The Pratfall Effect, nailing podcast performances, and the Fashion-AI-ista.

Welcome one and all to the second week of 2023. This is when it starts to become questionable if saying "Happy new year" is still acceptable.

When do you think the cutoff date is?

But I digress, this week we cover the Pratfall Effect, nailing podcast performances, and the Fashion-AI-ista.

–Neal

Here comes the Fashion AI

Insight from Karen X. Cheng and Grace Parazzoli (Demand Curve).

We’re still in the “look at what I made everyone!!!” phase of creating AI images.

Oh, look at that, an excuse to share some pancakes from the United Federation:

But we’re also aware of some of AI’s limitations.

For example, DALL-E is great for still images, but video is much harder to do.

So what’s an ecom brand on TikTok or Reels to do?

Fortunately, Karen X. Cheng figured it out. Check out her video.

She tested out different approaches to AI for video until she reached a solid workflow for fashion showcase videos:

Shoot your video.
Use DALL-E to generate outfits. Erase parts of the outfit in your video, and inpaint over it. (Don’t erase the entire outfit—DALL-E will be able to match color and lighting better if you keep parts of the original.)
Use the program EbSynth by Secret Weapons to create consistency between frames. EbSynth is meant to turn paintings into animations, but after testing it out, Karen discovered that it works for clothes too.
Run the video through DAIN to blend the transitions between outfits—and create a slo mo effect.

(Sorry if you thought this tactic was going to be about stylish robots.)

Win people's trust with imperfetion

Insight from Phil Agnew (Buffer & The Nudge podcast) and Neal.

Humans are funny.

We tend to prefer things (and people) that aren't perfect.

In a study by Professor Jo Sylvester at Swansea University, candidates who highlighted a weakness during an interview were more likely to be hired than those who didn't.

To put my speculation cap on, it's because it makes the person seem more genuine and believable. They were willing to show weakness, making it seem more likely that they were telling the truth about their strengths.

Phil Agnew decided to put this to the test for his podcast. He did two Reddit ad variations:

One highlighted the benefits of listening to his podcast.

The other very tongue-in-cheek highlighted the downsides of listening to his podcasts.

As you can see this led to a 4x higher clickthrough rate (and therefore a 4x cheaper CPC).

Note that Phil didn't follow the Pratfall to the full spirit, as he actually didn't talk down his podcast. Instead, he framed the benefits as negatives. Which highlighted playfulness and likely got people's attention.

So resist the urge to talk about how amazing you are all the time, and instead be playful and poke fun at yourself sometimes.

How to nail a podcast performance

Insight from Swipe Files.

"As the person being interviewed, it's entirely up to you to make it a podcast worth listening to or not. Treat it for what it is: A PERFORMANCE. You have to fight to keep listeners' attention through the whole interview. Bring your A-game like a musician or comedian would."

– Swipe Files

Podcasts continue to explode in popularity—making guest podcasting increasingly popular as a tactic for growth.

Don't leave it up to the host to make it an A+ interview. Take ownership of the experience.

Here are five tips to step up your podcast appearances:

Treat it like a performance, not an interview. Bring energy by smiling and using vocal inflections. Enunciate your words. If you’re going to be on video, use hand gestures for a more dynamic visual.
Research the podcast(s) you’re appearing on by asking the host:
Who is your audience?
What are some of your most popular episodes?
What topics will we cover? (Getting the questions in advance = even better)
Create a cheat sheet of talking points and send it to the host. It should be an outline with specific examples, not a script. Make sure to include:
A 2-minute synopsis answering “Tell me about yourself”
Your life background
Why you do what you do
How people can take action, e.g., sign up for your service or buy a product
Your hottest takes or “spiky point of view”
Books, podcasts, and resources you recommend
Prepare a few interesting anecdotes—telling stories makes for more entertaining and memorable interviews. Rehearse them with your friends so you can perfect the delivery.
Invest in good equipment, like a professional microphone. If doing video, get a solid camera and light like the Lume Cube.

Do the above and you'll far more likely dazzle their audiences and generate leads.

News and links

News you can use:

Microsoft is launching desktop-only app ads. If you already advertise on Windows products, consider testing these out to increase reach to high-intent audiences in the Microsoft Store.
Reminder: YouTube recently updated their policy on profanity: If you use bad words in the first 8 seconds of a video, BOOM. Demonetized. While not breaking news, lots of creators' videos are getting demonetized without much notice.
Nielsen is launching a cross-platform measurement product. Users will soon be able to track content/ad performance on tv and streaming apps across screens.
Speaking of tv, TikTok videos with IMDb tags now link to details about the movie/show, plus other videos with the same tag. This means creators/brands who tag trending shows (or movies) in videos could see an influx of views over the coming weeks (by appearing at the top when people land on pages eg "Avatar" or "The White Lotus").
Finally, today's the day our first cohort of Un-ignorable started! So excited to see what our first batch of creators accomplishes. Follow their journey on Twitter here.

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