Ten years ago, at a conversion conference, we pulled a stunt I still think about. To get Tim Ash to notice us, we generated a photo of him from his public Facebook profile, a technique Dennis Yu had shown me, and sent it over. It worked. Today we have far more powerful ways to catch attention: AI avatars, AI video, AI image generation, all ready to play. And yet I think the real edge is moving in the opposite direction. Human connection is about to become the rarest and most valuable thing in marketing.
Here is the logic. As everyone automates, replacing human support with chatbots and salespeople with AI avatars, the baseline experience becomes synthetic. In five years, a phone call from an actual human being will be so rare that it becomes a way to stand out from everyone else. The tools that feel cutting-edge today will be table stakes, and the human touch will be the differentiator.
Attention tactics change, the principle does not
Every era has its trick for grabbing attention, from a clever photo to a generated avatar. But novelty wears off fast, and audiences learn to tune out whatever everyone is doing. What does not wear off is a genuine, human moment aimed at one specific person.
That is why I still believe in measuring what actually converts rather than chasing shiny tactics, and why care is the one word that makes our team different. The technology changes. The human part is the moat.
Use AI, but keep the human
Automate what should be automated. Then spend the time you save being more human where it counts: on the call, in the reply, at the meeting. Want to talk strategy with an actual person? Book a call.
None of this means ignoring AI. It means leading with the things it cannot fake, which is why founder stories beat AI content and why the strongest brands are built around a real story.