DeepSeek for dummies: 101 on how marketers can capitalise on the trend

The sudden popularity of the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek has shaken up the world of AI, with some industry players comparing it with its rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT and questioning if it would threaten the dominance of AI leaders such as Nvidia - which has already taken a hit on its stock.

On Monday, the new app topped the downloads list on Apple’s App Store, taking over ChatGPT, and has drawn mixed reactions across social platforms. Media intelligence firm CARMA saw a total of two million mentions regarding Deepseek globally over the past two days, with sentiments of conversations being 29.3% positive and 21.8% negative. 
Keywords associated with DeepSeek include “OpenAI”, “Chinese”, “Nvidia”, “model”, “intelligence” and “intelligence”.

Curious to find out how the new AI tool might be able to help you take your brand image to the next level? Read on.

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is a startup from China founded by hedge fund manager Liang Wenfeng in 2023 in Hangzhou, China, known for hosting Alibaba (BABA) and several other prominent tech giants.

The company recently introduced its latest R1 AI model, claiming performance comparable to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Notably, its V3 base model, unveiled in December last year, was reportedly created in just two months for less than US$6 million. In a statement on its website, the company said: “DeepSeek-V3 achieves a significant breakthrough in inference speed over previous models. It tops the leaderboard among open-source models and rivals the most advanced closed-source models globally.”

This accomplishment stands out at a time when the US is restricting China's access to advanced chips, while American AI frontrunners such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta Platforms (META) are investing billions in their AI projects.

The rapid rise of DeepSeek has stirred concerns among investors, who fear it could challenge existing notions about the costs associated with developing competitive AI models and the infrastructure required to sustain them. This development could have significant repercussions for the AI market and the stock performance of major tech companies.

Meanwhile, DeepSeek said it would limit user registrations for a short period of time “due to large-scale malicious attacks” on its services, while existing users will be able to log in as usual.

What are the differences between ChatGPT and DeepSeek?

According to CNBC, DeepSeek has developed its own proprietary models (DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1), which are claimed to rival OpenAI's GPT-4 and Meta's Llama 3 in performance while achieving significant cost efficiency.

This suggests DeepSeek is not derivative but a competitor with unique technical innovations, particularly in optimising computational resources, said Lierence Li, co-founder of the Market Hubs in a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

The main element that sets DeepSeek apart from its competitor is its cost efficiency and market positioning, said Li. “DeepSeek’s models reportedly deliver comparable performance at a fraction of the cost, challenging the narrative that cutting-edge AI requires massive infrastructure investments.”

While ChatGPT was built on transformative innovations including Google's transformer architecture and Proximal Policy Optimisation (PPO), DeepSeek primarily builds upon existing foundations using Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture with extensive optimisation, said Jacky Chan, CTO, Votee AI. “Its achievement lies more in engineering efficiency than fundamental innovation.”

DeepSeek’s emergence as a cost-efficient and high-performance AI challenger is compelling. However, the strength of generative AI lies not just in model performance but also in the quality, diversity, and scale of the data it accesses, according to Nelson Tsai, solutions development director, Nexus Media Solutions, GroupM Hong Kong.

ChatGPT, backed by OpenAI, benefits from a vast and trusted ecosystem, extensive integration capabilities, and continuous refinement through global usage, he said. “While DeepSeek may rival in technical parity and cost, building the trust, ecosystem maturity, and enterprise-grade reliability to surpass ChatGPT will require more than a year’s momentum.”

AI success also hinges on data infrastructure—models are only as strong as the datasets they’re trained on, he added. “DeepSeek’s long-term competitiveness will depend on how it sources, processes, and scales its data capabilities to match industry needs.”

Will DeepSeek disrupt the dominance of ChatGPT?

Despite the sudden popularity of the Chinese AI app, Market Hubs’ Li said it’s unlikely to "replace" ChatGPT outright, but it could disrupt the market by appealing to users prioritising affordability and efficiency. Success hinges on sustained innovation, scalability, and global trust (especially given geopolitical tensions around Chinese AI).

ChatGPT is designed for a global audience, drawing from a wide array of data sources that enhance its effectiveness in international markets. In contrast, DeepSeek primarily relies on Chinese data sources for its language model training, said Timmy Kwok, head of performance, Omnicom Media Group.

This specialisation means that DeepSeek is less likely to surpass ChatGPT on a global scale, he said. “Our marketing platforms, such as Meta and Google DSP, are integrated with global AI solutions and must align with their bidding models. Transitioning from ChatGPT to DeepSeek quickly presents challenges, even though DeepSeek's operational costs are 20-50 times lower.”

While DeepSeek shows impressive capabilities and cost efficiency, the landscape of AI is dynamic. DeepSeek's open-source model and performance might challenge ChatGPT's dominance in specific areas, but the tech evolution means no single model will hold permanent supremacy, according to Dominique Rose Van-Winther, chief AI evangelist, CEO of Final Upgrade AI.

The broader trend leans towards a more distributed AI ecosystem where both proprietary and open-source models coexist.

What opportunities lie ahead for marketers?

On the marketing front, the rise of DeepSeek introduces opportunities to diversify AI tools and optimise costs. However, it’s crucial to adopt a platform-agnostic approach, leveraging the unique strengths of various AI platforms, said GroupM’s Tsai. “Generative AI solutions such as DeepSeek, ChatGPT, and others can be orchestrated to enhance creative ideation, audience insights, and campaign optimisation.”

Van-Winther said marketers should embrace the trend towards AI agents, which will complement or replace human agents in various marketing tasks. “This includes automation in content creation, data analysis, personalised marketing, and customer interaction.”

The new app can also be utilised to generate new marketing strategies that are data-driven, personalised at scale, and dynamically responsive to market changes, she added.

On the other hand, with DeepSeek's lower LLM training costs, marketers can more easily transition from ChatGPT to a customised model, improving performance and adaptability, particularly in markets focused on China, said OMG’s Kwok. “This flexibility allows for quicker adjustments and more effective marketing strategies that align with specific market conditions.”

Given the current state of AI technology, Votee AI’s Chan said marketers should take aggressive steps to incorporate AI into their workflows; experiment with multiple platforms rather than committing to a single provider; focus on practical applications rather than getting caught up in the technology race and leverage the decreasing costs to experiment with AI-driven marketing initiatives.

The key takeaway is that AI should be viewed as an increasingly accessible tool rather than an expensive luxury.

If DeepSeek’s API pricing is lower than OpenAI’s, marketers could automate tasks (content generation, customer support) at scale without budget strain, explained Market Hubs’ Li. “As a Chinese company, DeepSeek may offer superior Chinese-language support and cultural nuance, making it ideal for campaigns targeting Chinese-speaking audiences. Its US App Store success also suggests multilingual competence.”

Unlike ChatGPT, which is restricted in some regions (e.g., China), DeepSeek’s accessibility without VPNs opens opportunities in markets where OpenAI is blocked, meaning marketers in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, or even the US can use it freely, he added.

From content creation to campaign brainstorming, accessible AI has proven particularly helpful and efficient in data analysis and market research. Henson Tsai, founder and CEO, Sleekflow, said expensive market research could be replaced by just a few prompts. "With DeepSeek R1, marketing can leverage analytics with large datasets across channels."

"One example is that we maintain deal notes filled out by our business develipment teams. We can ask AI to analyse and summarise, for instance, the top five customer pain points, allowing marketers to utilise this information to adjust our campaigns. This significantly enhances the sales-marketing feedback loop. It illustrates how AI can empower marketers and wider teams. We foresee that writing effective prompts will become an essential skill for our next generation," he added.

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