How GenAI is revolutionising creativity in advertising

Generative AI has truly revolutionised the advertising creative process. From generating compelling visuals to optimising campaigns in real time, AI-driven tools seem to have streamlined the creative process.

At the recently held afaqs! x Adobe Creative Mind event, a distinguished panel titled Riding the GenAI Wave to Accelerate Creativity brought together some of the brightest minds in the business.

Amit Bhambere, co-founder & head of design at Lemon Yellow; Jaideep Thackeray, creative head at SoCheers; Lishoy George, CCO at Creativeland Asia; and Manesh Swamy, MD & CCO at LS Digital shared their perspectives on how generative AI (GenAI) is revolutionising creativity in advertising while also addressing the challenges it presents. The panel was moderated by Venkata Susmita Biswas, editor of afaqs!

The panellists emphasised that AI is not just a trend but an essential component in modern advertising. 

“AI has immense potential in the digital landscape," stated Jaideep Thackeray. "We use AI extensively with MidJourney and Firefly for our campaigns. It saves a lot of time, we use it extensively in our campaigns for brands like Havmor ice-creams. With these tools we also use them when designing our pitches. For example, you can generate storyboards narrated in voices like Morgan Freeman or David Attenborough. Our pitches have definitely become more dynamic and engaging,” he added.

Lishoy George highlighted how AI tools like ChatGPT, MidJourney, Ideogram, and Firefly have become integral to their campaigns at Creativeland Asia. Meanwhile, Amit Bhambere stated that AI is a must-have in the realms of UI, UX, and customer experience.

Navigating the young minds with Gen AI 

The practical applications of Gen AI in advertising are vast, from ideation to execution and planning. While the benefits of Gen AI are clear, the panellists also discussed the challenges they are facing. One major challenge is the need for continuous upskilling and the proper understanding of AI's capabilities and limitations.

“The fear that the young have today is whether AI is going to take away their job. I don’t think so, but these tools will make them richer as a creative person. I tell them to use these tools as an extension of their thoughts. The younger generations are smarter than us in terms of picking these tools so it is a beautiful world to be in right now,” says Amit Bhambere.

"The fundamentals of any artist or designer should be clear," stressed Lishoy George. "We promote human intelligence first and encourage our teams to think independently before using AI as an assistant,” he added.

Jaydeep Thackeray added that he believes one must constantly keep exercising their brains even with all the tools available. “It is all evolving and we need to keep our eyes open to what’s coming up. However, I always encourage my team to ideate first and then to execute the campaigns, you can use AI as a visual support. We need to keep our eyes open to what's coming up and encourage our teams to ideate first before executing campaigns with AI support," advised Thackeray.

"This balance ensures we don't lose the human touch in our creative processes," he states. 

The future of Gen AI in advertising looks promising, with continued advancements and adoption expected across the industry. The panellists agreed that staying ahead in the AI game requires a forward-thinking mindset and a willingness to embrace new tools and techniques. However, there are still a few hiccups along the way.

For example, Manesh Swamy highlighted how a few brands are against the idea of using Gen AI in campaigns. Panellists say that while collaboration, ideation and conversations have become easier, a challenge for creative folks is to integrate different tools from different companies into one piece of work. 

Catch the entire conversation here: