The Week of March 29 | Deep Fakes Are Spreading Putting Creator And Brand Safety At Risk

This is the story of the one. As a custodial supervisor at a high school, he knows that during cold and flu season, germs spread fast. It's why he partners with Granger to stay fully stocked on the products and supplies he needs, from tissues to disinfectants to floor scrubbers, also that he can help students, staff and teachers stay healthy and focused. Call 1-800-Ranger, click Granger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. This is right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and caching checks? It starts right about now. Right about now. What's up, guys? Welcome to right about now. It's our weekly marketing and business news here in the week of March 29, 20, 24. Join by my good friend, Chris Hanson. What's up, brother? What's up, my man? How are you today? I am Fabi Loso. Just a thing about the good old days of the notorious B.I.G. and Diddy. Puff Daddy. He's going to get a new nickname, I think. I think so too. It doesn't look good. We are business news. We can talk about whatever. It's business news. It might be a little pop culture, but dang. Your house getting rated by the feds, both of them at the same time. It ain't looking good. They don't do that shit unless there's probably highly probable cause. And is it that money just does weird shit to people? I don't even know what to say besides a filigree. It does weird shit to people. You get like these insatiable tastes. Like they just think, okay, all right. This normal stuff doesn't interest me anymore. I got so much money. Why not try this? Like it is this God-like behavior in some ways. And I don't have any answer for it. And it's run out of the cars, the guys, the girls, whatever your choice is, gambling, even drugs, not supporting any of this. I'm just saying like, let's take it board with that. So they just start, okay, let's start sex trafficking. What the hell? It's crazy. It's sad. I'm making light of it. It's not a joke. But it's, it's board just the strangeness of it all. Yeah. I don't even, and I don't know all the details. I'm not here to report on every finding. But it was just an odd scene, seeing two luxury homes in private neighborhoods with the feds going through it. Where did it go south? Like where? Yeah. What was the first decision down this path? Cause I'm a firm believer in guilty or excuse me. It does seem that way sometimes guilty until proven innocent until proven guilty. But all I'm saying is I don't think it's one thing with these political chases. I mean, I'll talk about that. But in general, I don't think the fed wants the attention of rating a celebrity's place, unless they got a hell of a lot of evidence that they should be. Yeah. Yeah. And the truth comes to light eventually. So I'm interested to see what this develops into. Yeah. Who knows? But I call my side not to. And I hope everyone's brackets. If you're an NCAA madness, March madness, your brackets aren't busted, I'm middle of the pack. Let's just say that. I think I, I watched just enough basketball. Did I think it probably hurts me in filling out the bad bracket? Oh, yeah, it's definitely got to be like, I think the least the less sometimes the better. And I care just enough for it to sting a little bit. Yeah. And I, it's like, oh, I definitely know that St. Bonaventure is going to get beat by long beach stage or whatever. And I don't think St. Bonaventure's in it this year. But just fight because I know just enough. And it'd probably be better how just truly guessed. But that aside, the Clemson Tigers are two and a, and in the sweet 16, baby. Yes, this is Clemson basketball. First time in eight years, sweet 16 bound. I will say this, watching them all year. They have the dudes. Like they totally have the dudes to make this kind of run. It's been a little inconsistent in the regular season. But they're bringing it on. Now they got Arizona. They actually technically played. If you're listening on this on the Friday, they played last night. We do record this a little early. I don't know yet. And you will know listening if I'm still happy or sad. Isn't that a weird, the weird thing of a place shifting. If you're listening of Ryan's in a, okay, I don't really get into bad mood. I just be in an okay mood if we lose. But if I'm just like, woohoo, you'll know when you listen to this episode, go Tigers, they're doing well. Hopefully your bracket's not busted. And hopefully all the marketers that are spending money around the game or seeing the fruits of their labors, definitely seeing a lot of the same commercials. And AT&T sort of everywhere on the, they're always a big sponsor. So I'm seeing them all over the place. I know you're not a huge sports guy, Chris. But did you watch a single March Madness game even accidentally? Accidentally, I've like in the gym. I've seen on the TVs. But in my own home, I have put on zero. And it's not because I'm not interested. I did March Madness when I was younger. Like you mentioned, I had no knowledge. I just ran them. Yeah, you're probably winning the bracket challenges, too, probably. I wasn't that lucky. It was my way of getting into it with my college buddies with a jump in and play. I'd love to see the in-productivity meter. How much, how unproductive, unproductive, how you ever, you say that, unproductive meter for American workers last Thursday and Friday. They said it was going to be 17 billion worth over the whole tournament. So I wonder if we're on target for that. Hopefully, you were massively unproductive last Thursday. Or you learned to multitask. Keep an eye on the games and still write that report. I was doing a little bit of both this one Friday. I was actually here on a call with Kai and Sawyer at my house trying to get some stuff done. They're trying to keep my attention. While I'm half a Clemson was playing, I'm like, could you repeat that? I just watched Clemson miss a shot. What just happened? They think I'm yelling at them. When I was a Clemson, my boys are going, did you see that, Dad? I'm like, yeah, I saw it. Wait, what are we talking about? Yeah, so it was part, I was doing both. Multitasking is reality. So hopefully your brackets aren't busted. And if they are, then just sit back and enjoy the games for what they are. You can still get into little draft kings, get a little side bets going, a little side bets. Or our friends at ESPN bet. I think they're doing all right. They're going to be wearing out too. First article today comes with us from Marketing Dive. A regular on articles lift. Google loses in local search to Instagram TikTok and others amongst Gen Z for search functionality and where people are going to search. Insights into how Google remains popular for local search among older generations while Instagram and TikTok are preferred among Gen Z, showcasing shifting brand preferences among different age groups. Recent findings from SOCI nod to what many have long suspected that Google's dominance in search may be under threat. Those search remained the company's largest segment in Q4. The latest findings echo the reports, including leaked internal research from Google indicating that Gen Z users are increasingly looking to social for search. Not surprising, but telling nonetheless. So essentially in layman's terms and I think most people get this what we're talking about, like when people go to look for, I don't know, McDonald's menu, something near me or information to look up that they would traditionally have used Google search. A lot of the Gen Z users are using social media, i.e. Instagram and TikTok quite a bit. Are you using social for search, Chris? I were talking about it. I do now more for local stuff like food, like restaurants, especially if I'm going to a spot I've never been to. And I want to check like the vibe or like what the dress comes with is what people are wearing. And I think people used to do this with Facebook more. Yeah, like local stuff. Yeah, for businesses, local businesses, I'm about 50-50. Yep, no. It's both a behavioral thing. It's interesting. And obviously for a business, Google makes, let's just say a lot of money. They made $48 billion in search last year. Search ads, a billion, the big ones. That's a lot of damn money. And so you've got the infrastructure and you have people and expenses at cost to ladder back up to what it takes to run that. And so it's a big deal when user behavior starts changing because those ginsiers get older and they have legacy habits that carry out. Eventually generations come and go and or amount of use, thus driving the ad traffic and the volume of people using these services which command the dollars from ads is a big deal when these trends are happening. So Google is probably quite aware and not pleased with this because they've been unable to crack the social code as we all know, the Google Plus, all the other things they've tried to do to get into the social game have crashed and burned in a lot of cases. And so with social behavior driving search for these younger audiences, this is something that's going to be interesting to watch. How this plays out. And it's interesting to note, like you said, search has always been more of a text thing. I get the text to describe what I'm looking for. And what you described was the need for visual reinforcement. Okay, I want to see the place. I want to see the food. I want to make sure I'm dressing the right way. So the visual nature of search changing is also a fascinating part of this. And I think it's more authentic. I'm not looking at a restaurant, approved photography, right? I'm looking at individual people like yelp in a way, right? Or even their reviews. Yeah, exactly. So it feels more credible. And it's part of their own user behavior. And that's an interesting note there, the authenticity and credibility. That's something I'd want to, if in fact that is a common refrain and consumers are starting to doubt or question the trust of the search, that's a real damn scary slippery slope because that's a whole other issue. If you're thinking it's too guided and not authentic and organic, that's even another big insight to think about. And so, okay, we're all about value here. Learning lesson, if you're a business, you need to be using social SEO in how your product services and everything that you do so that you show up in these search results. You need to leverage influencers that can help you with that, that have a bigger following, that can also help you with those search results. By them having keywords in your brand mentioned in their posts because if you're a local business and you sell a lot to this segment, you need to be there and you need to be findable. And I don't think that the vast majority of businesses are leaning into this enough. And it's probably going to be their own payroll because you're going to have the ones that are going to be heading you. And it's great. We can say we want the organic content to rise above. But if you're a brand, do you want to at least help steer the conversation towards what you really offer, what you stand for, what you do? The answer is yes. So you need to be in this game. And that's where it seems so self-serving when owned and added, market digital added to your radical call if you need a shameless plug. But in all seriousness, yeah, you need to continue to do social. You need to ask. And sometimes I think brands and people, that's how I'm not my keys. I'm talking about like medium, small to me in businesses. Do we really need to be doing that? Is this just what's the point? Let's check the box. This is consumer behavior. These are tactics that people are doing to go look for something that they want to buy. And that's always been the power of searches. You have handraisers. I am looking for a cheeseburger. The best one in Miami. I'm hungry right now. I want to buy. I want to give you money. I'm raising my hand. And I'm with my search behavior. That's called intent. That's called triggers that you need to know. And so that's the power here. So when you're bemoaning that post you've got to create or checking a box with some shitty video that does nothing, think about it through the lens of commerce. And the fact that these consumers are buying and searching it in these locate on these channels. A lot to think about. And a lot for Google to get their shit together. I don't know how you can. I don't know how they turned the title of this one. It's... They don't have a platform in cater to that. No. And I don't know if Gemini is going to get it done. Might as well. Gemini. I just want to find a way to work that in in every episode. Gemini for the AI for Google. Next coming to us from emarketer.com. If you're not an emarketer, you're not a marketer. Amazon poaches Mr. Beast to generate a hit for Prime Video. Interesting. Amazon signed a deal with James Donaldson. Also known as Mr. Beast. This sounds weird saying it's for his real name. I like Mr. Beast better. To produce a reality competition series for Prime Video. The company announced Tuesday, the show will be titled Beast Games. And feature over 1000 contestants competing for a $5 million prize. Big prize. Mr. Bruce... Oh, excuse me. Mr. Beast's name is synonymous with YouTube. He has a second most subscribed to channel on YouTube and has leveraged his audience to launch several CPG businesses. He frequently produces reality competition style videos like the one styled after a squid game with cash prizes. This is interesting. Have you watched many Mr. Beast videos? Like 10. Yeah. Have you seen the same friends? The stick and I'm on. What is it called? Mr. Beast. I'm saying the stick. The premise of, you know, he does these ridiculous challenges with all his friends. He's interesting. He runs your team shows from the 90s, just YouTube version. Yeah. Yeah. He's obviously got a formula for what keeps you watching. They can't... You know, you put... He gets his friends and they all have to put their hand on a car and if they take their hand off, they lose. They keep it on, they win the car. So it's compelling. It makes you want to watch. It's like... The car is a bright green Lamborghini. Yeah. It's a formula, but it works. And so they're bringing a similar type thing. Beast games. Smart. Yeah. He's killing it. Yeah. So Amazon for old James Donaldson. JD. I'm going to start calling that from now on. I like Mr. Beast better. I'm just going to see how people know his real name. But it doesn't matter if they know his real name. All they need to know is his bank account and it's big. And he can move, man. He's done a lot. He has. He seems like a good guy. He is. He seems like it. I don't know. I've never gotten a sentiment that felt other than just being a little goofy. The whole... All of this little goofy to me. Yeah. Not because I'm judging... Who am I to judge? He's killing it. But obviously he has a target market. Yeah. And my eight year old... But it's interesting is my eight year old watches it all the time. But my 12 and 13 year olds don't watch it anymore. It's so... It's... I don't know if that's telling of all kids or it's just my household. Was this interesting? How young? Excuse. But Amazon picking up the opportunity to sign with, hey, borrowed interest here. That's what they're doing. That's what... Hey, we talk about some of these principles. That's what Amazon's doing. You got someone that's already got all this cred. All you're doing these things on social media. How do they borrow interest? They leverage that name into more eyeballs, more viewers for what they're doing. So, it's more moved by them. Hopefully the production is good. It'll be interesting how it compares to his YouTube stuff in a more... I have to think... I don't know. Not that he doesn't have the money now he does, but maybe more produced. Higher produced. Yeah. It'll be interesting if it translates and this is interesting. Sometimes higher production value doesn't always make it better. True. We'll see. And if you want to learn from me directly, join my newsletter. Ryanoffer.com. Backslash. Newsletter. Sign up. I give daily advice on marketing, personal, branding, podcasting. Life. Give that a shout. Join that. It's free. It's daily. Just like this show. Give away our best advice. Snap. This comes with us from socialmedia-today.com. Snap launches sponsored AR filters as a new ad option. Snap chats launching filters as an ad option. With brands now away with a sponsor, AR filters in the app, which users can then add to their posts, the appeal of this that it will take less effort to enact a sponsored filter is posed to a full AR experience with brands, able to upload existing assets and create filters from a variety of existing snap templates. You use Snapchat user? Used to be college. I'm probably using Snapchat and like really use it like 70 years. I like to see their user data because I don't, even the people that used to use it in my circles, I don't see them using it anymore. And I just see young kids. I think it's like this 15 to 20 year old thing. I don't know. Maybe older than that, some circles. Like my wife has it and it's weird. She'll like three times a week. Her and her friends will send them each other something on Snapchat. But it's not every day and it's not all communication. So it's like this weird holdover on just certain things. And I imagine that's a lot of it other than the core user base that they use it more. They want those messages disappearing. Let's just call it space. That's all this is, right? Yeah. I just don't want to see mom and dad. I want mom and dad seeing that I'll keep it on the clean like birch to my friends. Like they don't want to see a video me cussing at the camera, which apps have the disappearing option now. I got it on WhatsApp. You can do it one time or Instagram. So we'll see. I'd love for people to DM me if they're using Snapchat. They think this is worthwhile news. I almost had you talk about it. I had to say it, but I almost didn't bring this article up because I like a Snapchat. I know I'm, look, I'm 40 something year old man and I get it. Maybe I'm not like in the everyday target. And we talk about a lot of, talked about a lot of Gen Z, a lot of other things with Google. It's not just about the age group. I'm like, I don't know. There's a negative connotation now. If I ask someone for their Snapchat, say, eating wise, especially, it's not looked at. I really, you think they look at it like, oh, wow, you want to, what we get, you think we're going to do some dirty things? Oh, yeah. I know for a fact, they'll be like, don't, don't ask me for my Snapchat. And if you do, like, yes. I know. See? That's an insight. Grow up. So, okay. Yeah. If I were to meet a grumpy like, what's your Snapchat? You. Kai and Sawyer. Is Snapchat a thing? Is it, do y'all have, what Chris just said? Is that true? That's true. It's looked at like, why are you asking me for my Snapchat? Like, we're too old for that. Yeah. If you're 20 years old. Is it still highly popular? Not highly. Is it less popular than it was? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. There we go. Confirmed. Moving on. MarketingBrew.com. I remember these guys. I hadn't seen them on our list in a while. It makes people want to have a beer. So, I'm just going to drink some marketing brew. Defakes. Our spread. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All the more violating. Jan's told us. All the more violating. Jan's told us. Yeah. This shit's gonna happen. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I have these weird fan accounts that have been set up. You made it. Maybe they only have 20 followers. But LeBotte! But I do have these fan accounts. I've popped up. But I'm like, what the hell is this? I'm just waiting for something that I didn't do. To be misconstrued. And it's. But this stuff is gonna happen. And it's. And it's. M were gonna be too easy. Yeah. it's really going to erode trust because here's the issue. Yes, the issue is something like this. Used her image and likeness, portrayed her in an ad so she didn't get paid for it and she would not have approved the content. But the other side of this coin is you're going to see the, that's not me, that's a deep fake when it is real. And so you're not going to know what to trust. When is someone doing true wins and not. And so that's the a dangerous place we get into is to not know when any of its real fake lie what not. Because if you want to kill cells and kill the ability of a platform to have value, then kill all the trust. I think everybody has a little bit of a, you know, slight eye with certain things now anyway. But when this goes too far, then you just don't even know what the hell to believe. And that's not a good place to be. I think that's unfortunately where we've gotten with some of the government stuff. Is it true? Not true. You're telling this truth or you're not telling this truth? Like what part of what you just said is truth and not truth? What part, how percentage can I believe? Chris, you had any deep fakes on you yet? No, but I think about it. I think just, I'm concerned 10 years down the line. Right? Someone can put up a video of you saying whatever they type in that keyboard and it will look like you're in that, that definitely is frightening. And like you said more on an international global scale of these world leaders. That's what is scary. Yeah. And I think that hopefully the technology can catch up to where it can predict or spit out what's real, what's not real. I don't know. There's some code behind the video or something that can tell if it's like fabricated or generated versus created like the delineation like this is true creation versus generation generated like by computer. Maybe that's like the classification. And I read this article like it was about we're at the 25 year anniversary of the Matrix, the movies. And what's interesting, it was talking about the character that had, but they were all aware or they become aware that they were part of this. But the character that wanted to get back in like he, he didn't want to live in the real world because how bad it was. He wanted to go back in the Matrix. He wanted to live. Hey, I'll help you find Neo and all these guys. If you put me back in the Matrix and it made me think like people want to live in this fake world or this thing. Like in their own comfort zone. Yeah. It's a fascinating. You've talked about that a little bit with the Apple Vision Pro kind of the type thing that we're going to have people just choosing this alternate reality fake world. And I think we already have, we do have people that are choosing that. Yeah. The gaming and all that. So we'll see where it goes. But I think the biggest thing is just be aware. Check your sources. Check them again. You see some government officials saying some weird shit. Yeah. Maybe this is a deep thing. Exactly. Also from us from marketing brew, women's final four and championship march madness. Inventory is all sold out. Women's games never been more popular. They sold out all the inventory. I did watch part of the women's game. I'm going to whiffed on her name. But she plays for Iowa. Really good female player. I'm going to be the number one draft. The girl can hit it from like half course. She's like Steph Curry as far as way she can shoot. And I'm feeling bad that I'm whiffing on her name. But in the absence of going and searching for it at the moment, you guys probably on who you're all saying in your name. You're saying it and cursing me right now. Okay. Not me. Anyway, the game has gotten a little quicker, a little faster, a lot more, I don't know, drama and interesting. And I think it's good, especially for like the audiences out there. Look, you got a lot of girls going up wanting to be influenced by their players. And I think it's good that the female individual stars are starting to shine and have more opportunities to leverage. And they definitely have on social. I see a lot of them like influencers and stuff that are these basketball players. Reese who plays at LSU. And I think it goes to show you that the numbers, the viewership numbers are obviously aligning because they're selling out all this ad inventory. And I think it goes back to what it is. And we've talked about this. Live sports is just still drives like people's interest. You got all the streaming stuff and all these shows. It's a lot of garbage movies out. Some good movies, but a lot of garbage. Yeah. The compelling nature of live sport drives interest. And so I think that's why you see the ads being swooped up. And clearly the numbers are there. Says Google and Home Depot are among the new advertisers. So the tournament has 87 total advertisers with an almost even split between new and returning. Seven new categories joined in as well, including bottled water and home insurance. So a lot of category increase. And a lot 50 50 split between new and existing. So be interesting how that plays out, how that's put across television, digital, all the properties that are there for the tournament. Because you're seeing it's not just about the TV anymore. You've got social channels. You've got social ads. You've got connected TV streaming. The web presence activations at the final four in the stadium. So there's a lot of places and a lot of things. And Greenville here where we're at, we do the studio. It had the SEC tournament, women's SEC tournament. And they said the economic impact was like several million dollars. So live sports, baby, still driving it. You know what? I'm still driving. That's my Maccogs. That X2. Oh, yes. Electric peddler street bike city cruiser. Right and offer to prove double battery. I'm telling you 90 mile range. I don't know that I'm going to even get that in Chris. I can barely get the battery bar to even break. Like it's become almost a joke. Like I want to ride it long enough to get the first bar down. And it's 30 minutes later. It's still there. It has even lost a bar. So the battery is incredible. It's the ultimate performance bike. It's got those fat tires. My brother-in-law came over Tyler. He got on it. He's like, whoa, he's got some power. Like, shit, yeah, it's got some power. Balls hog. That's what I named mine. Right. My X2 has a name. Balls hog. It looks like a little mo-ped motorcycle type thing. But it goes up to 28 miles an hour. It's got that big comfortable seat. And the good part is Ryan offered 150 $150 off the X2 or Ryan offered 100 $100 off the X1. I'm telling you get you one. They're fun, man. It's great. It's just fun to ride. That's all I just say. I start peddling because I think I'm going to have every intent to want a pedal. But you got that throttle right there. It's pulling at me. Like, all right, let's get it. Scooter going and get the power and the need for speed, the need for not sweating. And I joke, but it's a lot of fun to ride. That's all I say. Get your fun on it. MacFoxBikes.com. Tell them I sent you. Ask them some questions. Got a lot of FAQs. Got a good YouTube channel. You can learn all about it. Again, Ryan offered 150 on that X2. That's what you want. You want that X2. Don't fuck with that X1. That because it's not a nice bike. I'm just telling you, get just step up. You want the dual battery. You want to go all in. Lean in. Lean in. That X2 150 off. Ryan offered 150. You'll thank me for it. Any final words today, my friend? Good luck in your brackets, boys. Good luck on your brackets for sure. We appreciate everyone for making us number one on Apple podcasts, wherever you are. However you are, whenever you're listening, we appreciate you. You find Chris and I on Instagram. Chris Brobey Hanson and at Ryan offered. And of course, Ryan is right.com. We'll see you next time. I'll write about now. This has been right about now with Ryan offered a Radcast Network production. Visit Ryan is right.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening. Some things are hard to commit to, like learning how to surf. Or saving for a family vacation. But one commitment that's easy, switching to Fiosome Internet with a five-year price lock guarantee. That means five great summers of fast-reliable internet at the same low price. All with the Fios one gig internet plan. Plus no hidden fees or equipment charges. Call 1-833 Verizon to switch today. Price Guarantee applies to basement the rate only for new and existing my home customers.