Latest news with #WBYeats
Irish Examiner
16-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Sarah Harte: Proud revolutionary history of the GPO deserves better than shops and offices
Against the backdrop of increased 'Ireland for the Irish' protests, the story of who we are feels more pertinent than ever, which is why developing the GPO to include offices and retail spaces is a crummy idea. It demonstrates a depressing lack of cultural confidence, which isn't a surprise because the British were so adept at separating us from a sense of pride and culture that we ended up a nation of property developers. Nothing wrong with property developers. As someone who is pro-business, I have the utmost respect for visionary businesspeople who take risks and make things happen, but in their lane. If the French had a GPO with a comparable history, would they have partially developed it as shops and offices? They would deem the idea 'sauvage'. Is it too much to ask that the New Ireland be more confident? Last Saturday, Sinn Féin organised a hands-off our rebel history protest against the development of the GPO into office and retail space. Just over nine years ago, around 500,000 people lined the streets of Dublin on Easter Sunday to commemorate the Easter Rising and what some view as the genesis of the modern independent republic. On both days, people who turned up will inevitably have different perspectives on the Easter Rising. This was also true at the time of the rising, with a plethora of different reactions to the five-day event, which subsequently grew either more hostile or more sympathetic from those who had initially viewed it as a 'putsch without popular support.' When WB Yeats wrote his famous political poem 'Easter 1916', Maude Gonne wrote him a tetchy letter from Passy in Paris telling him how much she disliked it, telling him that 'above all it isn't worthy of the subject.' She sternly told him that MacDonagh, Pearse, and Connolly were 'men of genius, with large, comprehensive, speculative and active brains.' Certainly, our history has never been straightforward and cannot be explained by simplified narratives. Yet, the revisionist line that the signatories to the proclamation were a bunch of bloodthirsty psychopathic terrorists without an electoral mandate who set themselves up as a provisional government and should not have been commemorated at all in 2016 is one that is at best reductive, with an inherent, tedious bias that is markedly telling. A view from the kind of people who get excited at the sniff of the word Royal and see us as a kind of empire affiliate, people who would now happily rejoin the Commonwealth (in a poll last year, 40% were persuadable) and think an honours system here would be great. A South Dublin medic once told me that Chelsea was the epicentre of the cultural world. I greatly enjoyed the laugh that this gave me (head thrown back territory actually), but I suppose one man's feast is another woman's famine. We are all prisoners of our past. Myths are how we explain ourselves to ourselves on the level of family, community and country. The past is shaped by who's telling the story, and that story can never be scientific in its accuracy; it shifts like grains of sand and is always personal and ideological As Richard Cohen, author of Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past, wrote: 'Every man of genius who writes history infuses into it, perhaps unconsciously, the character of his own spirit. His characters ... seem to have only one manner of thinking and feeling, and that is the manner of the author.' A consideration moving forward is not only how we choose to view and celebrate the past, but also how we honour who we are now. These questions are closely connected. An engagement with the past should dictate an investment in the future, but what do we mean when we say 'invest'? Cultural, intellectual, religious and political influences are increasingly more diverse here. This inevitably means an expanding definition of what it means to be Irish. This necessitates guarding against polemical utterances on who is Irish, because we have new mythmakers who peddle hate and sow dissension, who appropriate the Tricolour for their hollow strains of ethno-nationalism. The shattered remains of the General Post Office after the Easter Rising. Picture: Getty Images As it happens, there is already an interpretive centre in the GPO which narrates our past. We could add to this curation and preservation of our history a place of artistic excellence, intellectual exchange and education that would honour the idealism and bravery of previous revolutionaries. And I don't just mean the signatories to the Proclamation. I mean all the men and women who fought for Ireland in 1916, in the War of Independence, in the Civil War, regardless of what side they were on, who made sacrifices, were sometimes forced into brutal acts, but who had a dream of which we are the beneficiaries. A dream that went beyond shops, offices and high-end apartments for pension funds. They are turning in their graves In other words, in a bullet-riddled historic building, we make new history with a range of voices for a new, confident Ireland, in a broadened culture. We support theatre, dance, art, music, poetry, photography, and literature through artist residencies in dedicated spaces because, in a new Ireland, the cultural ideals on which a claim of nationality rests need to develop. Una Mullally in The Irish Times has written repeatedly and persuasively about the opportunity inherent in developing the GPO and O'Connell Street 'that can inspire and facilitate generations to come'. She's on the nose, although the founder of the Little Museum of Dublin, Trevor White, considers the cultural development of the GPO to be a performative virtue-signalling soporific one. His solution involves converting part of the GPO into owner-occupied apartments, with the proceeds then used to develop social and affordable housing in affluent suburbs. On paper, this might sound plausible, except experience tells us that development for a niche market rarely leads to affordable social housing. Ultimately, this is a well-intentioned pipe dream. To paraphrase him, it's gentrification on steroids. It's beyond the word count of this column to analyse the outcomes of the Part V rules, which compel developers to hold back 10% of a development for social housing. They have been in force since 2000, and saying they haven't been a success is an understatement. I don't disagree with White that people should live on O'Connell Street and in the city centre, but which people? Regardless of your perspective on what 1916 signifies, or even if you miss the days when Ireland was run from Dublin Castle and you continue to tug what you view as your metropolitan forelock to Blighty, our colonisation is undeniable as the defining event of who we are. This feels more germane than ever as we witness imperialist adventures in Ukraine and Gaza, which, as historian Professor Jane Ohlmeyer of Trinity College Dublin points out, are 'legacies of empire'. As the Irish Examiner editorial wrote on Monday, 'We can learn well or badly from history ... we have a duty of care, not only to our own descendants but the wider world we'd like to see.' The marked idealism that characterised the run-up to and aftermath of 1916 is in woefully short supply. That 'wider world' or vibrant civic culture will never be achieved by building more shops and offices, or, for that matter, high-end apartments. Spare us.
Irish Times
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Best golf courses in Co Sligo: Bucket list courses and hidden gems from Rosses Point to Tubbercurry
Bucket Lists County Sligo Golf Club , also known as Rosses Point, has hosted the world's best for 100 years, from 11-time Major winner Walter Hagen to Masters champion Rory McIlroy . It played a significant role in the early career of McIlroy, who earned fame for winning the competition back to back at ages 15 and 16, and tamed a beast that can be wicked in wet and windy conditions. McIlroy's caddie Harry Diamond also owns the distinction of being a 'West' winner, as well as the likes of Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry. The Colt Championship Links, named after designer Harry Colt, is a rugged and spectacular course on a property which also includes Bomore links, a simpler nine-hole layout and also part of County Sligo Golf Club. The picturesque Ben Bulben dominates the view here. Nobel laureate WB Yeats was inspired by the mountain to write some of his best poetry and many a visiting golfer has been beguiled by this special part of the world. The 10th and 11th holes at the Colt links have some of the best mountain views, but holes 14 and 17 are where it really earns its crust as one of the best courses in Ireland. Tom Watson called it one of the best finishing stretches in all of golf and his favourite was the 14th hole, where an elevated tee shot requires accuracy over a creek to a fairway bisected by another creek, as sand dunes separate the green from the Atlantic. READ MORE Rosses Point Golf Club in Sligo. Photograph:The signature hole is the long par 4 17th, which runs parallel to the ocean before doglegging left. The placing of the green creates an amphitheatre setting where you can imagine you are in the final of the West of Ireland. Co Sligo Golf Club, Rosses Point, County Sligo; 0719177134; info@ ; [ Fairways to Heaven Opens in new window ] Head farther west and you reach another jewel in county Sligo's golfing crown in Enniscrone Golf Club . If you liked the dunes of Rosses Point, then you'll find even more dramatic ones here, with Killala Bay making for a serene experience on a clear day. There are 27 holes on the property, the main course is fittingly called 'Dunes', with a third nine called Scurmore. This is links golf at its very best, and a 14 to 17 hole stretch that stands out too. Enniscrone Golf Club The 15th hole is a brutish index one that earns its name, before the signature 16th hole, where marram grass and dunes protect pristine fairways and greens as the hole fades to the right. Enniscrone Golf Club, Enniscrone, Co Sligo; 09636297; info@ ; Hidden Gem Strandhill Golf Club , in surfing country, is a quirky links test that is an excellent alternative to Co Sligo and Enniscrone if they are out of your budget. Strandhill uses every bit of the property available and even then it is shorter from the tips than other championship courses, but like all links courses, a gusty day and it's plenty challenge. With only one par 5, there are many short- to medium-length par 4s where the sand dunes and undulations can be severe, and where Knocknarea Hill and the Atlantic Ocean provide the backdrop. The 14th, nicknamed 'The Short Puck', is one of the best of the par 3s. At 153 yards, it is protected by big mounds on either side, with the marram grass like a net waiting to snare an errant tee shot. Strandhill Golf Club, Strandhill, Co Sligo; 0719168188; admin@ ; Honourable Mentions Castle Dargan is a parkland course designed by Major winner Darren Clarke in collaboration with Paddy Merrigan, in a country estate that offers a different experience to the aforementioned links courses. Clarke called it an 'outstanding piece of land' as the course works with mature trees, old stone walls and natural lakes. Castle Dargan Golf Club, Ballygawley, Co Sligo; 9118080; golf@ ; Tubbercurry Golf Club is a community-focused nine-hole golf club in the southern part of the county that was once played by McIlroy in preparation for the West of Ireland. Tubbercurry Golf Club, Ballymote Road, Co Sligo; 0719185849; tubbercurrygolfclub@ ;
Times
28-06-2025
- Times
Supercharge your summer holiday with these 15 adventurous breaks
I don't get it. What's the appeal of a fly-and-flop holiday? You spend your whole life glued to seats: at home, at work, in restaurants, on a train. Then, when you finally get some time off, you find the nearest sunlounger and sit down. What's so refreshing about that? • 16 of the best family adventure holidays For me, holidays should be about getting up, getting active and rekindling your sense of adventure. It's a great time to give the old grey matter a workout too. If you agree, well, you've come to the right place. Here are 15 holidays where you can do just that, and they can all still be booked this summer. Prices listed are for July and August. This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue Scenic surf safariPick up a camper van from Knock airport, fill it with wetsuits as well as family and/or friends, and you've got the makings of a beginner-friendly surf safari, heading north into Donegal Bay in northwest Ireland. Surf lessons can be had at Strandhill (from £42; and Tullan (from £39; Several campsites provide hot showers and electric hook-ups (from £39 at Strandhill; And there's a ready sense of wild, edge-of-the-world romance too, stoked by sunset views from ancient hillforts and the words of WB Yeats. His poem, The Stolen Child, is deeply rooted in this Seven nights' self-catering for four from £1,320 ( Flight-free island-hoppingRestless souls will love the Frisian Islands. Low-slung scraps land on the edge of the North Sea, they're in a state of constant flux — washed by powerful tides and tousled by sea breezes. This flight-free holiday serves up three of them, starting with rail travel from London to Amsterdam before transferring to Texel, Vlieland and Terschelling by ferry. Expect lonely lighthouses, freewheeling bike tours and artisan ice cream — as well as an enveloping sense of the sea. Accommodation comes courtesy of boutiquey properties such as the Hotel de Walvisvaarder on Terschelling, a brick-floored former Nine nights' room only from £1,375pp including rail travel and ferries ( • 11 of the best things to do in the Netherlands Alpine all-inclusiveNot every all-inclusive resort stands with its feet in the sea. The Adler Lodge Ritten, near Bolzano in northern Italy, gives you the South Tyrolean Alps rather than the sea — and every aspect of life here deepens the sense of place: the chic suites and private chalets smell of the local spruce or larch from which they're built; menus groan with produce from the resort's organic farm; and the region's underrated vineyards furnish much of the wine. There's plenty of scope for relaxation in the forest spa and infinity pool, but don't get too comfy — 'movement is life' is the motto here, with yoga classes, mountain biking and guided hikes all part of the All-inclusive suites from £666 ( Fly to Bolzano Learn the ropes on a tall shipHere's a sure way to escape summer-holiday clichés: step aboard the Santa Maria Manuela. The four-masted, 221ft schooner began life fishing for cod and is now an elegant, beginner-friendly sail-training ship. This August it's sailing the Azores, a nine-island archipelago 1,000 miles west of mainland Portugal, and up to 44 guests aged between 14 and 80 can join the professional crew — learning the ropes, climbing the rigging and keeping a lookout for whales and dolphins. This six-day round-trip from Terceira includes the volcanic island of Pico, as well as the rugged Sao Five nights' full board from £1,105pp ( Fly to Lajes A freewheeling historical rideEvery day will be different on this one-week, family-friendly cycling tour that circles out from hilltop Chinon, southwest of Tours, and takes in two nights each in Montsoreau and fairytale Azay-le-Rideau before heading back to base. Every day will be magnificent as you follow a mix of easy, traffic-free cycle paths and quiet country roads to some of the country's most eye-catching châteaux — Château de Villandry, with its neatly clipped parterres, is also on your hit list. So too are four fine dining gastronomic dinners (included in the price) that are sure to soothe the parents' aching Seven nights' B&B from £1,440pp ( Fly or take the train to Tours Fly-drive into the fjords'I'm bored' is a phrase you won't often hear from your kids on this one-week, self-guided tour of the fjords near Bergen, on the west coast of Norway — especially not on the fourth day, when you ride the spectacular Flam Railway from Sognefjord up to Myrdal before mountain biking back down to the water. En route you'll stay in hotels with three or four stars, as well as a national park cabin, with white-water rafting, a Rib tour in search of seals and a glacier walk all on the menu. From start to finish, your eyes will be out on Seven nights' B&B from £3,025pp, including flights ( Kite-surfing by the SaharaSummer holidays on the edge of the Sahara desert sound insane, unless you're a kite-surfer keening for strong, steady and reliable winds, in which case a trip to the Dakhla Lagoon — where it's windy 300 days a year — is a must. Here the low-slung Caravan Dakhla hotel is the big draw, thanks to its Maghreb-influenced decor of lime-plastered walls and intricately carved doors, as well as its outdoor cinema and all-inclusive meal plan. Book a New Adventures package of more than three nights and beginners will get a free kite-surfing lesson Full-board doubles from £212, including transfers ( Fly to Dakhla Sea kayaking on the Dalmatian coastIf you've ever looked up from a Dalmatian sunlounger and worried that you're missing out, this guided, five-day sea-kayaking adventure will confirm your worst fears. Paddling the coastline of the Peljesac peninsula and Korcula Island on this group tour, you'll carry your tents with you and discover a landscape of secret coves and empty beaches. En route there's time to wander the medieval streets of the main town on Korcula, but the biggest treat of all will be all the swimming you'll do, whenever you drag your kayaks Four nights' full board from £996pp ( Fly to Split Slow train along the Atlantic coastThe Feve network of slow, narrow-gauge railways in Spain seems tailor-made for inquisitive travellers. Dipping in and out of underrated cities, they weave along the verdant northern coast and offer plenty of seaside stops en route. This one-week itinerary makes its way from the fishing village of Cudillero to beachfront Ribadesella via cultured Oviedo, serving up a giddy sense of history, from the prehistoric cave paintings at Tito Bustillo to the 19th-century trophy homes built by emigrés returning from the Americas — you'll stay in two of them during your Seven nights' B&B from £805pp ( Fly to Oviedo Coast, cities and mountainsThe Albanian coast may be in the spotlight, but inland its majestic landscapes remain underpopulated and undervisited, while archaeological sites layer up thousands of years of history in an intriguing mix of Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman remains. This seven-day escorted tour from Tirana takes in the extraordinary island castle of Ali Pasha, lunch in a remote shepherd's hut in the mountains and the bucolic riverside city of Berat, capped by a Byzantine citadel and where every backstreet seems strewn with Six nights' B&B from £1,249 ( Fly to Tirana • 11 of the best hotels in Albania Alpine village reached by cable carIn 1965 the inhabitants of Chamois, in the Italian Alps, voted on how to replace the mule track that was their only link to the outside world. They decided on a mountain lift rather than a road, and now their village is the only one in Italy that cannot be reached by car. Several of its wonky barns have been converted into B&Bs too, including La Ville, which has a snug, four-person family room with a kitchenette. A family with tweenagers will love it, not least because up here — with no traffic to worry about — the old, freewheeling freedoms of childhood B&B family rooms from £191 ( Fly to Turin Nonstop seaside activityFor sporty families who love the sea, it's hard to beat a week at a beach club run by Neilson or Mark Warner where a combination of kids' clubs, sailing facilities, tennis courts, guided runs, fitness classes and bike rides offer nonstop activity from dawn to dusk. Just be sure to aim for the back end of August, so you can dodge the worst of the heatwaves in the Mediterranean, where they're all based. The Phokaia Beach Resort in Turkey is typical of the genre, with the attraction of sunset beach volleyball sessions to add to the social Seven nights' half-board from £1,385pp, including flights ( A big drive with no trafficIceland may be fretting about overtourism, but you won't know it when you hire a camper van from Keflavik airport, head northwards and sample a stretch of the 560-mile Arctic Coast Way. Up here neat, well-run campsites are almost never full and cost about £13pp a night ( while scenic outdoor hot tubs and thermal pools are on hand in every significant settlement to supplement the faint warmth of sun. The real thrill, however, comes from the landscape — not the big set pieces such as the mountainous Skagafjordur peninsula or the thunderous waterfall at Dettifoss, although they are undeniably impressive; it's the emptiness in between them that you'll Seven nights' self-catering for four from £1,198 ( Fly to Keflavik • 22 of the best things to do in Iceland The west coast by train The clear seas and rocky shores of the islands in Vastra Gotaland are your goal on this tailor-made ten-day tour. But you're not going to hurry getting there — en route by train, you'll explore Hamburg, Copenhagen and Gothenburg, before the island-hopping begins. Sea-kayaking, mussel-picking and a foraging tour all feature, as does a near-constant sense of exploration. From seeing the vibrant nightlife of the German city to the pretty harbour town of Marstrand and on to the rocky islets around Tjorn in Sweden, every day is going to be different. Hotels range from friendly guesthouses to stylish four stars, depending on your Nine nights' room only from £2,095pp, including train travel from London ( The biggest lake district in EuropeHow do you make sense of a region that is fractured into 188,000 lakes? This family-friendly fly-drive into the Finnish Lake District does it by tackling the biggest of them all: Saimaa, which is hundreds of times larger than the Windermere. There is room here for all kinds of holidaymaking — touring medieval fortresses, cruising on steamers, paddleboarding, rowing, swimming. As you flit between three different lakeside resorts and manor houses you'll get the chance to try all these activities, but the most important one is simply to stop and let the sense of serenity soak Eight nights' B&B from £1,700pp, including flights (
Irish Examiner
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Colin Sheridan: A break away with the lads proved just the tonic
'Cast a cold Eye On Life, on Death. Horseman, pass by' — epitaph on the grave of WB Yeats, Drumcliff, Co Sligo The best ideas often happen by accident. A little over a year ago, a good friend of mine, who plays much more golf than I, suggested we go on a tour. Start small. Just four lads. None of this fancy Portugal nonsense, think the Donegal Riviera with a stop off in Sligo on the way home. A few hours drive up on a Friday, head back south on Sunday. Three rounds. A few pints. A couple of late night kebabs. No need to remortgage the house or get a series of inoculations for Dengue fever. One weekend. Nobody'd even know we were gone. Of course, the plan didn't survive first contact. Its architect was the first faller due to a scheduling conflict. With the programme in full swing (pardon the pun), it was too late for dates to be changed. Closer to launch, a second member of the party had to withdraw for some very legitimate personal reasons. Four had become two, and as much fun as that sounded, the surviving pair figured it best to broaden the church, as it were, lest we set tongues wagging. Bringing the craic By the time we set sail on a horribly wet June morning last summer, we had recruited an eclectic bunch from a variety of backgrounds. We could never have been mistaken for a boyband, but the craic was rich and varied, and anybody eavesdropping would've been at the very least highly entertained. As for myself, it was a formative experience. Watching Mayo exit the Gaelic Football championship surrounded by Galway men in a bar in Donegal Town after shooting 90 around Murvagh is character building in ways you can't imagine. Everybody, from the local press to the Donegal Chamber of Commerce, deemed last summer's trip a success — so much so that a resolution was passed that it should become an annual event, so long as nobody died in the meantime. It was even agreed that, should one of us sadly pass on, the trip should go ahead anyway. That caveat almost became a reality when two weekends ago, the original architect — back on track and ready to right the wrongs of his absence last year — ate raw broad beans while preparing dinner for his family. Just cracked a couple of those green bastards open and popped 'em, absolutely certain all he was doing was good for his body. Note to readers; consumption of raw broad beans can cause phytohaemagglutinin poisoning. I don't know what phytohaemagglutinin means, but I don't need to, because I absolutely know what 'poiosning' means. Under normal circumstances he might have died, but, given the humiliation that awaited him at his funeral had he fatally surrendered to his violent illness, he willed himself to recovery. At least two of the group — his older brother, and oldest friend — had relayed in no uncertain terms that should his burial coincide with the already arranged tee-time in Strandhill, they would be going golfing. And so we set off. A sociologist, a sparky, a gym owner, a writer, an entrepreneur, two entrepreneurs, an IT guy, a solicitor, an ex-banker, an ESB guy, a retired English teacher. All dads and a couple of granddads. Not exactly a group that would worry the local constabulary, but, given it was Donegal we were headed to, that was never going to be an issue as they seem to live according to a different set of rules to the rest of us anyway. How times have changed I was never a guy for lads holidays when I was younger, and I absolutely do not regret that. A career in the military meant there was enough toxic masculinity going around for the other 50 weeks of the year, so that the last place I wanted to spend the other two was knee deep in Joop, sweat, and vomit in an apartment complex in Magaluf. But, the age and stage I'm at now, I appreciate the company of close friends — and their close friends — in ways I couldn't have thought possible. Three of our group grew up together in South Africa, and, for a time, Gabon. Listening to their experiences of childhood, of education, of apartheid, their appreciation of their own history and genuine fascination with ours, was humbling. Golf courses too, especially links golf courses, are the perfect setting for such conversations to slowly evolve and unravel. If you wanted to think deep and be silent, you could. All you had to do was look west to the ocean to realise the insignificance of your taunting hangover. When that perspective became too overwhelming, the group was waiting to ground you again with a quip. We stopped at Yeats' grave on Sunday in Drumcliff, fulfilling a promise we had made when our moods were a little lighter two days before. It seemed a strange thing to do, to stand in the rain around a modest headstone; but somehow in the silence, something about the moment, the journey, the uncertainty of the destination, suddenly made sense. 'Cast a cold Eye On Life, on Death. Horseman, pass by' It was all there in those 11 words. The transience of our existence. The fickleness of our humanity. The tenuousness of human connection. It hung in the air like a seven iron battling the wind, and, at the risk of ridicule, I swear I felt the great poet linger alongside me. We left just as the Japanese tourists arrived. I think they expected a great mausoleum. What they discovered was a few vulnerable men gathered around a stone, each contemplating the meaning of life. I shot 78 on Sunday. Read More Colin Sheridan: The Lions as a modern concept is utterly idiotic
Daily Maverick
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
Crossed Wires: Artificial intelligence slouches towards the advertising industry
Quite suddenly, AI is shredding long-established norms everywhere in this vaunted industry. One of the most startling developments has been the release of Meta's Veo 3, a text-to-video application released a few weeks ago, which has to be seen to be believed. And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? — WB Yeats, The Second Coming Perhaps it's a bit of an overkill to link AI's looming encroachment on the advertising industry to Yeats' darkly foreboding poem. Yet, having just returned from Cannes, where the global ad industry's biggest event, the Golden Lions, is held, it was clear that AI was hanging like a shadow — not visible to everyone perhaps, but obvious at least to those who are certain of the disruption to come. They were the ones who looked like deer caught in the headlights, standing startled and paralysed amid the glitz and glamour of the event. I was there to present a paper titled 'AI in Advertising: Governance, Regulation and Other Troubles' on behalf of the Icas (International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation) Global Think Tank. I was not the only one talking about AI in Cannes; the conversations and presentations were everywhere. One disquieting question didn't have to be articulated: has the advertising industry arrived at its Fleet Street moment? The question refers to the collapse of the printed newspaper business in the mid-'90s, catalysed by digitisation and the internet, which brutally upended an industry that had remained largely unchanged for more than a century. There were many casualties and only a few survivors in its wake — which is what is likely to happen in advertising. Quite suddenly, AI is shredding long-established norms everywhere in this vaunted industry. One of the most startling developments has been the release of Meta's Veo 3, a text-to-video application released a few weeks ago, which has to be seen to be believed (just go to YouTube and search for Veo 3; here is but one example). The quality of the video and the AI 'actors' and locations is indistinguishable from those shot with cameras and populated by human actors and extras. With Veo 3, the user describes the scene they want to see, gives the actors a 'script' and 'directions', and Veo 3 does the rest. (Veo 3 is not the only text-to-video app, just the latest.) Professional-level text-to-video is a brand-new strand of Generative AI. There are, of course, grumbles. It has limitations. Currently, Veo 3 can only render eight seconds of video. Some visual elements are difficult to control or 'not quite right'. It is expensive. Expensive? Consider this: A marketing director will brief an agency to deliver a 30-second video commercial. The agency then refines the brief, perhaps with a rough storyboard and brand/campaign context, and passes it on to a few video production companies. One of those companies comes up with a creative approach and pitches a treatment: three days of shooting, four locations, three actors, 10 extras, two weeks of post-production. Budget? $1.5-million. Or the agency can use Veo 3 in the hands of a single tech-savvy director and perhaps a good human Veo 3 expert. Cost? $150,000, with 10 differently flavoured commercials rendered for presentation to the client within two weeks. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see where this is going. It signals the end of video production companies, except for live events or productions with celebrity actors. One estimate I heard at the conference predicted 3,000 production company bankruptcies globally within two years. And it may mean the end of some ad agencies if some corporations decide to plough the money they're saving in production costs into forming new in-house agencies. Dystopian scenario This scenario isn't even the worst of it. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently spelt out the following audacious and dystopian scenario: 'We're going to get to a point where you're a business, you come to us, you tell us what your objective is, you connect to your bank account, you don't need any creative, you don't need any targeting demographic, you don't need any measurement, except to be able to read the results that we spit out. I think that's going to be huge, I think it is a redefinition of the category of advertising.' Here is his vision: A business comes to Meta with a product and a few ideas, and then Meta takes over; it does everything: creative concept, production, media strategy, analytics. Then AI constantly refines the ad in near-real time, on an ongoing basis, until it performs at maximum efficiency. Zuckerberg, somewhat brutally, implied that, in the future, advertising agencies will not be required. There are those who will strenuously object, who will talk about brand strategy and management, understanding client product roadmaps, and other assumed sacred cows — the 'deep' cores of the agency proposition. These too, I submit, will fall to AI as soon as it learns from hundreds of thousands of successful brand case studies and is able to generate a plethora of its own novel approaches. Audience targeting Finally, there is the matter of audience targeting. The holy grail of the advertising industry has long been the idea of the perfectly relevant ad — one that is pitched directly and only to individual consumers who are looking to buy that very product or service. Consumers have also sought the same thing: ads that matter to them and do not waste their attention. It has been assumed to be a perfect match of incentives. But AI is now able to understand much more about individuals than we are comfortable with. By analysing our internet behaviour, our social media behaviour, our friends, our devices, our buying patterns, even the tenor of our emotional states when we post, AI can paint a near-perfect picture of who we are at any moment. This intrusion is a privacy nightmare, one demanding regulation, which may not be properly enforceable in a fast-fracturing and chaotic landscape. There will, of course, be some advertising agencies which grab the nettle and shed their old skins to quickly embrace and exploit AI, perhaps pivoting quickly enough to other business models to avoid obsolescence. Others will end up like the celluloid film editors I used to know, obstinately and proudly refusing to submit to the newfangled video editing systems that started arriving in the late 1990s. They were brave and foolhardy, and they died alone. DM Maverick451 in SA and Legend Times Group in the UK/EU, available now.
