AI in Advertizing

Last month I authored an article on how computer-generated advertising was going to affect millions of jobs worldwide and completely change the way advertising works. This month I am writing a follow-up to that article. For this article I have conducted an interview with Patrick Murphy who is the CEO of MurphyCobb which is the biggest and most global content production consultancy for brands. Patrick also worked on many acclaimed ad campaigns for British Airways, Cadbury, Schweppes, and Pilkington Glass. This impressive resume along with his podcast, the MCA Prodcast in which he interviews many of the most knowledgeable people on AI (Artificial Intelligence) in advertising, only further cements him as a great person to inform us about this topic.

First and foremost, we must understand what computer-generated advertising is as people can get easily confused by the definition of this. The same incredible computer graphics that we find in movies such as Star Wars and Marvel have already been used in advertising for quite some years, I am however focusing on the impact of AI in advertising.

With that out of the way we can start covering other topics such as how using AI might affect the creativity put in advertising. “In the advertising business we are seeing two fundamental areas of change: 1) The streamlining of processes; and 2) the assistance in creating new work.” notes Patrick. Additionally, he emphasised that the streamlining process should not affect creativity as much as using AI for prompts, voiceovers, scriptwriting, and even in vision talent (I.e.: identifying potential in characters, locations, music and other key concepts for advertising). Actors are starting to become obsolete as BMW has recently made an advertisement with an AI influencer with millions of followers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXSaZQ2aAAc). Yet another advertisement is one by a Japanese tea brand which used AI to generate a model for the ad based on research on what the customer perceived as the perfect person to present the brand, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY2zlywG-Es). Even with these big advancements, Patrick noted that AI still could not generate a relatable story with human emotions or humor, although this might change soon.

One topic I had extensively covered previously was the opportunities this would bring to smaller businesses. Patrick, however, was able to think of yet another way this could impact advertising, because the smaller companies would have the same technology it would even the playing field but would also mean that bigger companies would need better scripts and prompts in order to maintain an advantage. As I mentioned last time, we would also see many small companies start competing with massive multibillion dollar companies in a way that would somewhat mirror the dot com boom in the end of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Image via www.vpnsrus.com

One topic Patrick found important to comment on was how algorithms would play a role in advertising. Even nowadays AI is being used to back test which specific part or edit of an ad works best with a target audience. Not only that but AI is also being used to help determine which region a product or ad would work best in. Companies such as https://www.creativex.com have pioneered this field and are used by many big companies to market their products and services more effectively.

Overall, I think that this technology will open a lot of doors for smaller companies and subsequently provide more jobs and create ferocious competition between both small and big companies alike.

Citations:

Mdg. “Computer-Generated Images Are Changing the Look of Advertising.” MDG Solutions, 6 Oct. 2012, www.mdgsolutions.com/learn-about-multi-location-marketing/5-computer-generated-sales-pitches-digital-advertising/.

Feloni, Richard. “7 Brilliant Strategies Coca-Cola Used to Become One of the World’s Most Recognizable Brands.” Business Insider, Business Insider, www.businessinsider.com/strategies-coca-cola-used-to-become-a-famous-brand-2015-6. Accessed 21 Nov. 2023.