THE COST OF FREE

OpenAI announced the release of Sora 2 (an enhanced AI video generation tool) with a fantastical trailer.

Clips in the trailer included:

• Sam Altman walking around Avatar-esque landscapes

• A "claymation" orchestra

• An Olympic event featuring a horse-sized duck race

• A person riding a dragon

Overall, it demonstrates a significant evolution in AI video generation from a short two years ago, but the final shot felt particularly noteworthy.

It featured a a standard mid-range sport car, driving away from the camera on a wettish city-road at night.

The car wasn't on the moon, its driver wasn't a kangaroo - it was a simple, grounded shot that could've found itself in any car commercial - which was probably the whole point?

The muted ending read as a declaration that it's not necessary to have teams of people and budgets in hundreds of thousands to make something professional, a single person can do it –xwith a single subscription.

This emphasis has obvious first-order consequences across the marketing ecosystem -  lower barriers to entry for SMBs, improved operational leverage across teams, greater nimbleness in testing variations - but the second order implications seem to imply broader shifts.

Pre-2025, the high-gloss video spot declared "this company has invested significant resources in the creation of this". That declaration often equated to "I am a large corporation" and with that came a brand moat + a degree of trustworthiness.

The democratization of high-gloss video is having the opposite effect by degrading its ability to provide this signal since anyone can do it. That degradation creates a vacuum that will require marketers to employee new tactics.

Maybe they'll spend more on working media to reinforce their moat, but that's expensive and also risky if a competitor can run mimicking visuals targetting micro-segments. Maybe they'll invest more more in "proprietary" talent (celebrity/creators). Maybe they'll name more stadiums. Or, maybe they'll copy what Open AI did.

A few days before the launch of Sora 2, OpenAI launched their first brand campaign. 

• It was shot on 35mm film. 

• It was styled by costume designer Heidi Bivens (Euphoria, Spring Breakers). 

• It was photographed done by Samuel Bradley (Vogue Germany covershoot). 

• It was not done in Sora 2.

Seems like it is best practice to not to get high on your own supply.