Here’s some food for thought.
Watch this ad:
Now, think about this for a moment.
On the one hand, it is conceptually brilliant.
Man (in this case) invites a woman (in this case) over to dinner. Want to cook to impress her, but does not want to send the wrong message.
And so, goes on ChatGPT and asks:
I need a recipe that says, “I like you but I want to play it cool.”
ChatGPT answers with a recipe for Lemon–Olive Oil Pasta.
Brilliant. The recipe seems legit, and the commercial execution is strong.
For the record, I went on ChatGPT and asked the same question. The recipe was the same, although some of the additional prompts were different. In my case, it answered:
What This Dish Communicates:
• You didn’t overcomplicate things
• You have good instincts
• You’re open to more, but totally fine if this is just dinner.
If you want, I can give you:
• a “casual but romantic” wine pairing
• a version with protein that doesn’t feel try-hard
• or a dessert that says “no expectations, but maybe…”
All good info.
(I may actually try this with Mrs. Content Guy, but after 42+ years of marriage, I actually want her to think I’m trying. As opposed to playing it cool. But I digress.)
Here’s my reaction to the ad:
• It illustrates what ChatGPT does well. Almost unexpectedly well. Terrific resource.
• It illustrates ways in which retailers could use ChatGPT, making it available to shoppers so that they can have questions like these answered.
• It illustrates something that retailers should have been doing all along. But, for the most part, weren’t.
And that’s the problem.
Serving as a resource for customers, as opposed to just a source of product, is one of the ways in which retailers actually can differentiate themselves in a highly competitive marketplace. But often don’t.
ChatGPT, in this context, is one of the ways in which retailers become disintermediated from their shoppers. They should be directly connected, but often are not.
We know, for example, that Instacart has launched a new shopping app inside ChatGPT.
Which means that retail clients of Instacart, presumably, also will benefit from this connection.
If I’m the customer, I go to ChatGPT. Which connects me with Instacart. Which connects me with Kroger (or another Instacart retailer client).
All of which sounds good. Except that the distance between the customer and the retailer strikes me as pretty substantial.
Here’s what I think.
ChatGPT is doing its job.
Instacart is doing its job.
But the retailer? Not so much.
It is almost as if the retailer is looking at the customer and wants to communicate the following message:
“I like you but I want to play it cool.”
When the message the retailer should be communicating is this:
I want to be everything to you. I want to be indispensable. I want to be your first stop, your first and often best option, when it comes to anything having to do with food.
It seems to me that this is the only way to compete in this marketplace.
If you will, the best recipe for success.
The post Cooking With AI: Opportunities Found (& Lost?) appeared first on MNB.
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