Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool, but it can't build a successful advertising campaign on its own -- at least not a memorable one.
"AI is a tool to help creativity," and is "not meant to replace the human spark," Jonathan King, head of growth at independent marketing agency Quality Meats, said during a breakout session at the Inc. 5000 Conference in Phoenix in October. King noted that it's tempting for many brands to use AI to replace creative work. And while the technology can certainly churn out a high volume of content, that doesn't necessarily lead to higher sales.
"Nine out of every 10 ads that are in the world today people don't care about and that's a problem for brands that have shrinking budgets and they need to make an impact," King said. "Every CEO is saying, 'Where's the data, where are the results?' So, you need to make sure that what you're doing is actually effective."
King was joined by Jeff Lu, the founder and CEO of Akool, an AI company best known for its holographic avatars used in marketing campaigns, and the No. 1 honoree on the Inc. 5000 this year. While Akool's technology is behind memorable campaigns for high-profile brands such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola, Lu concurs that AI is merely a tool -- albeit a powerful one in the hands of a visionary team.
In conversation with Inc. executive digital director Matthew Allyn, the panelists laid out a few ways AI can enhance your marketing campaign without sacrificing creativity.
AI should reduce the amount of time your team spends on menial, tedious tasks like compiling and sorting data, according to King.
When Quality Meats was assigned to create a campaign for Jeppson's Malört -- a Chicago liqueur, that, in King's words, "doesn't taste great" -- his team decided to lean into that reputation and put out a survey to ask consumers "what it tastes like." The plan was to place the funniest responses on the bottle to make it attractive as a gag gift. The team wanted to collect answers by surveying people at local Chicago bars, but realistically "with the client's budget, [they] could only go to two bars."
"Using AI, we were able to help crowdsource more options around the country while being able to still provide authenticity to the idea without having to physically go to all these places," King said. "So, it's a good example of using AI as a powerful tool to preserve an idea while also being more efficient."
AI makes it easy for your clients to offer personalized experiences, Lu said. In 2023, Akool designed a video campaign for Coca-Cola's brand partnership with the video game League of Legends that created a new flavor, Coca-Cola Ultimate. A QR code on the side of the bottles allowed users to access an Instagram filter that used AI to make users look like a character in the game. Lu said the campaign was launched in 80 countries and "went viral" because the personalized experience was "memorable."
"It greatly boosted their brand engagement and brand passion," Lu said.
Perhaps one of AI's greatest assets in marketing, Lu said, is its ability to translate audio and text into other languages in real time. That's part of the reason why the Coca-Cola campaign was impactful on a global level. Now, Lu said the technology is "essential" for firms with clients that are looking to break into international markets.
One of Akool's clients, MUFG Bank -- the largest bank in Japan -- uses this translation tool for internal communications with international employees and live announcements, since the bank's executives "only speak Japanese." Lately, they've been using the tool to tailor their social media campaigns for different markets.
U.S. companies and social media influencers are also using the technology to enter new markets. Without the help of AI, translating content in Europe, for example, can be especially challenging because of different dialects spoken within the same country, but AI is constantly adapting and learning to fill in the gaps.
Just as AI technology is rapidly evolving, King and Lu said marketers need to quickly adapt their strategy to include AI, or risk being left behind.
"With technology, things are changing so fast," Lu said. "Don't wait -- just do it."
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