Aaand...action!

There are no more excuses: video should be an integral part of your marketing assets.

Andrew Carrier

Oct 12, 2025

Read on to learn why:

① Video is one of the most effective ways to amplify your message.

② AI can now unleash your creativity without the need for professional shooting.

③ The democratisation of private assets carries significant reputational risk.

④ Joint issuance could solve stablecoins’ fragmentation problem.

⑤ Search is being comprehensively disrupted. But it’s not AI’s fault.

⑥ Middle managers are losing their jobs. But it’s not AI’s fault.

⑦ A good brand is far more than a business. And it’s nothing to do with AI.

What's new

Sora, the new video app from OpenAI is more than just “slop”, says The Economist.

In short:

“The videos on Sora are all AI-generated. There is no option to upload your own footage, nor even to turn your camera on. The Sora feed is all slop—AI-generated pabulum—all of the time. Video models, like the Sora AI on which the app is built, are what is exciting the AI industry now that the star is fading for text, and not only because of their impact on mass media.”
“The true value of Sora, and similar video models like Google’s Veo 3, is unlikely to lie in the slop they can generate—even if it captures users’ attention. Instead, a new paper from researchers at Google DeepMind argues, such systems are able to solve an array of visual and spatial problems without any specific training at all.”
“Promisingly, the paper notes, new systems are significantly better than previous-generation video models at this generalised problem-solving. This, the authors suggest, means video models “will become general-purpose foundation models for vision” in the near future, ultimately able to solve any visual challenge put to them without special training.”

Why it matters

While the article is a fascinating look at how fast and far AI is developing, it matters to us today because it showcases how the technology has already made creating pro-grade video child’s play.

① Video is one of the most effective ways to amplify your message. Until recently, some marketing teams - often those without larger budgets - had struggled with the logistical complexity, specialist skills and cost involved in producing it to a high-standard regularly. No more.

② It only takes a few minutes of playing with a tool like Sora to realise that there’s a whole new alternative to video production today. With the right strategy and approach, AI can now unleash your creativity without the need for professional video shooting, editing and post-production.

What to do about it

Take action

Get your marketing team thinking about how AI can supercharge their video production. Not with fakes or trickery but your messages - substantiated with facts - conveyed compellingly, creatively, and consistently.

Start with a clear strategy and use AI to explore ideas within that framework.
Write prompts with purpose and direction, not vague concepts, and push back if you don’t get what you want.
Leverage pro-grade tools like Runway (most cinematic control; best for web hero videos); Pika (great for smooth AI motion and realism); Synthesis (best if you want a realistic talking-head of yourself); or HeyGen (fast, good balance of realism and flexibility).

Get help

Two ways I can help you: 1) hire me as a full-time member of your team; or 2) use InMarketing, an advisory service for senior leadership teams in finance and tech.

🔎 Audit 🧭 Strategy 🖋️ Positioning ✅ Planning 🤷🏻 Problem-solving ☎️ Counsel

Visit InMarketing

Top stories

The other articles that are worthy of your time.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Goldman executive says retail rush into private assets is raising risks

③ The democratisation of private assets carries significant reputational risk.

Marc Nachmann. Source: The Financial Times, 7 October 2025

“A rush of retail money into private assets is pressuring fund managers to deploy capital quickly and risk buying bad assets, the head of Goldman Sachs’ money management business has warned.”
“So-called evergreen funds, which offer long-term investments in private companies, have been particularly popular with this category of investors, as opposed to institutional investors such as pensions funds, because they allow retail investors to deposit and withdraw cash at regular intervals.”
“Marc Nachmann said the need for these funds to deliver returns immediately after funds are deposited risked creating poor incentives for asset managers.”

TECHNOLOGY

Major banks explore issuing stablecoin pegged to G7 currencies

④ Joint issuance could solve stablecoins’ fragmentation problem.

“Ten major banks including Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and UBS are jointly exploring issuing a stablecoin, the latest sign of traditional finance seeking to get to grips with the growth of digital assets.”
“The group of lenders, which includes Citi, MUFG, Barclays, TD Bank, Santander and BNP Paribas, will work together to explore creating blockchain-based assets pegged to G7 currencies.”
“Regulators and financial stability authorities have expressed concern that stablecoins could facilitate the movement of funds outside regulated banking systems, potentially undermining the role of commercial banks in global payment flows.”

MEDIA & MARKETING

Google could be forced to change search in the UK

⑤ Search is being comprehensively disrupted. But it’s not AI’s fault.

“Google may be forced to make changes to how its search engine operates in the UK after the competition watchdog granted it ‘strategic market status’ under the country’s new digital markets regime.”
“The Competition and Markets Authority confirmed the designation on Friday, giving it new powers to impose rules on Google’s search and advertising businesses, which account for more than 90 per cent of online searches in the UK.”
“The move, made under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, does not amount to a finding of wrongdoing. Instead, it opens the door to potential interventions later this year, including requirements for Google to offer users ‘choice screens’ for alternative search engines, new ranking rules, as well as more control for publishers over how their content appears online. […] Google said it would continue to work with the regulator but warned that overly prescriptive rules could slow innovation and harm UK businesses.”

WILDCARD

Bonfire of the middle managers

⑥ Middle managers are losing their jobs. But it’s not AI’s fault.

“In August Google said it had cut 35% of its managers overseeing teams of fewer than three. In September Fiverr, a freelancing marketplace, said it would shed managers to focus more on artificial intelligence. Amazon has been trimming all year in its effort to improve efficiency—most recently in July, at its cloud-computing arm. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg has been complaining about ‘managers managing managers’ since 2023.”
“One explanation is simply that in an uncertain economic environment, companies are cutting costs. […] Another reason has its roots in the pandemic. When Covid-19 first struck, companies furloughed staff. That was followed by a hiring spree as firms, particularly in tech, raced to meet demand for e-commerce and digital services. New managers were needed to supervise the new staff. […] Now companies are shedding the excess.”
“In the interim AI may be the middle manager’s friend. Raffaella Sadun of Harvard Business School notes that effective middle managers can boost the uptake of corporate training, notably at companies trying to persuade staff to use the new technology. If companies want workers to swot up on AI, they may be well advised to hold on to their middle managers for just a little longer.”