Salesforce brings back Matthew McConaughey to tame the Wild West of AI in new ads

The campaign positions Salesforce as a trusted partner in a world where thieves are out to steal your data

Published On
May 13, 2024

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Salesforce is reuniting with Matthew McConaughey for a new campaign—again set in the Wild West—that warns businesses about data thieves and positions Salesforce AI as a trusted offering in an uncertain world.

The “Ask More of AI” campaign includes two 30-second spots in which McConaughey plays a sheriff in the West who coolly accosts data thieves amid the AI gold rush. “Don’t get robbed by bad guy AI,” the spots say—suggesting Salesforce AI “never steals or shares your customer data.”

 

Ariel Kelman, chief marketing officer at Salesforce, told Ad Age that the dilemma for companies is that AI has to be trained on customer data to be useful, but that opens up security problems.

“What we’ve built is the ability for companies to ground their AI in customer data that can get great results, but in a way that they can trust the data is going to be safe,” Kelman said. “The data is not going to the wrong people, and the results are going to come back with really useful things, not hallucinations.” 

The spots are accompanied by new research from Salesforce’s latest “Your Data, Your AI” study that suggests that trust is the key to unlocking AI’s ROI. Among the key findings:

  • 51% of workers say AI lacks the information needed to be useful
  • More than half (54%) of global workers do not trust the data used to train AI systems today
  • 75% of those who don’t trust the data that trains AI also believe that AI lacks the information needed to be useful
  • 65% of global C-suite say trust in AI plays a role in driving revenue
  • Around 80% of global C-suite respondents cite accurate and secure data as the most critical elements for building trust in AI in their organization

Salesforce has been working with McConaughey, a brand advisor, since early 2022. In an interview with Ad Age last year, McConaughey said: “So many businesses are just sprinting forward with the idea of AI being about ‘How do we profit, profit, profit?’ Well, profitable AI without trusted AI is going to be a short-term game with a future death sentence.”

“We’ve worked with Matthew for a while, and he’s part of the creative team,” Kelman said. “He’s pretty deeply involved in the ideation, and he’s a very creative guy. So, he’s been very helpful in developing and refining ideas and scripts, and he’s been great to work with.” 

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