Misfits and the Machine: Why AI alone can’t crack creative effectiveness

Generative AI (Gen AI) has been the source of a huge transformation within the advertising ecosystem. With limited human prompting, marketers can now use Gen AI to create text, audio, images, and video, saving significant human labor time and in turn increasing productivity. 

Where previous versions of AI were used for more analytical tasks, we can now use AI to outsource our thinking and creativity. For the first time ever, we are in the position of stepping back and allowing the machine to become the creator. However, while marketers might save hundreds of thousands in production, what about the millions lost in potential sales? The key question is: can a machine create effective advertising?

To explore this question, we tested 10 ads from major brands across a range of industries, using our sales validated pre-testing solution Creative|Spark

We categorized each ad based on five distinct areas of the ad development process – concept, script, audio, visual, and production – with a score of 1–5, with one point being assigned for each area that distinctly uses AI according to the ad production notes. Using this score, we classified each ad as being human-led, or as being AI-led. With a series of case study creatives, read more about:

• How human-led and AI-led ads compare when it comes to cutting through and capturing attention.
• The power of AI to boost creative effectiveness.
• The risks that an overreliance on AI poses when it comes to long-term ad effectiveness. 
• How human-led and AI-led creatives compare on delivering stronger creative experiences, which entertain and spark conversations.
• The power of human creativity when it comes to feelings of empathy and fitting in.
• AI’s enduring limitations to produce truly creative ideas.

Download the paper

Find out about how AI can be used in advertising research to evaluate more ads and support business decisions to drive effectiveness in the Ipsos Views paper: AI in Advertising Research.