A new campaign from TikTok isn’t exactly subtle: As a father helps his daughter move into a new place, the two turn to the platform for cleaning tips, frame-hanging hacks, and “quick budget recipes.”

“Search it with TikTok,” the first tagline says, as if to imply, instead of with that other search engine.

• That’s because, whether it’s for Whole30 recipes, planning a vacation in Portugal, or finding cheap eats in Brooklyn, people are beginning to turn to TikTok as a search destination, stepping on the toes of Google, the world’s most popular search engine.

Looking ahead: As its campaign suggests, TikTok is taking advantage of the behavioral shift, but many advertisers don’t yet seem sold on the company’s search inventory, which has been in beta since last year, media buyers told us.

Search mode

Search is a profitable game, at least if you’re the dominant player—Google’s “search and other” category made nearly $40 billion in revenue in Q3.

• But the company seems to be paying attention to what could be competition. At a conference last year, Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan said that “something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search,” instead turning to “TikTok or Instagram.”

On TikTok, efforts to monetize that behavior haven’t yet materialized for many advertisers. “It’s not, like, a true search-engine opportunity yet,” Sonya Ali, a media director at the agency RPA, said. RPA isn’t in TikTok’s search ads beta in part because the targeting options offered in the beta test aren’t as granular as more traditional search inventory and don’t offer the ability to buy and bid on searched terms, Ali said.

Keep reading here.—RB

Dry January has officially come to an end, but chatter about ChatGPT has not. Industries ranging from HR to IT are debating how ChatGPT might have an impact, and marketers, too, are figuring out to what extent it could affect their jobs.

We recently asked if you’re interested in using ChatGPT for marketing purposes. Out of nearly 1,400 responses, almost half said they are.

• 48% said they are
• 25% said they’re not
• 27% said they’re unsure

Big picture: Those of you who are interested in using it aren’t alone. Companies have been quick to put ChatGPT to work: Avocados From Mexico is using it as part of the brand’s Super Bowl campaign; it helped create a Mint Mobile ad; and genealogy platform Storied recently leveraged the text generator for a series of ads.

This week’s poll: We’re seeing a lot of co-branded Super Bowl commercials this year. Do you think branded partnerships will become even more popular this year?

Yes
No
🟡 Idk

You’ve probably heard AI is coming for your job. Recent innovations like ChatGPT feel closer to Westworld than Siri, but I’m not sweating an I, Robot future just yet.

For those of you who haven’t bunkered for fear of Skynet, ChatGPT is “a large language model trained by OpenAI. It is designed to generate human-like text and can be used for a variety of natural language processing tasks, such as language translation, question answering, and text completion,” according to itself. I literally asked the program what it is.

It’s pretty impressive. It’s also free, for now. And I truly think tools like this are incredible resources that shouldn’t be fought—they can help brainstorm, scale ideas, write alternate copy, and bolster those humans you employ (like how this agency’s cleverly using AI “interns”). That said, it hasn’t made our human brains irrelevant just yet, if only because I’ve still gotta feed it original ideas to encourage the output.

But hey, that’s my human take. Figured I’d give ChatGPT a shot to defend itself. I threw “Write me an 800-word newsletter on whether ChatGPT will replace social media managers” as my input.

Then, incredibly—ChatGPT told on itself. The program wrote me an essay on why it could never replace social media managers…that I fully agree with. Every word. Click here to read the essay.—JA

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Tap in: TikTok shared tips on how brands can use the app during the Super Bowl.

Blocked: Tips on how to prevent AI models like ChatGPT from accessing website content.

Safe and sound: The basics of social media security and how to protect accounts.

Take a W: Winning an ANDY Award is good for a creative’s soul. It’s like getting a much-needed hit of affirmation for hard work, and what wins here often wins at other major shows. Get validation.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

BeReal is a newer social app that’s gaining popularity. Founded in 2019, it has recently picked up steam. Check out our exclusive report to learn best practices and find out what brands are experimenting with the platform.

Download your free report.

• Meta saw its third straight quarter of revenue decline, with the average price per ad falling 22% and impressions up 23% year over year.
• GoodRx was fined $1.5 million by the FTC for allegedly sharing sensitive personal data with companies like Facebook and Google.
• Crypto exchange OKX canceled its Super Bowl spot “as a result of the collapse of competitor FTX,” according to AdAge.
• BDG Media laid off 8% of its staff and suspended operations at Gawker.

Which headlines are real marketing news, and which one is fake?

1. You can now spend a night making pottery with Seth Rogen on Airbnb
2. Subway worked with a miniatures artist on the ‘World’s Smallest Sub’
3. Beyoncé announces cruise concert with Royal Caribbean as part of Renaissance World Tour
4. An ingenious design feature helped 7 AM Enfant sell 1 million stroller gloves

Keep scrolling for the answer.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Netflix and GM will plug electric vehicles in joint Super Bowl ad
• About three-quarters of people who plan to watch the Super Bowl said they’re excited for the ads, research says
• Why the IAB’s CEO is “in a bazooka fight” with privacy activists, regulators, and Apple