The Free AI Guy Comes to Life
Rick Hesse shares why bringing the Free AI Guy to life is not about making New Tech Advertising an AI-only company. It is about using new technology to make advertising more approachable, while connecting the channels and customer experience that help a business grow.
One of the most exciting things I built this week was bringing the Free AI Guy to life. This issue explains why that is not an AI-only story—it is a new way to make the full work of advertising and technology more approachable.
From Rick's Desk
One of the most exciting things I built this week was not another website page, form, or dashboard.
I took the Free AI Guy—the friendly guide we have been shaping—and brought him to life. He can now help welcome people into the NTA experience and sit with me in the NTA Growth Show.
That is exciting to me because it feels like a new kind of television production. Years ago, I sold television advertising. Today, with the technology available to us, I can build a show, a character, a visual experience, and a conversation without a traditional studio or production crew.
But this is not just an AI story.
I have been thinking again about the name New Tech Advertising. “New Tech” reflects the technology that keeps changing: websites, digital systems, social media, AI, and whatever comes next. But “Advertising” is equally important. It is the history I come from, and it is still the work of helping a business reach real people.
Years ago, when a business owner told me, “I do radio,” I did not tell him to quit radio and do television instead. I said, “Great. Add TV to it. You get further reach.”
That is still how I think.
What We Built
This week, the Free AI Guy moved from being an idea and a picture into an animated guide. He is part of the NTA website experience and joins me in the Growth Show.
The first finished show is called “You Don’t Need More Marketing—You Need a Connected System.”
A business does not usually need another disconnected tool, another random subscription, or another person promising a shortcut. It needs the pieces it already has—and the new pieces it chooses—to work together.
The animated guide is not meant to replace a real conversation. He is a more approachable front door into one. He can help make technology feel less intimidating while pointing people back toward the real questions: What is your business trying to accomplish? How do customers experience it? Where is the confusion? What should work together better?
What We Learned
Technology can be exciting. I love what it makes possible.
But technology by itself does not build a business. It has to serve a purpose. It has to fit into a system. And it has to make life clearer for the owner, the employee, and the customer.
That is why I do not want NTA to drift into being known as only an AI company, only a website company, or only a digital company.
New technology should strengthen advertising—not replace the idea of advertising.
The same principles that mattered when I sold television still matter now: know who you are trying to reach, understand what they need to hear, show up where they are paying attention, and give them a reason to trust you.
What It Means For Your Business
You do not have to abandon the things that are already helping your business.
If referrals work, protect them. If radio works, keep using it. If television, print, events, social media, Google, video, or email fit your audience, use them wisely.
Then ask a better question than, “What new tool should I buy?”
Ask: What is one useful piece we could add that would help the whole system work better?
Maybe it is a better website experience. Maybe it is a simple follow-up process. Maybe it is video that lets people meet you before they call. Maybe it is clearer information in Google. Maybe it is a better connection between the advertising you are already paying for and what happens after someone responds.
The answer will not be the same for every business. That is why discovery comes before recommendations.
This Week's Challenge
Pick one part of your advertising that is already working.
Then ask yourself:
- Who is it reaching?
- What happens after someone sees or hears the message?
- What is one additional piece that could help it reach farther or work better?
- Does that new piece connect to the rest of the business—or is it just another disconnected tool?
Do not throw away what works. Build on it.
The direction I am building toward at New Tech Advertising is proven advertising principles, modern technology, human understanding, and a connected system that helps businesses grow without adding more confusion.
Watch “You Don’t Need More Marketing—You Need a Connected System”
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