"Squish AI Trend," Universal Music Group, Blockchain, Snoop. Click Now For Your Weekly Cultural Intel Brief!

Happy Tuesday! Hope your week is off to a good start. As always, here is a quick look at a few things I'm tracking at the intersection of power, deals, trends in emerging tech, and media/entertainment through a pop culture/hip hop lens. This is fuel for your insights and strategy to better reach GenZ and Millennials.

Here we go!

1) Who out here is loving this "Squish AI Trend" like I am? This is def the latest way to get up over the social media noise as a brand. For those who might not be up on this vibe yet, I ran across a piece on Jing Daily that is a solid descriptive. Here's a pull quote from the piece:

One phenomenon dominating screens right now is the ‘squish effect,’ an uncanny visual trick made popular by Pika AI’s image manipulation tool, which allows users to crush, squish, melt, or inflate any uploaded photo. The results are unsettlingly bizarre and have caught the attention of brands looking to cut through online noise with surrealism. However, while AI visuals can deliver quick engagement, ongoing debates about the tech’s impact raise the question: could it risk diluting a brand’s image?

Haven't seen it yet? Here's an example right here. Oh, and on TikTok, there are currently 68.3 million posts (and growing) under the term “Squish AI trend." Is the vibe now about surrealism in marketing? Could be. But for me, in order to keep it fresh, the next ideal play is to add in some humans. And not just any humans but ideal ones that sync well with the unique feeling of the image. This trend is screaming for a collabo with someone like an edgy hip hop artist such as Tyler The Creator. Imagine the right content collaboration with a brand for a short story that ties in, for example, either his new album or kick-off show for the tour. Game over. Forget AR. This is really where the fun can begin from a passive POV because of the sheer number of times people are looking at these squishy images over and over and over! How are thinking about innovation strategy for 2025 in order to be able to better connect with 18-24? Start planning now... In the meantime, read the full story right here.

*** Quick Note: if you are someone who wants to learn more about this powerful space of youth culture and how you can use it to better connect with Gen Z and Millennials and/or become part of the cultural narrative, connect with celebrated recording artists/notables in the space, and/or creates brand?strategy,?DM me to discuss further.

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2) And in more AI news, ICYMI Universal Music Group has announced its latest AI partnership. This time it's with Klay Vision which bills itself as an "ethical AI music company." There's not a lot of meat to this article that recently hit in "The Hollywood Reporter." Even more vague is what we can all expect from the collabo. Indeed:

The company is currently in stealth but plans to launch in the coming months with a product that will revolutionize the way people think about music, presenting a new, intuitive music experience.

Hmmm... What we can take from all this is that UMG seems to be trying to partner with a number of players before the music stops (no pun intended) and the company is left standing in a new era which could make several of its current models obsolete. Thing is, the partnerships that they have already forged, in particular with YouTube, don't seem to be making much noise nor ground-breaking innovation just yet. And it seems the company is definitely not thinking about partners who think more in a tech convergence manner. See the list of UMG partners in the article. The play for AI and Web3/blockchain in terms of music fans is huge but seemingly overlooked by the company at present. This just may be a case of this being more of an indie play (due to being much more nimble than the UMG's and Google/YouTube's of the world) more than anything else. Time will tell, but along these lines, be sure to catch Episode 3 of the sixth season of my podcast "Beats & Bytes" where I will talk more about the implications of Snoop's recent AI-generated music video, opportunities for brands, and intersections with Web3 communities! It'll drop on October 31st! Which reminds me, have a great and spooky Halloween and blessed All Saints Day following!

Okay, that's it for me. Super busy week so it's a short but powerful one today with food for thought, as they say. Have a great rest of the week. Be sure to check out the new season of my podcast, and... see ya next Tuesday!