Last week was more important in the discussion of human creativity and artificial intelligence than in the discussion of artificial intelligence.
On Tuesday, Openai released a new image generator for ChatGPT 4.0. This allows you to create photos made with popular animation styles such as Pixar and Japanion Animation Company Studio Ghibli (and quickly went viral). On the same day, H&M shared an image featuring the first AI-generated version of the model, including Vilma Sjöberg.
The reactions to both were mixed. H&M Creative Officer Jorgen Anderson has admitted that the model’s use of “digital twins” is controversial. 74% of respondents to Instagram polls by the fashion business voted to ban brands from using AI generative models. And even if the tide waves of ChatGpt-Made cartoon-style images flooded social media, questions were also growing as to whether innovation would be a boon to creative processes or a threat to designers.
There is a reason to do so. A 2023 report from market research firm Forrester estimates that 7.5% of the roles of US advertising agencies will be automated by 2030. Yana Sheptovetskaya, photographer and creative director of many beauty brands, said:
However, despite resistance, AI embraces in marketing are increasingly inevitable. According to a report from AI marketing platform Jasper, 79% of marketing teams plan to expand their adoption of AI in 2025. Fashion companies like Revolve, Coach and Anthropologie employ AI tools across a range of marketing capabilities, including product discovery, digital twin creation, SEO and more.
In most cases, the goal is not to exchange AI, but to use it as a tool to support human creativity. Vmgroupe, ad agency that uses AI to visualize concepts, reinvigorate content and create content from scratch, launched its own AI content creation suite last week with the aim of enabling clients to view AI as “interns.”
“What’s new, innovative, cool, disruptive, and different, all confuses people. It’s the nature of evolution,” said Addia Cooper-Henry, founder of Vmgroupe. “AI will never replace us. Don’t be afraid of anything that will help expand your glow. How will you evolve and adapt your role?”
Creating content is difficult
Already, AI-assisted content creation has emerged as one of the most popular ways marketers can leverage their power. Copywriting, for example, is one of the most sought after applications in Jasper. It can be used for everything from creating descriptions beyond product catalogs for brands like Adidas to using Ulta Beauty to generate campaign briefs and corresponding copies of various aspects of beauty sales in the summer of 2024, including mobile marketing messages, emails, landing pages and more.
However, the content generated by AI is only as strong as the quality of human input. According to Cooper-Henry, the process of developing concepts and frameworks and creating visuals using AI is similar to putting together a script for a real campaign.
“With AI, we can actually show what our minds are thinking and share it with marketers,” Cooper-Henry said, adding that AI can get clues from archived images but can be updated for modern consumers. “Now, all of a sudden you’re clearly going viral, but you still have a whole new perspective, campaign and content that’s completely ingrained in your branded DNA.”
Sheptovetskaya pointed out that developing knowledge about historical and artistic references and having a creative vision to connect them in the original way allows marketers to create prompts for AI-generated images that can trigger emotional responses in the way fashion content should. That said, she also noted that using ChatGPT 4.0 to easily create images in the style of her own photo, and that further legal questions about creative IP can be raised when referring to a particular art style.
“We’re going to get so much garbage, but in the end the garbage will remove itself,” she said, comparing the current situation to the advent of computer-generated music. “After all, we actually do really good, perhaps satisfying content. AI or not, the strongest survives.”
It is also important to use AI intentionally. For example, coaches use Adobe Firefly to create digital twins (virtual replicas) of their top products by training their models using their own brand code. Digital twins can be used to promote the scope of paid social content, but they are also used to gather consumer feedback on focus group prioritization styles to enhance product development and merchandising decisions.
Behind the Scenes Toolkit
Beyond content creation, AI offers many opportunities for behind-the-scenes marketers, simplifying workstreams and automates memorization tasks.
Data analysis and insights were previously a core marketing field that required several hours of manual labor, but can now be supported by AI. This technology quickly analyzes large amounts of data, such as customer feedback, and stitches together trends that employees can evaluate.
With AI, “We can use large data to make more refined, smarter insights faster, then go with the human brain,” said Jarrod Bull, managing director of AI-powered creative agency Machuwon.
The Anthropologie team, currently using Jasper to improve SEO, initially spent 20% of the time automating keyword optimization and 80% of the time the platform tweaks the language to improve the understanding of the brand’s tone. Since implementation, the numbers have reversed to 60% automation and 40% validation, freeing up teams to extend SEO capabilities beyond fashion into the home department, enhancing our understanding of the evolution of the search landscape. Now, retailers are trying out other AI-enabled platforms that are intended to drive operational efficiency in reporting, analytics and planning, as well as other AI-enabled platforms that mean testing AI’s ability to aggregate customer feedback.
Shopping platforms powered by third-party AI, like Daydream, are becoming a fertile basis for gaining deeper insights into shoppers, including granular details such as the other brands that brands shop for, the search terms used, and even how decisive they are.
Revolve deployed AI to improve product searches and recommendations, expanded the scope of its performance marketing efforts through improved product targeting and promotions, and enhanced customer service with more streamlined inquiry routing and management. According to Daniel Wu, Senior Vice President of Business Intelligence at Revolve, AI innovation on consumer search and e-commerce websites is also estimated to provide seven-digit incremental revenue on an annual basis.
Yet, even in the face of technological advances, consumers continue to value human creativity. Marketers need to be vigilant about public responses to AI and manage how they can benefit from it without alienating consumers. Think where technology can handle repetitive tasks, freeing up time for deeper customer connectivity and supporting content creation, while ensuring that your brand team’s creative vision is at the helm.
“Brands are living organisms and as consumer behavior changes, we have to change through it. I think it will continue to demand and demand surveillance of that human being.”
