It’s fascinating to see all the pushing and pulling – and even abrupt detours and stops – in AI’s journey through adland.
In the early days, it was cool to play with graphics and videos using generative AI, while AI’s data-crunching and targeting capabilities were being developed during much less fanfare.
As the use of AI among in-house marketers and agencies has evolved and continues to evolve, execs are now pushing AI to achieve cost savings and speed up timelines. The emphasis on AI is, I’m sure, part of the push by the boardroom and execs on demonstrating real ROI. (Which also is pushing performance marketing to the forefront and pushing aside long-term branding.)
All the while, customers and prospects are starting to push back, per the Emarketer story below: Social media users want to see human-generated content from brands but marketers are gearing up to use more AI-generated content on their social channels.
Given how Generation Z and Generation Alpha view generative AI content, that pushback is bound to get stronger.
Let’s not forget about the ever-present brand safety concerns. (See Campaign US and Business Insider as just two examples.)
And then, as we look into the mirror, there’s FOMO. Trend stories, features and how-tos on AI are splashed across industry media outlets every day. “If we don’t do more with AI, we’ll get left behind!” is, I’m sure, a constant thought among nearly all execs and marketers everywhere.
All the above and more is just part of the growth process during any sea change. While I like the adage of “Fail quickly,” it needs to be changed to: Fail smartly.
Translation: As you should do with any marketing campaign, have your objectives and a plan in mind first (even if only loosely), so you can learn from your failures.