Marketers increasingly turn to artificial intelligence for advertising

Nearly three-quarters of international companies use artificial intelligence in marketing, according to the Estonian Marketers’ Association, ERR reports. Association chief Anniken Haldna said the motivation is not always to cut costs.

“Artificial intelligence tools also cost money. There are expenses involved in training people to use them. In some cases, it is easier to go outside and take a photograph, but people spend hours trying to find the right prompt. In that calculation, using artificial intelligence is more expensive,” Haldna said.

Retailer Maxima runs around 300 different campaigns each year using artificial intelligence.

Maxima’s head of sales and marketing, Jaanika Terasmaa, said the company expects its advertising agency to be modern, follow new trends and find new ideas. Artificial intelligence is simply one new option.

“Another thing artificial intelligence gives us as a client is that the agency comes to every meeting with a live idea, because it has used artificial intelligence to make quick clips showing what a new advertising campaign could look like,” Terasmaa said.

She added that because advertising agencies still consist of people, Maxima does not see the technology reflected in the price list, but does see better and more interesting content.

Creative professionals stress that artificial intelligence should remain a tool rather than become the final product. In good advertising, viewers may not notice that it was used.

Kent Raju, creative director at advertising agency Kala Ruudus, said the process should begin with an idea that is right for the brand, rather than with writing a prompt. Artificial intelligence can be part of different processes, he said, but is not a central part of the daily work.

Raju said he disliked low-quality artificial intelligence-generated material, such as restaurant menu photographs made with the technology when real photographs of the food could have been taken.

Musician Mikk Saar, who performs as Planeet, said he had had negative experiences with artificial intelligence. It has been used to create advertisements featuring a distorted face or faulty text.

Saar now wants advertisements made with artificial intelligence to be approved with him in advance. He said he would not share on social media a poster that was distorted, because it would not fit his brand image and would mean a loss for the organiser.

He said this was not about control, but about reviewing the material together and asking for advice and help.

Haldna said old-fashioned advertising was also gradually returning. It has become popular to show that an advertisement was made for real, she said, adding that this can attract as many views as the advertisement itself.