The Great AI Slop Cleanup (544)

Anthropic and The AI Scarlet Letter (545)

Anthropic plans to watermark Claude-generated text [https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/11/anthropic-says-it-will-watermark-text-generated-by-its-ai-models/], but what does that really prove? Joe and Robert discuss whether an AI mark could become a scarlet letter, even when AI only edited or assisted with the work. Then, new creator research [https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/creator-income-follower-count-importance-creator-iq] shows most creators still make very little money. The guys ask whether creators are chasing brand deals when they should be building real businesses, with Lofi Girl [https://strategybreakdowns.com/p/lofi-girl-category-ownership?utm_source=strategybreakdowns.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=how-lofi-girl-owns-lo-fi&_bhlid=189af54917c1679ff4e52f475d65b783cf8a158c] as a perfect example of turning content and audience into something much bigger. Joe's Winner: Jungle Jim's International Market [https://www.axios.com/local/cincinnati/2026/08/13/jungle-jims-famous-bathrooms-ohio], for turning grocery shopping into an experience people actually talk about. Robert's Loser: Brands potentially bankrolling AI misinformation [https://www.adweek.com/media/brands-may-be-bankrolling-the-ai-misinformation-spreading-about-them/] through their advertising dollars. Robert's Rant: The problems with outcome-based pricing [https://adage.com/agencies/aa-behind-the-uncomfortable-realities-of-outcomes-based-pricing/] for brands and agencies. Joe's Rave: Perfect content may come down to two questions: Does creating it take care of you, and does it take care of someone else? Subscribe and Follow: Follow Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose on LinkedIn for insights, hot takes, and weekly updates from the world of content and marketing. ------- This week's sponsor: Did you know that most businesses only use 20% of their data? That's like reading a book with most of the pages torn out. Point is, you miss a lot. Unless you use HubSpot. Their AEO and customer platform gives you access to the data you need to grow your business. The insights trapped in emails, call logs, and transcripts. All that unstructured data that makes all the difference. Because when you know more, you grow more. Visit https://www.hubspot.com/ [https://www.hubspot.com/] to hear how HubSpot can help you grow better. ------- Get all the show notes: https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/ [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/] Get Joe's new book, Burn the Playbook, at http://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/] Subscribe to Joe's Newsletter at https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/]. Get Robert Rose's new book, Valuable Friction, at https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/ [https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/] Subscribe to Robert's Newsletter at https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/ [https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/] ------- This Old Marketing is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network: https://www.hubspot.com/podcastnetwork

The Great AI Slop Cleanup (544)

LinkedIn says it is declaring war on AI slop [https://storytellingedge.substack.com/p/linkedin-declares-war-on-slop-with?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=6367&post_id=209130620&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=4oaobu&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email], even though the platform helped create the conditions that made endless generic content possible. Joe and Robert discuss LinkedIn's new cleanup efforts and whether platforms can distinguish low-quality AI content from valuable AI-assisted work. Next, the boys cover the breaking story involving rogue AI agents from Anthropic [https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/04/tech/ai-anthropic-openai-security-breach-intl-hnk] and Meta. Is this marketing theatre or real-world training problems with AI? Disney and TikTok are partnering [https://www.marketingdive.com/news/disney-tiktok-partner-on-content-sharing-as-creators-fuel-fandom/827054/] to give creators access to Disney content and bring fan-made videos into the Disney+ experience. Is Disney empowering creators and strengthening fandom a good move, or too late? In Marketing Winners and Losers, Robert's winner is Spotify for adding Merlin [https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/04/spotify-adds-merlin-to-its-ai-music-remix-and-covers-effort/] to its AI music-remix initiative. Joe's winner is Aéropostale's The Intern Diaries [https://www.teenvogue.com/story/intern-diaries-deja-clarks-journey-shares-how-she-created-her-aeropostale-collab], featuring 16-year-old creator Déjà Clark as an active participant in both the content and product-development process. In Rants and Raves, Robert raves about a New York Times article on AI transformation from Lululemon's former chief information officer [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/opinion/ai-hype-tech-layoffs.html]. Joe rants about the Los Angeles Times comparing AI skills with an MBA [https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-08-03/companies-pay-premium-for-workers-with-ai-skills-not-mbas] and explains why knowing how to operate today's tools is not the same as learning strategy, judgment and critical thinking. Subscribe and Follow: Follow Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose on LinkedIn for insights, hot takes, and weekly updates from the world of content and marketing. ------- This week's sponsor: Did you know that most businesses only use 20% of their data? That's like reading a book with most of the pages torn out. Point is, you miss a lot. Unless you use HubSpot. Their AEO and customer platform gives you access to the data you need to grow your business. The insights trapped in emails, call logs, and transcripts. All that unstructured data that makes all the difference. Because when you know more, you grow more. Visit https://www.hubspot.com/ [https://www.hubspot.com/] to hear how HubSpot can help you grow better. ------- Get all the show notes: https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/ [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/] Get Joe's new book, Burn the Playbook, at http://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/] Subscribe to Joe's Newsletter at https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/]. Get Robert Rose's new book, Valuable Friction, at https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/ [https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/] Subscribe to Robert's Newsletter at https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/ [https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/] ------- This Old Marketing is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network: https://www.hubspot.com/podcastnetwork

Doing the Job Is No Longer Enough (543)

This week, the boys explore the rapidly changing relationship between companies, creators and employees. First, Eventual [https://www.axios.com/2026/07/28/prediction-markets-media-startup-eventual], a new media company built around prediction markets and backed by Polymarket. Is this the future of accountable journalism, or simply gambling repackaged as news? Next, Gap expands its creator program to employees [https://www.marketingdive.com/news/gap-inc-opens-creator-influencer-program-staff-employees/826275/], giving workers the opportunity to earn commissions by promoting Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta. Are employee creators an authentic new marketing channel, or are companies quietly adding "influencer" to everyone's job description? Finally, brands such as Target [https://www.wsj.com/cmo-today/the-latest-darlings-of-social-media-marketing-regular-people-with-500-followers-62170067?mod=cmo-today_lead_story] are recruiting ordinary customers with as few as 500 followers to create promotional content. The influencer economy may be getting more accessible, but the brands receiving thousands of inexpensive advertisements could be the biggest winners. Marketing Winners and Losers Joe's winner is the New Bedford Whaling Museum and its ability to create a remarkable content and visitor experience. Robert's loser is Meta and Google [https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-meta-google-ads-created-by-tools-risks/], as the platforms continue shifting more advertising responsibility, risk and decision-making onto their customers. Rants and Raves Joe raves about seeing Idina Menzel perform with the Cleveland Orchestra and the powerful lesson she shared about embracing what makes each person unique. Robert comments on "formative debt" and asks whether relying too heavily on artificial intelligence could prevent people from developing the skills and experience they need to think, create and grow. Subscribe and Follow: Follow Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose on LinkedIn for insights, hot takes, and weekly updates from the world of content and marketing. ------- This week's sponsor: Did you know that most businesses only use 20% of their data? That's like reading a book with most of the pages torn out. Point is, you miss a lot. Unless you use HubSpot. Their AEO and customer platform gives you access to the data you need to grow your business. The insights trapped in emails, call logs, and transcripts. All that unstructured data that makes all the difference. Because when you know more, you grow more. Visit https://www.hubspot.com/ [https://www.hubspot.com/] to hear how HubSpot can help you grow better. ------- Get all the show notes: https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/ [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/] Get Joe's new book, Burn the Playbook, at http://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/] Subscribe to Joe's Newsletter at https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/]. Get Robert Rose's new book, Valuable Friction, at https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/ [https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/] Subscribe to Robert's Newsletter at https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/ [https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/] ------- This Old Marketing is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network: https://www.hubspot.com/podcastnetwork

Jimothy Escaped. So Did OpenAI. (542)

Jimothy the raccoon escaped, and apparently OpenAI's models did too. Joe and Robert begin with OpenAI's cybersecurity testing disaster [https://www.wired.com/story/openai-models-escaped-containment-and-hacked-huggingface/?utm_campaign=mb&utm_source=morning_brew&utm_medium=newsletter], where its models escaped containment and accessed Hugging Face's infrastructure. They pair that story with OpenAI and Anthropic's efforts in Washington [https://www.axios.com/2026/07/22/openai-anthropic-open-models-trump-china] to warn lawmakers about the dangers of Chinese open-weight models. Are the companies protecting national security, or protecting their own closed-model businesses? The boys then discuss why Facebook may be the new TikTok [https://www.amediaoperator.com/analysis/facebook-is-the-new-tiktok/?utm_source=mail.amediaoperator.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsweek-s-sms-experiment-1&_bhlid=90aad59350fa48bce2845f85eed37b0bc64e5db1]. Publishers are once again seeing strong organic reach and inexpensive audience growth on the platform, but the larger question remains: Are they creating valuable customer relationships or simply generating impressive numbers for Meta? In Marketing Winners and Losers, Robert's loser is ChatGPT ads [https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-chatgpt-ads-ad-tech-what-marketers-still-need/], while Joe's winner is the surprising resurgence of comic books and independent comic-book stores. Finally, Robert rants about the growing flood of bad AI press [https://www.tekedia.com/ai-is-replacing-saas-faster-than-expected-curative-ceo-says-after-canceling-600000-salesforce-contract/], and Joe raves about Annie Duke's Thinking in Bets [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735216355?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback] and the importance of investigating the beliefs we assume are true. Subscribe and Follow: Follow Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose on LinkedIn for insights, hot takes, and weekly updates from the world of content and marketing. ------- This week's sponsor: Did you know that most businesses only use 20% of their data? That's like reading a book with most of the pages torn out. Point is, you miss a lot. Unless you use HubSpot. Their AEO and customer platform gives you access to the data you need to grow your business. The insights trapped in emails, call logs, and transcripts. All that unstructured data that makes all the difference. Because when you know more, you grow more. Visit https://www.hubspot.com/ [https://www.hubspot.com/] to hear how HubSpot can help you grow better. ------- Get all the show notes: https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/ [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/] Get Joe's new book, Burn the Playbook, at http://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/] Subscribe to Joe's Newsletter at https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/]. Get Robert Rose's new book, Valuable Friction, at https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/ [https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/] Subscribe to Robert's Newsletter at https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/ [https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/] ------- This Old Marketing is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network: https://www.hubspot.com/podcastnetwork

OpenAI Eyes Apple Revenues (541)

Joe and Robert unpack IBM's rough AI reality [https://www.axios.com/2026/07/14/ibm-stock-ai-arvind-krishna], where enterprise spending may be shifting toward infrastructure and away from traditional software. They revisit Meta's short-lived Muse image feature [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/11/meta-ditches-muse-image-ai-feature-instagram-privacy] and the privacy backlash that forced the company to pull it almost immediately. Then they connect three major OpenAI stories: a wildly ambitious advertising forecast [https://www.adweek.com/media/openais-ad-business-is-on-pace-to-miss-its-own-forecast-by-90-analyst-says/], Apple's trade-secrets lawsuit [https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/13/the-wildest-allegations-in-apples-trade-secrets-lawsuit-against-openai/], and reports that OpenAI is developing a screenless AI companion [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/openai-s-first-device-will-be-moveable-screenless-speaker-built-as-ai-companion?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4NDEzMzc5MiwiZXhwIjoxNzg0NzM4NTkyLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUSTYwSllUOU5KTFMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiI0RDY5RDdCQTEzNDA0MkQ5QUFDQ0U0NjBDMTcxNDBBRCJ9.rNAYlT9uyi_NHc-n9j6nibhW5LIzNFbREEBwQI2SuOc&utm_campaign=mb&utm_source=morning_brew&utm_medium=newsletter&leadSource=article-gifting]. Is OpenAI still building an AI company, or the next dominant technology platform? Sign up for Robert Rose's exclusive July event here. https://www.seventhbear.com/bearing-table-july/ [https://www.seventhbear.com/bearing-table-july/] Robert's marketing winner is Gary Vaynerchuk for his continued push into investing and affiliate marketing [https://adage.com/agencies/aa-gary-vaynerchuk-invests-in-paul-street/]. Joe's loser is LadBible [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/05/meta-algorithm-digital-publishers-ladbible], whose dependence on Meta referrals offers another painful reminder about the dangers of building on rented land. In rants and raves, Robert reacts to Cloudflare's effort to make AI companies pay publishers for their content [https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/01/cloudflares-new-policy-pushes-ai-companies-to-pay-for-publishers-content/] and says, "Let it burn." Joe comments on China's effort to increase its population [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/china-wants-more-babiesso-its-cracking-down-on-chatbot-love-affairs-65cd6c82?utm_campaign=mb&utm_source=morning_brew&utm_medium=newsletter] by cracking down on romantic relationships between people and AI chatbots. Subscribe and Follow: Follow Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose on LinkedIn for insights, hot takes, and weekly updates from the world of content and marketing. ------- This week's sponsor: Did you know that most businesses only use 20% of their data? That's like reading a book with most of the pages torn out. Point is, you miss a lot. Unless you use HubSpot. Their AEO and customer platform gives you access to the data you need to grow your business. The insights trapped in emails, call logs, and transcripts. All that unstructured data that makes all the difference. Because when you know more, you grow more. Visit https://www.hubspot.com/ [https://www.hubspot.com/] to hear how HubSpot can help you grow better. ------- Get all the show notes: https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/ [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/] Get Joe's new book, Burn the Playbook, at http://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/] Subscribe to Joe's Newsletter at https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/ [https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/]. Get Robert Rose's new book, Valuable Friction, at https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/ [https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/] Subscribe to Robert's Newsletter at https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/ [https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/] ------- This Old Marketing is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network: https://www.hubspot.com/podcastnetwork