The joke is on A.I. believers in new Burger King campaign

Creatives, take note: Artificial intelligence isn't ready to take your job just yet. Burger King plans to send out a press release Thursday declaring that its newest ad campaign was created entirely by artificial intelligence. With the growing hype around A.I. and the buzz about its use in the industry (we're looking at you, Marcel), one might actually believe the premise, if just for a second. In the release, the home of the Whopper says it is testing a beta version of "a new deep learning algorithm that could give a glimpse into what the future of marketing and communications could look like." The brand's statement claims that BK "decided to use high-end computing resources and big data to train an artificial neural network with advanced pattern recognition capabilities by analyzing thousands of fast-food commercials and competitive reports from industry research." Burger King goes so far as to say that more than 300 commercials were created and tested in focus groups and says the ads will be the first ones created by an A.I. to air on national TV. But wait: Burger King is the home of plenty of prank-filled marketing. Its newest campaign might also get some people talking during the upcoming Advertising Week. "Flame grilled, just like you," the voiceover says in a 15-second Whopper spot supposedly created via AI, which later includes the line "Burger King, have it Uruguay." There are four spots in all, set to air on prime-time cable starting Oct. 1. Each starts with the line on the screen "This ad was created by artificial intelligence." "AI, bots, machine learning, deep learning algorithms, blockchain, among others. These are all topical as we explore our future in marketing. But we need to avoid getting lost in the sea of technology innovation and buzzwords and forget what really matters. And that's the idea," Marcelo Pascoa, Burger King's global head of brand marketing, tells Ad Age in an emailed statement complete with the word "idea" in all caps. "Artificial intelligence is not a substitute for a great creative idea coming from a real person." To prove the point, another ad for Chicken Fries says "Burger King logo's chicken is the new potato." The campaign comes from David Miami, along with Alison Brod Marketing & Communications on public relations, Mullen Lowe on Digital and Horizon on media. The other ads in the campaign include one for a chicken sandwich (above) and for its chicken tenders (below).

The joke is on A.I. believers in new Burger King campaign

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