The top 5 AI marketing activations you need to know about right now

Creatives in advertising and beyond are having a field day with AI, and it’s lending to some far-out activations that blend the high-tech, the surreal and the biggest brands. In recent days, there have been AI-generated pizza commercials, a fake commercial for Bush’s Beans, and some inspired mashups. Not to mention, Snap, TikTok, Meta and others have been rolling out new generative AI features. It’s important to keep in mind that some of the uses of AI in creativity are mostly in good fun, but there have been warnings about how fake content has consequences. Just this week, U.S. regulators said they are watching for AI abuses, which happened to come the day after the first AI-generated political attack ad. With all of these developments, Ad Age has expanded its “Creativity Top 5” series to include the latest innovations in the AI space. Check out the first installment below. 5. Beans, beans, they’re good for art A Bush’s Beans commercial is making the rounds this week, only it’s not from the brand and is AI-generated. Freelancer Ronnie Allman dreamed up the artsy-fartsy project. “If you know someone at Bush’s Beans please share with them,” Allman wrote on LinkedIn. The commercial shows how AI-generated video is getting more sophisticated. Allman used Midjourney and D-ID for this spot written and performed by AI. Also read: NFL Draft to feature AI artwork from Midjourney 4. Snap’s cosmic AI At last week’s Snap Partner Summit, the messaging and camera app launched some new AI features as it competes with TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to be the first to make AI a social media activity. Snap has had a bit of a head start in augmented reality, and the company is starting to promote the generative AI technology that goes into making AR lenses. Snap launched a new AR filter called “Cosmic Lens,” which it said uses more advanced AI. On top of that, Snap launched My AI, a chatbot based on ChatGPT that messages with users. The chat buddy has generated plenty of memes for its sometimes off-the-wall responses, and there have been some negative reviews. On Wednesday, TikTok came out with a new generative AI tool that creates avatars, according to TechCrunch. Also, on Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted AI development after the company reported quarterly results. Zuckerberg said that the goal is to insert chat into business messaging and as a consumer-facing product. Zuckerberg also said generative AI could help develop the metaverse, which he said was still on the company's roadmap. Generative AI can help creators generate avatars and design digital worlds in mixed reality. 3. Not ‘ready for best pizza of life’ In another entry in the fake commercial category: A creator posted an ad for a made-up pizzeria called Pepperoni Hug Spot to the “Midjourney” subreddit, a community of AI tinkerers. The Reddit post said the whole piece—including voiceover, video and images—was generated through AI. The commercial is truly bizarre and shows that some AI programs still have trouble creating basic human functions, such as eating. Also, the weird text overlays and voiceover were either made up by AI or by a human who sounds eerily like AI. The pizza AI ad was immediately dubbed “nightmare fuel” by much of the internet once it began making the rounds on Reddit, Instagram and Twitter. Pizza Hut tweeted “My heebies have been jeebied” in response to a copy of the commercial on Twitter that has since been deleted. 2. Maison Meta’s fashion week The New York-based, AI-focused creative studio Maison Meta has done some slick work in computer-generated fashion. Last week, it produced the first AI Fashion Week, a competition for designers crafting new clothing lines with the help of AI. The models were all computer-generated, too, and displayed on screens in Maison Meta’s installment at Spring Studios in New York. Maison Meta has also created impossible collaborations through the use of AI. Last month, it posted a Princess Diana-inspired, retro Adidas collection. The agency also has produced AI-generated billboards for Revolve, and created what it called the “first AI-generated fashion collection,” which it produced and sold through Revolve.com. Maison Meta also has done AI work with Moncler Genius in a campaign that collaborated with Pharrell William, Alicia Keys, Adidas Originals, Jay Z and FRGMNT. See all of Ad Age's 2023 Creativity Award winners here 1. Wes Anderson X Harry Potter For months, there has been a trend in which AI creators reimagine how movies or celebrities might look using director Wes Anderson’s signature palette. In the latest project, Instagram account @panoramachannel gave “Harry Potter” characters an Anderson-inspired makeover. Online sports betting site WSN used AI image and text generators to portray star athletes, including LeBron James and Aaron Rodgers, as characters straight out of “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” The Anderson tributes have been a staple for AI creators, similar to the Balenciaga craze, which famously invented the high-fashion Pope. View this post on Instagram A post shared by PANORAMA CHANNEL (@panoramachannel)

The top 5 AI marketing activations you need to know about right now

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