Doing the Job Is No Longer Enough (543)

This week, the boys explore the rapidly changing relationship between companies, creators and employees. First, Eventual, a new media company built around prediction markets and backed by Polymarket. Is this the future of accountable journalism, or simply gambling repackaged as news? Next, Gap expands its creator program to employees, giving workers the opportunity to earn commissions by promoting Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta. Are employee creators an authentic new marketing channel, or are companies quietly adding "influencer" to everyone's job description? Finally, brands such as Target are recruiting ordinary customers with as few as 500 followers to create promotional content. The influencer economy may be getting more accessible, but the brands receiving thousands of inexpensive advertisements could be the biggest winners. Marketing Winners and Losers Joe's winner is the New Bedford Whaling Museum and its ability to create a remarkable content and visitor experience. Robert's loser is Meta and Google, as the platforms continue shifting more advertising responsibility, risk and decision-making onto their customers. Rants and Raves Joe raves about seeing Idina Menzel perform with the Cleveland Orchestra and the powerful lesson she shared about embracing what makes each person unique. Robert comments on "formative debt" and asks whether relying too heavily on artificial intelligence could prevent people from developing the skills and experience they need to think, create and grow. Subscribe and Follow: Follow Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose on LinkedIn for insights, hot takes, and weekly updates from the world of content and marketing.  ------- This week's sponsor: Did you know that most businesses only use 20% of their data? That's like reading a book with most of the pages torn out. Point is, you miss a lot. Unless you use HubSpot. Their AEO and customer platform gives you access to the data you need to grow your business. The insights trapped in emails, call logs, and transcripts.  All that unstructured data that makes all the difference. Because when you know more, you grow more. Visit https://www