{"id":89697,"date":"2025-02-10T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessesgrow.com\/?p=89697"},"modified":"2025-01-31T11:12:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:12:40","slug":"changed-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessesgrow.com\/2025\/02\/10\/changed-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The photo that changed my life (and maybe yours)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"disruptive<\/p>\n

It was March 15, 2023, and I snapped a photo that changed my life. And I’ll explain how it can change your life, too.<\/p>\n

On that date, I was attending the annual SXSW festival in Austin, TX, and enjoying a wonderful late-night meal with my friends Joseph Jaffe and Eric Qualman. Suddenly, people stood up and quietly walked out of the upscale restaurant. It was surreal, like being in a Stephen King movie!<\/p>\n

My back was to the door. Where were these people going?<\/p>\n

\"100Nowhere. They stood on the sidewalk, pointing their smartphones to the big Texas sky. My friends and I had to see what was going on. So we left our hot food and walked outside.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t an alien invasion, but it was close. A dazzling drone show lit up the heavens, telling the story of a new sci-fi television program coming to the Paramount Network. Hundreds of drones were programmed along custom flight paths to depict scenes from the show.<\/p>\n

To top it off, the display ended with a sky-high QR code that sent viewers to a website with the show\u2019s trailer.<\/p>\n

While drone shows have become a staple of city celebrations and sporting events, this was novel\u2014the first time we had seen such a display.<\/p>\n

We all took a photo of the drone-ad to share with our social media audiences:<\/p>\n

\"the<\/p>\n

In that moment, the line between marketing and magic blurred. We weren\u2019t just watching an ad; we were living inside one.<\/p>\n

The mesmerizing advertisement became the epicenter of buzz at SXSW, and with more than 300,000 influential people in attendance, that\u2019s a perfect place to make a rumble.<\/p>\n

Now, we get to the interesting part. How did this photo change my life, and possibly yours?<\/p>\n

The revelation<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve spent nearly two decades researching and writing about one crucial problem\u2014how can our marketing messaging become the signal above the noise in a world of oversaturated content?<\/p>\n

I witnessed one of the most astonishing examples of a brand becoming \u201cthe signal.\u201d Every person in this restaurant abandoned their hot food and cold cocktails to stand on a street in Texas to see an ad\u2014not just see it, but record it and share it with social media audiences worldwide. It wasn\u2019t just a signal above the noise\u2014it was a supernova.<\/p>\n

Remarkable.<\/p>\n

Unprecedented.<\/p>\n

Perfect.<\/p>\n

For weeks, I couldn\u2019t get this drone show out of my head. I played this mind-game: If somebody gave me the challenge to create an ad so disruptive that people would leave their hot meals to see it, could I do it? No.<\/p>\n

What was the lesson for businesses desperately wanting to be \u201cthe signal\u201d to their customers? Was there a scalable process behind this brilliant idea that could guide breakthrough marketing strategies? Was this a clue to the future of creativity and our place in a world dominated by artificial intelligence? I became obsessed with this story in the sky.<\/p>\n

One word kept pounding in my brain: Audacious.<\/p>\n

Audacious! Is that what it takes to stand out in the world today?<\/p>\n

Audacity as a strategy<\/h2>\n

AI is here. Nipping at the heels of our skillsets and jobs.<\/p>\n

Being merely competent won’t cut it. Competence doesn\u2019t create conversations. Competence is ignorable. But audacity? That\u2019s the currency of attention in our overstimulated world.<\/p>\n

What if the key to becoming \u201cthe signal\u201d isn’t shouting louder, bending AI prompts, or spending more, but the simple human bravery it takes to be \u2026 a little nuts?<\/p>\n

I discovered that Giant Spoon<\/a> had created this viral sensation, an agency behind many of my favorite marketing success stories over the years.<\/p>\n

I called Marc Simons<\/a>, one of the agency co-founders, and asked him if he and his team would reveal all their creative secrets to me for a new book. \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d he said. The opportunity was irresistible, a siren call to a marketing geek like me. I jumped on a plane to visit him in New York City, the beginning of a journey that included meetings with some of the greatest creative geniuses from around the world — and they all gave me their secrets!<\/p>\n

They helped me answer this question: In a world where AI is overwhelming our content world, how do we fight back? How do we unleash the uniquely human fireworks of marketing creativity?<\/p>\n

And today, my friends, please welcome one answer to this question:<\/p>\n

\"Audacious<\/p>\n

The reveal<\/h2>\n

After more than two years of research and writing, I’d like you to meet my new book, Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World<\/em>.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

So, you see how the story in the Austin sky truly changed the course of my life. But how does it change yours?<\/p>\n

Whether you’re a marketer, entrepreneur, or business owner, you’re longing to be seen, to be heard, to be discovered, and that is more difficult than ever. How do you establish brand awareness in a world where content from bots already dominates more than half the internet?<\/p>\n

Here’s a little movie preview of what’s in store for you with this book:<\/p>\n