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Bonjour! We were at Cannes LIONS, hitting the Palais, fringe stages, and SPORT BEACH to bring you fresh insights every day of the festival. Today in 3 Quick Things: Plug in friends. We’re exploring all things tech at Cannes LIONS 2023. (Miss anything at Cannes? Catch up on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.)

  1. THE AI REVOLUTION IS REAL OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL·E would lead to an “explosion of creativity” in the marketing industry. His key points: Creatives will use it to generate and enhance ideas more quickly, e.g. easy-to-create storyboards that let agencies explore lots of possibilities. Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the Carlton, Code and Theory’s co-founder and executive chairman Dan Gardner stressed that companies need to embed AI across their entire ecosystems – not just in one-off use cases. DIVE DEEPER: Mark Penn sees AR and AI as the industry’s biggest disruptors
  2. YOU HAVE THE POW(AR) What’s holding back brands on AR? The perception that it’s difficult to create and activate at meaningful scale, said CPB president, North America, Maggie Malek at Hôtel Martinez. But Snap’s AR tools and companies like Stagwell’s ARound are making it easier to target passionate new customers in unique ways.
    Speaking of Snap, it teamed up with Disney to build an immersive AR exhibit at Cannes LIONS. And AR developer Niantic announced Rewarded AR, an ad platform that will allow for branded content in mixed-reality games like Pokémon GO. THE APPLE EFFECT: What Apple’s new $3,499 Vision Pro headset means for brands
  3. DON’T SLEEP ON THE METAVERSE With all the attention on AI, brands may have neglected opportunities in the metaverse. At the Palais, Roblox’s Christina Wootton said that’s a huge mistake: brands (especially fashion labels) have a great opportunity to connect with Gen Z in the metaverse. Plus, she doesn’t see AI and the metaverse as in conflict, noting that brands could use generative AI to populate the metaverse with a ton of enticing content. NEW RESEARCH: NRG’s Fandex says innovation creates fans, and fans are 3.5x more likely to advocate for brands.

Beyond the Stage

Stagwell talked to C-suite marketers, sports luminaries, and other innovators at SPORT BEACH and the Palais. You’ll find fresh, insightful videos on our YouTube page from every day of Cannes LIONS. 

At SPORT BEACH, Olympian Allyson Felix talked to Evin Shutt, Global Chief Executive Officer and Partner, 72andSunny, about founding her footwear company Saysh and women’s sports.

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Bonjour! We were at Cannes LIONS, hitting the Palais and fringe stages, working hard to bring you fresh insights every day of the festival. On the first day of Cannes, Maria Sharapova, Alan Shearer, and other sports and business legends spoke at Stagwell’s Sport Beach. Catch up on the action on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

Let’s talk creativity at Cannes LIONS, from how creativity was rewarded to how tech can help creatives do their jobs. 

  1. WHAT MATTERS TO JURIES NOW Hot topic on day one: How would purpose be rewarded? This year, award juries could weigh the emotional impact of ads with their financial impact, thanks to new submission rules. Some creatives told Adweek they were hoping for “more scrutiny” on whether “purpose-based work actually drove real results for brands.” Creativity + results could be the new formula for success. DIVE DEEPER: Political Season Is in Full Swing. Brands Beware. 
  2. BARBIE HAS A STORY TO TELL Like Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in spandex, creative branded entertainment is hot. Richard Dickson, president and COO of Mattel, spoke at the Palais about reinvigorating the Barbie brand ahead of the buzzy movie release in July. In an interview with WWD, he stressed “we are storytellers” who “create narratives out of our brands” and want to be “where our consumer is.” DON’T BE BORING: What an ‘MBA in Entertainment’ Can Teach Us About Brand Content
  3. EVERYONE IS OBSESSED WITH AI. SERIOUSLY. If ChatGPT was a real person, they’d be shmoozing at the Hotel Du-Cap, Sport Beach, and every other Cannes hot spot. What we’re obsessed with? The ocean-inspired work artists created with the help of generative AI at Microsoft Beach, done in partnership with Instrument. THE POWER OF AI: How A.I. Could Help You Craft the Perfect Media Pitch

On the Main Stage

Stagwell talked to C-suite marketers, sports luminaries, and other innovators at SPORT BEACH and the Palais. You’ll find fresh, insightful videos on our YouTube page from every day of Cannes LIONS. 

Carmelo Anthony spoke at SPORT BEACH about how he approaches business opportunities, his love of wine, and the current state of the NBA.

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Stagwell and our partners at Infinite Reality teamed up at SXSW 2023 to explore the ways that fandom, technology and consumers are converging in immersive experiences, helping bring consumers closer to the sports, entertainment, music and games they love. Hear from leaders at United Masters, Napster, AFROPUNK and more about how the consumer imperative for more immersive experiences are shaping early entertainment and commerce in the metaverse. Stream episodes from the SXSW 2023 Podcast Lounge below. 

 Alexis Williams, Chief Brand Officer, NA 

Talent in the Metaverse 

What’s next in connection, community, and commerce for avatars, athletes and artists? Hear from Tracy Benson, CEO and Founder of Obsesh, Nova Han of Nova Han Productions, and Helix Wolfson, President of Metaverse Operations at Infinite Reality. Stream the episode.

Creator Economy and the Metaverse

How are creators and platforms envisioning the future of fandom and engagement in the metaverse and other immersive realities? Maggie Malek, CEO, MMI and John Rough, SVP, Enterprise for Untied Masters, discuss. Stream the episode.

Fandom, Music, and Metaverse 

VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi, Jonathan Vlassopulos, CEO of Napster, and Animal Concerts Executive Producer, Music, Anthony Mazzo discuss how brands can connect with artists, music, platforms and communities in the metaverse. Stream the episode.

Inclusivity in the Metaverse 

AFROPUNK founder Jocelyn Cooper and Shelby Larkin, Director, Global Partnership development at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park discuss diverse communities can benefit from the Metaverse. Stream the episode. 

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Brand fandom is driving the transformation of marketing. And marketers can’t move fast enough to maximize the potential of community engagement to drive long-term loyalty. Hear how leaders from LEGO, Lenovo, and Infinite Reality are using everything from immersive technologies to branded entertainment to engage with their brand fans. Catch their insights below and visit YouTube to see all of our Content Studio interviews with C-Suite leaders.

 Alexis Williams, Chief Brand Officer, NA 

LEGO: Branded Entertainment and Brand Fandom Go Hand in Hand  

LEGO Creative Director James Gregson shared his team’s playbook for using brand entertainment content like “The LEGO Movie” to drive long-term brand fandom with Rescout’s Ivan Kayser. Watch the clip.

Lenovo and Infinite Reality: What Is the Most Important Driver of Fandom?  

National Research Group’s Jay Kaufman interviews Infinite Reality CMO Hope Frank, Lenovo CMO Gerald Youngblood, NRG CMO Grady Miller and Brand Performance Network’s Shannon Pruitt after their SXSW Session “The Anatomy of a Fan.” Watch the clip

Minnesota Twins: Fan Insights Fuel Better Experiences

Technology is giving sports teams and sports marketers insights into fan behavior that they’ve never had before. Chris Iles, Sr. Director, Innovation and Growth at the Minnesota Twins, caught up with Stagwell at SXSW to chat about how teams like Twins are integrating tech innovation to reach a new generation of fans. Watch the Clip.

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Our biggest takeaway from SXSW 2023? Brand fandom is driving the transformation of marketing. And marketers can’t move fast enough to maximize the potential of community engagement to drive long-term loyalty. Here are our top three learnings from the fandom conversation in Austin this year. 

FANDOM and COMMUNITY

Throughout 2023, we’ve been talking about the convergence of “community, content, and commerce”. At SXSW, the first C in that clause was on full display as brands built physical communities to connect attendees to their favorite brand elements. Take Roku City; introduced as a dynamic screensaver in 2017, it drives Twitter mentions once every 12 minutes. Roku finally created the city in real life in Austin in partnership with Best Buy, driving attendees through a whimsical entertainment and commerce metropolis.  

In Austin, Reddit loomed as the unspoken champion of consumer communities; in a cheeky session, the brand acknowledged that while ChatGPT and its peers are quickly transforming the internet, they won’t usurp community information any time soon. ” “Where do you think they get their answers from?” quipped Reddit’s COO.  

So What? Community is an accelerant for brand fandom. Tap into your consumers’ key communities, or otherwise deliver it via your product and services, and you have a long-term platform of ambassadors.

FANDOM and IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES

Brands traded talk of the metaverse for discussion of “immersive experiences” at SXSW this year. They’re excited what’s possible with personalization in immersive marketing; as well as how brands can use shared moments of interactivity between consumers to build fandom. 

Marketers should tap into a toolbox spanning V.R., AR, and interactive activations to build brand ecosystems that empower consumers to customize their interactions with the brand — while being part of a larger community of passionate fans. And don’t discount the power of A.I. to aid here; for example, new features from our partners at Infinite Reality, unveiled at SXSW, make shopping and viewing interactions in the Metaverse more intuitive and personalized for participants.  

So What? Shared Experiences + Personal Touches = Fuel for Fandom-Driving Experiences

FANDOM and PROBLEM SOLVING

Brands are in problem-solving mode, bending tech and media to tackle sustainability, hunger, disease, and socioeconomic ails. For brands like Dexcom, which brought a dynamic panel featuring Nick Jonas to life at SXSW with our colleagues at Allison+Partners on the lived experiences of patients with diabetes, becoming a trusted source of safety and support for a consumer set can drive dividends for years to come. Dexcom’s emphasis on improving access and affordability and its marketing efforts at the Super Bowl over recent years allow it to make inroads with massive addressable consumer sets, with 1 in 5 Americans being diagnosed with diabetes. 

Consumers reward brands that show a penchant for problem-solving; in our research on brand fandom, consumers ranked innovation as the top driver of fandom, followed by the brand’s ability to create a sense of belonging.  

So What? Fandom isn’t all about creating exciting stunts – sometimes it’s about cracking the code on the maximum value your brand can offer to consumers. 

The Power of Brand Fandom

Fan culture is what elevates a brand into relevance, power, and popularity. 

Our research shows that the value of brand fandom extends beyond the traditional metrics of loyalty and relevance. It creates a fan ecosystem where everyone benefits – brands become core to a consumer’s identity, and fans show up with deep commitment and a desire to advocate for the brand. 

Download National Research Group’s report for five things you need to know about brand fandom. 

 

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By: Brandon Dixon, Director, Communications 

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The success of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” at the end-of-2022 box office sparked a question at Stagwell: “When is Black Futures Month?” Brands flocked to the marketing table for the Black Panther sequel, and for good reason: in a 2020 study from National Research Group 52% of Black Americans selected the original film as the “best example of representation and inclusion” in American entertainment. But, marketers still rely too much on Black History Month as the main chance to elevate Black stories.

The success of “Wakanda Forever” shows we should focus on Black futures, not just history, in our marketing efforts. As brands and entertainment converge, how can we drive complex representation for Black consumers and tap into growth opportunities? 

Multi-Dimensional Blackness 

Despite an increase in Black characters and stories in mainstream media, authentic and complex representation is still lacking. 91% of Black Americans still see negative stereotypes as a top pain point. Brands can challenge these narratives through speculative storytelling and Afrofuturism, offering new contexts for Black characters. 

Investing in sci-fi, fantasy, or superhero genres can be a potential goldmine for brands. The 2020 National Research Group study shows Black Americans praised “Black Panther” and “Black Lightning” as the best examples of authentic Black representation in American media. These two shows showcase the potential growth in futuristic, fantastical genres that bring Blackness to the masses. The study also found that 77% of American consumers and 85% of Black Americans find Black content in a futuristic setting appealing. 

Future-Forward Creativity  

Brand creativity that only mines the past for visions of Blackness may dwell on traumatic storylines. Joy exists in the past, but clumsy brand storytelling often leads to the platforming of the same recurring stories about Black oppression. If brands can build Future narratives in concert with Black creatives and think expansively about the potential forms Blackness might take in the future, we’ll see more stories of Black joy and transcendence enter the mainstream.

Potential for Transformation

Ninety-one percent of consumers are confident in the ability of media to influence society, per the 2020 National Research Group study cited above. As brands blur the line between Hollywood and Madison Avenue with branded entertainment, future-leaning visions are the way forward to connect meaningfully with Black consumers.

Let’s use Black Futures Month to challenge our brands to think about what’s next.  

What kind of Black Future can your brand imagine, and help create? 

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By: Mark Penn 

Originally Published on: Barron’s

About the author: Mark Penn is chairman and CEO of Stagwell, a technology-based global marketing services firm.

Technology’s Wild West era is coming to an end. For decades, American policy has been hands-off technology to let it grow and innovate. On the eve of the dawn of artificial intelligence and the metaverse, the bad taste consumers have of social media and its divisiveness suggests that more aggressive regulation is just around the corner.

The recent round of layoffs won’t do much to staunch consumers’ fears that technology is enabling the possibility of a surveillance state. Their concerns will accelerate movement on tech privacy, censorship, anticompetitiveness, and national security legislation in the U.S. and abroad in 2023.

Half of consumers in America fear that technology will undermine their personal freedoms over the next decade, and 70% worry that tech will give more power to big corporations. The younger generations are particularly suspicious of Big Tech. Elon Musk gave some journalists access to Twitter’s records after he bought the social company. The reports they produced, known as the Twitter Files, were a damning revelation that government officials were pulling the strings behind the curtain and that the tech companies were willingly obedient much of the time.

In a recent Harvard-Harris Poll, 70% of voters now support a national law to prevent corporate censorship. The saving grace for the tech industry may be that many Democrats believe that they have been benefiting from the censorship and will oppose such a law, not understanding that what goes around comes around. They will regret blocking this legislation when they believe that they are the ones being censored. I expect this to be a significant issue in the 2024 campaign.

If Big Brother colluding with Big Tech keeps consumers up at night, the thought of TikTok being a Trojan horse for Chinese influence and spying is catnip for Congress seeking to look tough on China. Before the close of the year, leaders let loose a rash of state-based restrictions on the use of the platform by government officials. The House banned its members and staff from downloading the app. TikTok has dozens of trends working against it: Democrats and Republicans are largely aligned on the need to curb China’s influence, the Biden administration’s negotiations with TikTok have stalled, and difficult news continues to leak that employees at TikTok have misused the app, most recently to spy on journalists. The company has said it doesn’t share data with Beijing, and it fired staff members that it said were involved in the spying incident.

Voters might be less invested in the diplomatic implications of a TikTok ban than your senator, but rest assured that if the government enacts an outright ban, consumers will be up in arms. TikTok is the fastest-growing social-media platform in the U.S. and has been taking ad-market share from its legacy competitors. Expect a compromise that allows TikTok to operate but puts restrictions on how it can use and distribute information.

Beyond the U.S., data-privacy regulations will mature in 2023, meaning that global businesses will face more severe restrictions as they do business across borders. Countries have moved to enact data-privacy regulations since the implementation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, and now more than 100 have rules in place, according to Forrester. By 2024, an estimated 75% of the world’s population will be covered under modern privacy regulations.

The good news is that businesses have tracked the “will they, won’t they” drama around Google’s plan to phase out user-tracking “cookies” long enough that they’ve found solutions to replace the tool—and have adjusted data-privacy standards. But a more bullish Federal Trade Commission, with a renewed focus on “harmful commercial surveillance and lax data security,” will mean that it isn’t time to rest on laurels. It’s unlikely that the U.S. will get a national standard like the proposed American Data Privacy Protection Act. But expect the FTC to oppose virtually any merger-and-acquisition activities in tech, even if the government loses its cases.

The impulse isn’t uniquely American. The EU is also taking anticompetitive action against tech giants with the adoption of the Digital Markets Act, which aims to curb the market power of dominant digital companies. We have yet to see alignment on comparable federal efforts in the U.S. but the FTC’s recent intervention into Microsoft’s Activision deal hints at more to come. The FTC will take on Google, too, for alleged anticompetitive practices, in September.

Big Tech remains a critical engine of economic opportunity and innovation. But once it began carrying news and political speech, the industry crossed a line that put it in politicians’ crosshairs. This eroded their traditionally loyal Republican free-market supporters as the Democrats were moving further to the left, taking on a more anti–big business flavor. The combination of these trends just may result in the first major year of regulation of the industry.

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By: Rafe Needleman, SVP, Technology Content, Allison+Partners

 

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Artificial Intelligence will change your job — not in five years, not next year, but now. If you’re not 100% convinced, spend some time experimenting with ChatGPT, the conversational chatbot released into open beta by OpenAI in November 2022. ChatGPT is the first free and easytouse chat product based on the groundbreaking GPT 3 Large Language Model (LLM). 

The product is a web-based chat system you can have a real conversation with. It is uncanny how well it constructs text output based on almost any input. It can answer questions, generate what appear to be original ideas and hold a decent conversation on any topic. It can also create plausible technical documentation, such as computer code and macros, and food recipes.  

If you haven’t already tried it, you should. This technology will have a huge impact on communications, marketing and advertising. It will change your job, as much as the introduction of the internet did.   

For many people, ChatGPT provides the first glimpse into what this type of AI will do for us in the future. It is both amazing and terrifying. And the revolution starts today.  

Here’s what to know to get started: 

1. You can use ChatGPT today to improve your productivity.

ChatGPT a great collaborator for generating ideas and outlines. Experiencing writer’s block? Ask ChatGPT to help get you going. Try “Outline an article about…” for starters.  

ChatGPT is also good at getting you up to speed on new topics (Try, “Explain Kubernetes”) and summarizing meetings and complex stories: Type, “Give me the bullet points for this:” and then paste in text from a transcript or story. It can even write Excel macros and more advanced computer code. As part of your existing workflow, ChatGPT can be a great starting point. But keep in mind it can’t (yet) replace all your human skills. Keep reading for why.  

2. ChatGPT lies.

ChatGPT is designed to create text that fits a linguistic model. While it is often useful and accurate, it does frequently make stuff up out of nowhere. In some instances, it gets facts completely wrong (ChatGPT seems to be convinced Russia has sent several bears into space, for example; it hasn’t!). Even if it has the correct information in its enormous corpus of knowledge, that doesn’t mean it understands it, and its output can sound completely plausible while being far off target. It’s also critical to remember ChatGPT was trained in 2021. It knows nothing about the world after that.  

Simply put, you can’t trust ChatGPT for accuracy. Always verify what it gives you. 

3. The field is evolving fast, and you need policies.

If you’re going to use this technology, it’s important to lay out clear guidelines as to how. For example, if you use ChatGPT to write an article for a client, does that need to be disclosed? How about if you use it to prepare social media copy? Let’s say you ask it to write a blog post optimized for a particular audience or SEO. Or maybe you just use it to get an article outline started. Is that something you need to tell stakeholders? 

Communications companies have already caught flack for using generative AI to create content. Publications like CNET have used ChatGPT to write articles for months, The Associated Press has incorporated some kind of AI since 2015, and even The Washington Post employed it to help write for the 2020 Presidential Election. They are all still working out how to use it and how they should publicly disclose its use for written articles.  

You must work out how you incorporate the technology into your day-to-day work in a responsible way.  Make it clear how your teams should and shouldn’t use the tool, knowing its limitations and pitfalls. And make sure you communicate this to partners and customers.  

4. Meet the “AI Native”

The capability of AI to generate original and useful creative work at scale will prove to be one of the foundational technologies of the 21st century. It will change how we live, work, learn and even think. The children born into this world will be “AI natives” and will understand the world of ideas in a different way from their parents. We can hope this technology will mostly be used to advance the way we learn and think, just as calculators changed our relationship with math. But we simply do not know yet how the developing brain will react to this type of machine intelligence. 

One thing we do need to look out for, though, is a growing digital divide exacerbated by this technology. AI is not cheap to create or run, and some populations may just not have access to it, potentially putting them at an economic disadvantage. It will be a global challenge to create a responsible framework for the distribution of this tech. 

5. Generative AI will impact your job, but it won’t kill it.

The software’s ability to create useful customized content is staggering and fundamental. It will certainly change how you work, as well as the nature of creative work at all levels and in every industry, worldwide.   

However, no matter how useful (or damaging) this technology becomes, AI will always lack imagination, vision and compassion. Adapting to this new technology will not be easy, it is still only a tool, and we can use it to reinforce our best, most human qualities. It will still need you – your humanity, your personality, your perspective and your soul.   

Be ready to change, adapt and embrace this new technology as another tool in your box of tricks. 

Those who ignore the power of AI in communications will fall behind a skills curve. It’s something we’ve already embraced at A+P as one of the many tools we use. And we help clients navigate how to make the most out of this amazing technology. Keep following this blog and our social media feeds on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook as we continue our series on the power of AI.

Disclosure: This story was written by a human.

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As we look to the future of marketing, one thing is certain: Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) will play a major role in shaping the industry. From generative A.I. revolutionizing the way we approach creativity to predictive A.I. providing unprecedented insights and analytics, the potential of A.I. in marketing is vast and exciting.  

But what exactly does the next decade hold for this rapidly evolving field? We asked some of the top minds across Stagwell, including leaders from the Stagwell Marketing Cloud, PRophet, Code and Theory, Colle McVoy, Yamamoto, Concentric Health Experience, and Vitro, to share their predictions and insights on the future of A.I. in marketing.  

A.I. Won’t Eat the World – But it Will Give Consumers Time and Brands Opportunity

Mansoor Basha, Chief Technology Officer, Stagwell Marketing Cloud

“AI and ML are at the forefront of driving digital transformation across industries and will undoubtedly continue to do so. In a 2011 op-ed, Marc Andreessen observed an environment in which software was increasingly becoming king, famously stating that ‘software is eating the world.’ His observation came about a decade after the peak of the 1990s dot-com bubble as companies like Facebook and Skype were booming. Looking to the next decade, I believe that AI and ML will be eating the world, changing the way we work, live, and interact with brands. 

I predict that as AI technology changes everything around us—with things like driverless cars and more efficient, sustainable systems—consumers will have more time on their hands. This will give brands the opportunity to leverage more pointed channels to reach audiences that have more free time to participate. AI will find brands’ ideal audiences and reach consumers in the right place at the right time, especially as AR and VR go mainstream. 

And as the hype around ChatGPT and generative AI simmers down, marketing teams will become more comfortable adopting a wide range of AI tools that help them build powerful workflows that drive innovation, aid in decision making, and create new business models. ChatGPT will be an entry point for many marketing teams as they look for relevant ways to use new technologies in their day-to-day work.”
 

Enhance, Not Replace

Aaron Kwittken, Founder and CEO, PRophet

“Generative AI, while not perfect, is the needle that pierced the veil of doubt and fear amongst marketers when it comes to adopting AI technology. The current limitations are only encumbered by the lack of data needed to make it more performative. 

When paired with the right inputs, this technology will make marketers more efficient by enabling them to create base content faster and better, freeing them up for higher value tasks like editing and strategy deployment. In addition to content creation for press releases, social posts, pitches, marketing collateral, blogs, and more, I see this technology as a huge aid when it comes to legal and compliance issues, especially when working with third parties like influencers and celebrity spokespeople.

Make no mistake, though, the downsides will need to be managed. 

Generative AI may reduce the need for junior staff; could be used as an accelerant to create and spread mis and disinformation; and could make professionals more complacent, less creative, and more transactional. This is where it will be on marketers to get creative about how they use this tool to enhance their current activities, not replace them.” 

The Key Word with A.I.? Enablement

Dan Gardner, Code and Theory Co-Founder and Executive Chairman

“At the moment, where we will see AI transformation is in how we conduct business. While traditional creative shops may be focused on stunts and activations, I believe the key word here is ‘enablement,’ and how the technology allows businesses to do what they haven’t been able to do before.

Where the technology is built into systems that yield long-term results. What this looks like exactly, we still do not know for certain, but I do know that technology at its best is when it has the power to drive meaningful change in people’s lives.” 

Watch Out for A.I.’s “WordPress” Era

Yamamoto Digital Team

In the end it’s not the technology that sells, it’s the story it tells.”  

Welcome to AI as shiny new toy, with machine learning, natural language processing and open access combining to create a sandbox for early adopters. Expect showy, public activations (e.g. Ryan Reynolds reading an AI-generated script for Mint Mobile) as well as backstage experimentation. We marketers will find it hard to pass on an instant first draft of everything we do.  

Then AI enters its WordPress phase. Smaller players will benefit from “good enough” templates that auto-generate content. Meanwhile experts will game AI’s limitations to circumvent the inevitable commoditization.  

There are also threats. To brand safety. To copyright laws. To beliefs about creativity. We’ll have hard conversations about everything from unconscious bias to criminal misuse. Then, in ten years, full impact. We imagine a golden age of hyper-targeted, account-based marketing. We also predict AI depreciating the value of individual assets a la Napster killing the compact disc. Expect real people to respond with bespoke, humanistic, artisan campaigns.   

Finally, a confession. That tasty quote at the top? ChatGPT wrote it. The prompt: Crystalize the future of AI in the haunted, optimistic voice of Don Draper. How’d we do?  

“Make it More Human” 

Ben Majoy, Creative Director, Observatory

We’re in the industry of threading the needle of perfection, constantly trying to find new ways to get as close as possible to what sometimes feels like an impossible vision. Artificial Intelligence is now creating a superficial answer to that question, but we’ll soon see that creating something narratively resonant means a lot more than a “vision” coming to life.

In the same way that a perfect cheeseburger just doesn’t taste as good as a sloppy one (or any other curated vs. bespoke experience example you want to use), we’re going to see that no matter how accurate the A.I. responds to our prompt, it will never FEEL as good as the human-made. There’s humanity in what we do.

Until Artificial Intelligence can replicate nostalgia, trauma, and emotions like seeing someone you haven’t seen in ten years and picking up right where you left off, we will also feel like something is missing. We’re about to enter the era of “make it more human,” taking the place of the “I’ll know it when I see it” feedback loop.

Sturgeon’s Law

Tom Sullivan, CEO, Vitro

RESPONSE TO YOUR PROMPT, FROM CHAT GPT (195 words) 

AI is already revolutionizing marketing…and this continue over the next decade. A big step will be through the use of machine learning algorithms to analyze consumer data and make more targeted, personalized recommendations. This will likely include personalized email campaigns, targeted social media ads, and customized product recommendations on e-commerce sites.

Or course…there are chatbots and virtual assistants. These tools allow companies to interact with customers in real-time, providing immediate support and assistance. They will also be able to handle routine tasks, freeing up human customer service reps to handle more complex inquiries. As time marches on these will continue to get better (and seem even more human). 

AI will also have a major impact on content marketing, as machine learning algorithms will be able to analyze consumer data and create more effective content. This could include personalized blog posts, videos, and other types of content that are more likely to engage and convert consumers. 

Overall, the use of AI in marketing is likely to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the customer experience. Whilst there may be some initial disruptions as companies adopt these new technologies, the long-term benefits are likely to be significant. 

RESPONSE TO YOUR PROMPT, FROM TOM (195 words) 

See above. It’s so generative. It’s Sturgeon’s Law (90% of everything is crap). My guess is…AI will generate at least 50% of marketing assets/thinking. It’ll probably all be pretty smart…pretty good. But when it gets to emotional storytelling, powerful creative…it’ll be just like people, generating a lot of “crap”. AI is digital. Digital is binary. Zeroes and Ones. Blacks and whites. Much of creativity comes from the muted tones, the instincts and intuitions…the random brain synapses that live in the grays. I’ve spent a lot of time playing with AI in several arts (music, writing, imagery). Some of it really interesting, and maybe even gives bits of inspiration…but so much of it is just a mashup of elements we’ve seen before. Usually…you can tell AI was the ghost in the machine, right away.  

These are relatively early days, and they are super exciting…but here are three watchouts that come to mind:  racial biases and presenting incorrect information as true fact. And…look at the “open” in Open AI. It seems to be claiming that everything is open source. So I wonder; will I will end up being a windfall for intellectual property attorneys? Time will tell.   

The InkWell is Half Full for Copywriters

 

John Neerland, VP, Group Creative Director, Colle McVoy

Over the past month, ChatGPT has hit the world, the industry and advertising copywriters in particular, like a ton of virtual bricks.  

The reaction from writers I’ve talked to has ranged from cautious pessimism to downright dread. Gallows humor abounds. One writer quipped that it might finally be time to get HVAC certified.  

But I’m choosing, for now, to see the inkwell as half full. Just like Photoshop didn’t eliminate art directors and designers, ChatGPT won’t make copywriters obsolete.   

Out of the gate, ChatGPT is only as good as the inputs it receives. And even then, ask it to write headlines for a specific product or brand and you get a list that feels more like 50s newspaper retail ads than the One Show.   

So, if it isn’t pumping out pencil-worthy lines just yet, how can copywriters harness ChatGPT (and not be trampled by it)? Some initial ways include using it to get over blank page syndrome, getting unstuck from one idea or approach, exploring new tones and styles, making copy more search friendly and speeding up the more mundane writing tasks to free up time for more interesting ones.   

Over the next decade, my hope is that copywriters find ways to leverage AI not only as a technological aid to make their work easier and more efficient, but a tool to help make their ideas bigger and their writing better than they’ve ever imagined. Or maybe that’s just what the bots want us to believe. 

A Foundational 21st Century Development

 

Allison+Partners Digital team

Generative AI is about to change our world.  The capability of AI to generate original and useful creative work at scale is both amazing and terrifying, yet it will be one of the foundational technologies of the 21st century.  There’s no question it will change how we – as communicators and consumers – live, work, learn and even think.   

Tools like ChatGPT make it easier to quickly create targeted content, both written and visual. What’s more, it will help expedite what was once a very manual (and tedious) process by customizing and personalizing content for journalists, analysts and customers. In turn, there’s every chance that many of these pitches will be received by AIs with subsequent stories likely written by them as well. (In fact, some already are – controversially.)

Yes, AI may help everyone create content, just like calculators and spreadsheets help us generate numbers. But AI cannot imagine. It cannot bring years of client experience and strategy to the table. And it cannot replace passion, empathy or excitement for our clients and their offerings. AI is just one tool, plain and simple. We can and should use it to reinforce our best, most human qualities in the many years ahead. However, it will still need you – your humanity, your personality, your perspective and your soul.  

—-

This piece is part of Stagwell’s Marketing Frontiers content series on Artificial Intelligence. Visit this page to view other perspectives and work from Stagwell’s global teams on A.I.

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