The pace at which AI-powered marketing tools are being adopted by marketers is accelerating faster than rules can keep up. As it chases speed, the ad business has put aside concerns about intellectual property, brand misuse, and other long-term risk as they chase scale.
Brands are adopting AI tools rapidly to boost productivity and improve efficiencies. However, they do not have a playbook that accounts for the ripple effects of AI — from spoofs and fake ads. This is despite the inconsistencies AI is introducing into workflows – from measurement issues to how many partners are involved (and at what level).
Ryan Meegan is the co-founder and CMO of Dude Wipes a brand of flushable wipes. “Anything goes,” he said. Anyone with a subscription to an AI image creation tool could duplicate a brand campaign.
To not use AI would be to fall behind. Marketers are choosing to deal if and when there are any repercussions of using AI. It’s not because marketers don’t give a damn. According to six marketers Digiday interviewed for this article, they’ve seen the show before.
“In some respects, it’s similar to the early social media days, when people talked about brands there — both positively and negative,” said Brian Yamada. Chief innovation officer at VML.
Brands have struggled to maintain control of their brand narrative despite the rise of social networks, user-generated content, influencers, and content creators. David Corns, chief executive officer of Opendoor, an online real estate company, said that in some cases, the reputation of a brand was more affected by influencer sentiments rather than official communications. AI is the next frontier, he said.
Corns said that, “just like with UGC and generative AI, the most successful brand will be those who use it as an integral part to their ecosystem and leveraged it to strengthen their relationship with consumers.”
What does marketing actually control?
Brands have always struggled to control the narrative of their brand in the cultural zeitgeist. Even before generative artificial intelligence, social media, or the internet, brands had to deal with their brand logos, marketing messages, and other elements of their branding taking on a life beyond their control in the public sphere.
Recall Mastercard’s “Priceless” campaign from the 1990s. Everyone from Saturday Night Live, which mocked the sex controversy involving former U.S. president Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (a White House intern), to Ralph Nader in 2000, who used it in a campaign ad targeting George Bush. (Mastercard sued Nader over the appropriation of the corporate ad.).
A24, a film company, spoofs the “Priceless’ campaign to promote “Materialists”, its new movie. According to Cheryl Guerin evp, brand strategy and innovation, Mastercard, this is a matter that involves earned media, as long as the campaign paints a positive picture of the brand. “I would say that it extends our visibility and brand.” She said it might be okay if done correctly.
Marketers test brand safety remedies for AI.
Pressure to do more marketing on a smaller budget has pushed the industry towards AI. An anonymous agency executive said that the agency is encouraging its internal teams to create customized agents for clients’ brands. They are using brand style guides and past campaign decks to build out agents and to train AI models.
According to the exec, the agency operates under a “zero trust architecture,” also known as the principle of “never believe, always verify.” Staff is encouraged to use agency proprietary AI tools but there are guardrails in place and monitoring systems to ensure client data is protected. These include pop-ups warning staff about responsible use, training by the legal team, and monitoring company machines.
The exec said, “We can audit what everyone is doing in terms of what outputs come out, and what inputs go in, in order to track [AI use]”. There’s still only so much that an agency or brand can do, including how their staff uses AI-powered tools in their personal accounts and on their devices.
AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, use user input to improve performance and train models. It’s important to understand the inputs that go into these models to ensure they are not shared with chatbot users outside the company or agency. Yamada says that generative models, particularly those built at an enterprise or commercial level, protect brand IP. As Yamada noted, these aren’t all the tools available and safeguards don’t guarantee anything.
While brands could issue cease-and desists, legal actions may be limited due to little government or industry oversight. David Teske, partner at Alston & Bird’s technology and privacy department, said that while AI copyright infringement is not yet in the courts, it has become a hot topic for some companies and brands. The issue has pushed social media companies that distribute AI-generated content to the forefront: AI videos are taking over social media feeds and platforms like Meta YouTube and TikTok are struggling with how to protect their users’ trust.
Some companies, such as Coca-Cola have begun experimenting with AI-generated advertisements. Teske says that content created by AI alone is not protected by copyright laws because the law requires a human to create it. Brands that use AI to create content may be copied and reused without permission. Teske told Digiday that “you do have risks when it comes to brands, as the output generated by generative AI can be copied and reused without permission.”
As AI adoption increases, its promise of increased productivity, speed, and cost savings continues to outweigh concerns over climate change, measurement for calculating marketing spend efficiency, and systematic errors. Add IP and brand protection to the list of barriers that marketers will have to cross.
AI is rapidly defining our future. It’s a new frontier. Corns said, “Treat it as a copilot [to advertising]and be willing and ready to adapt.”
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