14 December 2025 | Issue #118

In this issue:

Together, Apart: The Quiet Loss of Communal Joy
AI Search Ate Marketing
OpenAI is in Trouble
AI Could do 17% of Jobs Today
The Modern Marketing Multitasker [Infographic]
The Fisher-Price My First AI
The Best Tool I Adopted This Year
Canva: Creativity in the Age of AI
The Visual Marketer Now in Full Color
The Visual Marketer is one of the top marketing books of the year
Design Quote of the Week

Together, Apart: The Quiet Loss of Communal Joy

I’ve been part of so many conversations that include the idea that the way to combat AI is through real human interactions and experiences. This makes sense to me. Live events create a feeling that AI can’t replicate.

But what about those who don’t want human interactions?

I took the family to see the 7:00 showing of Merrily We Roll Along last Saturday at the movie theater in our town. As someone who worked in movie theaters for more than seven years (I know I’ve told some of you to put your feet down), managing three different locations, I have some strong opinions on how the moviegoing experience could be better.

When I posted those opinions on Threads, the post took off (over 55k views as of this writing). While the responses were mostly what I expected, I noticed a disturbing trend.

People are Angry

Before I get to that: the one thing I saw often was anger. People complained about everything from the cost (and the cost and the cost and the cost) to the temperature of the popcorn, to other patrons, to the audio levels, to the types of movies being released. It’s social media, so I expected a lot of complaining (which is also why Threads amplified it—it drove angry discussion).

I think people are angry because they used to like going to the movies. Or better yet, they loved it. Yet piece by piece, the experience has gotten worse.

When the price doesn’t match expectations, people get annoyed and take their money elsewhere.

But when it’s something they used to love, that annoyance turns to anger.

And boy, are people angry about the modern moviegoing experience.

They placed the blame for the decline of the movie theater all over the map. And they’re mostly right, because theaters have failed in many different areas. I’ll put a link below if you want to read the 300+ comments.

If I won the lottery, I know how I’d run a movie theater. To start, I’d study the Alamo Drafthouse and Jesse Cole’s Savannah Bananas. Theaters have done a good job fixing the in-theater experience (chairs, video, sound), but most of the rest of the process could be improved. I give examples within that thread.

Shared Experiences

Now, the thing that surprised me goes back to human experiences.

Some people don’t want them.

These folks were not shy about saying they don’t want a communal experience. They’re more than comfortable in their own home, enjoying the highs and lows of a film by themselves. This part worried me.

They’re just done with society.

As someone who loves the movie theater experience – as well as live concerts and live sports – there’s something magical about being surrounded by people experiencing the same thing you are.

Side Story:

Back in 2004, I was working as a designer for ’47 Brand. Our office was directly across the street from Fenway Park. One day I was walking through the warehouse, and the air felt weird. I couldn’t figure out why things just felt… off.

Then I smelled the sausages and realized there was a day game that afternoon. I peeked outside, and the streets were filled with people enjoying a beautiful summer day. Everyone was happy to watch the Red Sox play America’s game.

I had felt the electricity in the air without realizing what was going on.

There is something magical about being around people who are enjoying (or suffering) with you. I can’t think of a better word than magical, because I don’t know the science behind these shared experiences.

What's Missing When You Don't Have Shared Experiences

Concerts are better in person than on YouTube. Celebrating a touchdown is far better when you’re high-fiving strangers than sitting alone on your couch. Hearing a theater of people lose their minds when Captain America catches Mjolnir is something I’ll always remember.

Yet there’s a large portion of the population who doesn’t want to be around others. I understand some people have social anxiety or can’t deal with crowds. We’re all wired differently. But some of the folks who replied to my Thread were just dismissive of the whole idea.

We all saw the emotional damage caused by isolation during the early days of COVID. And we see that people are “too online” these days, and it’s leading to radicalization. I worry about the selfishness that flourishes when people can hide behind an avatar and say the worst things to each other.

Isolation leads to selfishness, which leads to everything getting worse for everyone.

We’ve lost the ability to connect to other humans because we’ve lost human connections.

Shared experiences are the cure to isolation.

NEWS AT THE INTERSECTION OF MARKETING, DESIGN, & AI

AI Search Ate Marketing

Karine Abbou writes about the evolution of search marketing.

Read now

OpenAI is in Trouble

After spending a bunch of money, OpenAI is being lapped by its competitors. Will the "Code Red" be enough?

THE VISUAL MARKETER

I finally found a way to make a paperback version of The Visual Marketer in full color that doesn't cost a ton of money. Check it out!

The Visual Marketer made the Content Marketing Institute's list of top marketing books for the year!

Also, of the list below, I designed two covers and consulted on two others!

More on book design and cover design in the new year (that's a big-league teaser right there, ladies and gentlemen).

DESIGN QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Art is solving problems that cannot be formulated before they have been solved. The shaping of the question is part of the answer.” – Piet Hein

My AI disclaimer: I wrote the main article and then ChatGPT helped me with copy edits.

If AI generates the images, I include the prompt so you can see how I got to that image.

Midjourney prompt for main image: a man is sitting at home, watching a flat tv by himself. He is leaning back on the couch. We can see the whole room and it's mostly barren. A vibrant, high-contrast illustration using flat vector-style shading with neon and duotone color blocking. The characters are stylized with exaggerated lighting in magenta and cyan tones, set against a yellow background. There’s a strong use of shadow and highlight to create depth without using gradients. It uses clean lines and a minimal background to keep focus on the figures and objects. --ar 16:9
Different prompts: 9