AI (artificial intelligence) has already made significant inroads into advertising creativity, according to a study by researchers at Auckland University of Technology.
Associate professor Angelique Nairn, senior lecturer Justin Matthews, and lecturer Dan Fastnedge interviewed Aotearoa New Zealand-based advertising creative professionals across eight different agencies, from boutique to large firms.
"We identified three key themes through our focus groups: aesthetics, creative practice and human vs machine,” says Matthews.
“AI is already well used in programmatic buying of advertising, allowing autonomous buying of advertising based on the interpretation of big data – essentially choosing the place the ad is most likely to be seen by target audiences.
"Programmatic buying has also allowed for real-time testing of advertising, meaning budgets are optimised, saving agencies and their clients' money.
“What will occur in the very near future is AI’s incursion into the creative spaces of advertising known as programmatic creativity.”
The three researchers used DALL-E2, an AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language, to create an iteration of the 2015 Volkswagen hybrid campaign by Ogilvy and Mather Cape Town, which featured a range of hybrid animals invoking the tagline "small but ferocious".
Nairn: “We used DALL-E 2 because it is remarkably sophisticated in rendering imagery from text prompts, with advanced capabilities such as canvas extension. We wanted to test an AI image against the original campaign, as a prompt for exploring how it affects the industry now, and what could happen.”
Focus group participants said the DALL-E2 images were engaging and satisfying, but not up to production standard, meaning the human skill in perfecting a campaign is still necessary.
However, for campaign ideation and mockups, the benefits of AI tools like DALL-E2 were clear. Some participants also identified a potential advantage in AI imagery, compared to stock photography.
Matthews: “While our participants could see the potential uses, there was ‘human vs machine’ pushback. It was clear to many that AI images are not at the same quality level as current output yet, but acknowledgement that could come quickly. A few participants also flagged the risk of stereotypes and biases in AI generated images.
“Several participants also flagged the workforce implications due to shifts the ‘creative practice’” says Fastnedge, “with the demand to upskill, the risk of losing jobs and the pressure to do more with less, while the ability to ideate and produce work rapidly was in general held as a positive aspect of generative AI.”
Fastnedge: “Several participants also flagged the workforce implications due to shifts the ‘creative practice. With the demand to upskill, the risk of losing jobs and the pressure to do more with less, while the ability to ideate and produce work rapidly was in general held as a positive aspect of generative AI.”
The original Volkswagen campaign image:
DALL-E 2 Image Generation Baboon-Hummingbird:
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