The tendrils of Artificial Intelligence have extended into seemingly every facet of life. From healthcare and education to stockpiling, customer services and heating your home, its influence is only getting stronger.
Advertising is no different. AI has long been a feature in digital media buying, and now its fingerprints are increasingly being seen – rightly or, ahem, wrongly – all over content creation.
But what about media planning? Should you allow a computer to guide the strategy for where, when and to whom your advertising inventory is delivered?
Guerillascope doesn’t think so.
Why advertising is inescapably human
We certainly believe AI has a supporting role to play. Yet, in our view, nothing can replace human intuition, creativity and experience when it comes to developing a campaign. We are consumers of media content; we watch and talk about the latest shows; we stop and admire attention-grabbing outdoor sites; we shake our heads at intrusive, poorly conceived digital ads.
In other words, we have an acute understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
Advertising is inescapably human; it is the business of influencing emotions, framing perceptions, and creating demand. Such power demands great responsibility; handing the reins to AI is therefore counterintuitive. Yes, it can be used as a tool to streamline operations and boost efficiency, but we need to watch that it doesn’t encroach too much on our planning.
Such care is critical when it comes to ethical considerations. The number of brands that have suffered greatly because of inappropriate digital ad placements in recent years should be a warning to anyone who is open to reducing the role of human discretion in media planning - as more AI undoubtedly would.
Factor in cultural nuances, volatile market conditions, and the complexity of brand positioning, and our capacity for thinking beyond the black and white remains as vital as ever.
The reality is that media planning agencies live or die by the strength of the people who populate them. Brands invest a lot of money in campaigns and want assurances that their budgets are being used wisely. This trust is cultivated by building relationships and reading the room, something computers can’t compete with. Many of the biggest success stories we’ve enjoyed over the years emanated from bringing like-minded individuals together over lunch or coffee.
Embracing AI in the right places
You could be forgiven for thinking we’re anti-AI. We’re not.
In fact, we’ve developed a beta platform that facilitates the generation of ideas for campaign planning. By inputting the buying audience, budget, start date, length, location and KPIs into the interface, we can produce data that’s useful for identifying opportunities. The brand manager in charge of delivering the campaign can then assess the options and decide how to proceed.
This is a strictly optional supplement to our planning processes. It is not designed to replace the likes of IPA Touchpoints, Mediatel, Telmar and Adalyser (which, let’s not forget, are auxiliary tools that have long supported planning teams) but can be used as a source of ideation to build from.
Additionally, we’ve introduced a new chatbot feature on our website that allows potential clients to access the information they’re looking for with greater expediency; we’re all for embracing AI if there’s a genuine benefit in doing so.
But we’re not going to change a winning formula unnecessarily. Ultimately, Guerillascope has built a strong reputation for delivering flexible and proactive campaign planning over more than 20 years due to the diligence and talent of the humans we employ. This has served us well, and continues to do so.
If this also applies to your company, then our view is, yes, look for ways to integrate AI if you feel it can be an effective supplementary tool for your team. But don’t forget that your staff's great work has enabled you to explore this new frontier from a position of strength.
David Yorath is chief executive and founder of Guerillascope.