AI For Content Creation Is Now Last Year's Table Stakes
RetailDive is reporting that L'Oreal is using generative AI models across its brands. The big guns are arriving and are now out in force. Last year, WHP Global was thought to be the first to create a fully AI-generated commercial.
Even on the Watson Weekend podcast, we are using generative AI to mockup and bring to life ideas for our shows. The usage is only increasing.
In the span of two years, AI for paid media and brand creative has gone from interesting experiment to cool differentiator to table stakes. Such is the game that we are in right now. If you have been doing creative the same way for the past 5 years, there are a few thoughts to start moving in the direction:
* Get a group together internally. This should include members from both your creative and marketing teams (across brand and paid).
* Remove your fear. You don't know what you don't know. That's OK.
* Have an open mind. If you don't know the capabilities, it's easy to be fearful. In my experience, fear turns to wonder pretty quickly.
* Let AI help "teach" you. One of the things about AI that is most useful is that you can use it to teach you how to use it. Just start typing. Keep refining. If you are confused, just start asking it more questions to clarify until you do understand.
* Integrate into to your current toolsets. Don't assume you will end up only with AI. AI has (yet) fully replaced tools like Adobe After Effects and there is pre- and post-work needed in creative and marketing workflows to make the best use of AI. Some AI models purposefully generate mistakes to prevent mass-production, which can later be corrected by downstream tools.
Placing stock imagery in different contexts is just the starting point. Generating sets of creative ideas for paid media is another powerful application. Getting imagery from marketplace suppliers (particularly in fashion!) up to your brand standards is another project which is historically difficult but now seems possible with AI at scale.
