Once again the World Cup is over, and I am rattling around the house wondering what to do with myself in the evening. There have been some good matches and certainly plenty of intrigue, together with change. We have had hydration breaks, a new extended 30-minute half-time show and, of course, plenty of discussion about VAR. It certainly felt bigger, louder and more commercial this time around.

But, what struck me, was not just the increased commercialisation, but the level of controversy and emotion surrounding the competition.

A louder World Cup

Now there is always controversy at a World Cup. Penalty shoot outs… a failure to spot handballs (that still hurts), dives resulting in fouls and fouls resulting in well nothing… depending the side we are supporting, there are always plenty of disputed refereeing decisions (‘we was robbed’). But, year, these arguments sounded a little louder.

Maybe it was because social media it seemed was filled with debate, and conspiracy theories; referee bias, VAR decisions, player behaviour and how individual matches were being managed. The social feeds were buzzing. Even decisions to show celebrities during games, managed to draw the ire of supporters.

Negative emotions ran high, and probably higher than I can remember for previous tournaments.

It seemed like, we all increasingly got drawn into a world of goodies and baddies…. my team vs yours, my tribe vs the others, for teams, players and supporters

But, how much of this was happening naturally, vs how much this was being amplified…

Controversy keeps us watching

Controversy creates engagement, engagement draws an audience… and the bigger the audience the more money is made. Certainly there was a lot of attention and engagement this time around.

Now of course, in the cold light of day, after a cold bath, most of us don’t approve. Aggressive behaviour on or off the pitch is not acceptable… But, with emotions are riding high, it is hard to get sucked in and football punditry loves it too.

A disputed decision gives commentators (and us) something to discuss before, during and long after the final whistle for the match. It generates television coverage, online clips, newspaper headlines, podcasts, social media posts and endless conversations between supporters.

The wheel turns and driving more passion in the supporters, resulting in us being more emotionally invested in the outcome. Supporters of one country start backing another, not because they particularly want the team to win, just because they desperately want someone else to lose.

It is an increasingly divisive and toxic mix.

A calm discussion about a reasonably well-refereed match does just not generate the same engagement as anger, injustice and accusations of bias. We may say we all dislike the controversy, but it certainly does keep us watching.

Competition changes us

Competition is exciting because people care about the result. Players want to win. Supporters want their team to succeed. Passion, the anticipation of success, the comradery of failure, is all part of what makes sport worth watching and keeps us coming back for more.

There is nothing wrong with striving to win, being assertive, ambitious or determined. The difficulty comes when assertiveness becomes naked aggression. When the desire to win becomes more important than how we get there, how we behave.

The opposition are seen not simply as another team, but the enemy. Referees are judged as corrupt rather than mistaken. Supporters on the other side are lowlife rather than just people experiencing what is the same match from a different perspective. It is all too easy to excuse poor behaviour from our own side while condemning exactly the same behaviour from someone else. We have lost sight of the bigger picture

It in these moments, it is worth taking a step back. The desire to win should not remove our ability to recognise humanity. Is putting this aside just to win, really winning? And at what cost?

Heroes and villains

This of course does not only just apply to football. The same tensions exist in business, particularly when we think about leadership, competition, and how organisations grow.

How controversial should we be to attract attention? How aggressive should we be to make money? At what expense of employees, customers and even those around us in the industry is acceptable? There are always trade off’s, where do we draw the line?

We all need to work hard to grow, express our views, challenge poor decisions and compete to succeed, but like we saw this world cup, taken too far, can easily slide into aggression. A focus on winning becomes a desire to defeat, embarrass or diminish someone else. Colleagues become obstacles. Competitors become enemies. Customers become numbers. The objective becomes so important that behaviour which would once have felt unacceptable becomes gradually justified.

And again, this is when we need to step back and remember the wider picture.

Businesses are not only just systems for generating revenue, they are communities of people, customers, employees, competitors and suppliers.

And, businesses are not judged solely on financial performance (even if we think it is). Customer treatment, employee treatment and industry reputation matters too (without if you lose business).

So after watching this year’s World Cup, in all its entertaining, emotional and occasionally infuriating nature, it is also time to pause for reflection, check my emotions, take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

Yes we may want to win, but if it costs us our humanity it is not worth it.

Something to take back to the office. Have a good week, everyone.

This week I was down at MAD//Fest again. As an event full of people from the marketing and PR industry it is one I enjoy, something completely different from my usual fare.

Most of my year I spend time at collections conferences, financial conferences with rooms full of people talking about numbers… customers yes, but still back to the numbers. In fact I suspect many may be quite happy to say ‘yes I am quite proud of my spreadsheet ability’ (I know I would… lol).

MAD//Fest London is not that room.

It is a festival built by and for creative people. Designers, marketers, advertisers, brand strategists and cultural commentators, they are all there. These folks spend most of there time figuring out how people work, how to make things resonate, get people engaged, to find the cultural moment and design around it.

It is not we don’t to it, but it is a different muscle, and as is clear from the event, one they work out on a lot. Frankly they are really very good at it and is exactly why I keep coming back. There is always stuff to watch and learn. So for this year, here are the themes that stuck with me.

The AI Backlash. There was definite pushback in the room against AI and AI hype. It felt different to last year. Yes people are still talking about AI, how it can be transformative, but when there is cheering when it is said AI cannot do creative… you get the sense there is a vocal resistance movement building.

The message… you still need creative people. Humans are a must have to create ideas that haven’t been thought of yet… just get AI to do the mundane stuff.

AI raises the bar of mediocre. AI is great. Great at good enough, but not great at brilliant. It excels at writing an average ad, that generate generic copy or design, but to generate that unique moment of impact, it struggles.

AI raises the floor, not the ceiling….

And, now everyone can do it, the public can tell, and spot it’s AI. To stand out we now need to be better, be unique. The message, human quirkiness is in demand, a skill that have maybe been under valued, but now and in the future will be in high demand.

A polarisation of content and talent. Of course we can’t all be in the top 1-10% for everything, and despite the whoops and cheers, good enough is 90% of what is produced…

This will likely mean more polarisation between good and average talent, the best ‘rockstar’ A-listers and the rest a jobbing actors with side hustles… I fear this is the case.

The take away, find your human niche and be the best at it. The world is online, global and the market long tailed, there is a market that will pay good money for the best… the only challenge, finding out what your niche is. (I am still working on perfecting my toasted sandwiches btw…)

Culture wins. Against this backdrop there was a lot of talk about finding cultural resonance. After all if we can all generate, designs and content, the differentiator becomes that human based insight to connect with… other humans.

Culture is a fickle and moving thing. Something that evolves and often hard to predict. Yes, it can be nudged in areas, but humans are complex, reflecting what people care about is not easy.

AI is of course, great at predicting and reflecting past patterns. It is arguably better than humans. Authentically, resonating with communities about issues the moment, today, and the future? Probably need to outsource to a human, who is part of that world.

This is something I see too, closer to home. In analysing existing reports and data, AI excels… pulling together, and joining disparate reports, events to interpret for future implications, get the human involved for unique insights (another area to focus for excellence maybe?)

Playing the part. Listening to the journalists, media leaders, brand advocates, marketing evangelists and business leaders, it also struck me just how much of a role we all play in this wider ecosystem.

Sometimes we are aware of it, but often we are are not.

I mean does the brand synergy of a product placement, with celebrity endorsement, at key sporting events really matter? Does it change the world?

As someone who at school, thought owning a Samsonite briefcase was trendy, I am obviously not the best person to comment… but objectively the answer is no. It is just like that spreadsheet may not be innovative or ground breaking, even though I feel quite differently.

We all have different perspectives and for us it is important. The bigger picture it has a role in a wider ecosystem of humanity.

I suppose it is a good job someone is interested, and excels (pardon the pun) to try to make it the best… but it feels like it is also important to keep a little perspective too.

This is a after all – a part we play, not the play itself.

So all in all an interesting week, some important themes and reflections for back in the office Monday. This is the reason I enjoy the event so much, it is always great to get out of your own little echo chamber.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Addendum: AI Governance: The Regulators Are Coming. Yes even in marketing land governance and regulation for AI is coming. The theme, if you use AI in your processes, you/your business still owns the process, outcomes and accountability… sounds strangely familiar to what the FCA said this week too.

With all the furore about Anthropic’s Fable, somewhere between Nuneaton and Rugby, I decided to see what would happen if I used it to build a complete collections system.

Now, this had to have login controls, role based access controls, be AI native, have case management, vulnerability and full treatment plans… KPIs, and seeded with 500 cases.

With a bit of care, some ‘quality’ prompting (and re-prompting!)… about 2 hours later, I had something.

Collect-RO-AR : Intelligent arrears management for modern lenders

At least on the surface level it looks surprisingly like a working collections platform. Not a slide. Not a wireframe. Not a vague prototype, but a demo system, and I think presentable.

Take a look for yourself, have a try at the link above. It did not feel too bad for an afternoon’s work!

Now back in the office and taking a longer look, I do need to stress that this is no way a production ready system… there are some big gaps that need to be closed (the professional in me has to stress!)

• Full identification and verification
• Proper strategy management
• Detailed KPI reporting
• Operational logs
• Decisioning and controls
• Robust vulnerability treatment rules
• Financial difficulty segmentation
• Integration into a wider collections and recoveries environments
• Change controls and governance
• Supply chain controls
• Testing and assurance…. and more

However, if I can create this, this quickly and I am not a software developer or coder, imagine what someone who really knows what they are doing could create… and what would it look like after say, 6 months of work and development. It really makes you stop and think.

This is both exciting and slightly worrying.

Exciting, because it feels the speed of change is about to accelerate again… no longer are we being limited by the ‘HOW’ to do something… AI can now help. Going forward we are going to face a different limiting factor… the “What”. What should this look like? What is the process… What is the idea… this of course is where we need human imagination (and often the more difficult question).

It is also a little worrying, as with great power also comes great responsibility.

AI-generated software can now create something that looks very presentable very quickly. It can create an impression of completeness and polish almost instantly. Dashboards, buttons, workflows and case screens all feel credible…. if you are not doing this you may be left behind… and it is very easy to make something look and feel like a real operating platform.

But looking the part and being fit for purpose are not always the same thing, and this also matters… a lot.

You would never expose such a system, not fit for purpose, to real customer data… potential data security issues, functionality or process logic errors, big questions around controls and future support all could be hidden away underneath.

My collections system was created quickly from a couple of prompts, for example… was there an in-depth understanding of the code, what if I need to make changes, nope… How would you know for similar systems if there are any vulnerabilities in the code.

Also for every time those ‘[AI] need to do this on your computer, do you approve’ boxes appear on your screen, do you really research and understand what you are accepting…. I thought not…!

And, this is before we get to supply chain controls. Do we really know who is behind, companies in our processes… for AI, in this new API landscape?

Of course, much of this does not matter for a demo or ‘toy model’, such as the above… but in production it is critical. This technology is undoubtedly incredible and my prediction is we are on the cusp of a new wave of innovation in software, functionality, also in price.

However, whilst we should adopt and embrace it, we also need to be very careful to make sure we do not lose our heads in the excitement.

• Engaging experts to review and assess new technology – to ensure it is robust, meeting process and purpose
• Fully understanding process and technology supply chains – data design and controls
• Implementing robust governance, including AI policy and an understanding of change controls

The world is about to drop a gear and accelerate, we need to be able to keep up. An interactive demo may look great, but we need to understand ourselves and question what is the thinking underneath.

… the new age is dawning… enjoy the rest of the week.

This is also one of the topics we will be discussing at our next AI meeting on 15 October 2026 in Milton Keynes. Join us to find out how firms should think about the risks, controls and opportunities with AI. Please come along. Click the link below to register and join us.
AI Implementation Forum: Governance, Standards and Practical Implementation