AI advertising may repel as well as attract – Marketplace

How do you revive a diminished but once mighty brand in 2024? Two letters: AI.

Toys R Us which, after going bankrupt in the late 2010s, is now mostly a shop-inside-a-shop in Macys department stores released what it called the first-ever brand film using OpenAIs text to video tool, Sora.

Using generative artificial intelligence in advertising is still in its novelty phase. But that doesnt mean its not risky for a brand.

The Toys R Us ad is pretty obviously AI its got that whole surreally smooth, this-is-kinda-creepy-but-I-dont-know-why aesthetic to it.

Even if you dont lay awake at night pondering the Toys R Us origin story, thats not really the point. The point is, Hey, we made this with AI!

This ad will get publicity. Whether it will really compel people to return to Toys R Us I think is an open question, said Christine Moorman, a marketing professor at Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business.

Moorman said when a brand dips its toes in AI ads, its betting that its target consumer will find it cool and interesting not scary and a threat to their livelihood.

If youre an older consumer, you may have more of that ick factor, that fear factor. If youre younger, you may be more in awe of it, she said.

Its not just Toys R Us. Companies like Under Armour and Levis have also hyped their use of AI in marketing materials, from short commercials to digital fashion models.

Right now, companies are using AI to help brand themselves to consumers and investors as ready for the future, which presents an opportunity for other brands to counterprogram: Hey,thoseguys are with the robots. Were 100% certified organic human.

Dove recently did that. They sort of like came out and said, were not using AI to create various things in our marketing. Were sort of human-focused, said Asa Hiken, a technology reporter at Ad Age.

While AI ads are pretty easy to spot now, with their rough-around-the-edges fingers and faces and transitions, he said, they will get better.

Although he doesnt see the controversy around them going away, he also doesnt think there will ever be a time when everyones on board.

Even with some pretty awesome technology, like cellphones, theres a lot of people that are like, This is causing a lot of harm,' he said.

Although it is hard to find any ad these days thats not optimized for your phone.

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AI advertising may repel as well as attract - Marketplace