Ad
Skip to content
Subscribe Now
AI in practice
Copy the url to clipboard Share this article Go to comment section

Anthropic's marketing department opens "Zero Slop Zone" in New York

Maximilian Schreiner
Maximilian Schreiner View the LinkedIn Profile of Maximilian Schreiner
Oct 9, 2025
Image description
Anthropic

Anthropic is pitching its Claude chatbot as the opposite of "AI slop" with a pop-up in New York's West Village focused on free coffee, "thinking" caps, and analog tools.

The event drew over 5,000 visitors and generated more than 10 million social media impressions. Anthropic turned a newsstand into a "Zero Slop Zone," a direct jab at the flood of low-quality AI-generated content online. Visitors could pick up free baseball caps with the word "thinking" and were encouraged to work with coffee, books, and pen and paper - no screens allowed.

The pop-up is part of Anthropic's multi-million dollar "Keep Thinking" campaign, which marks the company's first major push into the consumer market, a space dominated by OpenAI. Developed with the agency Mother, the campaign includes ads during sports events, on streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu, and in print outlets like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

To get a cap and coffee, visitors had to show the Claude app. They could also read a printed copy of CEO Dario Amodei's essay "Machines of Loving Grace."

Ad
DEC_D_Incontent-1

Growth Despite Losses

Anthropic is projecting $5 billion in revenue for 2025, driven mainly by strong demand for its coding tool, Claude Code. CEO Dario Amodei says the company is intentionally unprofitable, treating each new AI model as a major reinvestment in the future.

Anthropic recently hit a valuation of $18.3 billion after its latest funding round - a sign that investors believe in the company's long-term vision. Backers include tech giants like Amazon and Google, along with venture firms such as Menlo Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company also recently launched Claude 4.5 Sonnet, its most powerful code model to date.

AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans

As a THE DECODER subscriber, you get ad-free reading, our weekly AI newsletter, the exclusive "AI Radar" Frontier Report 6× per year, access to comments, and our complete archive.

AI news without the hype
Curated by humans.

  • Over 20 percent launch discount.
  • Read without distractions – no Google ads.
  • Access to comments and community discussions.
  • Weekly AI newsletter.
  • 6 times a year: “AI Radar” – deep dives on key AI topics.
  • Up to 25 % off on KI Pro online events.
  • Access to our full ten-year archive.
  • Get the latest AI news from The Decoder.
Subscribe to The Decoder