We Fixed It, You're Welcome

OpenAI and Anthropic are locked in a high stakes rivalry, and the fallout is hurting public trust in AI overall. In this episode, the "We Fixed It, You're Welcome" panel (Aaron Wolpoff, Melissa Eaton, and Chino) sits down with veteran tech PR strategist Perry Headrick to unpack whether the ChatGPT vs Claude rivalry is a branding win or a trust disaster. With over 20 years of experience representing brands like AOL, Bing, Yelp, and Logitech, Perry brings sharp, no nonsense insight into why both AI giants are missing the mark with everyday users, and what they need to do to fix it.

Guest Bio

Perry Headrick is the founder of Crackle PR, a B2B tech focused communications agency working with startups through publicly traded companies. He also co-hosts the Under Embargo podcast alongside Becca Chambers, CMO at Scale Ventures. Perry brings decades of experience in media strategy, reputation management, and crisis control.

Key Topics Discussed

Why only 17% of Americans trust the people running major AI companies, and 40% consider them untrustworthy

The origin of the OpenAI vs Anthropic rivalry, born from a philosophical split within OpenAI

How the Super Bowl ad wars and competitive digs are backfiring on both brands

The psychology of "AI dread" and why fear, not excitement, dominates public perception

Why AI companies make themselves the star instead of the customer

Perry's real world examples: turning heads at a local Chinese restaurant with an AI generated photo, and using AI to pick better golf clubs

The case for radical transparency over "promiseware" and vague grandiosity

Why sycophantic AI responses (agreeing with everything, false reassurances) erode user trust

The Claude broken links example and why owning limitations matters more than smoothing them over

Reddit and AMAs as an underused trust building tool

Are OpenAI and Anthropic "too big to fail," or heading toward a Yahoo vs Google outcome

Why competing companies dragging each other down risks making the entire AI category look unsafe

DuckDuckGo's rise as a case study in giving users control (the option to turn AI off)

Connect with Perry Headrick

LinkedIn: Perry Headrick

Podcast: Under Embargo (co-hosted with Becca Chambers, CMO at Scale Ventures)

Website: cracklepr.com

Connect With the Show

Subscribe for more deep dives where we fix big business problems with fresh perspectives.

• Website – www.wefixeditpod.com

• Follow us on:

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@WeFixedItPod

If you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends! Keep listening to find out how we fix companies and put them back better than we found them.

Disclaimer

A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We’re here to ask the kinds of questions everyone’s thinking, have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring.

By the end, if we fixed it, you’re welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

OpenAI and Anthropic are locked in a high stakes rivalry, and the fallout is hurting public trust in AI overall. In this episode, the "We Fixed It, You're Welcome" panel (Aaron Wolpoff, Melissa Eaton, and Chino) sits down with veteran tech PR strategist Perry Headrick to unpack whether the ChatGPT vs Claude rivalry is a branding win or a trust disaster. With over 20 years of experience representing brands like AOL, Bing, Yelp, and Logitech, Perry brings sharp, no nonsense insight into why both AI giants are missing the mark with everyday users, and what they need to do to fix it.

Key Topics Discussed


Why only 17% of Americans trust the people running major AI companies, and 40% consider them untrustworthy


The origin of the OpenAI vs Anthropic rivalry, born from a philosophical split within OpenAI


How the Super Bowl ad wars and competitive digs are backfiring on both brands


The psychology of "AI dread" and why fear, not excitement, dominates public perception


Why AI companies make themselves the star instead of the customer


Perry's real world examples: turning heads at a local Chinese restaurant with an AI generated photo, and using AI to pick better golf clubs


The case for radical transparency over "promiseware" and vague grandiosity


Why sycophantic AI responses (agreeing with everything, false reassurances) erode user trust


The Claude broken links example and why owning limitations matters more than smoothing them over


Reddit and AMAs as an underused trust building tool


Are OpenAI and Anthropic "too big to fail," or heading toward a Yahoo vs Google outcome



Why competing companies dragging each other down risks making the entire AI category look unsafe

Connect With the Show

Subscribe for more deep dives where we fix big business problems with fresh perspectives.

• Website – www.wefixeditpod.com

• Follow us on:

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod

YouTube – ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@WeFixedItPod⁠

If you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends! Keep listening to find out how we fix companies and put them back better than we found them.

Disclaimer

A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We’re here to ask the kinds of questions everyone’s thinking, have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring.

By the end, if we fixed it, you’re welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spotify recently rolled out "personal podcasts," letting anyone generate a custom AI show with no creator involved. So what actually counts as a podcast anymore? Aaron, Melissa, and Chino bring in podcasting veteran and Hall of Famer Rob Walch, who has been a mainstay of the podcast industry since 2005, to unpack where AI fits in, where it doesn't, and why human-made shows probably aren't going anywhere.

Rob breaks down the real history of podcasting's biggest growth moments, reacts to the rise of AI in podcasting, and explains why trust, once lost, is brutally hard to win back. Our panel also tackles celebrity podcasts, the trouble with unlabeled AI content, and what actually counts as a podcast these days in a rapidly changing landscape.

Connect With the Show

Subscribe for more deep dives where we fix big business problems with fresh perspectives.

• Website – www.wefixeditpod.com

• Follow us on:

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@WeFixedItPod

If you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends! Keep listening to find out how we fix companies and put them back better than we found them.

Disclaimer

A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We’re here to ask the kinds of questions everyone’s thinking, have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring.

By the end, if we fixed it, you’re welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.

Guest Links


Rob Walch's personal podcast: podcast411.com


Co-hosts In and Around Podcasting with Elsie Escobar (new episodes every other week)


Email: rob.walch@global.com


LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcast411/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Prime Day! Amazon Prime Day just turned 11 years old, and what started as a single day invented to fill a sales lull has become somewhat of an actual holiday. How do we celebrate? We buy stuff! 

In this episode, our panel digs into celebrations engineered by brands and commerce (Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday, Starbucks Red Cup Day) to question whether these types of moments build real community or just psychologically condition consumers to spend on cue.

Joining the conversation is Pearl Servat, a fractional CMO who helped scale Verizon's Visible brand from zero to over a million customers and led the brand's Visible Acts of Kindness campaign, a movement that grew organically out of a single email. Pearl brings the brand-side perspective on building trust, avoiding the "race to the bottom," and the difference between a manufactured sales event and an authentic cultural moment.

Our panel breaks down why Prime Day works (consistency, trust, FOMO, basket-size psychology), where it may be falling short (personalization, social impact, fulfillment promises), and we pitch our own potential improvements, including hyper-personalized deals and a charity-driven "freeze the deals" concept that is up for grabs.Connect with Pearl Servat

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pearlservat/

Connect With the Show

Subscribe for more deep dives where we fix big business problems with fresh perspectives.

• Website – www.wefixeditpod.com

• Follow us on:

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@WeFixedItPod

If you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends! Keep listening to find out how we fix companies and put them back better than we found them.

Disclaimer

A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We’re here to ask the kinds of questions everyone’s thinking, have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring.

By the end, if we fixed it, you’re welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brand collaborations are everywhere right now. But for every Swatch x AP with overwhelming demand, there are examples like Nike x Tiffany that leave everyone wondering why those brands aligned. In this episode, Aaron, Melissa, and Chino break down the biggest brand collabs in recent history, figure out what separates the legendary ones from the cautionary tales, and build a framework to predict which ones will actually work.

What We Cover


Why brands are obsessed with collabs and why consumers are starting to get tired of them


The Swatch x Audemars Piguet launch that caused mall shutdowns and $25,000 resale prices


What makes a collab feel culturally necessary versus just a marketing stunt


Nike x Air Jordan — how the original celebrity collab still dominates decades later


Nike x Tiffany — two iconic brands, one massive execution failure


Adidas x Yeezy — $2 billion made, a very public breakup, and why Adidas is still profiting


Pepsi x Kendall Jenner — what happens when a brand collab completely misreads the room


Supreme x Louis Vuitton — the collab that redefined streetwear and luxury forever


McDonald's Happy Meal collabs — why they keep getting it right over and over


HM and Target designer drops — when doing collabs too often kills the excitement


The secondary resale market — is it a bug or a feature of a great collab?


Aaron's risk framework for predicting whether a brand collab will succeed or fail

The Collab Risk Framework (Our Fix)


Formalize the unofficial — if customers are already doing it themselves, own it. Lowest risk, built to last. (Taco Bell x Doritos)


Combine shared capabilities — two brands each bring a unique strength the other doesn't have. When done right, something magnetic happens. (Swatch x AP, Supreme x LV)


Shared audience + shared sensibility — the Venn diagram has to be big enough. If it's too small, the market will tell you the hard way. (Nike x Tiffany failed this test)


Curation and scarcity — making something too available kills the desire. The limited nature has to be real and protected.

Brands and Collabs Mentioned


Swatch x Audemars Piguet (AP)


Nike x Air Jordan


Nike x Tiffany


Adidas x Yeezy (Kanye West)


Pepsi x Kendall Jenner


Supreme x Louis Vuitton


McDonald's x Cactus Plant Flea Market


McDonald's x Korean Demon Hunters


McDonald's x Pokemon, Beanie Babies, Minions


HM x Balmain


Target x Kate Spade, Diane von Furstenberg, Karl Lagerfeld, Mossimo


Coca-Cola x Oreo


Pepsi x Peeps


Nike x Toy Story 5


J.Crew x Costco

Key Takeaways


Scarcity is the most powerful tool in a brand collab. If everyone can get it, nobody wants it.


The Venn diagram of your two audiences has to be big. A small overlap means a small result.


Execution matters as much as the idea. A great concept with poor delivery (Nike x Tiffany) will still fail.


Doing collabs too frequently kills the excitement. The magic is in the rarity.


Celebrity collabs carry more risk than brand-to-brand collabs. Brands are predictable. People are not.


The secondary resale market is now a built-in part of any major collab launch. Brands need a plan for it.

Connect With the Show

Subscribe for more deep dives where we fix big business problems with fresh perspectives.

• Website – www.wefixeditpod.com

• Follow us on:

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@WeFixedItPod

If you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends! Keep listening to find out how we fix companies and put them back better than we found them.

Disclaimer

A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We’re here to ask the kinds of questions everyone’s thinking, have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring.

By the end, if we fixed it, you’re welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices