The Birth of the Hot Sauce Factor

In my marketing keynote, I have recently introduced a concept called “The Hot Sauce Factor”. The rapid rise of AI Optimization in marketing took me down a path where patterns of behavior emerged among marketing companies scrambling to integrate AI ANYTHING into their service offerings, and that’s when I saw a dangerous pattern emerge.

AI is the New Big, Scary Thing that is Threatening to Change Just About Everything. 

Most companies are scrambling to figure out where AI fits, what its effects will be, and how or if to pivot to meet the moment. The problem is that “the moment” is a moving target, so companies are applying the AI moniker to everything, whether it adds value, causes confusion, or both.

I recently visited a digital marketing services company’s website, and one of the marketing services in the navigation was “AI Social Media.” What the hell is that? The link took me to a “coming soon” page, so it was clearly more important to hop on the bandwagon and use the trendy vernacular than it was to do the work and figure out how to create actual value utilizing the innovation for their client’s benefit. The truth is, most marketing companies don’t know what to do with AI (strategically), but they seem to have concluded they need to look like they do.

AI, Embrace, Caress, and Fondle Artificial Intelligence

There is a TikTok video from digital creator and corporate satirist @morningbrew that does a great job of poking fun at the conversations being had by companies this year, specifically the dreaded AI conversation. 

In the video, an executive presents his organization’s position on how leadership has AI well in hand. The video starts with repeating the terms “AI” and “Artificial Intelligence” several times, then seamlessly flips from reassurance —“we’re going to be fine as we embrace, cuddle, fondle, Artificial Intelligence” — to “there’s going to be so many layoffs.” Followed by corporate nonsense statements, “this is just the way the industry is moving,” and “it’s about integration, not replacement,” to exclaim that bathrooms will soon be replaced by AI, and ending with “does anybody know what we do here?”.

What is the Hot Sauce Factor? 

For decades, especially in the tech and tech marketing segments, there has been a reactionary behavior where companies make extreme adjustments, diving headfirst into the deep end of whatever is trending as the next “this changes everything” phenomenon.

This extreme zealous behavior, I affectionately call “The Hot Sauce Factor”. The behavior fits the tagline made famous by the Mike’s Hot Sauce brand, which states, “I put that shit on everything.” When a company starts using vernacular related to the latest innovation before figuring out what it is or how to use it, what the benefits are to those they serve, that’s the Hot Sauce Factor, and it’s been around longer than you think. 

• 1970s and 80s: The trendy hot sauce vernacular was “computerized”. Computerized accounting, computerized inventory, and computerized led to the term, “high-tech” as a broad signal of modernity, and was even used by non-tech companies.

• In the late 90s, the internet and dot-com boom gave way to the letter “e” being everyone’s favorite alphanumeric character. We hot sauced the shit out of “e”. E-business, e-commerce, e-marketing, e-learning, e-solutions — so many e’s flying around. Looking back, it seems e-diculous.

• In the 2000s, it was “Mobile”, mobile-first, mobile-friendly, mobile-compatible, mobile-apps, mobile everything. That decade also gave rise to the term “cloud”. Cloud-based, cloud-computing, everything needed to be “in the cloud”, and now we know there is no cloud, it’s just someone else’s computer. In the mid-2000s, we saw the rise of “social”— social media, social engagement, social media marketing, social networking, social selling. When we were all friends with Tom and loved our “Top 8”, we were very social, but in the end, it gave way to the anti-social social, but that’s a rant for another day. And later in the 2000s, who can forget “smart” smartphones, smart computing, and even our homes became smart. We were busy at the turn of the century!

• The 2010s were the age of data-everything. Data-driven, data-first, data loop (are they open or closed), data automation – we know data is big because it’s called “big data.” Data may be too big; there’s so much data! Is it DAY-TAH or DAH-TAH? I don’t know, but no matter how you pronounce it, data has been hot sauced.

• In the present day, the 2020s, we’re in the era of AI, automation, and intelligence; the hot sauce is like a waterfall. We’re AI-driven, AI-powered, and AI-optimized. AI agents are lurking around every corner, waiting to take action, and we’ve only just begun this crazy AI journey.

I don’t fault companies for leaning forward; quite the opposite, I applaud those that responsibly embrace rapid change and put fear aside to adopt something new, potentially providing a better outcome for clients and the company.

What I’ve too often seen is an irresponsible zeal that leads to the devaluing of innovation executed thoughtfully. This type of bandwagon jumping inevitably leads to a commoditized mindset by those who can benefit from the innovative service but become jaded by its existence. Well-qualified prospects eventually come to believe there is no differentiation as they become conditioned to think, “everyone does that.”

Hot sauce is zesty and delicious, but when not responsibly applied, it burns.

Have Larry Bailin captivate your audience with tales
of the Hot Sauce Factor at your next conference or corporate event. 

Marketing Keynote Speaker Booking