How is AI shaping marketing and brand campaigns this festive season?

In the sphere of festive marketing, brands aim to establish a connection with the consumers in novel ways and tap into a broader market. With AI spreading its wings at a rapid pace, brands are trying to leverage its capabilities and boost campaigns in innovative ways. 

The panel discussion at Social Samosa’s Festive Marketing Camp 2023 on “Reimagining Festive Marketing in the AI Era” imparts wisdom on brands harnessing AI to their advantage, AI’s current state, future prospects, and AI disrupting festive marketing.

Panelists: 

Anjali Malthankar, National Strategy Director, Tonic Worldwide

Anupreet Singh, Chief Revenue Officer, Gan.ai

Ishan Mehta, Executive Creative Director, 22 Feet Tribal WW

Jay Morzaria, Head of Creative, Rephrase.AI

AI adoption in advertising and marketing

Anjali Malthankar, National Strategy Director, Tonic Worldwide observes that there is a considerable amount of excitement and curiosity in the advertising sphere regarding AI. She goes on to say that there is a clear acceptance of AI among clients as they are trying to incorporate it into their campaigns. Adding that a lot of brands who were unable to catch-up on digital, have suddenly leapfrogged into AI. 

“AI can be a co-pilot, but it can never be the emotion.”

AI vs human creativity 

On AI replacing human creativity and taking up jobs, Jay Morzaria, Head of Creative, Rephrase.AI believes it is not AI vs HI (human intelligence) but rather AI with HI combined and that AI has not yet reached a stage where it can function on its own and we have to find the answers on how to best use it.

Sharing the example of the Cadbury campaign involving Shah Rukh Khan that Rephrase and Ogilvy worked on, he says it was an example of the combination of AI and human intelligence. 

“We have barely scratched the surface when it comes to AI.”

Challenges in pitching and implementing AI

Anupreet Singh, Chief Revenue Officer, Gan.ai believes some brands are using AI just for the sake of using AI. Adding, “You need to use AI as a mobilizer for a very creative idea that you thought of. If you think of AI first in a brand campaign, you are doing it wrong.” 

“Don’t treat AI as a KPI. Don’t force fit it where it does not match.” 

Talking about the regulatory understanding, he says that everyone is still in the learning phase when it comes to AI. He adds that while crafting campaigns, he asks brands about their speaking appetite. 

AI regulations and ethics 

Brands can feel uncertain when using AI in their campaigns due to the lack of well-defined regulations. Anupreet Singh asserts that these are teething problems that come with any new technology and that regulations will soon be laid out and implemented. 

Ishan Mehta, Executive Creative Director, 22 Feet Tribal WW adds that there are two main concerns that get raised in advertising boardrooms: the legality of ideas and the quality of output.

AI disrupting festive marketing campaigns

Mehta of 22 Feet Tribal WW thinks that the most we are going to see this year in terms of AI is personalisation and different forms of personalisation. And by next year, it will reach a threshold where every brand will have used personalized messages to reach their audience. 

“This year, forms of personalization in AI are going to be the highlight.”

Apart from personalization, Anjali Malthankar hopes to see good tactical and sales campaigns this year such as those involving custom QRs or personalized AI videos using participation. 

The next big novelty apart from personalization

Jay Morzaria predicts that the audio/music sector might pick up as far as AI is concerned. Adding that although we have audio cloning at our disposal, some intervention is needed but the industry will come up with something novel very soon. Additionally, he says that some creative tools are proving to be a really good help for smaller brands in creating short-form content which is the current demand. 

Adding to it, Anjali Malthankar believes that as AI gets stronger, the accuracy of output will improve considerably. And whether it’s videos, images, audios or texts, we’ll see far more variations. 

Anupreet Singh and Ishan Mehta both agree that consumers do not care whether a brand has come up with a campaign using AI. If the output is better, they will like it regardless of the tool used for its creation. Singh adds that a bigger breakthrough right now would be the creation of end-to-end videos that are different and specifically crafted for each consumer using historical data and data science to enable purchase.  

Ishan Mehta advises brands to focus on chasing ideas rather than chasing the technology/tool. He also believes that at this moment, more of the application seems to be focused on marketing than advertising. 

This panel discussion was a part of Social Samosa's Festive Marketing Camp, featuring the following gifting partners - The Body Shop, French Essence, and The Love Co.