Are vibe-coded gadgets the new Buzzfeed quiz?

Back in the early days of my career in digital journalism, photo galleries were bread and butter. Galleries of supercars, supermodels, superfoods—all so super-duper.

Then we hit on the quizzes. It started one day when I built a simple name the car logo quiz. It went gangbusters. Of course, Buzzfeed perfected this formula, making it a whole memeworthy mess.

These moments seem cringe now, but back then we were thinking about storytelling in new ways—moving beyond columns and newsprint. It was exciting.

But here’s what we did wrong: We fell in love with the story medium and used it to death. So much so that it’s hard to think today that these were once novel ideas.

Which brings me to vibe-coding…

Which brings me to vibe-coding. Hella cool. I’m all for our newfound ability to whip up little gadgets in next to no time, with absolutely no coding skills.

For those new to the language: Vibe-coding is using AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, or specialized platforms like Cursor, Bolt, Lovable, or Replit (to name just a few) to create functional web tools, calculators, and interactive widgets without traditional coding knowledge. You describe what you want, the AI writes the code, and you iterate through conversation.

Important distinction: Vibe-coding is different from coding with AI assistance—this is more like directing AI to build something for you entirely rather than using AI to expedite or assist your coding process (read more about this distinction in this post from Simon Willison).

As a content marketer, I’ve definitely thought ‘what this story could use is a little interactive gadget.’ And now vibe-coding has unleashed 10+ years of coulda, woulda, shoulda in content marketers who were never given priority with developer resources.

Plus, the vibe-coded gadget is a much cooler way to get an email address than the good ole eBook (we all know gating PDFs is dumb, though we feel trapped into doing it). But I’m already starting to feel a little inundated with gadgets…

To be clear, I’m all for vibe-coded gadgets!

Look, this is how it goes. We get new toys; we play with them to death.

And there’s A LOT to be said for just playing. This is the stage of AI we’re in, and getting your hands mucky is the right decision. You want to understand what you can do, cannot do, and the limits of these tools, whether you’re:

• Sincerely interested in building things for yourself and finding a new passion

• Ultimately, want other people to do it for you, but don’t want to get bamboozled

• Just want to be able to show execs you’re ‘on it’

• Doing it for the LinkedIn / thought leadership

Plus, if you’re going to play without caution, now is definitely the time. There seems to be a lot of forgiveness around:

• Jankiness: We’re still in that early adopter phase where janky interfaces and tools that break after a few months are tolerated

• Security: Questionable data handling? Nobody seems to care too much about security at this point…

• Idea quality: The novelty factor is still high, which means we’ll see high engagement until people hit a saturation point (how fast this comes will depend on your category and market)

Vibe-coding now is essentially best treated as market research for the future—understanding these tools' current limitations helps you recognize their expanded capabilities as they mature.

And the relationship between vibe-coding and actual coding will continue to shift. Today's drag-and-drop widget builders might become tomorrow's sophisticated development environments. So, getting familiar with the paradigm now means you won't be starting from zero when the tools become more powerful.

But there will come a moment…

I’m already starting to feel this way about the vibe-coded gadgets: Just cause you can, does it mean you should? The current grace period won't last forever. When it ends, the gadgets that survive will be the ones built with intention, not just possibility.

So, if you’re building gadgets to use in your marketing, here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. Is it sincerely aligned with your market?

This is 101 for any marketing idea, but we tend to lose sight of the fundamentals of marketing when we’re overcome by novelty. The best gadget ideas will come from understanding your market/ICP’s day-in, day-out. Look for those micro-tasks that they dread or feel bogged down by—the kinds of things too small to build an app for.

Odds are, your market will have gotten so used to working around these things that they’ll see them as part of the job. They may not even articulate that this thing grinds their gears, or voice resigned acceptance of it. So, you really need to walk in their shoes to discover these ideas.

Ask: Would our target market find meaningful, recurring utility in this?

2. Is it really just a calculator?

The classic examples of gadgets were calculators (mortgage calculators, weight loss calculators, how-much-wallpaper-do-I-need calculators). Indeed, some of these ideas evolved into full-blown SaaS products, which were essentially fancy, skinned calculators with tracking.

Vibe-coding a simple calculator feels like a miss to me:

• For one, I can just ask Claude/ChatGPT how much wallpaper I need if my room is this big and the roll/repeat are these measurements. The AI bypasses the need to build a calculator.

• For another, calculators aren’t doing anything intelligent. It’s just math. How many rolls of wallpaper I need is basic. But with AI, we can actually push further: What scale of pattern would work best, what colour combos?

A ‘calculator’ idea might be a good starting point, but imo it’s not worth vibe-coding calculators alone.

Ask: What intelligence can I add to enhance the calculator piece?

3. Has it already been built a million times?

More marketing 101: Do your competitive research. Yes, sometimes you have to build these things regardless (every lender needs a mortgage calculator). But if you’re vibe-coding gadgets, try to come up with things that are actually novel ideas.

Ask: Have I already seen this done well? If it’s been built already, what can make this uniquely mine?

4. Does it help upsell your product?

Navigate the sweet spot between free gadgets and your actual, paid product/offering mindfully. Ideally, gadgets help people discover your brand and product and offer a taste without giving too much away.

Ask: How does this gadget assist the path to purchase?

5. Is the gadget sincerely good, not just grabby?

We’ve all been there with gated assets: The over-promising, under-delivering eBook, the bait and switch on-demand webinar that turns out to be a sales pitch.

Do better. Yeah, have a neat hook, but make sure you build something that lives up to it.

Ask: Will my gadget's performance live up to my marketing hooks?

6. Are there security concerns you’re missing?

Right now, people are building tools that collect email addresses, process personal data, or handle sensitive information without thinking through basic security protocols. What happens to that data? Where is it stored? Who has access? Many vibe-coded tools are hosted on platforms with unclear data policies, or worse, store information in ways that could be easily compromised.

The current ‘move fast and break things’ mentality works fine for a mortgage calculator that doesn't store data, but becomes problematic when you're handling customer information. As regulations tighten and users become more privacy-conscious, tools built without security forethought will become liabilities.

Ask: Am I collecting data responsibly, and do I understand where it goes and who can access it?

7. Is it sustainable, and can you maintain it?

Many vibe-coded gadgets rely on free AI API calls, third-party hosting, or services that could change their terms overnight. What seems like a quick weekend project can become an ongoing maintenance headache. Links break, APIs get deprecated, hosting costs accumulate, and suddenly your ‘simple’ tool needs regular attention you didn't plan for.

Ask: Are you building something that requires ongoing maintenance you can't provide?

✨AI opportunity: Why not brainstorm your gadget ideas and then give AI these and any other criteria to score your ideas against? I love letting AI play that role of impartial judge when I may be falling a little in love with my own ideas.

Now: Time to play. Soon: Time to be strategic

The Buzzfeed quiz era taught us that just because you can create something engaging doesn't mean you should create a dozen variations of it.

We'll fast approach a similar place with vibe-coded gadgets. The technology is democratized, the barriers are low, and the temptation to build everything is real. But the marketers who'll benefit most will build strategically, with intention, and with genuine value in mind.

So: Play now, absolutely. But think while you play. Because nobody wants to become the content person still pushing 'Which Gilmore Girl Are You?' in 2025 (Emily, it’s always Emily).

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Sweet treats before you go!

If you read one thing:

Claude might feel like a friend, but that friendly banter comes with a cost: “The International Energy Agency reports that AI, data centers, and cryptocurrency operations consumed approximately 460 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2022, accounting for nearly two percent of global electricity demand. By 2027, AI alone could require between 85 and 134 terawatt-hours annually, an amount equivalent to the total electricity consumption of the Netherlands.” Read more on Complex Discovery.

If you buy one thing:

Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley. I’ve followed Jessica for years, going back to ye olde blogspot days, and her Read.Look.Think. newsletter is a favourite, so I’m super excited for her new novel, and it’s all queued up on my eReader for this weekend. Guardian review here, NYT here. Buy it from your favourite bookseller!