Sponsor a Series About Things AI Can't Do

What's the play

Pay a creator to build a series around the opposite of your product. Synthesia sells AI avatars that train your team, so it backed a series where the host learns things AI can't do, like being taught guitar by a NYC street musician and then (attempted) performing live for strangers.

What was the alternative?

A sponsored explainer video walking through your product's features.

Results / what moved

Synthesia backed Gavin Fernand's 'Training Guys' series through Corporate Dudes. In one episode the premise is that his Synthesia avatar handles training his team, freeing him up to learn things AI cannot do, so a NYC street performer teaches him Bob Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice, It's Alright' and he immediately gets humbled performing for a crowd of strangers.

Time to pull off

one day of filming

Steps

1. 1

   Invert your product

   Build the series premise around the opposite of what you sell, like human skills an AI cannot do.

2. 2

   Make your product the setup

   Use it as the reason the host is free to do this, one line of context, not a pitch.

3. 3

   Find a real teacher

   Put the host with an authentic character, like a street musician, for a genuine lesson.

4. 4

   Keep it human

   Make it content people would want to watch. A good creator helps here.

Notes

Build the premise around what your product frees people from so you can avoid pitching heavily. Let the creator be genuinely bad at the new thing, since getting humbled is what makes it watchable. Keep your product to a single line of context and let the story carry the rest.

Receipts

Gavin's LinkedIn post