Use this Prompt Wisely (Please)
Top Insights
Tree Hut Turned Thousands of Customer DMs Into a Super Bowl Ad
Tree Hut pointed an AI tool at its comments and DMs across 3 million followers. The original goal was just to respond faster. But it turned into something bigger. Sarah Craig at parent company Naterra told Modern Retail how the brand started tracking what people actually asked for. Specific scents. Specific formats. Over and over.
Cinnamon Dolce kept coming up. Fans had begged for a full-time comeback for years, and the AI put a number on it: thousands of mentions. So Tree Hut expanded it into body lotion and foaming gel wash, then gave it a spot in their Super Bowl ad.
The team also picks up on how people feel about new launches from day one, often weeks before sales data tells them anything. Engagement is up 430% year over year since they started.
Behavioral Scientist Urges Caution on Using 'AI-Powered' In Your Marketing
Behavioral scientist Richard Shotton joined Chris Williamson on Modern Wisdom to break down the psychology behind some of the biggest brands in the world. His new book with Michael Aaron Flickr, Hacking the Human Mind, covers 17 brands and the hidden biases that powered their growth.
Key Insights:
Labeling something "AI-made" dropped purchase intent by 61%: Psychologist Kobe Millet showed people identical posters. The one labeled "hand-drawn" won every metric.
Shotton says the fix isn't hiding AI use. It's reframing the story around how much effort went into building the system behind it.
Red Bull's biggest move wasn't the drink. It was the can: If they'd launched in the same squat cylinder as Coke, people would've compared prices directly. Maybe paid a 10% premium. But they made the can smaller and taller, and that broke the comparison.
Labeling carrots "sizzling citrus tangy carrot" sold 41% more than "low calorie citrus glaze": Same food. Same recipe. Just different words on the sign. If you're selling something healthy or good for people, leading with the health angle is almost always the wrong call. Sell the pleasure.
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Prompt of the Week
This Week's Feature: Reality-First Prompt
AI-generated people usually look...well, AI-generated. Plastic skin. Perfect symmetry. That telltale "fake" quality your audience spots instantly. This prompt changes that.
It creates genuinely realistic human images. The kind where skin has pores, light behaves naturally, and nothing screams "computer made this." Take a few of the examples we created with the Reality-First Prompt:
For your ads, landing pages, or social content, you finally have a way to generate believable lifestyle shots. Just use it responsibly.
Shout out to @IamEmily2050 on X for the inspiration.
Here's the Full Prompt:
[ASPECT_RATIO] (9:16 / 1:1 / 3:2)
[MEDIUM] (smartphone photo / DSLR photo / 35mm film photo)
[SHOT_TYPE] (close-up / medium / full body / environmental portrait)
[PERSON] (age, ethnicity/features, clothing)
[SETTING] (location + time + main light source)
## Composition
- Framing: [e.g., collarbone to top of head]
- Angle: [ANGLE]
- Pose + Gaze: [POSE_GAZE]
- Natural occlusions only.
- Realistic background depth separation.
## Environment
- Visible real-world cues matching location and time.
- Physically stageable scene.
- Light direction and softness must match the stated source.
## Materials & Texture
- Natural skin micro-texture and pores.
- Subtle tonal variation (no flat skin color).
- Fine facial hair/peach fuzz where appropriate.
- Realistic lip texture (not waxy/plastic).
- Natural hair strand separation with minor flyaways.
- Fabric weave/stitching/folds visible.
- Clean separation between skin, hair, and clothing edges.
## Primary Focus — Skin/Face Realism
[PRIMARY_FOCUS_DETAILS]
> Example details you can use:
> - Pores visible in T-zone (subtle, natural).
> - Mild under-eye texture retained.
> - Natural asymmetry in brows/lips.
> - Slight redness around nose.
> - Realistic teeth if visible (not perfect veneer look).
## Color & Light
[COLOR_RULES]
True-to-life color pipeline only.
No pastel wash.
No teal-orange grade.
No fake HDR look.
## Camera Behavior
-Natural focus falloff.
-Slight optical edge softness.
-Realistic motion blur only if movement exists.
- No over-sharpening.
-No heavy denoise.
## Overall Aesthetic
[MOOD]
- Candid, documentary-feeling, real moment.
- Not commercial studio polish.
## Strict Negatives
AI look, CGI look, 3D render look, illustration look, anime style, plastic skin, airbrushed skin, beauty filter, poreless skin, fake HDR, glow, bloom, haloing, over-saturated colors, washed-out pastel grading, mannequin-like face, forced symmetry, perfect fake teeth, warped anatomy, bad hands, extra fingers, muddy edges, over-sharpened, heavy denoise, text, logos, watermarks, brand marks, [EXTRA_NEGATIVES]
Tool to Try
RivalFlow AI analyzes your competitors' top-ranking pages and tells you exactly what questions they answer that you don't. It generates ready-to-paste content improvements, shows you where to drop them on your page, then tracks your SEO lift automatically.
AI Tool Highlights:
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📈 Real-Time Ranking Tracker: Connect Google Search Console and watch before-and-after rank changes for every optimized page... See which updates moved the needle and how much traffic you gained.
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⚡ 10-Day Rank Jump Guarantee: RivalFlow guarantees you'll see ranking improvements within 10 days... More complete, question-answering content is exactly what Google rewards.
One More Need-to-Know News Story
Google Splits the SEO Dashboard: Discover Updates, AI Mode Ads, and a Markdown Smackdown
- Google launched a core update targeting only Discover: First time ever. Discover drives 68% of Google traffic to news sites, so check it separately. Your Search rankings may not have moved at all.
- AI Mode queries are 3x longer than traditional searches: Alphabet is treating that as new ad inventory, with ads and checkout already in testing.
- Mueller called serving Markdown to LLM bots "a stupid idea": Stripping pages removes the structure bots need to understand how your site fits together.
Mind Fodder
Thanks for reading.
Until next time!
The AI Marketers
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