What Max Factor Teaches Writers About ChatGPT
By Jennifer Ayling

Hello, Digital Copywriters! I hope you’re all doing well.

I recently finished a book called Max Factor: The Man Who Changed the Faces of the World by Fred E. Basten.

If you don’t know, Max Factor created the Max Factor makeup line. In the golden era of Hollywood, Factor was the makeup artist of choice for stars like Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, and countless others.

What I found most interesting was how often Max Factor had to change his makeup to keep up with changes in the industry — and not only because of changes in fashion and taste. Multiple times, Factor and his sons had to change their makeup formulas because of advances in film and television.

First came the “talkies.”

When movie studios added sound to their movies, they needed different lights to illuminate the sets because the lights used in the silent movies made too much background noise.

Because they changed the lighting, the studios needed to use different film to record the movies. They switched to Panchromatic film.

The problem with the new film was that the actors didn’t look good when they were made up with Max Factor makeup. They looked like they’d been filmed in shadows. Overnight, “the Max Factor makeup line for motion pictures [was] … obsolete.”

Factor and his son Frank spent six months creating new formulas that worked with Panchromatic film.

The next change came several years later when film studios started making movies with color.

Max Factor Panchromatic makeup, made for black-and-white movies, had a shine to it that “reflected surrounding colors. If an actor was standing near red drapes, for example, his face would have a red cast.”

Max and his son had to create another new makeup line. Perfecting it took them almost two years.

As the years went on, small changes in film and lighting changes meant the Factors had to keep adapting. However, the next significant technology-based change came with the advent of television.

First, they needed makeup for black-and-white television.

Then, as television continued to advance and studios added color, they needed new makeup for color TV.

The stories of how often they had to reinvent their makeup reminded me of the changes we’re seeing because of ChatGPT.

Change is a constant in life. Max Factor faced it head-on 100 years ago, and we need to do the same now. You can’t stop it. You can only control how you think about it.

My ChatGPT Crisis

Speaking of which, I’m having a bit of a ChatGPT crisis.

I received an email last week from someone in the online business space. When I read it, something felt off, but I didn’t know what it was.

After rereading it, I realized it was (probably) a ChatGPT email.

If you work with ChatGPT enough, you recognize its sentence patterns. When I saw the sentence pattern in back-to-back paragraphs, I realized the writer had probably used Chat to write the email.

Now, you know I’m a big fan of ChatGPT. I use it almost every day.

But I’ll be honest. Realizing this person had used ChatGPT to write her emails made me doubt the authenticity of the story she shared in the email.

I’ve followed this person for years, and she’s built up a lot of trust over that time. She deserves the benefit of the doubt. So, I won’t unsubscribe from her emails or stop buying her products.

But if we didn’t have that history? It’d be a different story. Because who wants to read an email GPT wrote?

I feel a bit like a hypocrite saying that, because I think ChatGPT is an amazing tool. As I said, I use it almost every day. It’s great for helping you create content faster, helping with “writer’s block,” and brainstorming. Using it has many benefits, especially for those in the neurodivergent community.

And to be fair, the average person who doesn’t use ChatGPT probably wouldn’t recognize its output.

But some best practices for how you apply it need to be put into place.

ChatGPT Is an Assistant, Not a Replacement

There’s a very fine line between using AI as a tool and using it as a replacement for a human-to-human relationship. Where is that line? I don’t know. It will probably be different for everyone.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t use ChatGPT to draft copy … but we have to use it carefully and edit it so it doesn’t sound like ChatGPT. At the end of the day, your copy needs to capture your voice, or the voice of your clients. A personal touch is important.

Note: After I drafted this, I got an email from a new-to-me business “guru.” And the email is straight-up ChatGPT. I’d be willing to put money on it. There was nothing about her own experiences with LinkedIn or anything personal that would make me think there was a human behind the email.

Here’s what I thought after I read it. Well, if you’re going to send me a generic ChatGPT-generated email that teaches me how to use LinkedIn, what do I need you for? I’ll just ask Chat myself and he’ll tell me what I want to know.

I guess I have some thinking to do to clarify my thoughts on using Chat.

More on Branding

In other news, I’m working on a blog post for a client. The topic is customer relationship management (CRM) software. The post is a roundup of 15 CRM software options — the features, the prices, the kind of business each one is best for, and so on.

Let’s face it. All CRMs do pretty much the same thing, have similar features, and have similar price points. If you’ve looked at one, you’ve looked at them all. It’s hard to stand out … unless you’ve nailed your branding.

Less Annoying CRM (LACRM) has definitely nailed its branding.

They don’t lead with features … because their features aren’t that different from the next CRM.

They don’t lead with price … because there are cheaper options available.

So, what is their hook? The human connection.

They speak directly to the small-business owner who doesn’t have time to fiddle with a bloated CRM. The guy or gal who wants easy-to-understand pricing. The service provider who wants to support other small-business owners. The entrepreneur who advocates for fair employee wages.

They’re not trying to reach everyone. They’ve niched down to a specific audience, and that’s who they’re writing to.

I was familiar with LACRM before I started writing the post for this client. That may have been part of the reason their site stood out.

But Google “CRM options” and look at the websites for the top five results. Then, look at LACRM. Whose brand is most memorable, even among the “big dogs”?

It’s a good lesson in how a solid brand can be your differentiating factor, even in a crowded market.

What have you been working on the past two weeks? Share with us in the comments below. We’d love to celebrate your victories.

This article, Max Factor, ChatGPT, and Branding, was originally published by Digital Copywriter.