How Mattel, the NFL and Cetaphil are using AI, synthetic data and virtual worlds

Emerging technologies are poised to redefine marketing in 2025, and the latest trends point to a future shaped by AI-driven content, synthetic data and virtual experiences. For instance, AI-generated video content, including Coca-Cola’s first AI-produced commercials, create campaigns that could rival traditional TV spots in quality and creativity. Meanwhile, synthetic data, which as the name suggests consists of manufactured data not rooted in information drawn from real-life scenarios, allows brands to fill data gaps without relying on real-world inputs. From Warner Bros. Pictures’ immersive Roblox activation for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” to advanced AI search, which is remapping consumer touchpoints, 2025 will be about how marketers harness this tech to deepen engagement. To address all of the innovations, Ad Age’s Emerging Tech Summit brought together executives from Mattel, NFL, Cetaphil and Meta, among others, to discuss the rise of innovation labs around the industry that are lending to futuristic experimentation. Below, a look at the key tech trends that will impact marketing in the new year. Cetaphil prepares for AI search Marketing leaders from Cetaphil, the 77-year-old brand within Galderma, have been paying attention to the rise of AI search engines, exemplified by Google launching AI Overviews in search, which are AI-generated results that now appear prominently. It’s not just Google emerging in this space; search startup Perplexity AI offers a similar experience, allowing consumers to query AI for their information instead of traditional search. And last month, OpenAI officially launched SearchGPT. The question for Cetaphil, and other brands, is how to appear in these new settings where more—and younger— consumers are turning for information. Also read: AI search strategies for brands to know Tara Loftis, global president of skin care, Galderma and global head, Cetaphil, and Dodie Itaoui, global head of digital marketing, media and brand engagement, advised brands to ensure that accurate articles about the brands are discoverable on these new platforms. “If you go on ChatGPT and you ask, ‘which one is the best cleanser in the category,’ or ‘what is the best moisturizer,’ and so on,” Itaoui said, “and you don’t have any article popping or any PR or any earned [media] about it, you will not be featured on ChatGPT.” The new AI search habits were partly why Cetaphil made earned media, influencer-generated content and experiential marketing, which could get covered in media, a central part of its recent rebrand, Itaoui said. TikTok Shop talk Cetaphil also made TikTok—and relationships with TikTok creators—a central part in marketing the rebrand. To mark the rebrand in October, Cetaphil held an event in Malibu, California, where creators could engage with the skin care line and also help spread the word. The rebrand led to some high-tech marketing on social media, and Cetaphil has embraced what it called “fake-out-of-home” content, which are social media posts that use advanced graphics and AI to wow viewers on social feeds. TikTok has become more than just a video platform after the launch of TikTok Shop last year. Brands such as Cetaphil are trying to figure out what the right strategy is on TikTok—is it pure marketing or can they make products available for sale right inside the app. “We are not using TikTok only for awareness, but it drives sales,” Itaoui said. Cetaphil has been experimenting with putting products into TikTok Shop, especially in markets outside the U.S., where consumers appear to be more open to purchasing within social apps, Itaoui said. TikTok Shop is a “high source of revenue” outside U.S., Itaoui said, adding that in the U.S. the brand is just starting to sell in the platform, too. See all of the Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards winners here A guide to ‘synthetic data’ Synthetic data was one subject that generated a lot of interest at the Emerging Tech Summit. Cecilia Dones, founder, 3 Standard Deviations, and an expert in marketing and technology, described “synthetic data” with an analogy using Coca-Cola and Coke Zero. Coca-Cola was “real” or “observed” data in the analogy while Coke Zero represented “synthetic.” Generating synthetic data can be a cheaper alternative to doing market research while offering insights into areas that real data missed, according to Dones. “The trade-off is that since it is not real data, since it is not the real Coke,” Dones said, “it may not always be as accurate regarding representing real world. And it has to always be validated.” There also are ethical concerns that need to be addressed when working with synthetic data, Dones said, because it’s important that marketers ensure their data represents all people and communities. “If you represent intersectionality, if you have any marginalized communities that are part of, or minority communities, that are part of your consumer base,” Dones said, “synthetic data may not be as accurate as you want it to be.” ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ on Roblox Ahead of the September debut of “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice,” Warner Bros. Pictures launched a marketing experience for the movie on Roblox. The activation, “Beetlejuice: Escape the Afterlife,” became a case study in marketing to Gen Z and how immersive gaming worlds can amplify a brand’s message. The Roblox game linked to Fandango, where viewers could purchase tickets. Cameron Curtis, executive VP of worldwide digital marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures, talked about the results of the Roblox advertising campaign, and gave tips to marketers: “What we’ve done is we’ve created a Roblox world where you have audiences running around in what kind of become advertisements for the movie itself,” Curtis said. Warner Bros. Pictures worked with Sawhorse Interactive, a Roblox marketing partner, to build its hub in the game. The “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” experiences included portals from other games within Roblox that sent gamers to the movie’s hub. There also were virtual items associated with “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” intellectual property that gamers could show off around Roblox, promoting the film. Gamers also could create clips from their gameplay in Roblox and share those to social media. All of that led to new levels of interactivity, according to Curtis. Fostering fandom was also a subject that Dones talked about as being crucial to the future of brand-building. “Wherever we can make audiences the co-pilots of our marketing campaigns and not the passengers, that's when you win,” Curtis said. “When you bring them into the creation, when you make them marketers alongside of you, we see that much more engagement.” Read about all of the 2024 Marketers of the Year AI video ads arrive The premiere of Coca-Cola’s new holiday commercials, developed with generative AI, was a welcome surprise at the tech summit, too. Zada of Secret Level offered a behind-the-scenes look at how that AI studio produced its Coca-Cola spot, which wound up being one of three AI-generated commercials Coca-Cola debuted last week. Coca-Cola commissioned the studios to recreate its 1995 “Holidays Are Coming” ads with AI video-generation tools. Ad Age’s workshop on AI video was meant to demonstrate how advanced the technology has become over the past two years. Zada emphasized that creators can’t just push a button and pop out a 60-second commercial, but the use of AI does present new options for artists and brands. In this case, Coca-Cola was able to produce three commercials, each with different details and settings. Coca-Cola’s holiday campaign also sparked a new round of debate within the creative community over the use of AI. For Zada, the use of AI video took nothing away from the human artistry involved. “The incredible thing was just the pace that we were able to do something like that. That was completed in under a month.” Zada said. “And just that level of production value can get with generative AI. And especially when we start to get more realistic people and animals and everything in there. I think it's getting harder and harder to tell what's real and what's generative these days.”

How Mattel, the NFL and Cetaphil are using AI, synthetic data and virtual worlds

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