HI Versus AI

At 60 miles an hour,the loudest noisein this new RollsRoyce comes fromthe electric clock.“ Or: “Don’tleave home without it” (AmericanExpress credit cards).

These are just two of theinnumerable – and memorable– ad captions and taglines thatthe maestro of advertising,David Ogilvy, wrote – probablyin the fifties. Decades later, theyare still etched in the minds ofmany of us in the advertisingprofession. But there are others.In 1947, the DeBeers Companyintroduced the line ‘A Diamond isForever’, which possibly inspiredIan Fleming to make it the title ofone of his James Bond novels.

The question I wish to raiseis: could any of these iconicand evocative lines havebeen created by AI – currentlypromoted as the panacea forall creative challenges – theeasy way out, even if you arenot really experiencing a mentalblock? Major global advertisingagencies are encouragingits adoption and holdingworkshops on the viability andpromise of AI. Quick to welcomeand follow trends, the industryis taking the lead in creating thehype around AI.

Writing for advertisingcampaigns is essentially acommercial undertaking.However, copywriters (eversince the function was coined)have been fired by imagination,by a longing to identify just theright phrase and then seeingthe entire creative exercisematerialise. There is a fire in thebelly that AI cannot match or putout. And it is only this fire in thebelly that can lead to a campaignsuch as Nike’s ‘Just Do It’.

Created in 1987 by Wieden& Kennedy for Nike, ‘JustDo It’, along with the familiarsignature swoosh, has hugelygained in popularity over thepast four decades. It is aninspiring line, communicatingpositivity and the ability to takecontrol of one’s life. It is alsohighly individualistic, showingthe possibility of achievementfor those persuaded to ‘just doit’. Campaigns such as Nike’sare products of emotionalintelligence and it is hard toimagine such an evocative linebeing created using AI.

Closer to home, someideas have stood the test oflongevity and are a tribute tohuman ingenuity. Two of themhave seen successful revivalsrecently. Dalda’s ‘Jahan MamtaWahan Dalda’ captures thenostalgia and, at the same time,brings a fresh interpretationto the eternal mother-childrelationship. And Lipton’scheerful chai chahiye hasstruck a chord with generationsof Pakistani tea drinkers. Theinstincts and insights capturedby these campaigns (and thereare many more in the Pakistanimarket alone) are created byhuman intelligence (HI).

Before being taken for aLuddite, I must confess to usingAI to develop a product brief.This was after attending a talkabout how AI can assist inadding value to an inadequatebrief. I was astounded by thespeed at which AI respondedto my feedback and requests.However, at the end of theday, the brief I had in handcould have been developed bya strategist of above-averageintelligence. I know it can betempting to take the shortcut tocreating a campaign or simplywriting copy. The pressures oftime and the deadline clockticking can be quite stressful.

Nevertheless, I have oftenpointed out to enthusiasts thatif AI is the answer to creativity,then clients would not needthe services of an advertisingagency. AI is easily accessibleto all, so the route to campaigndevelopment through anad agency may not appearviable anymore. As a result,creative teams have the biggerchallenge of demonstrating thatthey are capable of doing whatAI cannot. After all, the humanmind – complex as it is – isfully capable of exploring thelimitless realm of creativity, aswe have seen in both scientificdiscoveries and the arts.

Over the centuries, thehuman mind has shownadaptability to change andthe ability to confront newchallenges. In Future Talk,published in 1970, Alvin Tofflerwrote about the pace of changeto come and the need for thehuman mind to accept both thespeed and the kind of changesociety would go through.Over the next five decades,the swiftness of change –particularly in technology – hasbeen mind-boggling. Yet, thehuman mind has kept pace withthese developments.

For this article, I researchedthe contribution of AI in somecampaigns for internationalbrands. In almost all cases,AI was used to propose astrategic direction or to adddesign value. Above all, AIproved to be a great asset inengaging audiences. Coca-Cola, for example, ran acampaign in February 2023inviting audiences to useChatGPT with Coke’s creativesto generate new works ofart. In line with Coca-Cola’spositioning, the contest wascalled ‘Create Real Magic.’

Another example of connectingwith customers through AIcomes from BMW. Teamingup with an ad agency, BMWhad AI-generated art projectedonto their cars, turning theminto vibrant works of art.

In 2018, Nike went furtherand created an entire AI-generated commercial thatshowed Serena Williamsplaying against her youngerself. However, behind suchAI campaigns is the stillunchallenged human mind. Acreative individual must havethought it an innovative idea toshow Serena Williams playingagainst herself. AI did the rest.AI-generated creativityhas also found itself in thecrosshairs of writers, severalof whom have allegedthat their work has beenplagiarised in novels authoredby people using ChatGPT.The question of copyrightis likely to arise (if it hasn’talready) as more and morewriters, including advertisingcopywriters, turn to AI for aquick creative fix.

A quote from Noam Chomskyhas lately been widely sharedby those who value humanintelligence over AI. “Let’s stopcalling it ‘Artificial Intelligence’…It doesn’t create anything, butcopies existing works of existingartists, modifying them enoughto escape copyright laws.” (NewYork Times, March 8, 2023).

Zohra Yusuf is the Chief Creative Officer,Spectrum Communications.