Don't hear the confession of the death of the advertising agency yet.
Artificial intelligence is threatening to promote the advertising agency sector. The ever-growing number of tools reduces the time it takes to create logos, online ads, and even films.
In the upcoming book AI First by Adam Brotman and Andy Sack, Openai CEO Sam Altman states, “What 95% of marketers use agents, strategists and creative experts for today is not easily handled, almost instantly, almost instantly, by AI.”
The world of agents thinks differently. Business Insider spoke with three top creative directors who said AI is fueling the creative boom and that the technology has not portends the extinction event for advertising agencies. Instead, they use AI to propose bigger ideas more efficiently and expand services to areas such as content optimization. This is the Dondraper from the steroid “Mad Men.”
“AI can be an incredible creative tool. If we keep getting to our own way in fear of it, it's only dating us,” Executive Creative Elenanox said. The director of BBDO New York works for clients such as Starbucks, SAP, and St-Germain.
Knox said he uses AI to sell ambitious concepts to his clients. She and her team have realized the office's vision of a tree growth exploding before landing viewers in the forest in the form of GIFs using tools such as Midjourney. It convinced clients to invest millions of dollars in production budgets for filming in New Zealand and Bulgaria.
“You'd have to spend hours making it, and the image wouldn't have existed,” Knox said. “In AI, we were able to easily create clients and display them to clients. That's what we want to shoot.”
On another pitch, Knox and her team used AI to create realistic narration that convinces the clients they need to invest in that particular celebrity. Last year, agents may have had to create a multi-page pitch deck to showcase why celebrities are relevant and call voice emblems for testing, including the latest movies and social media followers.
“What AI allowed me to do was show my clients how it felt,” Knox said. “You hear that and you're not going to lose it.”
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Reckitt Benckiser's laundry detergent brand Woolite has become famous for using French film megastars in advertising from the 1970s and 1990s. However, when Woolite asked creative agency Betc to reboot its French brand this year, the budget was more limited than it was decades ago.
Wanting to keep the brand's celebrity cache, Betc has used AI to create a new brand character, fluffy goat. The “largest” Monica play, the superstar goat, is seen globetrotting on a speedboat, private jet and limousine. Alasdhair MacGregor Hastie, executive creative director at BETC, said the campaign was offered in six weeks.
“For me, it's all we can do is strengthen what we're doing. He's old enough to remember when Photoshop came in and when people were the end of the ad,” McGregor Hacie said. “Photoshop is now a tool. If you don't adapt to the new tool, the new tool will take over.”
For all attributes, AI still presents clear challenges to the advertising agency's business model. In this model, companies tend to bill clients based on the number of full-time equivalent employees dedicated to their accounts. Martin Sorrell, executive chairman of advertising firm S4 Capital, spoke to analysts about his recent revenue calls. An institution like him may sometimes be “based on assets or output.” This reflects how AI reduces the time it takes to manage and create campaigns.
The creative director that Bi spoke to said that as many junior tasks can now be automated, there are unresolved questions about how the industry will continue to develop early career talent.
TBWA Chief Creative Officer Eric Wegerbauer said the availability of AI tools is changing the scope of work creative agencies are pitching.
Recently, we have gained extensive work on content optimization across different formats and countries. TBWA recently came up with the idea for a campaign that offers nearly one million personalized variations of advertising to target individual customers.
“You'll never do that without AI,” Wegerbauer said.
