From Mad Men to machines? Big advertisers shift to AI
By Richa Naidu and Martin Coulter
LONDON (Reuters) — Some of the world's biggest advertisers, from food giant Nestle to consumer goods multinational Unilever (LON:ULVR), are experimenting with using generative AI software like ChatGPT and DALL-E to cut costs and increase productivity, executives say.
But many companies remain wary of security and copyright risks as well as the dangers of unintended biases baked into the raw information feeding the software, meaning humans will remain part of the process for the foreseeable future.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI), which can be used to produce content based on past data, has become a buzzword over the past year, capturing the public's imagination and sparking interest across many industries.
Marketing teams hope it will result in cheaper, faster and virtually limitless ways to advertise products.
Investment is already ramping up amid expectations AI could forever alter the way advertisers bring products to market, executives at two top consumer goods companies and the world's biggest ad agency told Reuters.
The technology can be used to create seemingly original text, images, and even computer code, based on training, instead of simply categorizing or identifying data like other AI.
WPP (LON:WPP), the world's biggest advertising agency, is working with consumer goods companies including Nestle and Oreo-maker Mondelez (NASDAQ:MDLZ) to use generative AI in advertising campaigns, its CEO Mark Read said.
«The savings can be 10 or 20 times,» Read said in an interview. «Rather than flying a film crew down to Africa to shoot a commercial, we've created that virtually.»
In India, WPP worked with Mondelez on an AI-driven Cadbury campaign with Bollywood superstar Shah
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