AI has flooded feeds with look‑alike posts. Marketers keep asking machines to write, then wonder why their work reads the same. My view is simple: stop using AI as a pen, start using it as a compass. That’s the point Kipp Bodnar and Kieran Flanagan hammer home, and they’re right. The win is not the draft. The win is the angle.
What Kipp and Kieran Get Right
Kieran argues that most people start at the same prompt, so they end up with the same take. He flips the order: study the crowd first, then move in the opposite direction. It’s a smart, almost unfair edge. As someone who builds in crypto, marketing, and media, I see the same herd every day.
“The power of these tools for creating content is not in the actual craft of creating the content, it’s in the ideation.”
They use a skill that scans X, Reddit, LinkedIn, and the open web, clusters the common narratives, then inverts them across six lenses—reframe, tension, cost, category, counter, and hero. The goal: start where no one else starts.
“The opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea.”
That Rory Sutherland line is the heart of their method. You can try to win in the middle by being the best, or you can go to the edge and be different. I’ll pick different.
The Blue-Ocean Play
They showed an example on “GPT 5.5 for marketers.” The web focused on speed and benchmark gains. Fine. But the more potent angle was power. The skill flagged a hotter take:
“If you don’t make your marketing team AI‑native, your CEO will take AI out of your hands—and GPT 5.5 starts the clock.”
That hits a nerve because it ties tech upgrades to control, budget, and status. It even surfaced hard truths:
- Only 15% of CEOs think their CMO is AI‑savvy.
- CMO involvement in major decisions slid from 70% to 55%.
- More than half of marketing AI budgets are now held by IT.
Those facts sting. They also sell. Great angles turn data into stakes. Kipp and Kieran use AI to find the crowded take, then force a flip with a plausible line to true. That’s what pulls attention and action.
Creation Is Cheap. Ideation Is Rare.
The pair say the quiet part out loud: the internet will fill with faster, cheaper content. If you chase the obvious, you drown. If you chase the inverse, you stand out. As a builder, I’ve seen this cycle in every hype wave from early web days to today’s tokens and tools.
“AI is actually better at ideation than even it is at creation.”
They even generate full briefs—hooks, pro and con, stats, stories—so humans can write with aim. That matters. AI should set the fight; you should throw the punches.
My Playbook For Marketers
Here’s how I would apply their approach right now:
- Start with surveillance. Pull the last 48 hours of posts on your topic from X, Reddit, LinkedIn, and major blogs.
- Cluster the takes. Label the top three themes everyone repeats.
- Invert across six lenses: risk, cost, who wins/loses, time horizon, hidden gatekeepers, and a villain/hero swap.
- Stress test the spiciest take. Keep it bold but plausible.
- Draft a one‑page brief. Hooks, one core claim, three proof points, one story, one counterpoint you beat.
- Write it yourself. Machines inform. You persuade.
This keeps your work sharp. It also stops you from shipping the same warmed‑over post as everyone else.
A Quick Word To CMOs
If you lead marketing, own the AI agenda now. Train your team on prompt design for research, not just copy. Set rules for data sources and angle selection. Partner with IT, but don’t give away the strategy. Budgets follow perceived expertise. If you wait, the budget—and the credit—moves.
Final Thought
Most brands will keep asking AI to write. They’ll get more of the same. I’d rather use AI to find the fight no one is having, then write like a human with something to say. That’s how you win reach, trust, and deals.
Pick a topic your market cares about this week. Map the common takes. Flip them. Choose the boldest angle with a straight line to true. Then publish. Stop letting AI flatten your voice—make it sharpen your aim.
