Generative AI in Marketing: Unleashing Creativity or Unraveling Chaos? Generative AI is transforming the marketing landscape, offering unparalleled creative possibilities at lightning speed. But as we embrace this brave new world, we must also confront the ethical dilemmas and practical challenges that emerge from opening this Pandora's Box.
"Back to the future" may be an overused cliché, but it couldn't be more apt for the marketing world today. Generative AI models are taking us back to the basics, revolutionizing the way marketing campaigns are created and
executed. Remember the days when a concise brief was your starting point for any campaign? Well, you can now type your ideas into an AI-powered tool and get creatives in seconds, bringing marketing assets to life as quickly as you can think of them. Take Dall-E, for example, which creates captivating images based on marketing themes and ideas. And Adobe's Firefly, which not only generates
variations of specific design elements but also creates paintbrushes based on existing images. The launch of these powerful tools follows Adobe's $20 billion acquisition of design platform Figma, further solidifying the company's dominance in the creative space. The generative AI landscape has experienced rapid growth since the explosive debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, with companies like Stable
Diffusion joining the fray. However, these remarkable tools have not been without their share of ethical concerns, such as "hallucinating" inaccurate information or stealing artist content without credit or permission. Adobe aims to address these concerns with Firefly, emphasizing opportunities for creators to benefit from their skills and protect their work. While the generative AI
technology is impressive, it's important to recognize that it excels in some tasks more than others. As Benedict Evans noted on Twitter, "A 20% error rate in a text generator is 'this thing is telling lies and making stuff up' - but a 20% error rate in an image generator is 'I’m not quite sure where the door is, but honestly who cares when it looks like that.'" Former Windows boss Steven
Sinofsky echoed this sentiment, stating that generative technology should focus on creative tasks until sourcing and verification issues are addressed. So, where does generative AI shine? Here are three areas where it's already proving valuable: Creative tasks: Programs like Dall-E 2,
Stable Diffusion, and Adobe's Firefly are revolutionizing how movies, video games, and other creative works are produced. These tools serve as a launchpad for human creativity, sparking new ideas and concepts. However, the technology does raise legal and ethical issues related to copyright, training data biases, and perpetuation of stereotypes. Genre shifting: Text generators like OpenAI's
GPT-4 excel at transforming data into various formats, from summarizing meeting notes to crafting press releases or social media content. For a lighter touch, tools like ChatGPT and Google's Bard can transform information into poems, raps, and other creative expressions. Experimenting: Despite limitations and drawbacks, experimenting with AI now helps us understand its capabilities and
potential. Companies like Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Adobe are publicly testing various tools, offering opportunities for civil rights groups, regulators, and individuals to provide feedback and address concerns. As generative AI continues to improve, it will likely tackle tasks it currently struggles with and integrate seamlessly with companies' data and intellectual property. Firms
like Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google are already pitching today's technology for various applications, with even more ambitious future uses on the horizon. For now, companies tend to use these tools to "draft" text and code, allowing human oversight to modify suggestions before they go live. Microsoft refers to its workplace tools as "copilots," while others adopt a similar collaborative approach. In certain contexts, AI can augment overworked professionals and even address shortages in critical fields. For example, online education service Khan Academy is testing a tutoring system built on top of GPT-4. Founder Sal Khan believes AI can not only help raise the quality of education in developing countries but also provide support for students in wealthier nations when they need it most. Bill Gates, in a recent op-ed, compared the impact of AI to the graphical user interface's revolutionary effect in the 1980s. He envisions AI leading to massive changes across various sectors, such as health care, where it can accelerate medical research and improve primary diagnoses. Gates acknowledges the potential for misdiagnoses but argues that the benefits of AI in health care outweigh the risks. In the workforce, Gates predicts AI will serve as a "personal agent," drafting emails, managing schedules, and taking notes. Although this shift will necessitate governments to support workers transitioning into new roles, Gates argues it will allow humans to focus on areas where software falls short, such as patient care and elderly support. Education is another area where AI is making waves, with students using it for homework and writing assignments, and teachers employing it for lesson planning. Gates sees AI as a crucial educational tool that can adapt to students' understanding and motivation levels. However, generative AI also brings potential harms. Issues like misinformation , hate speech,
and emotional manipulation have surfaced as these AI models gained popularity. Gates acknowledges the misinformation problem and asserts that limitations like ChatGPT's struggles with abstract reasoning may be resolved within a couple of years. To ensure that AI doesn't exacerbate existing inequalities, Gates emphasizes the need for intervention from governments and organizations. He argues
that AI should be used to "help the poorest" and reduce inequality, and that policymakers and philanthropists should prioritize such efforts. Looking further ahead, Gates mentions the emergence of superintelligent AIs, machines capable of surpassing human intelligence and making autonomous decisions. While the impact of these superintelligent AIs on society remains uncertain, Gates remains
excited about their potential. In the meantime, Gates urges the continued adoption of AI technology alongside the establishment of guardrails and regulations. "This new technology can help people everywhere improve their lives," he writes. "At the same time, the world needs to establish the rules of the road so that any downsides of artificial intelligence are far outweighed by its
benefits." Generative AI is poised to revolutionize marketing and numerous other industries. While it offers incredible potential for creativity and productivity, it also raises ethical and practical concerns that require careful consideration. As we continue to explore this brave new world of AI-driven marketing, we must strike a balance between embracing the creative revolution and addressing the challenges of opening Pandora's Box |
All the news you need today, in a format that isn't TL:DR, summarized for the busy executive.
LinkedIn has announced new features for company Pages that include the ability to schedule posts up to three months in advance and manage scheduled posts easily. The second feature is LinkedIn Audio Events, which allows companies to host audio-only events on the platform. Finally, LinkedIn has introduced a
feature to automatically share job postings as a Page post, with one open role shared per day. These updates provide a push for company Pages and offer greater convenience to businesses. LinkedIn remains a platform where organic reach is possible, and it's worth considering a content strategy for both personal profiles and company Pages. Instagram is introducing two new types of ads that could be useful for marketers. The first type is called "Reminder ads," which will appear in users' feeds and offer the option to receive reminders a day before, 15 minutes before, and at the time of events and launches. The second type is "Ads in search results," where ads will appear in users' feeds based on their search query. Reminder ads are now available to all marketers, while search ads will be rolled out worldwide
in the coming months. The introduction of these new ad types could help marketers increase attendance and engagement, and it will be interesting to see how they perform. Google's John Mueller has advised website owners to ignore spammy referral traffic if they are worried about it affecting their SEO. When asked about the impact of
referral traffic from websites with an ".xyz" extension, which is suspected to be spam, John replied simply "ignore it." He added that there is little that can be done about such traffic and that spammers will always find ways to generate it. While some ".xyz" domains may not be spammy, website owners need not worry about the impact of such traffic on their SEO. TikTok has announced the launch of a dedicated STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) feed, offering users a new way to explore education-based content. The feed aims to help the existing TikTok STEM community, which already has over 110 billion views for related hashtags, to connect and discover new videos, with a focus on engaging and informative content. To ensure that videos are appropriate and accurate, the company is partnering with Common Sense
Networks and Poynter to assess content for inclusion. Common Sense Networks will review the content for appropriateness, while Poynter will assess the accuracy and reliability of information presented. Havas London has promoted James Fox to the role of CEO. Fox, who previously served as the agency's chief client officer, will continue to report
to Xavier Rees, who was elevated to UK Group CEO of Havas Creative last year. Fox joined Havas London in April 2022 and has been involved in several successes for the agency, including securing new business wins and the retention of the Open University account. Prior to joining Havas London, he held senior positions at Omnicom agency Lucky Generals, where he played a key role in establishing the company's New York office. As a marketer, it can be difficult to overcome writer's block and content fatigue. However, there are several healthy habits that successful writers practice to improve their content writing skills. Firstly, they upgrade their information diet by curating media streams for themselves and keeping a "commonplace book" to record inspiring content. Secondly, they capture their ideas wherever they occur
and build a searchable note-taking system. Lastly, successful writers generate and develop ideas by engaging in conversations with friends, readers, and editors to hone concepts and receive helpful feedback. To delve deeper into these habits, marketers can refer to David Perell's Ultimate Guide to Writing Online. According to the 2023 Listrak
Cross-Channel Benchmark Report, consumers who subscribe to both email and SMS have a 30% higher customer lifetime value than those who sign up for just one. Although both email and SMS have their own strengths, they work best when used together. Texts generally have higher click-through rates, with price-drop alerts achieving the highest rate at 21.5%, while email has higher conversion rates, with replenishment emails achieving the highest rate at 25.1%. Shopping cart abandonment emails
have the highest revenue per send at $2.16, while SMS back in stock alerts have the highest revenue per send at $2.20. Listrak suggests using a unified platform for both channels, allowing them to share data and communicate with customers in their preferred channel. The study is based on an analysis of approximately 112 billion email and SMS/MMS messages sent from January 1 through December 31, 2022, across Listrak's client base of more than 1,000 retailers. TikTok has updated its Community Guidelines to address concerns around AI-generated content, hate speech, and election integrity, ahead of potential ban efforts in the US. The guidelines feature specific changes around synthetic media, with AI-created content depicting realistic scenes required to be labelled. Synthetic media containing the likeness of any “real private
figure” is prohibited, while media containing likenesses of public figures may be taken down if it violates policies such as hate speech, sexual exploitation, or harassment. The platform has also introduced guidelines against election misinformation and protection of government and political party accounts. The updates will take effect on April 21, 2023. According to a survey by Lucidworks, search relevance will become more critical and more difficult in the future, making artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) more important. The survey found that 52% of respondents believe AI will become extremely important to deliver relevant search results in the future, with 88% believing AI is very or extremely important in the future of search. AI has already improved the accuracy and effectiveness of search results
by interpreting the intent of a user’s query in a more human-like manner. The majority of survey participants expect search relevance to become even more important in the future, while 96% of search practitioners said relevant search is difficult to deliver. To improve search relevance, respondents cited the need for better technology, expert guidance, and analysis of user intent. Gap has decided to pause its GPS Media business and focus on core retail programs such as supply chain and custom clothing programs. The company will shift resources from GPS Media to its GPS Platform, which handles logistics and fulfillment services for other retailers, as well as GPS Apparel, which provides customized apparel for companies. Gap's CRO, Lindell Bennett, stated that the company faces challenges in competing for retail media dollars
because it only sells its own brands and lacks the scale and diversity of bigger players like Amazon and Walmart. Additionally, the growing number of retail ad businesses makes it difficult for retailers to differentiate themselves. Place Exchange, a supply-side platform for programmatic out-of-home (OOH) media, has expanded its presence in
major European markets, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Spain. The move is supported by publishers such as Global Netherlands, i-media, and Ocean Outdoor, among others, giving marketers access to over 13,000 digital out-of-home screens. Place Exchange's platform can be accessed within integrated demand side platforms like Google Display & Video 360, MediaMath, The Neuron, The Trade Desk, and Yahoo DSP. The company expects Europe to
represent a significant market opportunity for programmatic OOH. TikTok and Google have both issued new policies on synthetic media, or content created using AI. TikTok has said that creators must mark content that contains realistic scenes created using AI as "fake," "not real," or "altered." Google has said that it won't penalize AI
articles per se, but that content must be helpful and meet content guidelines to avoid penalties. SEOs may need to develop valuable inputs and prompts and provide good sources of information to continue optimizing content effectively. Adding AI automation disclosures to AI-heavy articles could help keep a domain in Google's good books. |
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