• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, 5 hours ago

For years and years, the industry focused on media and targeting.  Understanding who the audience is and what they are doing was extremely valuable in delivering the right message at the right time.  In all the hullabaloo around data, targeting and media, we forgot to discuss the creative. 

The advent of AI has made it possible for brands to create lots of new creative cheaply, or even for free.  That means creative burnout should be a thing of the past, right?  Unfortunately, not.  What is instead happening is the proliferation of AI creative slop, as many people refer to it.

Generative solutions still have problems.  They hallucinate.  They are not easily controllable, and can create ads that aren’t always up to brand standards.  The content looks too glossy, too refined, and clearly fake.  Bad creative wastes media dollars AND has a detrimental impact on your brand.

Just because you can create loads of fresh creative doesn’t mean you should run it.  This was a lesson learned in social media, but it applies equally, if not more so, to paid ads. 

Ads that are clearly fake imply that your brand didn’t have the time, care or attention to deliver something good the audience, so why should they care about the brand? 

Impressions cost money.  Video views on ads cost money, especially when you factor in that 65% of viewers skip your ads when they see them. That means you're wasting money on the opportunity to be seen by showing the audience creative that won’t help your brand.

AI-generated creative must be reviewed by a creative team.  Generative tools are intended to shorten the time from ideation to creation, not replace the team doing the creation or replace great ideas with slop.

In olden days, there were agencies that could spit out 15-20 creatives a week, but in many cases, those were bad ads too. 

Bad creative is lazy.  It is indicative of no strategic direction, and it should never be allocated to the valuable impressions and views that your media budget is paying to achieve.

So, should you be using AI tools to augment your creative generation? 100% yes.  Should you be using them to supplement your go-to-market and battle wearout in your creative stockpile?  Absolutely. 

Should you be replacing your creative team with these tools because they are a fraction of the cost and exponentially more output?  No way.  

You should use these tools to create a bridge between your media team and your creative team, whether in-house or within the agency, to create more advertising experiences that work.  Leverage these tools so when the impression or view is delivered, it is delivered with strategy.