a creative agency that takes care of healthcare brands
Gauri Yardi
13 Dec, 2023

Ever since the launch of ChatGPT just over 12 months ago, novelists, screenwriters and copywriters alike have been concerned that AI will replace them within the next few years.

But does this fear have any basis in fact?

Let me answer this question with another, more festive question:

What happens when you force a bot to watch 1,000 Christmas movies and then write one of its own – can it generate your new favourite festive film?

Well, I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Sit back, relax and enjoy reading the first scene of a brand new bot-written* Christmas film.

INT. MERRY MARKETING AGENCY.

We see JINGLE-BOT, a handsome robot with Santa hat and beard of tangled fairy lights sitting at computer, chugging Christmas spirit alone.

Enter CLIENT wearing her money suit. She has makeup and panic on face.

CLIENT
You must ho-ho-help me.

JINGLE-BOT
I am sorry. I cannot jingle your brand bells today.

CLIENT
You must. This holiday campaign you made me is a lump of coal.

CLIENT places lump of coal onto JINGLE-BOT’s desk.

JINGLE-BOT
I cannot help. My wife left me for less handsome bot with more ironic moustache. Now I am single and sad.

CLIENT
Help me turn coal into sales and I will introduce you to bot who writes my emails. She is single and sad also.

JINGLE-BOT
Nice!

JINGLE-BOT presses button under desk. A machine that looks like baby of snow globe and combine harvester with twirling candy cane blades rolls onto scene.

CLIENT
What in Santa’s sack is that?

JINGLE-BOT
This is Holi-Hype-Harvester 9000. It utilises tinsel analytics and jingle algorithms to ensure maximum brand visibility. It is the future of festive marketing!

JINGLE-BOT feeds coal into machine. Machine whirrs loudly and spits out bag with dollar sign on it. JINGLE-BOT hands to CLIENT. CLIENT gives JINGLE-BOT a handful of numbers in return.

CLIENT
Here is number of Email Bot. She is waiting for your call.

JINGLE-BOT
Thank you.

CLIENT opens bag. Bag is full of coal. CLIENT looks up from bag to complain to JINGLE-BOT. JINGLE-BOT has disappeared along with office. It was all holiday scam.

So, what do you think – are writers’ jobs safe?

I think the proof is in the (Christmas) pudding.

The making of ‘A Christmas Campaign for Christmas (At Christmas)’

*This short scene was the result of a collaboration between ChatGPT and me, inspired by writer and comedian, Keaton Patti.

Patti, author of ‘I Forced a Bot to Write this Book’, once fed a bot 1,000 Hallmark Christmas movies and asked it to write one, with hilarious results.

His bot also created several scripts for a Netflix project called ‘Netflix by Bots’, which resulted in several animated shorts, including two festive ones that gave me a laughter-related injury.

Inspired by the absurdity of Patti’s bot-written films, I decided to generate my own script, this time with a marketing theme.

Unfortunately, Patti’s bot is not available for public use. Instead, I tried to use ChatGPT to generate a similar script. However, after several tries, it only seemed capable of producing boring, unfunny (yet grammatically correct) scenes.

So, I used elements from ChatGPT’s lacklustre attempts and my experience matching clients’ established brand voice to write in the voice of Patti’s bot.

I hope you’ll agree that the result is convincing, perhaps even worthy of a giggle!

Gauri Yardi, Senior writer at Wellmark. Connect with me on LinkedIn