Anyone claiming to know what is happening with marketing and AI is lying. The landscape is impossible to get your hands (or your brain) around, like herding a box of kittens.

Confusion stems from a lack of definition. What does someone mean when they say AI? Do they mean assistive AI where advertising communication is optimized using data? In this case, a company like Google might use upwards of 7000 pieces of data to determine when to send an ad, what assets should make up the ad, and whom to send it to.

Or, does someone mean generative AI, where you ask AI to bring two things together to create something new? You may have used ChatGPT to draft marketing copy. You might have tried a test-to-image AI to produce a piece of creative. But as you will see from the “art” that appears below (I asked DALL-E to show Campbell’s soup saving the world from environmental degradation), this isn’t necessarily ready for prime time.

This is not to say that marketers aren’t putting AI to good use.

How are marketers use AI now?

Like other fields, AI is being used to try and offload mundane tasks. This can be things like writing press releases or newsletters (this one is done the old-fashioned way). AI can be used to generate ideas, especially for things like creating a headline or a tagline.

Here are some of the more uses for AI. Take a look:

Foot Locker

In this first example, Foot Locker use AI to put the most compelling message in front of individual consumers using a combination of data and creative assets.

Lay’s & Messi:

This next example gets a bit more creative. Lay’s used superstar soccer player Messi to get fans engaged with the brand. Consumers could send cusomitized Messi messages to their friends in XX different languages.

Only Murders in the Building

Hulu did what any good marketer does: look for what interests their consumer and give it to them.

In the case of the hit Hulu show, the company discovered that: 1) viewers like puzzles (the show is based on mysteries), 2) Selena Gomez is one of the show’s stars and her fans like gossip, and 3) viewers like ambient rooms. What a great thing for a show about a building! The show produced rooms related to the characters, and provided Easter eggs to help viewers solve clues related to the rooms.

You may remember this Coca-Cola ad called “Masterpiece.” AI was NOT used to come up with the creative, but it was used to facilitate the execution of the artwork coming to life, significantly reducing production time.

Volvo

Similarly, Volvo used Insights Finder to find out what was most important to their customers. A key insight was that while the drivers are interested in tech, which is not surprising, they are also into electronic music. This led to creativing using music by Andy Huang produced only with sounds from the XC60. Check it out.

“Missteps”

In one major misstep, A24 promoted its film Civil War with AI generated ads on Instagram. Viewers could tell and they didn’t like it, especially given the recent labor strikes fighting to keep AI out of the film and TV businesses.

Alternatively, other marketers, like Dove, state they won’t use AI in the production of their commercials. This is getting over their skis at best and disingenuous at worst because it works under the assumption people don’t know the difference between assistive and generative AI.

Want to learn more?

I recently attended a conference on marketing and AI. The name that came up again and again regarding classes related to AI was Curious Refuge. You might want to check out the Marketing AI Institute and the Advertising Education Foundation (AEF) for more information.

Marketing & AI