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FIR #277: Do Graphic Designers Have A Future?

August 16, 2022 by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson Leave a Comment

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More and more people are experimenting with a growing collection of Artificial Intelligence-based graphics tools. Some of these tools produce stunning images in a variety of artistic styles, leading some to wonder if art directors will generate their own images rather than continue to pay for graphic design services. Neville and Shel discuss the possibilities in this short mid-week episode.
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Filed Under: For Immediate Release

FIR #276: Should I Tay Or Should I Go?

August 9, 2022 by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson Leave a Comment

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Remember Microsoft Tay? The 2016 Twitter chatbot suffered from a concerted effort to teach it all manner of vile things, prompting Microsoft to withdraw the service and apologize. That experience is top of mind for pretty much everyone talking about Meta’s new chatbot, now available in public testing in the U.S. The developers behind BlenderBot 3 insist that they, too, had the Tay experiment in mind when they developed the process for teaching this new chatbot to behave. In fact, the beta is designed so people can report when it says something inappropriate that it may have learned from another user. That information is used to teach it what is not appropriate. Will it work?
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Filed Under: For Immediate Release

FIR #275: Will You Have An NFT With Your Coffee?

August 5, 2022 by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson Leave a Comment

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Brands have been tripping over themselves to jump on the Web3/metaverse/NFT bandwagon, but few have articulated a strategic and comprehensive approach at the level Starbucks has. In this short mid-week FIR episode, Neville and Shel look at how Starbucks plans to build loyalty and community using these emerging tools, along with some other organizations that are starting to give Web3 similarly serious looks.
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Filed Under: For Immediate Release

FIR #274: Is Unbranded Unethical?

August 2, 2022 by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson Leave a Comment

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According to one definition, unbranded content “isn’t specifically about your company but is relevant to your industry or product in some way.” There are unbranded videos like this one from WREN, an online clothing retailer. Released in 2014, it’s a film in which the filmmakers asked 20 couples who had never met to kiss. The only reference to WREN is at the very beginning of the video, “WREN Presents.” There isn’t even a link to the retailer in the film or on its YouTube page.

And there are entire unbranded websites. We even interviewed Ike Pigott from Alabama Power about Alabama News Center, where Alabama Power’s involvement is barely noticeable.

There are sound reasons for brands to produce unbranded content. From the perspective of the audience reading or viewing the content, is it underhanded? A failure to disclose? Does it matter? Neville and Shel have differing points of view in this short mid-week episode of For Immediate Release.
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Filed Under: For Immediate Release

FIR #273: What Is The Metaverse? It’s A Network

July 28, 2022 by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson 2 Comments

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If you peruse search results for “the metaverse,” it will seem like half the content you find focuses on defining it. At Nvidia, executive Richard Kerris thinks it’s pretty easy to define. “The metaverse is not a place,” he says. “It’s the network for the next version of the Web.” Neville and Shel explore that definition and related developments in this short midweek FIR episode.
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Filed Under: For Immediate Release

FIR #272: Tick Tick Tick Tick Search

July 26, 2022 by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson Leave a Comment

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Research conducted by Google found that nearly 40 percent of Gen Z are using Tik Tok and Instagram for search instead of Google. It’s a real-world example of significant shifts exhibited by this group of 10-to-22-year-olds. By 2025, they will represent 30 percent of the workforce and be a considerable presence in the consumer marketplace.
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Filed Under: For Immediate Release

Circle of Fellows #83: What Communication Is…And Isn’t (Part One)

July 22, 2022 by Shel Holtz Leave a Comment

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Ask leaders what “communication” is and you are likely to hear a wide range of answers, especially when it comes to the role of a company communication function. Some of those answers may be accurate, others not so much. Too often, leaders see communication as a one-way messaging function, for example. In the first of this two-part discussion, four IABC Fellows explored exactly what communication is…and isn’t. The conversation took place on Thursday, July 21. (The second installment, with another quartet of IABC Fellows, is set for August 18.)
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Filed Under: Circle of Fellows

FIR #271: Work-From-Home and the Generational Divide

July 20, 2022 by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson Leave a Comment

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A lot is fueling the debate over whether workers should be able to continue working remotely, at least some of the time, or get themselves back to the office. The debate pits workers against leaders, and the assumption is that it’s just a matter of how each side perceives what’s best. But anthropologists see another factor at play: most leaders come from a different generation than those employees who want remote or hybrid work to become the new normal.
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Filed Under: For Immediate Release

FIR #270: Disgust, Convenience, and Reputation

July 18, 2022 by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson Leave a Comment

https://traffic.libsyn.com/fir/forimmed-270.mp3

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Topics up for discussion in the monthly long-form episode include the following:L

  • Are holograms about to go mainstream?
  • There is outrage over revelations of massive wrongdoing by Uber. Will everyone keep riding them anyway?
  • Uses of NFTs are expanding far beyond collectible artwork for investment purposes.
  • How Wikipedia remediated dozens of fake articles could be a lesson for the rest of the world.
  • Bad guys are extorting gift cards in exchange for removing negative online reviews.

Dan York’s report explores NFT adoption by Reddit and Snap; Instagram’s move to let creators confine posts to subscribers; Facebook’s test of multiple profiles; Twitter’s latest innovations; and mobile live-streaming with Starlink.
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Filed Under: For Immediate Release

FIR #269: Doppelgängers Everywhere!

July 14, 2022 by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson Leave a Comment

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Soon golfers and fans of the sport will be able to interact one-on-one with the legendary Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus. Well, not Nicklaus himself, but his digital twin. Nicklaus spent hours in a studio having every facial expression and gesture recorded. The first digital twin will be of his 37-year-old self, but more are planned. And rest assured, Nicklaus won’t be the last celebrity to make himself “available” as a digital twin in the online world. And there’s more to digital twins than celebrities.
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Filed Under: For Immediate Release

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