Hi Friends,
Labor Day is behind us, which means we're back to full inboxes, football on Sundays, and pretending Q4 planning isn't already breathing down our necks.
This week, we're looking at what happens when the pitch sounds like every other pitch, an employee's personal brand grows beyond the company's rules, and how saying nothing makes a bigger statement.
Let's get into it.
WHEN EVERY PITCH READS THE SAME, NONE OF THEM GET READ
Fortune’s CEO Daily editor Diane Brady says she now gets multiple AI-generated pitches a day, and they’re "comically uniform," from the greeting to the bullet points. The result? Pitches that could have come from anyone.
AI hasn’t made these pitches more persuasive. It has made them easier to recognize and discard. AI can’t replace relationships or years of experience in knowing what is newsworthy and what is not.
What this means for communicators
- AI can help you brainstorm new angles, suggest a pitch based on the news of the day, or find a new reporter covering your beat. It cannot fully automate the pitching process.
- Editors see patterns across dozens of pitches every day. A familiar structure can signal a familiar pitch, even when the story underneath is strong.
WHEN EMPLOYEES OUTGROW THE COMPANY BRAND
Fast Company’s Shalene Gupta talked to 84 people who manage employees with big personal followings, or have one themselves. Companies are good at hiring people who already have a following. They’re bad at knowing what to do once that audience keeps growing.
One Staples employee found out the hard way. Her first viral TikTok technically broke the company’s social media policy, and she was worried she’d be fired. Instead, Staples (wisely) amplified it and rewrote its policy. But virality at other companies like Sherwin-Williams and Chick-fil-A has led to firings.
Most social media policies were written for confidentiality and conflict-of-interest concerns, not for employees building audiences around their own voice. Historically, companies have wanted to control who their spokespeople are, but we are entering a new age of authenticity (a frequent theme of this newsletter). The companies that get this right treat one employee’s visibility as a model other employees can follow, not something to lock down or control.
What this means for communicators
- Update the policy. Guidance written for occasional posts isn't relevant for employees actively building an audience. Spell out what’s shareable, what’s internal, and when a second set of eyes is useful.
- Don't try to co-opt the voice. An employee’s platform works because their audience trusts them, not the company. And the employee can read their own audience better than HR does. Come up with approval compromises both sides can live with.
- Spread the visibility. One breakout star can be a liability. Companies that share credit and access across the team are building a sturdier brand.
WHEN EVERYONE EXPECTS A STATEMENT, SILENCE CAN BE THE STRATEGY
MapQuest didn't issue a statement about the Lake Ontario renaming fight. It kept the old name on its maps and let the product speak for itself.
When Google Maps and Apple Maps adopted “Lake America” after President Trump’s executive order, MapQuest kept the original (correct) name and let users switch to the new one if they wanted to. The app surged to No. 1 among navigation apps in the U.S. App Store; per Fox Business, its highest ranking in 30 years. Next thing you know, we’ll be printing out driving directions before we leave the house, IYKYK.
What this means for communicators
- Build the response before you need it. MapQuest reused a tool built for an earlier version of the same controversy and had it ready when the issue resurfaced.
- You don't always need a statement to make a position clear. MapQuest made a product decision within its expertise and let the map itself carry the message.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "THE BLACK VOTE"
Bryson Gillette is leading African American paid media strategy for James Talarico’s U.S. Senate campaign, where Black voters could be decisive.
Our approach starts with a simple idea. There’s no such thing as “The Black Vote.” Texas’s Black electorate is diverse in age, economic realities, and cultural backgrounds, including a growing immigrant and first-generation population. We’re tailoring our strategy accordingly, reaching voters through the channels they already use, from radio and podcasts to digital platforms, and using authentic storytelling built with Black creators across media.
What this means for communicators
- Don’t treat a demographic as a single audience. Understand the differences within it and build your messaging and media strategy around how people actually live, think, and consume information.
WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON
Bossed Up Podcast: How to Leverage AI Without Erasing Your Expertise
LinkedIn: Five Reasons Democrats Could Win the Senate, and Three Reasons We May Not. Or, How the Wave Overwhelms the Map, or the Map Contains the Wave.
Forbes: America’s Nursing Shortage Is Driving A Growing Reliance On Foreign-Trained Nurses
KQED: Judge Extends Halt to New ICE Facility Outside Gilroy, for Now
Variety: Venice Immersive Celebrates 10 Years of XR Evolution and the Growth of Location-Based Entertainment
CBS News: Anthropic model gains access to third-party organization without permission, company says
Fox & Friends: Expert sounds alarm on 'uncontrollable' AI ahead of US-China safety talks
CNBC's Squawk Box: The world got a ‘warning shot’ with Hugging Face AI attack: Center for Humane Technology’s Harris
UNTIL NEXT TIME
An AI pitch that sounds like every other pitch. A company that had to decide whether to control an employee's voice or get out of their way. A map app that made its position clear without saying a word. Different situations, same reminder.
Know when to speak. Know when to step back. Know when to let the work speak for itself.
—Shira