Here’s my take on AI video and what businesses should be doing with it right now.
AI video has exploded this year. Honestly, it has moved a lot faster than I expected. We went to something that really wasn’t useable in a practical manner to near perfection, with Veo 3 even generating hyper-realistic audio including dialog.
These tools provide some very obvious opportunities. The costs and barriers of creating content have significantly dropped. But I think there is an even bigger opportunity being presented, and it’s one that probably won’t last long. So, we need to move fast.
Let me start off with saying that I’m speculating here, and this is a gamble that I’m personally taking, but I don’t know for sure if it will pay off. This isn’t one of those “Here’s what I did to get rich, and you can do it too” type posts. I’m writing in the early stages of trying this myself.
Gary Vaynerchuck often talks about finding underpriced attention. There is a tidal wave of attention around AI video right now. My hypothesis is that AI generated content can reach further than normal right now because we have “Holy shit! Can you believe this is AI?” momentum right now. The sheer spectacle of the the technology is generating the attention. This won’t last forever, and realistically it probably won’t be long at all before it becomes normalized and loses luster.
So here is what I’m trying. My coffee brand, Nordic Jo’s Coffee, is perfect for this moment because it is based on light-hearted comedy with a tone that can easily be captured in today’s AI video. So the first thing I did was level up my main character, Jo, the super chill, sunglasses wearing viking coffee addict. I have really leaned into bringing this character to life with single shot, short video clips of the character in some absurd or silly situation. I have him in clips like snowboarding down a mountain while casually holding a ceramic coffee mug, being pulled down the sidewalk on a skateboard by a bulldog while wearing a bathrobe, driving a monster truck while sipping coffee, basically any silly situation that I can think of that might grab some eyeballs.
I’m also taking somewhat of a building in public or even teaching approach. I started posting all of these to my personal accounts, X, YouTube, TikTok with the prompt that I used to create them. My thought behind this is twofold. One, it just attracts more attention because there are a lot of people looking to learn how to use these tools, so sharing my prompts makes me a source for those people. This could open up other opportunities outside of just Nordic Jo’s. It’s making my content multi-purpose. And two, about half the population drinks coffee. So I don’t have to worry as much about finding a very narrow customer segment. Half of the people being drawn to AI probably drink coffee. So this play is really about expanding my audience. They might follow along for AI tips, but could also decide to drink Nordic Jo’s along the way.
The second tactic that I’m employing is creating slightly longer (meaning like a minute, so still short) content. The first of these is the video attached in this post. They are short comedic skits with product placement. I’m putting a high amount of effort into these to try and make them legitimately good content, not just good enough. My hope is that one of these will hit enough that it can be carried viral. These aren’t ads in the sense that they are fully focused on Nordic Jo’s or the Nordic Jo’s character. Instead, Nordic Jo’s is just featured. This first video is a mockumentary style ad for a fictional gas station that differentiated itself by having the best bathroom experience. The owner and customers, including Jo, are interviewed about what makes Marty’s Pump and Dump (get it?) special. You’ll also notice that the gas station serves Nordic Jo’s Coffee, and it’s represented in an almost self-deprecating manner.
There is a third tactic that I haven’t pulled the trigger on yet myself, but I think could be another avenue. Identifying emerging creators and offering them early brand deals could possibly be an avenue for getting eyeballs on your brand or product. This is just a hunch, but I could see creators who are just experiencing new found virality to be excited and eager to get early deals, and those early deals probably could come at a much cheaper price than they would with a well established traditional influencer. I picture these engagements to be similar to the product placement that I’m including in my skits. Maybe it’s a character that has gained popularity wearing a shirt with a logo. You could probably tie in a sponsored message with a link, too. Regardless of the specific tactics, the idea is to grab attention while it’s cheap.
These opportunities won’t last forever, but they’re here right now. I don’t know if it will be me or you, but there will definitely be people making life changing money by ceasing these moments that AI is bringing us.
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