Embracing chatGPT-4: A New Era for the Advertising Industry

The recent launch of chatGPT-4 has stirred up discussions across various industries, but its potential impact on the advertising industry and strategy is particularly intriguing to me. Although artificial intelligence has been making inroads into the creative process, chatGPT-4 is able to seep into most aspects of the creative process.

Existing text-to-image AI tools, such as Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion, in their short lives so far have been innovative in advancing the creative process by generating unique mood boards, enhancing internal brainstorming, and prototyping creative for clients. Some have taken it to its very limits, as demonstrated by Coca-Cola's ad in a museum. However, chatGPT-4 takes it a step further by being multimodal, allowing inputs of sound, imagery, and text, ultimately opening up new possibilities for content creation and trend identification.

Take, for example, these following two real life examples of how chatGPT-4 has been used so far:

1. A person took a photo of the food items in their fridge uploaded it to chatGPT-4 and asked it to give them a recipe with what they have available.
2. OpenAI's co-founder sketched an app idea on a napkin, uploaded to chatGPT-4 and asked it to write to code for it. It took less than 30 seconds to come up with a functioning app.

Despite the light speed advancements, I am not convinced that AI will replace the creative process any time soon, as it remains a nuanced and human-centric endeavour. Instead, chatGPT-4 is likely to become a valuable team member in the creative process, enhancing research, strategy, and copywriting.

One of the most exciting aspects of chatGPT-4's potential lies in its ability to take in any kind of input and spit out workable ideas within seconds. For example, analyzing large datasets and ad visuals repositories to cross-reference it with company revenues. This can lead to the development of unique insights into what types of ads work well at different times of the year and for different audiences, which can then inform creative strategy. Furthermore, AI could help ad agencies develop new intellectual property unique to the work they do to analyze trends and strategies of public companies, generating valuable research material.

As the father of advertising David Ogilvy once said, "advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals". And with chatGPT-4 strategists can unlock new and uncharted depths of research, setting the stage for more dynamic campaign strategies.

Another area where chatGPT-4 could make a significant impact is copywriting. Although AI may not replace copywriters entirely, it can certainly enhance their work. The advertising industry was built on the shoulders of great copywriters and has evolved from its early print-focused days into a video-focused era that is battling against increasingly shorter attention spans. Since the internet was not built on a subscription model (unlike OpenAI), online media channels get polluted with an overwhelming barrage of ads, forcing consumers to ignore more and more of what comes across their feeds. And while visuals have become more important to capitalize on the short window of opportunity brands have to convey their message, compelling copywriting remains essential for creating effective ads.

Copywriters possess a deep understanding of history, literature and human nuances, and while AI can learn about these subjects, it lacks the human touch that makes communication truly resonate. ChatGPT-4 can augment copywriting, but it cannot fully replace the unique insights and empathy that human copywriters bring to the table.

The future of the advertising industry is undoubtedly exciting, as chatGPT-4 ushers in a new era of research, strategy, and creative collaboration. By embracing the potential of AI, we can look forward to better, more informed advertising strategies and a continued appreciation for the indispensable human touch.

As the great Bill Bernbach once said:

Human nature hasn't changed for a billion years. It won't even vary in the next billion years. Only the superficial things have changed. It is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man - what compulsions drive him, what instincts dominate his every action, even though his language too often camouflages what really motivates him. For if you know these things about a man, you can touch him at the core of his being. One thing is unchangingly sure. The creative man with an insight into human nature, with the artistry to touch and move people, will succeed. Without them he will fail.

PPA