The Thinking Man’s Guide to Generative Garbage
Let's get something straight: AI can produce absolute garbage.
Terrible writing. Soulless imagery. Generic graphic design. Broken code. And worst of all: nonsense strategy built on garbage inputs.
The internet is already drowning in what people are calling "AI Slop." You've seen it: lifeless photos with six fingers, corporate copy drowning in em dashes, crappy animations, videos that somehow look wayyyyy too smooth.
But here's the thing that drives me crazy: the growing tendency to lump all artificial intelligence work into the same category as that Slop.
That's not just wrong. It's lazy thinking.
AI is a power tool, not a replacement for skills and wisdom
There's an old marketing expression: people don't want a quarter-inch drill bit. They want a quarter-inch hole.
The drill is just the conduit. AI is becoming an increasingly powerful version of that drill.
But we have to be careful, just because you have the ability to make quarter-inch holes, it still doesn’t make you a journeyman carpenter, it just means you can now make lots of holes, really quickly. You don’t know enough about the materials you’re drilling into, the building code associated with your project, or the most cost-effective way to complete the project for the customer: you just know how to make holes.
AI is a collection of knowledge and data that works at your direction. If you don't have knowledge, experience, or wisdom to guide it, you're not going to get the results you’re aiming for. You're going to get Slop.
How AI actually changes the work
Let's talk about writing. Here’s the traditional workflow:
45 minutes banging out a first draft
15 minutes editing, proofing, tightening
After final approvals, it gets published
AI-era workflow:
15 minutes at the front end (framing, prompting, directing, all trained on your Brand’s voice)
45 minutes on finishing touches, adding flair, making the writing sound like your Brand
Notice what flipped: we're now spending most of our time on the craft, not the grunt work.
And here's what matters: we're not borrowing Hemingway's cadence. Not letting the AI flatten everything into LinkedIn thought-leader speak. We're writing in our own Brand's voice.
AI lets us work faster in our own style. It doesn't do the thinking for us. It doesn't replace the decision-making. It just clears the path so we can cover more ground without burning out.
That's not Slop. That's leverage.
Where AI actually changes the game: Strategy
The real sleeper-hit isn't copywriting or image generation. It's marketing strategy development.
Traditionally, strategy came from one place: our own accumulated experience and knowledge. What we've seen work. What we've seen fail. The mental models we've built over years.
That's still the foundation. But now we have a strategic partner that can:
Challenge our worldview
Stress-test our assumptions
Identify pitfalls we're blind to because of our own bias
This is unprecedented. We've never been able to have our strategy interrogated this thoroughly, this quickly, by something with access to knowledge we don't personally carry.
And when we use it right, the result isn't "AI strategy." It's better strategy. Faster. More comprehensive. Built on a wider foundation.
That leads to better outcomes for clients. Not Slop.
Success depends on knowing the difference
AI is revolutionizing the speed and quality of marketing strategy and deliverables, when used properly.
When used improperly, it delivers:
Nonsense strategy with no grounding in reality
Horrible graphics that look like everyone else's horrible graphics
Obviously AI-generated photos (you know the ones)
Copy packed with robotic phrasing and way too many em dashes
Bottom line: not all AI is Slop.
Using it the wrong way means falling behind while thinking you're keeping up.
Using it the right way means leaping ahead while everyone else argues about whether tools even matter.
Success depends entirely on knowing the difference.
