At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock.“ Or: “Don’t leave home without it” (American Express credit cards).

These are just two of the innumerable – and memorable – ad captions and taglines that the maestro of advertising, David Ogilvy, wrote – probably in the fifties. Decades later, they are still etched in the minds of many of us in the advertising profession. But there are others. In 1947, the DeBeers Company introduced the line ‘A Diamond is Forever’, which possibly inspired Ian Fleming to make it the title of one of his James Bond novels.

The question I wish to raise is: could any of these iconic and evocative lines have been created by AI – currently promoted as the panacea for all creative challenges – the easy way out, even if you are not really experiencing a mental block? Major global advertising agencies are encouraging its adoption and holding workshops on the viability and promise of AI. Quick to welcome and follow trends, the industry is taking the lead in creating the hype around AI.

Writing for advertising campaigns is essentially a commercial undertaking. However, copywriters (ever since the function was coined) have been fired by imagination, by a longing to identify just the right phrase and then seeing the entire creative exercise materialise. There is a fire in the belly that AI cannot match or put out. And it is only this fire in the belly that can lead to a campaign such as Nike’s ‘Just Do It’.

Created in 1987 by Wieden & Kennedy for Nike, ‘Just Do It’, along with the familiar signature swoosh, has hugely gained in popularity over the past four decades. It is an inspiring line, communicating positivity and the ability to take control of one’s life. It is also highly individualistic, showing the possibility of achievement for those persuaded to ‘just do it’. Campaigns such as Nike’s are products of emotional intelligence and it is hard to imagine such an evocative line being created using AI.

Closer to home, some ideas have stood the test of longevity and are a tribute to human ingenuity. Two of them have seen successful revivals recently. Dalda’s ‘Jahan Mamta Wahan Dalda’ captures the nostalgia and, at the same time, brings a fresh interpretation to the eternal mother-child relationship. And Lipton’s cheerful chai chahiye has struck a chord with generations of Pakistani tea drinkers. The instincts and insights captured by these campaigns (and there are many more in the Pakistani market alone) are created by human intelligence (HI).

Before being taken for a Luddite, I must confess to using AI to develop a product brief. This was after attending a talk about how AI can assist in adding value to an inadequate brief. I was astounded by the speed at which AI responded to my feedback and requests. However, at the end of the day, the brief I had in hand could have been developed by a strategist of above-average intelligence. I know it can be tempting to take the shortcut to creating a campaign or simply writing copy. The pressures of time and the deadline clock ticking can be quite stressful.

Nevertheless, I have often pointed out to enthusiasts that if AI is the answer to creativity, then clients would not need the services of an advertising agency. AI is easily accessible to all, so the route to campaign development through an ad agency may not appear viable anymore. As a result, creative teams have the bigger challenge of demonstrating that they are capable of doing what AI cannot. After all, the human mind – complex as it is – is fully capable of exploring the limitless realm of creativity, as we have seen in both scientific discoveries and the arts.

Over the centuries, the human mind has shown adaptability to change and the ability to confront new challenges. In Future Talk, published in 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote about the pace of change to come and the need for the human mind to accept both the speed and the kind of change society would go through. Over the next five decades, the swiftness of change – particularly in technology – has been mind-boggling. Yet, the human mind has kept pace with these developments.

For this article, I researched the contribution of AI in some campaigns for international brands. In almost all cases, AI was used to propose a strategic direction or to add design value. Above all, AI proved to be a great asset in engaging audiences. Coca-Cola, for example, ran a campaign in February 2023 inviting audiences to use ChatGPT with Coke’s creatives to generate new works of art. In line with Coca-Cola’s positioning, the contest was called ‘Create Real Magic.’

Another example of connecting with customers through AI comes from BMW. Teaming up with an ad agency, BMW had AI-generated art projected onto their cars, turning them into vibrant works of art.

In 2018, Nike went further and created an entire AI-generated commercial that showed Serena Williams playing against her younger self. However, behind such AI campaigns is the still unchallenged human mind. A creative individual must have thought it an innovative idea to show Serena Williams playing against herself. AI did the rest. AI-generated creativity has also found itself in the crosshairs of writers, several of whom have alleged that their work has been plagiarised in novels authored by people using ChatGPT. The question of copyright is likely to arise (if it hasn’t already) as more and more writers, including advertising copywriters, turn to AI for a quick creative fix.

A quote from Noam Chomsky has lately been widely shared by those who value human intelligence over AI. “Let’s stop calling it ‘Artificial Intelligence’… It doesn’t create anything, but copies existing works of existing artists, modifying them enough to escape copyright laws.” (New York Times, March 8, 2023).

Zohra Yusuf is the Chief Creative Officer, Spectrum Communications.