flourish. This is not a new revelation. I learned it early on. As a teaching assistant during my undergrad years at the University of Scranton, one of my TV production students landed a part-time studio camera gig at WYOU, the local CBS affiliate. It was the first time I experienced the delight of someone under my watch spreading their wings and starting to fly. I have been blessed with many similar moments. I won’t list individual names for fear of leaving someone out, but they know who they are… the professionals whose success excites me as much as it does themselves. Maybe from growing up the son of an elementary school teacher, I have always thought it my managerial responsibility to help my teams evolve both as a unit and as individual professionals. This requires bridging generation gaps, which is something I relish. I believe it’s a key reason I feel decades younger than my driver license claims. That said, making inter-generational connections has changed. Ten years ago, discussions might have been about pop-culture and shared career experiences. It’s not that simple, anymore. Today’s under-30 workforce has been through a lot: they are the first cohort to grow up with smart phones as a pervasive part of their lives – along with all the positives and negatives 24x7 connectivity brings; tragically, they are also the first to experience school shooting drills; the Covid pandemic up-ended some of their most important developmental years; and they are trying build their lives at a time when home ownership and other rites of passage are increasingly hard to reach. Media coverage suggests there’s a cultural struggle to understand the differences these lived experiences have made… with an increase of “get off my lawn” commentary. Based on past experiences, I’d rather ask them to stay. Bring a folding chair. Let’s talk. I do worry, though. How can my own lived experience foster the career of someone who spent their early work years locked in a bedroom masquerading as a “home office?” What adjustments should be on my to-do list? What evolution do I have to make? I don't let worry stop my anticipation. I am fortunate to have a strong, young team working with me today. There are breakout, wing-spreading, game-changing moments just ahead; we’ve already had some. What are your proudest team building, career-shaping memories of professionals you have managed? https://lnkd.in/ekB3yqSW

I saw the attached image in my social feed today and immediately thought of how the PR and marketing industry (agency and client side inclusive) has been adapting during the first 18 months of widespread generative AI accessibility. The solid, irrefutable answers so many want about AI and what it can do today are as clear and explicit as the unwritten rules of life. And hold on tight: they always will be. The power of AI is growing on a continuum. It isn’t derived from a handbook but from the lived experiences of ourselves and our machines. It’s never going to pause while we write the manual. We may jot down lists of what genAI can do, but they will never be irrefutable or comprehensive in the long run... or even tomorrow. If that’s not enough of a conceptual hurdle, the stark interfaces of the major genAI tools present some real-world user challenges. When someone sits down in front of a generative AI platform, chances are they are looking at an empty dialog box awaiting a prompt. There’s no more daunting experience in our short digital history than a lone dialog box without any context. One could argue that Google built an empire upon a similar model, but they benefitted from implicit context derived via a simple value prop: type in your interest, want or need and we will show you the best places to get your answer. The GenAI dialog box is a portal to much greater power than any visually similar search interface. Yes, AI can fulfill a somewhat similar discovery value prop of old school Google (though with very uneven results thus far), but the radical business disruptions that will make and break both heritage brands and start-ups with equal aplomb require seeing the dialog box in whatever context a task demands. This is one reason I am currently intrigued by purpose-built interfaces designed to assist in specific AI-enabled tasks rather than those that open the doors to an uncharted kingdom. Some people will flourish in a world of endless possibility. Others will founder without a map. No matter how we approach it, the two unwritten rules of generative AI are always going to be: 1. 2. So, we might as well get used to it. ---------- #artificialintelligence #AI #generativeAI #PR #Marketing #MachineLearning #ML #PublicReleations

As I continue to study AI prompts and work with different prompt creators, I have noticed a tendency of people to be more polite with the LLM's than with humans. Saying "please" and "thank you" to a computer with greater frequency than we do with each other is an interesting behavioral note about the AI era. Any behavioral scientists want to dig in to this? #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Prompt #PromptWriting #Humans #BehavioralScience

I was served a Facebook ad today for an elaborate scam. The Sam Ash music store chain is closing down, that’s true. And they are having sales to move remaining inventory. Also true. But this ad is not for Sam Ash. Whomever is behind it has used Sam Ash branding to create a website and advertising designed for one reason: to deceive the consumer. This sort of thing is nothing new, but it still gets my attention when something so egregious makes it through the approval process (complete with the misspelling of the “Ashe” family). It seems curious that for all we do to ensure brand safety when choosing where to run digital ads, a platform would still allow such fakery. How do we expect consumers to trust legit ads when they appear next to, or in feed with, this sort of thing? It’s a head scratcher. #Digital #DigitalMarketing #DigitalAdvertising #SocialMedia #Facebook

Internet search - the ranking of content and linking to it - is the core of the WWW. Which is why it is absolutely mind boggling to watch Google and its competitors race to replace the traditional (and pretty darn good) search model with AI “answer engine” tech that is nowhere near ready to perform the task. We are watching the leaders of search destroy it in real-time (while at the same time taking down protections that preserve intellectual property). It’s as fascinating as it is unbelievable. Alas, there’s something worse at risk: these actions may also set back public trust in AI by years if not decades. I am no Luddite. AI is incredibly powerful right now. Its current incarnation can bring significant immediate value personally and professionally. That’s the truth. It’s just not ready for search-like functionality. That’s also the truth. If you told me 5 years I go that I would have to counsel clients on how to navigate a self-inflicted implosion of the best search and social media recommendation tools, I’d have laughed it off. I’m not laughing now. https://lnkd.in/en4YyHux #Internet #Search #SEO #SEM #AI #artificialintelligence #gemini #generativeAI #SGE #searchgenerativeexperience

Think concerns about generative AI and intellectual property theft are just for publishers? A new WaPo article highlights how all websites – corporate and private – may become embroiled in a battle over intellectual property unlike we have ever seen, with plaintiffs ranging from mass media and multi-national companies to the smallest website owners. At the center of the issue is a switch from the traditional search engine results page (SERP) where the user is presented with links to websites, to the “answer engine” model that uses generative AI to write an answer for you. No click to a website required. Google has been leading the charge to make the SERP a destination site rather than an information traffic cop directing you to other sites. Google snippets, business information windows and other content found in the rails keep users on the SERP. This is not a new trend. Google has been on the path of a making the SERP more of a content page than a discovery tool for years. With Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) initiative, SERP-as-destination is making a huge leap forward with AI generated answers to a searcher’s questions taking precedent over links to sites… all while using those sites for the very content the SGE engine sources for its answers. That’s where the IP rub comes in. Linking to a website is one thing vs. taking its content and using it to create an answer in the Google SERP, so that the user never has to go to the originating website. With OpenAI rumored to be planning a search product, and numerous other companies stepping into the space, this not going to be a one-and-done issue. The courts will be humming as case law is set. #generativeAI #seo #sge #intellectualproperty #knowledgeengine #website #content https://lnkd.in/eydHZH8A

Did Christopher Nolan just direct an OK Go video? Given the amount of handwringing over “Crush” it’s safe to say it’s become an earned media success for Apple. And now I am adding to that, I suppose. I am not offended by seeing many of my favorite things crushed. If anyone is concerned about acoustic guitar abuse, just go listen to how modern country records are produced. Over-compression now has dual meaning. ;-) But I do think Apple missed the mark. There is a core truth in Crush: iPads have replaced a number of creative devices for a large group of consumers. And they have opened doors to creative activities that used to require cost-prohibitive specialized equipment. Sticking to that reality with more selective crushing would have made the point with less outrage-inducing visuals. Then again, the outrage is the only reason I know the video exists. So, perhaps we should be saying “job well done, Apple?” #apple #commercial #outrage #OKGO

Other than Kendrick v. Drake, the most common topic in my digital life is TikTok… specifically “what will brands do to reach young people if TikTok goes away?” I get the sense from trade pubs - plus conversations with creators and peers - that the handwringing is more about the marketing/PR industry’s hyper-focus on TikTok than the audience’s preferences. A colleague reminded me of the Pew study from Q4 2023 (pre “TikTok ban” era) showing YouTube ahead and both Snapchat and Instagram slightly behind teens use of TikTok. In a horse race you might say they are within a furlong of each other; a distance that could easily be made up. There’s no denying the power of TikTok. The influence the platform has built over the past 7 years is stunning. If you love vertical video, you owe the platform great thanks. If you hate it, well… If ByteDance does shut down TikTok in the US, it wouldn’t shock me to find that it stays relevant until the last pixel fades. But it's not time to sit and wait. The unknowns raised by the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act underscore the benefit of a diversified social strategy. I guarantee that no matter what the future holds for TikTok, the biggest risk will come from not taking the next 7 months to test and learn on underutilized platforms in a brand’s social mix (paid, owned and earned). Pew link: https://lnkd.in/eiaWcR_u #TikTok #TikTokBan #socialmedia #influencer #brandcontent #advertising #pr #YouTube #Instagram #Snapchat

Despite the huge leap of interest since Chat GPT launched, Artificial Intelligence is still nascent tech. Conceptually, there are three levels of AI: 1) Artificial Narrow Intelligence; 2) Artificial General Intelligence; and 3) Artificial Super Intelligence. The generative AI tools that have everyone excited are just a small slice of level one.   Even so, the primordial AI lava is already posing risks to brand safety and trust. Meaningful adoption of - and adjustment to - today’s generative AI may seem daunting, but brands need to invest and learn now, lest they risk an insurmountable climb tomorrow trying to make up lost time.   The generative AI era has posed two questions every brand must have an answer for: Internal: What should we be doing with AI? External: What is AI already doing to us? Near-term responses to these provocations may well decide who wins and loses 2-3 years down the road. I had the pleasure of discussing these truths earlier today during a session moderated by Aaron Kwittken for the Page Society. Many thanks to Mia Skwiot, Aaron and the participants who came prepared with great questions. With apologies to Dr. Strangelove, it’s time to stop worrying and love AI. Be smart. Be careful. Start the climb.

What a day yesterday was for my colleagues and our clients. Together we took home 16 or so #SABREawards of various kinds and our CEO, Diana Littman, was honored with an Individual Acheivement award. I am always grateful to see excellence recognized. There was a lot of excellence on display last night from across the industry. Congrats to all! MSL (Global) #PRovokeMedia #SABRE #MSL #InfluenceImpact #Awards #PR #NewYorkCity