AI has superseded the smartphone as the biggest driver of change, and agencies are backing the movement.
Joel Pember, Juicebox strategist and co-founder, on stage at AdNews’ Perth L!VE, said the most prominent and topical technology trend in the media industry right now is AI.
“We know this because microchip manufacturing in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has seen the product of high performance chips outsell smartphone chips by 10% for the first time,” Pember said.
“The whole world is actually buying for cloud infrastructure, high performance computing instead of smartphones, and it shows how much data we're actually wanting to compute.
“And if we imagine everything that smartphones have unlocked for us in the last decade or so, then what is AI going to unlock for us?”
A main driver for AI’s popularity is because there are so many different uses and types.
There is analytical AI, which can analyse business information, market research and anything in between.
Conversational AI, which takes large language processing models and combines it with the ability for a computer to synthesise and imitate human conversation.
Generative AI, which generates images, text and anything else, even audio. Meta just last week released, audio track, which can synthesise music on text prompts.
“But at the end of the day, the data is what really matters,” Pember said.
“And it's also important to look at the agency collaborations that are happening.”
WPP partners with technology company NVIDIA to build generative AI-enabled content engines for digital advertising.
Whereas creative consultancy powered by human and AI collaboration Huge, which has just entered the Australian marketplace, is focused more on the market research and the insights side of things. And is in partnership with IPG.
“The reality however is that we’re still early with respect to these technologies and I would be encouraging a curious and proactive, yet pragmatic approach for all agency leaders,” Pember said.
In fact, perth-based independent agencies are investing in AI too and experimenting with many platforms despite economic headwinds.
For example, Glide Agency is using AI to test different variations of headlines and experimenting with Mid Journey to test different creatives.
“AI is about improving processes, systems, and efficiencies within the company, especially as small agencies, we have to make the most of our resources,” Es Chandra, Glide Agency CEO and IMAA leadership head, said.
When we understand what types of AI tools are available, agencies can start to look at it a little closer, Pember said.
“But I think the reality here is that we really need humans and machines working together at this point.
“There are two reasons for that, whether it's strategy and insights, whether it's creative production, or whether it's planning and marketing execution, humans still need to be there for bias, copyright and any hallucinations that are happening.
“We need to work hand in hand with these tools. I don't think it's so much a case that businesses can been completely automated at this point.”
For more insights read Joel Pember’s reflection on his AdNews presentation.
Thank you to our supporting partners for Perth L!VE: Boomtown, Nine, Longreach Media and MiQ. And friends of AdNews: Perth Advertising and Design Club (PADC), The Western Australia Marketing Association (WAMA) and The Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA).
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