- Consumers are quick to discover video ads made with generative artificial intelligence (AI) — and aren’t enthused about what they see, in keeping with recent research from NielsenIQ (NIQ).
- AI-generated creative was consistently assessed as more “annoying,” “boring” and “confusing” than ads made through traditional methods. Even AI output deemed top quality didn’t leave as strong an impression, pointing to a spot between the content and existing memory structures.
- Low-quality AI ads still effectively communicated brand associations but proved cognitively taxing and distracting to viewers. The findings follow several high-profile publicity blunders tied to AI in marketing this 12 months.
Marketers seem firm of their commitments to ramp up generative AI experimentation, however the industry hype may not match consumer sentiment. NIQ’s research, which was conducted using surveys in addition to methodologies like eye tracking and implicit response time, found that even probably the most polished AI-generated ads cause a level of dissonance in viewers while being less memorable than conventional promoting.
The upshot is that AI-generated ads risk damaging a way of authenticity — a desirable trait in marketing — while making a negative halo effect around a brand that might dampen perceptions beyond a person campaign. NIQ will present further on the subject on the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month. The company didn’t name any of the efforts assessed for the report.
“Brands and agencies are innovating at a rapid pace, leveraging AI-generated content of their promoting,” said Ramon Melgarejo, president of strategic analytics and insights at NIQ, in a press release across the research. “They should be cautious, as our study reveals that buyers are quite sensitive to the authenticity of ad creatives, each on the implicit (nonconscious) and explicit (conscious) levels.”
The level of investment flowing into generative AI has been astonishing, with marketing no exception. Agencies have pledged to spend a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of dollars to level up their AI know-how while brands proceed to integrate the technology into large campaigns. But AI-generated creative stays a testy topic despite tools like ChatGPT becoming commonplace.
Coke’s recent holiday commercials made with AI caused controversy, as did an effort earlier this 12 months from Toys R Us that boasted the primary brand video to make use of OpenAI’s text-to-video tool, Sora. AI-generated assets have began receiving negative monikers like “slop,” and NIQ’s findings emphasize that buyers’ brains struggle to process what they’re , distracting from the message of a campaign and causing an uncanny valley effect. Many AI-generated videos feature actors with limited movement and facial expressions, together with odd editing rhythms and a particular shiny look.
AI does wield some strengths, namely that it could easily draw out implicit brand associations. NIQ also acknowledged that AI video tools are more likely to get more sophisticated, which could address a few of the frustrations viewers currently experience in regard to realism.
“Even the bottom quality AI-generated ads were capable of successfully convey the intended brand identity,” the NIQ report reads. “Each of those ads was capable of strengthen the mental network of associations for his or her respective brands at a robust level…”
That said, marketers within the near term will want to give attention to lower-risk use cases for the technology, corresponding to early stage ideation, storyboarding and inventive versioning.
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