Hi Dotikers!

There are unwritten rules in marketing that Big Tech leaders would do well to revisit. Rule number one: when you're the market leader, never take the bait. Sam Altman just learned that the hard way.

Anthropic unveiled its very first Super Bowl campaign this week, four hilarious spots where an AI interrupts intimate conversations to shoehorn in absurd product pitches. The message is crystal clear: "Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude." A direct shot at OpenAI, which announced in January it would start testing ads in ChatGPT. So far, standard challenger playbook. What happened next is the real story.

Sam Altman took to X with what TechCrunch aptly described as a "novella-sized rant," calling Anthropic "dishonest" and, wait for it, "authoritarian." Over a comedy ad. We've seen calmer responses to actual geopolitical crises.

Altman walked straight into the oldest trap in marketing history. Coca-Cola did the same when faced with the Pepsi Challenge in the 1980s, panicking to the point of changing their own century-old recipe, a debacle still taught in every business school on earth. Microsoft did it against Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign, burning $300 million on a Jerry Seinfeld counter-attack that nobody remembers. Samsung did it by mocking the queues outside Apple Stores, prompting Phil Schiller to beg Tim Cook to switch agencies.

The lesson never changes: when number two stings you with humor, silence is your strongest weapon. Every defensive word becomes free advertising for the challenger.

Anthropic spent a few million on a 60-second spot. Sam Altman just handed them tens of millions in global media coverage. For free. Some call that a spectacular return on investment. We just call it an own goal.

M.

To save you the trouble of searching, here are all 4 spots. Between us, "Betrayal" is still my favorite. The look on that guy's face on the couch is worth every penny… 😂