What "Heart On My Sleeve Means" for the future of AI and content creation, how tourism ads can do better, and more

Welcome back to Culture Hack, our newsletter authored by our very own Heroes: students of culture, creators, and boundary-pushing, shape-shifters hell-bent on changing the world. Our work is rooted in deep cultural understanding, based on our lived experiences, expertise, and relentless learning that we use to help brands find and leverage their “Cultural Superpower”. In this edition we analyze the latest controversy surrounding the AI-generated fake collaboration between Drake and The Weeknd, “Heart On My Sleeve” and what it means for the future of culture and content creation. We also take a step back to examine the portrayals of Caribbean culture in tourism ads, and suggest ways these campaigns could be more representative of the uniqueness of each culture–something consumers deeply crave in their travel experiences.

Heart Is On My Sleeve: AI and the Next Frontier of Content Creation

AI-generated music just passed its uncanny valley last week, in the form of Heart On My Sleeve: a fake “collaboration” between Drake and the Weekend that has been viewed more than 8.5 million times on TikTok, and played more than 625,000 times on Spotify before recently being taken down.

From creative writing to interior design, 2023 is the year where AI across all media, is beginning to seep into our cultural consciousness. And there are plenty of AI generators for music where you can have a go too, but the social media reception of the collaboration is somewhat new in the world of music.??

It would be presumptuous to dismiss its virality as sheer novelty value, or even a satire of the state of modern hip-hop’s minimalist production standards. Heart On My Sleeve may signal a shift in our relationship between art and artist. Should we even care if something isn’t original if it’s enjoyable?

For younger generations accustomed to entertainment as rented (streaming), content as collaborative (Tik Tok), and brand engagement as relationships (Twitter); concepts of ownership and authenticity may increasingly ring hollow. Access and participation may be more important when exclusivity and permanent ownership can feel increasingly irrelevant and out of reach. Rather than seeing AI-generated collabs as the enemy, maybe we can see them as an expression of brand love. Fan art. Extensions of content or experiences that enable audiences to engage with artists/brands in a deeper, collaborative way. AI-generation may be the new ‘sincerest form of flattery’.

How brands and entertainment companies navigate the challenges in IP that come with this will be an urgent priority. And for creators, the pressure to beat the algorithm can hopefully be for good, driving originality and creation beyond convention. Wearing their “heart on their sleeve”, as it were.

?-Ed Hunt

Caribbean Tourism Ads Fall Short On Representing Culture

When one thinks of the Caribbean, beaches, warm weather, and maybe even Sandals often come to mind. Often associated with vacationing and touristing, the ‘seductive paradise’ shown in tourism ads as the Caribbean is a melting pot of various cultures, identities, beliefs, and ancestry. However, it is often very difficult to differentiate between the countries and cultures highlighted in one campaign to another based on the snapshots we are shown. In promoting travel destinations and vacation packages, brands must be more immersive and understanding of the local cultural nuances of each island.

?Earlier this year, Hilton released ‘The 2023 Traveler Trend Report’ stating that “49% of respondents are looking to be immersed in local cultures and products while traveling in 2023”. Further,” 40% of travelers will be looking for more immersive, personalized access to unique experiences and activities such as performances, events, classes, and spa treatments.”

Consumers are looking for resources to navigate a culture instead of observing it. They are interested in brands that are creating personalized and unique experiences for their destinations. Specifically, those of Caribbean descent are often looking to connect to their roots and community.?

Discovering the motivation behind the consumer is a start. But also understanding the uniqueness of the island and how these varying consumers can fit in. With travel and airline agencies having influence over where travelers are headed, unrealistic standards are now being rejected by consumers who are looking to be immersed in a culture.?

Celebrating local culture as well as its uniqueness will help brands tailor their experiences to this increasingly new generation of travelers.?

Carnival 2023 maybe?

- Naomi Augustin, MBA

Another round of layoffs? Meta announced that it is once again going through layoffs, this time it's estimated that about 10,000 employees, mostly engineers and other technical workers who help build products.

• This isn’t the first wave, and it may not be the last. The company has been downsizing and restructuring efforts for months now.?

That hasn’t stopped Meta from rolling out new updates to both Instagram and Facebook.

Like other platforms, Facebook is working on an automated Stories generation process that hopes to get users to post more.?

• This update will use image recognition AI to create new Stories from users’ shared content. The feature is called “Advanced Stories” and is in beta testing with some users receiving access to it.
• Facebook says this update will: “Allow Facebook to suggest high-quality, ready-made stories for you using advanced photo and video data, including image quality, location, the presence of people or animals.”
• Meta platforms noticed the shift in cadence with users posting far less original content and barely using Stories and private messaging. The new update will use thematic matching and generate Stories on images already uploaded to the app. This will give users a templated frame they can share with their audience. This could be especially useful for brands and business pages as a more automated tool for content. Brands can create a batch of content that highlights specific products or themes.

As for Instagram, the platform is finally introducing the ability to display up to five links in users’ profile bio.?

• This update was long overdue, as Linktree and other third-party apps will no longer have a hold on the ability to use multiple links on Instagram. It will also expand on the platform’s capacity to drive traffic, displaying in the bio how many links are available.
• It’s surprising that the app took this long to implement an update like this, especially since it has been in testing since 2021. We will see if the update will stray users away from the use of third-party apps, since some of these tools enable branding opportunities and more capacity than just five links.?
• The update is still a move in the right direction, providing brands and creators with a range of ways that they can utilize this capacity to drive traffic to various URLs to maximize their brand presence.

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