The adoption of AI-powered tools in marketing is accelerating faster than regulatory frameworks. Brands are prioritizing efficiency while ignoring potential risks, including intellectual property violations and brand reputation management. Despite challenges like inconsistent workflows and measurement difficulties, marketers feel compelled to embrace AI or risk falling behind. Early experiences with social media have shown that brand narrative control is already complicated, with influencer opinions often carrying more weight than official brand communications. Successful brands will integrate generative AI to enhance connections with consumers.
"Anything's fair game," said Ryan Meegan, co-founder and CMO at Dude Wipes, a flushable wipes brand. "You can't really control that." Anyone with an AI image generation tool subscription could replicate a brand campaign.
"In many respects, this is similar to the early days of social media, when people would talk about brands in those spaces - both positively and negatively," said Brian Yamada, chief innovation officer at VML.
Even without generative AI, brands have grappled with maintaining control of the brand narrative amid the rise of social media, user generated content, influencers and content creators. In some cases, a brand's reputation was more impacted by influencer sentiments than official communications from the brand, said David Corns, chief commercial officer at Opendoor, a real estate tech company.
"Just as with UGC, the most successful brands will be those that use generative AI as an integral part of their ecosystem and leverage it to strengthen their connection with consumers."
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