Why I Said ‘ChatGPT’ When I Meant 'Grok': The AI Branding Wars

How One Word Owns AI—and What the Underdogs Can Do About It

Hiiii! I’ve been off the grid for a bit - life stuff, you know how it goes. But I’m back, and today I want to dive into something totally different: the wild world of ‘AI’ branding. The other night, at an Armenian barbecue party (yes, where debates get as smoky as the khorovats), the topic somehow drifted to AI. I casually mentioned I’d used Grok for market research. Blank stares. But the moment I said, “it’s like ChatGPT” - everyone instantly got it. Heads nodded. No follow-up questions.

That’s when it hit me: ChatGPT isn’t just a tool anymore. It’s the AI in people’s heads.

And funny enough, Al Ries and Jack Trout predicted this kind of thing back in their old-school marketing classic Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. Turns out, the same rules that worked in the TV era still explain why OpenAI is winning the branding war today.

ChatGPT’s Secret Weapon

My grandma knows ChatGPT. My mom uses it for lesson plans. And now, people don’t just “use” ChatGPT… they ChatGPT things. It’s a verb.

That’s a branding jackpot. Ries and Trout said it best: “A brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.”

For OpenAI, that word is chat.

They didn’t invent AI, but they made it feel like texting a brilliant friend who always answers, and understands. Someone you text without an intro. Compare that to competitors:

• Claude sounds like your French neighbor (not exactly very chatty).

• Grok feels cool but cryptic.

• Gemini sounds futuristic but not exactly chatty (and yes, the zodiac connection makes me laugh-because do Geminis ever settle on one answer?).

Last but not least. None of them scream action. Nobody’s saying, “I Claude-d it” or “I Grok-ked that.” Meanwhile, “ChatGPT” is simple, friendly, and verb-worthy. In branding, that’s gold.

First to the Party Still Wins

Ries and Trout also point out: “The easy way to get into a person’s mind is to be first.”

ChatGPT was the ‘first AI’ that felt mainstream. It became the default (I still call all SUVs Jeeps, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one). Even when people are using Gemini, they’ll still say, “I ChatGPT-ed it.” Being first means you don’t just enter the conversation - you own it.

It’s Google all over again. Bing and DuckDuckGo had cool features, but we still say “Google it.”

Verbs Are Everything

Verbs aren’t just words. A verb is instant meaning: say ‘Google it,’ and everyone knows exactly what you did.

Think about it:

• “Googling” cemented Google as the search engine.

• “Photoshopping” made Adobe the king of edits.

• “Ubering” killed “hailing a cab.”

Now, “ChatGPT-ing” means “using AI.” It’s practically free advertising every time someone says it. And every time we repeat it, we push competitors further into the shadows.

Classic 'Against' Positioning

Ries and Trout have this funny line: “Consumers are like chickens. They are much more comfortable with a pecking order that everybody knows about and accepts.” Basically, we like our rankings clear - who’s No. 1, who’s No. 2, and who’s trailing behind.

In AI, that pecking order feels obvious right now: ChatGPT’s sitting at the top of the roost. Everyone else - Claude, Gemini, Grok (or, whichever one you’re using now) - is still figuring out their perch.

But here’s the clever part: being second (or even an outsider) isn’t always a bad thing. If you play it right, it can actually be your superpower.

Take Avis. Hertz was the big dog in car rentals, so Avis leaned into being No. 2 with that famous line: “We try harder.” Instead of hiding from second place, they made it sound like an advantage. Who doesn’t want the company that’s hustling harder?

Or Pepsi. They knew Coke was the default cola, so they branded themselves as the younger, fresher choice. Remember those Pepsi Challenge ads where people picked Pepsi over Coke in blind taste tests? Pure drama. Suddenly Coke looked old, Pepsi looked bold.

And my absolute fave: 7-Up. They didn’t even try to be another cola. They called themselves the “Uncola” - the clear, citrusy rebel in a brown-soda world. That one word completely set them apart, and sales went through the roof.

So yeah, if you’re not first, you don’t have to play catch-up. You can flip the script by being the opposite of the leader.

Now picture this in AI:

• Grok could say, “We’re the raw, unfiltered truth. The Un-ChatGPT.”

• Claude could lean into being the slow-down, think-it-through option. Basically, the “un-hasty” AI.

• Gemini could be ‘all-in-one’: sleek, youthful, integrated with everything Google.

Ries and Trout put it simply: “If a company is not the first, then it has to be the first to occupy the No. 2 position. .” But if Avis, Pepsi, and 7-Up could pull it off, why not an AI challenger?

Why It All Still Matters

The more things change, the more they stay the same: Positioning proves that human minds respond the same way, whether it’s TV or AI.

The rules haven’t changed: own a word, be first if you can, and if you’re not first, own second place by going “against.”

Right now, ChatGPT is Coke. It’s Kleenex. It’s Uber. It’s the default. But the AI race isn’t over…