Chatbot had a wet dream, more accurately, a Foam Fantasy
I hooked up with en vogue ChatGPT for my new brand concept
Boys and girls sipping cocktails, sunshine, beats, good times. Chatbot planted this image in my head. ‘Foam Fantasy’, WTF, I wanted to talk about coffee, but words conjure pictures and meaning. I’m not sure the bot gets it. Yet.
Media is saturated with case studies and deep-dive opinions on ChatGPT capabilities. I don’t want to add greatly to that. Or bore you.
I know. I know. It’s on everyone and their dog’s lips. Educators declare learning is dead. Less informed feel empowered. The intelligent feel cheated. Philosophers question the morality of the whole thing. Depending on who you ask, it’s the end for most of our jobs.
Subject: ‘DISPOSABLE’ The live ticker is ticking, it’s over for you!
Content creators, Legal assistants, Teachers, Computer programmers, Market research analysts, Customer service agents, Accountants, and Stock traders.
With this in mind, I wanted to check out my own future prospects. ‘Design’, in its various guises was on the list. Like a horoscope ruining your day. I’m a Virgo as if it matters. ‘Be prepared for financial difficulties. The chatbot will cross paths with your ass later this month’.
Bang! Bang! Bang! You’re Dead!
Start-up plan, brand name, colour palette. A potential client can acquire it all in 3-second bursts. Why hire a team of design experts?
Seeing is believing, right?
For the future, your future, my future. I wanted to flip this ‘bot’ negativity on its head. How much of the media noise is plausible? This prompted me to prompt ‘The Botster! Face to face. I hoped to find hope for all of us!
Anyone reading my articles, (thank you! 💛) will know I chat about design.
So this is my angle for our meeting. It’s a simple brief. I want to start a coffee brand. The chatbot will be my partner.
I’m open and curious. Will the guru listen attentively? Embrace my passion? Capture my dreams? And what about the brand name? I can’t wait to mouth it out loud.
Exhilarated, I breeze through the /imagine doors of ChatGPT Inc.
The first thing that strikes me as missing, is the BUZZ. The heady hum of ideas wafting through the space. Ambient beats and Feng Shui remixed by Tadao Ando. Beautiful people, senses elevated, summoning the future. No, none of that jazz. It was the bot, myself, and budget-restricted biscuits.
Let’s jump in
I’ve included the excerpts below for authenticity. Suffice it to say, we had a good twenty-minute chat. I started the conversation, by stating that I would like to start a coffee brand. In addition, I would like some brand names for the venture.
Aroma and Flaky? Buttery Brew? GACK ( gagging reflex ) spongey flakes floating atop artisan brew. Flaky as...
After several rounds of back and forth and tweaking, it became clear that ChatGPT had difficulty finding new words. Words with subtlety or nuance. To change it up, I asked for something ‘less traditional’.
DrizzleDaze ( cake ), SteamScene ( porn ), FoamFantasy ( detergent ), and BrewBubbles ( beer ). Lol. Have you ever come home from the shops and thought to yourself, “I’ve got everything apart from the thing I went for”?
SteamsScene. This made me laugh. A flashback to school days. Working at the local ‘video world’ store. I’m 90% sure ‘STEAMSCENE’ was a popular choice for clandestine handovers.
For the purpose of this task, I chose ‘FoamFantasy’ and ‘SteamScene’ as brand names. Asking for a short marketing line to qualify the concept.
SteamScene ‘For Early Risers’
A new viagra brand anyone? The thing is, I understand how the chatbot got there. Earlier, in our conversation, we spoke about people enjoying their morning coffee. One of the names Chatbot proposed was ‘Rise and Shine’. ‘For early Risers’ is an iteration. Pairing it with ‘Steam Scene’ may have seemed logical in a clean ecosystem.
Is there hope?
Absolutely! Firstly, the chatbot doesn’t know what it feels like to drink coffee with flaky lumps. That’s our competitive advantage. Drawing on the richness of life experiences. (at least in this case)
Missing was the colour of language. Subtlety, tone, balance, texture, empathy, appropriateness, wordplay, humour, context. This is our territory.
The chatbot might also struggle with local-level colloquialisms, innuendo, euphemism, or the ambiguity of double entendre. As seen with ‘for early risers’.
Embrace the future
Contrary to expectations, I enjoyed the experience. The flow was great. The Chatbot was never discouraged, never defeated, and never lost for words. I had half expected, ‘sorry’, ‘please repeat’, or a breakdown.
As a tool, this will undoubtedly help sharpen the mind. Having a sparring partner did help to speed up thinking. The process was productive if only to get ‘the obvious’ out there, and off the table. Direction is important. It will be our task to ask and rephrase questions. To articulate better.
Why hire a team of design experts?
My original question. Well, the wrong words in the wrong hands for any brand could be risky business. It might not be ‘The Botster’ we have to fear but the operators. That’s us, by the way. Misplaced faith invested by entrepreneurs and businesses, asking the wrong questions could be costly. Lining the plazas, boulevards, and high streets with Coffee Houses parading as Viagra stores, wouldn’t be a good look.
A blagger if ever I met one
‘The Botster’, had a rationale for all naming ideation. A smooth talker, and very convincing. My advice is, to take this with a pinch of salt. Always fact-check. Don’t be sold on a Foam Fantasy!
Make the conversation better. Feel free to join in, say hello on medium, or connect with me here on Linkedin
