How Microsoft and Adobe are using influencers to promote AI platforms

With the competition for users well underway, AI providers are recruiting influencers from various corners of the internet to promote their tools to consumers on social media. Microsoft, Adobe, Google and Meta are among the big players activating creator marketing for AI products. These partnerships run the gamut in terms of their niche and message, from interior design micro-influencers demonstrating AI editing tools to food and lifestyle creators assuaging fears about the technology by showing how they incorporate AI chatbots into their everyday lives. Facing a skeptical public, tech giants pushing AI are in dire need of trusted partners to educate the masses. This comes amid multiple marketing missteps around AI, including a tone-deaf ad and a chatbot going rogue. Also read: AI in ads divides consumers, dats shows Teaming up with creators offers its own ironic tension given that much of the creative community is at odds with AI. Many in this cohort claim the technology is encroaching too far into their professional territory—a sentiment that has grown even in circles in the ad industry. And over 40% of creators recently surveyed by affiliate marketing platform Awin said they view AI as a threat to their business—although, in the same survey, nearly one-third reported currently using AI in their content creation. Microsoft and Adobe are both leaning in to influencer tie-ups in an effort to clear up consumer confusion and to emphasize trust in a murky market. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Microsoft’s efforts to reduce consumer apprehension Influencers in recent months have played a central role in Microsoft’s marketing of its AI chatbot, Copilot, which launched in November 2023. Since late April of this year, Microsoft has leveraged creators whose content largely falls into niches outside of tech—including food and lifestyle influencer Scot Louie; Speedy Morman, a freelance TV host and producer who shares comedic talking head videos on social media; and Kelsey Russell, a self-proclaimed “media literacy influencer”—for sponsored social posts. These posts aim to ease consumer apprehension toward generative AI by highlighting everyday use cases for Copilot, said Amanda O’Neal, senior director of multicultural communications and brand social media at Microsoft. The brand enlisted Louie, Mormon, Russell and fashion designer and influencer Mikaela Pabon to each produce two videos: one in which the creators discuss their respective misgivings about generative AI and ask viewers to share their own thoughts or questions about AI, and a follow-up video in which the creators demonstrate how they’re incorporating Copilot into vacation planning, meal prepping, content creation and other elements of their daily lives. The goal, as Morman states in the caption of his second Microsoft-sponsored TikTok, is to show consumers that “AI ain’t scary!” @speedymorman AI aint scary! #microsoft #microsoftpartner @Microsoft ♬ original sound - speedy Microsoft also worked with Assembly, a marketing and communications agency under Daniel J. Edelman Holdings, on a social video series featuring TikTok food critic Keith Lee. The three-episode series, called “The Reheat,” revolves around Lee revisiting three Black-owned restaurants that received an influx of new patrons after he gave them glowing TikTok reviews. Lee shows the restaurant owners various ways they can use Copilot to automate tedious tasks as they focus on riding the wave of the so-called “Keith Lee effect” and expanding their businesses. Creators are “how people are getting their information about a lot of different topics” today, O’Neal said, “and I think it’s important to make sure we’re leading with the way that people naturally consume information. I think there are a variety of creators that understand how to bring [information] to life in a way that sometimes marketing teams or marketing leaders may not be tapped into.” @microsoft introducing The Reheat with Keith Lee, Presented by Microsoft. 🔥 @Keith Lee @Pretty Soul Kitchen @brunchaholics_ @Monday | Restaurant + Bar #Microsoft #FYP #KeithLee #TheReheatWithKeithLee ♬ original sound - Microsoft Indeed, TikTok is slowly becoming the default search engine among a swath of younger consumers. More than 40% of all U.S. consumers regularly leverage TikTok as a search engine, and just under 10% of Gen Z consumers now prefer TikTok over Google when seeking out information, according to an Adobe survey of over 800 consumers. A growing number of young consumers are learning about generative AI and other topics from TikTok creators whose videos pop up in response to their queries, rather than Google Search results. Also read: How Google can win over programmatic publishers If tech companies want to “get people using these AI tools, education is what’s required,” said Ed East, founder and group CEO of influencer marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy. “People need to better understand how to use these tools, and one of the best ways that you can educate people is through relatable storytelling, which we know that creators are fantastic at. “Engaging sets of creators who talk to different niches and making lots of different, relatable stories [with them]—there isn’t really a better way of accomplishing this,” East added. Tech companies can collaborate with mega-influencers such as Maher to provide audiences with more generalized information about a given AI tool, while micro- and nano-influencers can offer deeper dives into specific elements of an AI chatbot or generative AI platform that would resonate most with their niche audiences, he said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ilona Maher (@ilonamaher) Additionally, with companies including Google facing backlash for ads promoting their generative AI tools, partnering with a handful of influencers can be safer and more cost-effective than running TV commercials that tech companies may be forced to pull if they generate too much controversy (as Google’s ad airing during the Paris Olympics did), East said. And tech brands aren’t just collaborating with creators on social content tied to their AI tools—Microsoft recently invited Ty Lauren, Enobong Etteh and several other influencers to an event where the company unveiled several new updates to Copilot, O’Neal said. Adobe’s approach to influencer marketing Like Microsoft, Adobe has invested heavily in influencer marketing since launching its generative AI efforts in spring 2023. Many of its partners have been creators with relatively smaller followings, also known as micro-influencers. These tend to be artists who are using Adobe’s AI tools regardless of their partnership with the company, said Stacy Martinet, chief communications officer and VP of marketing strategy at Adobe. Their social posts tend to focus on inspiring projects and creative outcomes, though sometimes touch on prompting and common concerns regarding the technology. For example, interior designer HausByG posted a TikTok video in May promoting Firefly, Adobe’s core generative AI platform. The post captures HausByG’s editing process, with references to specific Firefly features such as Generative Remove, which eliminates distracting details from media, and Lens Blur, which is meant to better highlight subjects. @hausbyg Editing made effortless, thanks to @Lightroom ‘s latest @Adobe Firefly-powered AI features, Generative Remove and Lens Blur! With Generative Remove, easily remove photo bombers, distracting items, and even large camera lenses with just a swipe. Plus, you can highlight any subject with various blurred effects, using Lens Blur. You can even save your favorite blur settings as presets! With these new functions, every photo can be perfected. #MadeWithLightroom #AdobePartner ♬ original sound - HausByG Adobe has also partnered with more traditional celebrities to promote its general AI capabilities. This summer, it teamed with the actor Kat Dennings for longer videos about the AI Assistant in its Acrobat productivity suite. Sign up for Ad Age’s influencer marketing newsletter here Adobe’s strategy begins with a brief, in which the company decides what tier of influencer they want to partner with (such as micro- or macro-influencer) and the parameters for the partnership, including length and terms, Martinet said. These tie-ups are often timed around public beta releases of its AI platform. Since the ads spread widely on social media, Adobe is able to receive better feedback on these betas and address them before public launches, Martinet said. As with Microsoft, Adobe also uses influencers to assuage common concerns around AI. These posts relate to questions such as, “What is the role of the creator in the future of creativity?” and “What is happening to my data?” Martinet said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Peter Quinn (@peterquinstagram) Through these posts, Adobe can underscore commitments it has made to protecting copyright—a hot-button issue that has embroiled other AI companies such as OpenAI and Perplexity. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zachary Winterton (@zacharywinterton) Influencers help Adobe steer its reputational narrative, Martinet said, which is especially important since earning the trust of creatives is key to the company’s business. AI has exposed a rift in this community, with many citing fears of being replaced by cheaper and faster bots. Adobe hasn’t always fallen on the right side of this issue. Last month, when competing design platform Procreate announced that it would not integrate AI with its pre-existing tools, many creatives took to social media to celebrate the company while lambasting Adobe for taking the seemingly opposite, pro-AI stance. According to Martinet, such moments emphasize the need for Adobe to be transparent about how AI technology is developing—a message that it can drive home with the help of creators. “We want to be able to have some of the tougher conversations,” Martinet said. “Some people are willing to engage productively and some are not.”

How Microsoft and Adobe are using influencers to promote AI platforms

Featured Stories