Allowing low-stress testing and experimentation
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted,” 19th century Philadelphia retailer John Wanamaker reportedly said. “The trouble is I don’t know which half.” This sentiment has plagued creatives for more than a century, creating undue pressure to deliver a singular and final creative idea with little insight into how it will ultimately be received.
As AI pushes the cost of production to zero, creatives can test ideas in a low-stress, low-risk environment. AI-generated early-stage content, consisting of simple and less expensive static images, video and text, can be inexpensively tested on a variety of performance media channels such as Instagram or TikTok. Messaging, an overall creative approach or even small things such as the style of an image or color, can all be inexpensively tested.
The concepts that resonate can move forward, and a fully produced version of the ad can be created that is broadly distributed to relevant audiences. The concepts that don’t resonate simply die on the vine, with little consequence to the creator or the brand. This takes the guesswork out of the creative process, giving everyone more confidence in the final ideas they take to market.
Applications of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Bing Chat are empowering, not endangering, the next generation of talent. When the stakes for ideas are lower and the busy work has been eliminated, creatives have the freedom to truly explore and make something great. And with less advertising guesswork, brands end up with better campaigns that are proven to work before big investments are made.
