When OpenAI launched its text-to-video app Sora in September, there was immediate blowback. To absolutely no one’s surprise, users on the platform had a field day using popular characters in their AI-generated videos, in all sorts of—admittedly creative!—situations. (See OpenAI founder Sam Altman grilling Nintendo’s Pikachu.)
Brands condemned the use of their intellectual property without permission. The Motion Picture Academy called out OpenAI for its blatant copyright violations. Soon after launch, Altman wrote a blog post addressing the issue, stating that Sora would give rightsholders “more granular control” of their IP on the app, adding that in the near future he expected that plenty of brands and content makers would actually welcome the chance to have their characters on the app. He called it a new form of “interactive fan fiction.”
Well, that day is here. According to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI has opened the floodgates and is now in talks with brands about how they can bring their mascots and characters into the app for users to feature in videos.
It’s obvious why OpenAI wants brands to free their mascots. People would love to play in that sandbox with well-known characters. Hell, they’re already doing it.
But, um, what’s in it for the brands?
Most brands are still trying to figure out what their mascot stance on Sora will be. I reached out to McDonald’s, Geico, KFC, and General Mills but none were ready to comment about it on the record.
This is a newer, more urgent version of a conversation brands have been having for the past 15 years. In the age of social media, how much creative control should a brand cede to its audience? Now the stakes are even higher, given the pace of technological advancement, the public’s appetite to get AI sloppy, and our inability to distinguish between what’s real and what isn’t.
“Sharing the pen”
For what seems like centuries, the conversation between brands and everyone else was a one-way street. Advertising flashed in our eyes and blasted in our ears, and that was that.
With social media, a two-way conversation began. The mantra among marketers circa 2008 was to get involved in the social conversation because people are talking about your brand whether you’re there or not.
In the past few years, that has evolved even further to brands actually collaborating with fans and creators. Morgan Flatley, McDonald’s global chief marketing officer, calls this “sharing the pen.”
Historically, most brands are nervous or overprotective when they aren’t in full control of the creative. McDonald’s was prime among them, vigilantly protecting its IP. In 2013, it won a federal case on trademark infringement in Canada against a dim sum restaurant called MacDimsum. In 2019, it sent a cease-and-desist order to a small Edmonton restaurant serving an “Effing Filet O’ Fish.”
But the success of Famous Orders, a campaign launched in 2020 where it began regularly partnering with artists to customize meals and create merch, changed things. Allowing artists like Travis Scott, BTS, and Cactus Plant Flea Market to play with its brand logos and characters, and the passionate response from fans—along with the sold-out merch and boosted sales—gave Flatley and the brand more confidence to loosen the reins. The win for McDonald’s was in reflecting its role in culture (the artists are genuine fans) while creating something new.
“I’ve become a big believer that if we lean into the right kind of creators in the right cultural phenomenon, and loosen some of our control on the brand, magic will happen,” Flatley told me back in 2023 when we talked about the brand’s partnership with Marvel. “A few years ago, I don’t know that we would have felt as comfortable handing over key aspects of our brand to be part of a storyline like this, but today we’re really aware of the authenticity of our brand and the role that it can play.”
Alyson Griffin, State Farm’s head of marketing, told me recently that the key to a successful partnership with creators is to be prepared to give up some control. Brand leaders must do their due diligence and vet any potential partner, but then they must let them cook. “If you know you have the right person, because you vetted them to your brand needs, let them be them,” Griffin said. “Let them create, because then it looks and is authentic.”
According to marketing intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Sora was downloaded 3.8 million times in the U.S. in its first month, despite only being available on iOS with an invite code. It was the No. 4 app in the U.S. over that same time. In a world where brands and marketers are looking for any and every opportunity to gain our attention, the temptation here is clear.
Handing over your brand IP to the Sora 2 slop factory, however, is a recipe for disaster.
Character chaos
Brand mascots have been a staple of advertising for more than 100 years. They’re used to hawk everything from kids’ cereal to batteries, cigarettes to insurance, and they continue to be a valuable way for brands to forge an emotional connection with people. Take the insurance industry, which has a huge roster of mascots that aim to make their brands more relatable: Jake from State Farm, the Geico gecko, Flo from Progressive, Mayhem for Allstate, Liberty Mutual’s LiMu Emu (and Doug), and the Aflac Duck.
A 2021 study reported that a long-term campaign featuring a recurring character will, on average, increase market share gain by 41%. The Grimace Shake helped McDonald’s boost U.S. sales by 10.3% in 2023.
When I was in journalism school 20 years ago, we got an assignment to practice what’s called a survey article. Basically, you pick a topic and go ask a bunch of people the same question, then see what story angle emerges from their answer. I chose to visit as many tattoo artists as I could in an afternoon and ask them all “What’s the craziest tattoo you’ve ever done?”
I’ll never forget the clear winner. When I asked the question, this artist’s eyes lit up, and he rushed to find a specific binder on his shelf. He frantically flipped through the photos and flash designs until he found it. “There!” He pointed to a photo of a man’s meaty calf featuring a very detailed and anatomically correct depiction of all the characters from Winnie-the-Pooh on a picnic blanket—having an orgy.
That story taught me that some people will do anything for attention (and that I would never sing the Tigger song ever, ever again). Now that’s playing out in real time on Sora, with the app granting anyone’s weirdest visual wish.
Remember the public discourse when M&M’s talked about making the green M&M “less sexy”? If Mars put its beloved characters on Sora 2, the brand is one quick prompt away from someone making Behind the Green (M&M) Door. You think that Duolingo owl is weird now? Just wait.
Kevin Mulroy, founding partner and ECD at award-winning ad agency Mischief, says the upside for brands to surrender rights to their IP on Sora is still unclear. “Without much narrative control, and no clear link back to a strategy, it’s highly unlikely everyday people are going to use these mascots in the way these brands intend,” he says.
Strategy vs. Slop
The risk here is not just about brand mascots appearing in questionable content. It’s also the trade-off between the idea of facilitating people’s creativity versus brands being complicit in the sloppification of culture by allowing their mascots to be used on Sora.
Prediction market Kalshi made a viral splash during last spring’s NBA playoffs with an absolutely hilarious and unhinged AI-generated spot (see above) that cost just $2,000 to make. Then in September, Jake Paul tricked folks with AI videos of himself in strange situations, later revealing that it was all a marketing stunt for Sora 2 (the spot attracted about 1 billion views in six days). Whenever new tech hits the market, the initial stunts get a ton of attention as these illustrate. But then what?
“No doubt whichever brands are first to experiment will benefit from a bump in cultural awareness, as we’ve seen with Jake Paul’s likeness,” Mulroy admits. “But at what cost? In a world where it has never been easier for a brand to say something, the true value is in figuring out what it is the brand should say. The latter won’t come from rogue AI content.”
Eventually every marketer will have to decide the value exchange in joining the Sora party. As Mulroy says, the key is making sure there’s an actual strategy behind it.
If not, all that mascot’s brand value could end up getting f***ked on a picnic blanket.
