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Byte or Bust: How AI Can Help or Harm Marketing
In the rapidly-evolving landscape of marketing, the integration of Artificial Intelligence stands as both a beacon of innovation and a crossroads of challenges, causing brands and their marketers to weigh the promising advantages against the potential pitfalls. From predictive analysis to content creation, AI already plays a pivotal role in how brands move forward in the virtual world. But how brands and marketers utilize the human relationship with AI can have an even more massive impact on their own digital trajectories.
The use of AI in marketing is hardly new. Chatbots for customer assistance first appeared in the mid 1990s as web visitors started needing 24/7 interaction options. These early chatbots evolved into interactive voice response (IVR) systems: automated telephone systems designed to engage with callers by collecting information about the nature of their call to efficiently direct them to the correct individual or department. In addition to offering assistance, data-analyzing AI can be incredibly helpful for other predictive analyses. Netflix has been using predictive AI for years to provide users with show and movie recommendations, and banks use it for fraud detection when recent purchases do not align with purchase history data and trends. AI has been praised as the god of process automation for large businesses, as it can deliver the same results every single time.
But the same technology can be used on a smaller, local marketing scale just as effectively. I recently stayed at a hotel while visiting family in a relatively rural town, and, in addition to receiving a room key and breakfast voucher, I also received an AI-generated itinerary catered to the length of my stay. It provided a different local restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day, as well as a daily activity based on hotel proximity weather forecasts. Having stayed in this area many times before, the itinerary was a pretty decent match for what I, a human, might suggest. The creation and distribution of this itinerary requires very little work for the concierge workers and has potential to greatly benefit the local businesses the AI recommends - an easy marketing win for the area that costs almost nothing.
In today’s large scale marketing world, however, AI plays a much greater role in the creation of bigger and more complex marketing content. From longform ChatGPT articles to photo “real” images, AI can streamline the content creation process, ensuring consistency in all aspects. That being said, AI is far from perfect when it comes to content creation. While a simple 6-day itinerary in a small town may be easy for the programs to create, most longform and regularly occurring content requires much more thought. AI takes thousands - sometimes millions - of pieces of content on a prompt and consolidates them to meet the required parameters. While this is efficient, it is not necessarily “the most fitting.” For example, the AI itinerary provided by my hotel did list good restaurants and real excursions, but I noticed the itinerary did not include a single meal at the hotel’s own restaurant, which is a miss on the part of the hotel’s marketing team. Additionally, one of the days recommended a family breakfast at a notorious and rather rowdy sports bar, which, while technically possible, is not a “normal” choice, and certainly would not have been recommended by a human receptionist when asked where to take your grandparents for brunch. I want to note I encountered a similar instance of this when asking ChatGPT for the historical uses of cedarwood oil for writing a blog post for a friend’s skincare brand. ChatGPT gave me quite an essay on how ancient Egyptians used it…for embalming. I think we can agree it is probably best not to make your cosmetics customers think of their own mortality when shopping for face lotion.
Furthermore, in addition to creating content that is “off,” you run the risk of ending up with content that is also (and potentially more importantly) boring. As stated, AI condenses, so the result is dry, homogenous pieces that lack personality, voice, and ingenuity. They feel simultaneously over and under worked. A piece becomes everything boiled down into a forced box, as opposed to something that mirrors a specific brand voice or ideas that were tailored for the box specifically. AI may be good for one video or story or image, but continued use will lead to content being bland and indistinguishable. The same way many AI generated images struggle to generate proper human hands and instead provide an often off-putting illusion of fingers might be, your marketing feed will have the illusion of content without the brand voice or user interest. Essentially, creating too much of the same is the equivalent of creating nothing. There is no ROI in something that doesn’t have real human appeal.
So in short, when trying to make AI your new coworker, remember they are more like your new intern: eager, always at your side, and full of information, but lacking the nuanced understanding, creativity, adaptability, and the intuition that comes with experience - your experience. It will give you everything - literally, since it doesn't understand the specifications of what is important yet. It is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with every resource in the world at its indiscriminate fingertips. So end it off to do research and write preliminary drafts. Give it your niche requests and ask it for bullet point results for you to personally transform into something creative and target-specific - the right content. In short, as far as it goes using AI, you can feed it your data and raise it up right, but it still needs a lot of guidance. Only time will tell if AI can truly carry the digital marketing torch without the heavy hand of a human marketing manager resting firmly on its shoulder.
Shopping Under the Influencer
The power of influencers and creators in e-commerce cannot be overstated when it comes to capturing the attention of the Gen Z shopper. However, it’s crucial to maintain authenticity in our approach to this market.
I had a moment a few weeks ago while waiting for my train. Scrolling on my phone during yet another NYC MTA delay, a creator's video caught my attention. She was talking about finding the perfect skirt for someone who is 5'7"—not too short but not too long. As someone who is also 5'7", I immediately related. I often find skirts either slightly too short or slightly too long for my height. This creator matched my weight and skirt size, and after seeing her style the skirt, I bought it. It was a great purchase, and I now wear it all the time. Interestingly, it was from a brand I would never have considered otherwise. Now, I’m on their email subscriber list and have bought another pair of pants from them.
Although this might not sound particularly riveting, I need to confess that I work in fashion digital marketing, so I understand the tactics behind these branded videos. Despite knowing the strategy, I still made the purchase. This brand not only got my dollar twice, but also gained access to my inbox—a significant achievement in today’s online shopping landscape. I represent someone “who should know better,” and yet I was still swayed—and that’s the impact of digital creators. The creator in my story wasn’t sponsored by the brand nor did she earn a commission from that video. Technically, influencers are required to disclose sponsorships, and she had no such tags or buttons. She likely earns money through TikTok’s Creator Fund and brand partnerships now, but that particular video was not monetized. Perhaps this “authenticity” factor was why I liked the video so much—why I was, in fact, influenced.
Brands globally recognize this power. The ability to make consumers feel like they’re on FaceTime with a close friend rather than watching a commercial is extremely appealing. At a recent Amazon Fashion Marketing Panel, a panelist mentioned that 70% of Gen Z makes purchases based on influencers or creators. While I couldn’t verify that exact statistic, I found that nearly half (44%) of Gen Z has made a purchase based on an influencer’s recommendation, compared to 26% of the general population. Additionally, 70% of Gen Z follows at least one influencer. In my work with fashion digital marketing, we prioritize the above-mentioned “authenticity” factor that influencers/creators can offer. Although we have some specific requirements for our creators, we give them general creative liberty. Why tell them how to do their job? They have a following for a reason, and we sought them out because they fit our brand. Interfering with their creative process disrupts the natural content flow, and viewers can tell. This diminishes the influence and thus our potential sales. We review videos, but ultimately we must let creators do their thing.
To quantify the impact of a creator or influencer, I can share a recent example. We collaborated with a creator, gifting her fashion items in exchange for social content. She posted over a few weeks, and during that time, our non-follower Instagram engagement increased by 91.3%, and our TikTok following grew by 264%. Most of these new followers were under age 35—our target demographic. I’d say that’s a pretty great metric to show an immediate increase in brand awareness. Now when these newly aware audience members see our labels in stores or come across a paid ad on their feed, they have an association between us and that person they like. We can now be just a little bit more than a brand. With that partnership, we’ve made it to the inner circle.
So how do you choose who to work with—whose inner circle to be a part of? Start scrolling. Look through relevant hashtags, see who your competitors are collaborating with, and explore who those creators follow. Decide if you want micro or macro influencers, or a mix of both. Engage with potential partners’ content to show your brand truly knows them. Do not ask them to change their style for you; it won’t work. If a creator normally does one thing and you ask them to do something else, their followers will notice, and that army will come for your brand, and your poor PR department will have to deal with the fallout. Let creators be honest and vulnerable and funny. One of our branded partnerships started because a creator was struggling with her body image and one of our dresses made her feel beautiful. It was such an old style, so I reached out to her because I was so touched by the video and her honesty and vulnerability, but also well aware that this woman deserved a new dress—many new dresses. We started a conversation, got her new and beautiful garments, and have been working together since.
Remember: creators are people, and they create content for people, so developing a rapport is crucial. They aren’t machines that churn out content on command, just as you aren’t a machine that can produce perfect marketing content instantly. It’s a process requiring communication and idea sharing. Ultimately, followers are drawn to influencers because they are real people. Even if aspects of their lives seem unattainable, their humanity makes their content tangible. When they let you into their world, it feels special and possible. So be part of that world, and let the creators create.
Lights, Camera, and No Reaction
How the Struggles of 2023 Played Out in Lackluster 2024 Super Bowl Ads
Just as Americans all over the country (and the world) did this past Sunday, I excitedly tuned in for the 2024 Super Bowl with the intent of missing NONE of one of the biggest cultural moments of the year. We had friends filling up our classically “cozy” NYC living room, snack plates and drinks balanced on every available surface, and the TV volume set probably just a touch too high - our own stage set for what was surely going to be an entertaining evening. But as the plays progressed, the performers took and left the stage, and the ads rolled and rolled, I found myself, well, a little underwhelmed. As someone with a career built in marketing whose past places of work have prepped for MONTHS as their clients dropped millions on making the most of their air time, this year’s ads felt…painfully basic. And I was not the only one who noticed it. Creatives, marketers, and fans took to social to express their boredom with this year’s ads. For many non-sports fans, the iconic and pop culture-packed ads are the whole reason for tuning in, and now, many of us may not tune in again. The Slate quickly came out and said what a lot of us were thinking: “The Golden Age of Watching the Super Bowl for the Ads is officially over.” They certainly didn’t mince their words. But why? Why did this year’s ads fall so flat?
To start, I want to make it very clear that I do not blame the creative teams behind the ads. I know that from idea to execution every person who had a hand in production of this year’s Super Bowl commercials gave their 100% - this is the stuff that makes careers, so I know they worked beyond hard. I don’t seek to cast blame on any person or department for a boring showing. Instead, I am going to go ahead and blame an expanse of time: the whole year of 2023. 2023 set up the 2024 Super Bowl for failure.
The last 12-14 months have been rough for media companies. Companies were forced to evaluate marketing and ad spend when financial results shook investors, so they took scissors to their teams. Layoffs ripped through some of the biggest names in the industry, with findings that over 20k jobs had been eliminated - and that number is still climbing. There are tons of economic factors to consider when analyzing these numbers: a slow US economy paired with global inflation undoubtedly leads to a shift in consumer habits. If people don’t have money, they aren’t going to buy things, and so companies won’t have the same monetary resources available to create solid content. Additionally, if you have laid off your designers and directors and other creatives to save money, who is going to make your ads? Your talent has become vastly more restrained, leading to fewer ideas, diminished expertise, and more strain on the remaining employees to meet tight production deadlines. Of course, it is much more complicated than that, but you understand the idea. In short, budget cuts have clearly limited creative freedom and production capabilities of advertisers, leading to Super Bowl ads that lacked originality, visual impact, or memorability.
Going deeper into the consumer side of things, there’s definitely been a shift between 2023 and 2024. In addition to having to consider consuming less thanks to the above mentioned economic hardships, consumers are also changing the way they receive ads and respond to them. TV ad revenue dropped by 3.2 percent in 2023, while digital platforms grew by 14.6 percent (excluding political advertising). This means that advertisers had to make that already slashed budget (and remaining media team) stretch and shift to cover additional digital platforms. A Forbes survey found that 86% of people pay for more than one streaming service each month, with the average person subscribes to 2.8 streaming services and with nearly 10% paying for more than five streaming services at any given time. This means that advertisers have to extend their budget to cover all these platforms AND television. And that's still not accounting for all the other media Americans consume via social media and other websites, as we all know have their own specific payment and promotion formulas.
Furthermore, while it is uncomfortable to think about, you cannot ignore the social and political climate both in the US and around the world. With a global audience watching America openly (and loudly) struggle with intense questions and concerns about past, present, and future US presidents, and a world itself divided on escalating international conflicts, brands might have very well felt pressure to play things safe. With so much uncertainty, confusion, and extreme polarity, ad teams likely made the safe choice to create work that shields them from controversy or opinion.
To close out, the bland showing of the 2024 Super Bowl ads cannot solely be blamed on any one factor. The economic and sociopolitical circumstances of 2023 created circumstances that starved innovation and limited creative capabilities. Additionally, as consumers continue to evolve in our own media consumption habits and demand more engaging, authentic content, across a slew of evolving platforms, advertisers must extend their already diminished resources to cover all their bases.
Despite the disappointment of many of us viewers this year, I find it impossible to agree that the culture of Super Bowl advertising has come and gone. The Super Bowl itself is a cultural and economic beast - billions are spent (and earned) each year off its shoulders. To not partake in such a lucrative and significant moment would be unthinkable for so many brands. Advertisers will simply do what they do best: evolve, adapt, and create new work. It will take time, but hey- they have a whole year to try.
Making Waves and Scoring Goals
What This Year’s Women’s World Cup Advertising Tells Us About The State of Sports Marketing
In this first-person interview with Elin Klockare Jarlstrom, Creative Director at social-first agency Formidable, and massive sports fan, she comments on what worked, what was lacking, and why there’s still hesitancy to commercially invest in women’s sports.
Women make up half of the global population, but are often under-represented in international sports, sports broadcasting, and sports marketing compared to their male event equivalences. As the Women’s World Cup charges forward to the final this weekend, it is important to look at how viewerships, fan metrics, and marketing play a role in this international event. According to Marketing Charts, 2 in 5 football fans around the world are women. A Nielsen Report found, in fact, that women are more interested in the FIFA World Cup than in any other football event - 34% of women surveyed are interested in the World Cup. The same report also found that 67% of football fans think brands are more appealing when they participate in sports sponsorships, and that these football fans engage in 15% more brand conversations compared to any other sport. And companies pay BIG money to be a part of these conversations. Before it even aired, the Qatar 2022 Men’s World Cup was expected to generate $6.5 billion, surpassing all previous tournaments and at four times the figure seen in Korea and Japan in 2002. The 2018 Men’s World Cup raked in 2.4 billion dollars in the global ad industry. But what about the women’s World Cup? And the advertising (and spending) power of female sports fans?
During the 2019 Women's World Cup, advertisers spent 96 million U.S. dollars on ads aired on the American TV networks. In comparison, a year earlier, when the Men's World Cup was broadcast in the U.S., TV advertising spending reached 350 million U.S dollars. That is less than 30% of ad investment for the women’s event compared to the men - ouch. But that has changed this year. According to System1’s Test Your Ad platform, ads celebrating the ongoing Women’s World Cup are outperforming those aired for the men’s tournament in Qatar last year. Just one ad celebrating the men’s World Cup late last year scored in the four-star range (on a 1-5.9 scale), but, by comparison, the ongoing women’s tournament has so far generated three four-star ads. Furthermore, the Women’s World Cup sold out its sponsorship packages, with its partners for the event vaulting 150%. In the Nielsen study, they commented that “this massive shift hasn’t occurred in a vacuum...it’s the result of brands, sponsors and broadcasters investing in and prioritizing women’s sports.” So let’s take a look at some of these high-scoring ads.
When I first saw the now-viral Orange women’s World Cup ad, all I could think was “wow, I wish I had made that.” At its core it is such a bold and simple idea. The VFX is bulletproof, and the underlying message is everything. A lot of people have formed biases toward women’s football despite having never actually watched it. This spot helps break these biases amongst football fans and non-football fans alike. As a result, this ad feels like a benchmark for all the opportunities that women’s sport has to offer. I hope this inspires brands to be bolder, because clearly, it’s paying off. Now is the time to capitalize on the current momentum: to shine a light on women’s sport in ways that push the bar creatively, appealing to fans both old and new.
However, while the hesitancy to commercially invest in women’s sport is decreasing, which marketing plays an important role in achieving, there is still a long way to go. Women’s sport is still underfunded across the board, and while the media and broadcast exposure play a key role, longer-term commitments from brands are becoming more important than ever. Hopefully brands can see the opportunity of being innovative with the blank canvas that still exists in many women’s sports today. Importantly, we have started to move away from portraying women’s sport as a “good cause,” which is a path sport marketing needs to continue to follow. We are now talking about women’s sports as great entertainment, made possible by these incredible female athletes. So let us create campaigns that make you want to watch and follow women’s sports, not campaigns that make you feel guilty for not watching.
An excellent example of this was the “What the Football” advert from Nike. It was another smashing piece of work. The film features 11 iconic footballers and Nike athletes: Ada Hegerberg, Alex Morgan, Asisat Oshoala, Chloe Kelly, Debinha, Grace Geyoro, Kadeisha Buchanan, Megan Rapinoe, Sam Kerr, Sophia Smith and Wang Shuang. The humor and the storytelling are just brilliant in the piece, driving the momentum behind female athletes and showcasing their past, present, and future skills on the field.
From a personal standpoint, I grew up with football, both on and off the pitch. I played from the age of 5 up until my late teens back in Sweden. I remember seeing my hero, Marta, in action when she played for Umeå IK way back when. Seeing her play her last World Cup this year and not qualifying from the group stages was bitter sweet, she’ll always be a GOAT to me. I tend to become quite patriotic when it comes to sport, so of course I am rooting for Sweden. From a Creative Director’s standpoint, what I have seen this year in marketing has been great. However, that being said, I cannot say that the marketing attention is on-par with that of the men’s World Cup - at least not yet. But I am confident that we can get there. Again, we have seen such a massive jump in the quantity and quality of the work being aired, and that is a huge step forward.
Over at Formidable, we have recently been working on a great campaign in the field of women’s sports, and I absolutely cannot wait for it to be seen. The upward trajectory of women’s sport is here to stay, and I am truly excited by the prospect of playing a part in it.
Coming Soon…
Tread(mill) Carefully
You're perfect the way you are. Except for that thing. You don't need a product to make you a better person. Except for this one. Love the way you look. But only after you change it.
Today's health and wellness brands face challenges in marketing due to the increasing importance of self empowerment, body positivity, and the reevaluation of social pressures and shaming as a means engage consumers. These brands must now navigate promoting the use of their products for a better body/life without feeding into unrealistic beauty standards, promoting lifestyle criticisms, or engaging in conversations that will turn consumers against them. Brands need to be mindful of triggering language or imagery that could effect individuals struggling with their sense of self and worth - especially their all-too-important female market, who, at this point, is becoming exhausted trying to keep up. Embracing inclusivity, diversity, and empowerment in marketing strategies can help wellness brands resonate with consumers who value body positivity and authentic wellness.
