Navigating Creativity and AI - how Enterprise marketers are preparing for the future

What happens when you tie a thousand speed boats to a 100,000 ton aircraft carrier? Enterprise marketers are finding that out. 

The AI disruption of the creative world happened so quickly, that 2022 workflows now seem 20-years dated. And while small-time marketers have been quick to adopt, large scale enterprises are living up to the metaphor “the bigger the ship, the slower it turns”, and are planning ahead for 3-4 years from now. 

With so many concerns about AI taking away creative jobs, we thought it’d be interesting to see how some of the larger employers in the industry see this upcoming change. We talked with marketing leaders from Coca-Cola and Publicis Groupe, and found they were unified in their views: putting Pineapple on pizza is an abomination. Also, and slightly more relevant to this post, they all said they see AI as a huge productivity boost, allowing good ol’ humans to focus on actual creative work.

Let’s break it down:

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Productivity over creativity

VP of Marketing at Coca-Cola, Elad Horesh, lays it out simply: AI is here to handle the grunt work so creatives can focus on the real deal. Think of AI as the ultimate assistant—handling briefs, presentations, mockups, and even offering a spark of inspiration when needed. But when it comes to the final creative piece, that's human territory. “There’s too many criteria we have to meet, in terms of brand guidelines, creative quality, public opinion and legal regulations to have AI take charge”, he says, “but we can definitely save so much time during the creative process”. 

Roy Bar-Adon, Gen AI team lead at Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s largest creative agencies, brings a unique point of view, looking at multiple brands as well as the agency’s own creative processes. “Companies are looking for efficiency - saving time and costs - a lot more than they’re looking to create what was once impossible”. 

They both agree that companies are taking their time with new tools, focusing more on how AI can make the team faster and smarter, rather than just jumping on the next big thing. It's all about making sure that when AI steps in, it's actually making a difference, helping teams do their best work without getting in the way of creativity.

Elad also added that unlike creativity, productivity is easily measurable, making it easier to be approved by stakeholders in large organizations. 

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Automation of the adaptation

AI's real power shines in customizing and adapting core creative concepts for diverse audiences. While humans hold the reins on original creativity, AI excels at spinning out variations for different locales and personalized experiences. This is where AI turns from a tool into a collaborator, using its vast processing capabilities to make content more relevant and impactful.

Roy highlights a crucial aspect: personalization. It's all about leveraging the vast data at our disposal to fine-tune content, making it resonate more deeply with individuals. This isn’t just tweaking a few words here and there; it's about understanding and catering to specific cultural nuances, preferences, and behaviors.

By automating the adaptation process, AI enables marketers to significantly enhance the relevance of their advertising, leading to improved engagement and performance. This approach not only saves time but also ensures a level of customization that would be virtually impossible at scale without AI. It's about making every piece of content feel like it was crafted just for the person engaging with it.

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"Companies are looking for efficiency - saving time and costs - a lot more than they’re looking to create what was once impossible"

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The Rise of Real-Time Marketing

In contrast to the above, there is one place where AI doesn't just assist but takes center stage: Real-Time Marketing (RTM). This is the arena where AI's capabilities to produce final deliverables truly shine. The power to generate visually appealing images or videos in a matter of hours equips creative teams with a superpower—the ability to respond to current events with lightning speed.

The nature of RTM, where content is clearly created and shared in response to immediate happenings, brings a unique advantage: audiences are more forgiving of imperfections. Knowing that a piece of content was crafted quickly to capture a moment makes viewers more focused on the main message and less on critiquing minor errors. In fact, imperfections can actually add authenticity and immediacy to the campaign, leading to significantly higher engagement rates.

As we move forward, the expectation is that RTM will become an increasingly vital component of marketing strategies. The ability of AI to facilitate this rapid response not only empowers creatives but also transforms the landscape of engagement, making real-time reactions a powerful tool for connecting with audiences on a deeper level. The next few years are poised to witness a surge in RTM, as marketers leverage AI to stay relevant and responsive in a world that waits for no one.

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Adapting to a new reality: working with new tools

In the competitive arena of marketing, staying ahead or even just keeping pace requires constant adaptation, especially when it comes to technology. If your rivals harness a new tool that boosts their efficiency, you're compelled to match their stride to maintain your competitive edge. 

For that reason, new tools are being adopted by the enterprise: from ChatGPT, to generative AI video tools like invideo AI and Eklipse, presentation tools and others - marketing teams are being forced to adapt.

But it’s not only generative AI tools that are being adopted. The new circumstances are leading to interesting side effects that lead to new requirements: with image creation being as easy as typing your keyboard, companies will find themselves having 10X, or even 100X more media files. Using local servers or regular cloud-based storage just won’t cut it anymore, and a new wave of creative asset management tools is already gearing towards this new future.  Other agile tools and methodologies are helping teams stay on top of things (see some of the best Notion templates as a great example).

On the other hand, Roy mentions that their research shows the adopting all these new tools might lead to a saturation point—tool fatigue. As the initial excitement wanes, the focus shifts towards optimizing existing workflows. Companies increasingly prefer integrating new capabilities through plugins or enhancing their current tools rather than accumulating an unwieldy arsenal. This approach not only streamlines operations but also ensures a cohesive and efficient work environment in the face of ever-evolving marketing challenges.

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AI is stepping up in marketing, not to take over creativity, but to handle the heavy lifting—think making content fit for everyone, everywhere, and reacting fast to what's happening now. It's about giving teams the power to produce stuff quickly, especially when timing is everything, and making sure everything speaks directly to you, wherever you are.

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With all the new tools popping up, it's easy to get overwhelmed. So, instead of chasing every shiny new thing, companies are getting smarter—plugging in upgrades to what they already use to keep things simple and sharp. In this fast-moving game, it's all about keeping up without getting lost in the tool shuffle.

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