Will the New Toys R Us AI Ad Help Turn Things Around? EP36

Episode 36 Transcript

Welcome to the Marketing Combat Podcast where we speak passionately and confidently about topics that we sometimes don't agree with. The person to my right above or below, depending on maybe left, depending on how you're watching this or hearing it, is one of the most confident people that I know if we're talking about confidence. And his name is Chris Kubbernus. Hey, what's up everybody? I am slightly confident. Sometimes I'm insecure.

Just like everybody in the world. Sometimes I bring out some confidence. It helps to drink Monster energy drinks. Our sponsor today is Monster Energy. If you enjoy Monster, you become a Monster and we could all use some more Monsters in life, I think. I feel like I have a slight addiction to Monster, which is kind of scary. I think so. mean, every day I see you pound back a couple. So, I mean, you're either going to go perform in the X Games or you're going to do a podcast. mean...

Monster's good for both. thank you. Thank you to our sponsors for this episode, Monster Energy Drinks. And today we're actually talking about something that kids should not drink, Toys R Us. This makes no sense. Anyway, Toys R Us has launched AI generated.

ad, TV ad, spots, whatever you want to call it. I don't know if they do TV anymore, but it is an AI generated imagery, you know, using Sora, the chat GPT or OpenAI video model. And is it nightmare fuel or is it good advertising? That is today's debate. I'm going to take the side that it is good advertising and I'll have dig in the hard road. So I'm giving you very 50.

this morning, Jason. So I'm gonna take the road that it's good and I'm gonna jump straight into it. If you haven't seen it, go check it out. We'll put some links in or we'll show a little bit of it here on the podcast if you're watching it on video, holding up your hands like he's holding it. But essentially it's an ad sort of detailing the history of the company, of Toys R Us, like basically how it came to be. was his founder and he had a dream and all this and it's all done with.

AI generated video and also some massive, you know, human hands doing the post production and PC and all together. And I think it's good advertising because it sort of fits where we are in technology with people and that AI is kind of a toy right now and that we get to play with it and do some interesting stuff with it. And I think the merriment of it, the fantasticalness of it, because

It isn't supposed to be real. isn't supposed to be something that we look at and go, wow, look how incredibly realistic this is. It's very much a, look at how interesting and fantastical this can be. Look at this toy. And it is a really, and not this term, but it is an adult toy AI right now. So it's an appropriate sort of mashing of those two brands, right? AI and Toys R Us. Is it a good story? Is it compelling advertising?

Yeah, probably not. Like it's not like, really want to sit down and conceal this, but from an interest perspective and also from a brand that's sort of been dying the last 10, 15 years as people go shop for toys at Amazon. think Toys R Us very rightfully was like, Hey, we've been losing the technology game for so freaking long. Can we just be first at one point? Can we just, can we just be first? Can we just do something technologically cool? And they did, which I love. think that speaks volumes to the new direction the brand wants to go.

and be a little less behind on every single thing that ever comes out. They're like, can we just be ahead for once? And they did that. And that's why I think it's good advertising for them. shows they're progressive and want to move forward. That's all I'll say about that. Jason, tell me why it's

garbage. Yeah, let me tell you why this is just pure nightmare fuel. I agree with you that it's exciting that they were first to it. Like a lot of people are talking about it because it's super cool. They're using new tech, they're putting it out there and they're trying and that is adorable. But when you watch the ad, there's something missing, super cool, but there's no heart behind it. And I think that's the thing on AI that I'm missing in a lot of instances. It feels like there's that emotional just

miss. It feels like a psychopath was asked to create an ad for Toys R Us and they put it together, but they were like, this is what humans think is nice, right? This is what humans think is love. This is what humans think is wonder. It's just, there's something missing. Obviously the design and the imagery isn't perfect. It's still like a work in progress. AI is coming.

for our jobs, but not there yet. And I think that it's very much a work in progress and it just feels off. So the whole time that I watched it, I was like, wow, this is super cool. Wow, Toys R Us is something to talk about for a second, which obviously they're looking for and they need, but there's nothing behind it. So it was all those parts throughout the video that I kept watching and waiting for like the, the goosebumps. I call myself a goosebumps chaser all the time. And I kept looking for the goosebumps to come for this cool video showing the background of

Toys R Us and showing this like Chris said, fantastic, fantastical imagery and everything. And the Goosebumps never came. And I think it's because it was robotic. It didn't have that thing. And I think that that's what creatives have that really make or break something. And I think this one, Nightmare Fuel, it kind of broke. I mean, I'm getting Goosebumps talking about it, not watching it. So there it is. And that's why I'm going to stand by it.

I think it's nightmare fuel and I, I'm super excited that the, brand out there put their, their hat in the ring for something like this. Yes, I agree. isn't.

I wouldn't say it's great. think it is missing heart, like you said, which goes to show you like maybe it's also a nod to that we need creative people. need, maybe they're trying to do like sort of the opposite, which is like, hey people, this is still not great and we need wonder and joy. We need human wonder and human joy. We don't need AI wonder and AI joy, whatever that could be. So yeah, I agree with you. It is nightmare fuel. I am scared of giraffes now.

after seeing that video. no longer like giraffes. Giraffes are completely crazy. I never want to meet giraffes in real life. Actually, we saw a giraffe on Friday. can't remember. We did. We did, actually. was last week. saw a foley. It wasn't alive, but we definitely saw a giraffe. Yeah, and that has increased my hatred. No, my fear of giraffes. Also, Chris, I have to say this. Have you ever seen giraffes fight?

Yeah, with their neck. It's insane. Everyone listening, please go watch giraffes fight. It's the craziest thing you'll ever see and you don't expect it. That's all I got to say about giraffes. I guess that makes sense. Like how else are you going to fight? In their little legs, you can't get up there. So we have to drink more Monster Energy drinks if we're going to fight like that. So once again, thank you to our sponsors, Monster. All jokes aside. But yeah, you guys are the sponsors of our podcast. So thank you for listening. Thank you for subscribing. If you would like to get more of this.

Please leave us a review, it helps us grow the show. Tune in next time, we're gonna be talking about, we're gonna be talking about something else. Something else. Do we still need college in marketing? Like do we still need to go to college when we're working in marketing? That's an interesting debate, so stick around for that and we'll see you guys in the next one. Adios amigos. See you tomorrow.