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And one thing I counsel companies with is to say, listen, don't just be sort of
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a hammer looking for a nail. In other words, yes, the tools are there, but you don't want to just use the tools for the
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tools sake. You want to actually be able to solve a problem that you would not be
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able to solve, but for the use of these AI tools. And that's a different way to
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think about it with respect to deploying them in ways that can really enhance your productivity. I mean, it is
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literally the wild wild west. it I'm seeing right now when I when I am watching the the early stages of AI a
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few years ago to the quality of what can be produced now. We're [music] going to
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get very very soon Dan we're going to get to a point where you will not be able to [music] tell the difference
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between an AI generated creative piece of output uh and something real. Welcome to the ripple effect [music] the podcast
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that takes you on a journey through the minds of Warton faculty. I'm your host
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Dan Looney and in each episode we'll be diving deep [music] into the inspiration
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behind the groundbreaking research that Wharton professors have conducted and exploring how their findings resonate
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with the world today. So many things being discussed and how AI is impacting them right now. One area
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that we're going to talk about right now is the world of marketing and the use of
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visuals in advertising. This obviously from the advertisers's perspective uh
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helps them save [music] money and time in production, but is it the right way to go about this when you're talking
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about that connection to the consumer and how much should the public know about how much [music] AI is being used
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in the advertisements they see? Pleasure to be joined by our friend America Shre,
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professor of management here at the Wharton School and co-host of the Marketing Matters podcast [music]
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on the Wharton podcast network. AR, good to talk to you again. How are you, sir?
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I'm doing well, Dan. Happy New Year to you. Very excited for this conversation.
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>> Thank you. All right, so we're early in 2026 as we are talking here right now.
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How much AI is involved in marketing and advertising at the moment? >> Well, I love that question, Dan. I think
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that what we're seeing right now, and this is amazing to me to watch, is that
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there is an incredible trajectory of accelerated participation and use of AI. It's Dan, it's the wild west. is
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everyone is jumping in on this and the parameters are are being discussed and framed out as we go. And so what I'm
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seeing especially with smaller companies is that there is this leveling up just like you just said where you're able to
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do things that you could not do as a small company in terms of cost prohibitive creative that you can create
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now using these types of tools. And so we're going to continue to see smaller
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companies really trying to reach that same level of quality in the creative that the bigger companies can see. And
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the on the consumer side, just like you're saying, consumers are aware that these are tools that are in use from a
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marketing perspective. certainly with respect to actually creating advertisements, messaging, things like
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that, but also on the back end with respect to the research that has to get done to understand what consumers want
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and to do the typical types of things that we do as marketers. So these tools are there and in my point of view,
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there's no choice but to take on these tools and dive in and try to learn how
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you can best be productive using these tools. So you mentioned the research side. How much are you doing that with
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your work at the moment so that you can best understand where that that that right level is so that you're you're
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getting the message across but you're also not impeding the consumer as well.
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>> Yeah, I love that question Dan. I even in my I' I've said this even in my own
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work I was hesitant because you know I am a digital immigrant and so all of these things are just wildly new to me
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>> and so but even in my work as a professor I've had to force myself to
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lean in on these tools to help me uh write and come up with ideas to have an agent that can go out and do research on
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my behalf and to help me form my ideas, articulate my ideas, get structure around my ideas in the classroom. It's
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it's happening with respect to my interactions and engagement with the students. It is totally there. And so,
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as I said, there's no choice. It would be like that. Product services organizations uh saying to themselves in
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1995, you know what? Uh let's skip this whole internet thing. Let's not jump in.
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You can't do it. AI is this next milestone. It is this thing we're all going to have to use it. And you know,
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we're just going to have to get over that threshold of fear and jump in and start trying to use these tools. And
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every day I seem to wake up, Dan, there's a new set of tools that are being introduced to me, a new brand, a
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new product platform of AI machinery that is, you know, entering into my enter into into my space. And so I have
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to figure out even in my own world, what are the tools I need to level up on my skill sets? And I've already started
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that process. You mentioned a moment ago big business versus small business in terms of the use of these tools in
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marketing. So, it would seem to me that this is a great opportunity for smaller businesses to play catch-up and to be
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able to play on the same playing field to be able to level up with some businesses in their specific sector
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because of how AI can give them a boost. That's 100% correct. And I love this
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because to me what's happening here as a marketplace change uh Dan is the idea
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that everything get everyone has to get better and that's actually ultimately
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better for the consumer if smaller companies can compete with larger companies and there's more competition
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and there's parody with respect to brands product service organizations from innovative smaller startup types of
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companies competing with the big guys. >> That's a good thing. And so we're seeing
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right now many of these companies starting that process of figuring out how to bring these tools into the play.
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And so what I think is critical about this Dan is that one of the things that I am noticing here that's very very
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important is this idea of the question of how do I use these tools? And one thing I counsel compl companies with is
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to say listen don't just be sort of a hammer looking for a nail. In other words, yes, the tools are there, but you
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don't want to just use the tools for the tools sake. You want to actually be able
00:06:38
to solve a problem that you would not be able to solve, but for the use of these
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AI tools. And that's a different way to think about it with respect to deploying
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them in ways that can really enhance your productivity. >> Well, and probably is something that up
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until what maybe 5 10 years ago, companies really didn't even probably put that into the mix to begin with.
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Right. >> That's 100% correct. And like now the the I mean it is literally the wild wild
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west. It I'm seeing right now when I when I am watching the the early stages
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of AI a few years ago to the quality of what can be produced now. We're going to
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get very very soon Dan we're going to get to a point where you will not be able to tell the difference between an
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AI generated creative piece of output >> uh and something real. And that's scary
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because now we're talking about you know affecting consumers. We're talking about
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how do you deploy these tools in an ethical way? How do you how do you stop misinformation? How do you make sure
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that you're doing these things the right way? And so this is going to be opening
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up a whole plethora of so you know regulatory issues uh companies best practices and right now I I'm not aware
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of any sort of like focus parameters that are being put out there. So it's all sort of forming in real time and
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we'll see uh how this all plays out. But there's no question in my mind that if
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you are a product brand service organization, you have to start using these tools.
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>> All right. So you kind of answered what I wanted to talk about next in terms of
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best practices, but do you think it's a necessity to have kind of a whether it's
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not official rules, but kind of best practices guidelines that companies kind of try to adhere to so that they are
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delivering the message that they want to, but at the same time they're not infringing on the consumer's life, uh,
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their, you know, their territory. I I love that point, Dan. I think that that's a that's a critical question
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that's at the that basically is at the crux of the issue here, right? Right.
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When we're thinking about how do consumers respond to these types of creatives and creative output, do they
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look at this and say like, you know, this is not authentic, it's made up, it's fakery, or do they look at this and
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say, hey, that's pretty cool. And so, I think the answer to that is it depends
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on how it's deployed, right? So if you're CocaCola and you're making AI
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generated ads, it you might it might be a very different reaction, let's say,
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from the point of view of the consumer in terms of a smaller sort of company. So there's nuance here. In other words,
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how do I deploy the tool? How do I make sure I'm deploying the tool in a way
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that ensures that the consumer understands that I know what they detect as real and not real? and that they
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understand I'm using these tools to create deeper connections, more resonant
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connections, especially with younger consumers perhaps, uh, and that these tools can help me do that. But just
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using these tools to be using the tools is probably not as let's say efficient
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and desirable as really saying you know what I have a specific issue of an ad I need to create and AI is going to help
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me do this to really facilitate my brand to facilitate the meaning system around
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my brand and AI can help me do this in a way that I would not be able to do otherwise so I'm going to deploy it
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>> but because there is so much AI content kind of out there right now and it seems
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like it grows every day and for many of us a lot of that AI content has a level of humor to it.
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>> Does do marketers benefit from the fact that there seems to be that connection
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between AI and humor right now and it will benefit them if they go that route with the messages that they are trying
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to deliver? I I think you're touching on something that's a really important
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insight here Dan and that is to say yes. The answer to that is yes. In other words, the expectation of AI and humor,
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there's a natural synchronicity there, right? And we're all seeing the funny
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memes that are coming out. Sure. Uh that are are so fantastical, you're just it
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blows your mind, right? Whether it be, you know, President Trump and the former president of Venezuela walking
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together. Yeah. Uh or whatever it is. It's it's one of these things that is
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hilarious. >> Rocky Rocky and your point, Dan. >> Rocky and Apollo Creed, except it's
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Trump and Maduro. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And but here's something that's really deep and in
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insight that you just pointed to. It's like the humor is a natural gateway into
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this, right? So, it's a safe way to kind of uh expose people to these tools and
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your use of these tools as a product, brand, service, organization in a way that's that doesn't potentially have the
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same backlash that you might have uh with respect to something that you would you would purport is an actual kind of
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real thing that's happening. So if they know it's fantastical, then you you get
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a sort of get out of jail free card if you will in terms of deploying that kind of thing. And that's one of the nice
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things about using humor uh as part of the the way to create that familiarity and safety with the computer with the
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consumer so that they can trust what you're doing with respect to when you execute on these types of creative
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efforts uh later on down the road. So the understanding that the public has currently about the use of AI in
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marketing efforts, do you know yet whether it attend it tends to occur better with younger generations, digital
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natives than older generations or is everybody kind of picking up on what is going on right now? I I love that point.
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I I think the answer is the latter. I I think everyone is attuned to because of what you had mentioned with respect to
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to the proliferation of AI in in the humorous comedic kind of setting uh that people are aware of this. I would think
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that younger consumers have a a more let's say builtin kind of familiarity with these sorts of tools because
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they're growing up swiping left and right and things of that nature, right? Uh but I think there there is still
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again this notion of the more and more proliferation of these AI tools that happens out there Dan across generations
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of consumers the less it becomes differentiated and so there's a challenge there because once everyone
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starts using these tools then everything level sets and it's sort of like the
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same. So the question becomes how do I differentiate my specific use of these tools uh in ways that elevate my brand
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above competition? And that's going to be where the the the the the people who
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are most creative, the the the genuine authentic narrative storytellers are going to be able to really elevate
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because they're going to understand how to use these tools to create trust and
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resonance and brand connection with both younger and older consumers. And we're
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going to wait until, you know, that happens with respect to the market kind of shaking out with respect to the tools
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themselves, but also the products, brands, services, and organizations that are using these tools. So as a professor
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and as a researcher, are there elements that you are most interested to see how they develop
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within this entire AI growth marketing process? Yeah, I think so. I again there's two areas that I'm interested
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in. One is on the side of the the creating the intelligence that allows us to understand and predict how consumers
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are going to react to the types of things we would like to do as a brand, product, service or organization. And
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that's on this this sort of gathering information and understanding the consumer side and then on the other side
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executing on creating uh messages, advertisements, promotional kinds of things that can really elevate on the
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creative side as well. So, I think there's going to be a convergence of these two areas happening within the
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context of those marketers that are savvy enough and smart enough to jump on this train now and to start figuring out
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how to use these tools in the best ways that we've been talking about in this
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conversation. I >> I'll finish up with this co uh uh question because you just mentioned
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brand and brand is something that you and I have talked about a lot especially in recent years. All of this that is
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being done, all of this that is being advanced still has to be done with the brand at the forefront of the thought
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process because the last thing a company wants to do is do something that is going to really put a crimp but a hurt
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on their brand even with this advanced technology. That's 100% correct. Right.
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And so I love that point because it points to for example we talked about the Coca-Cola ads that have been coming
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out. Porsche came out with an ad that they literally came out and said this was not made with AI and you know it's
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been going viral because of that. So it really illustrates the point that you're
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making Dan which is that again you don't want to just use this tool for the tool's sake.
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>> Yeah. You definitely want to use the tool, but you want to use the tool
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[music] in service >> of elevating the brand, keeping things consistent, making sure synchronicity is
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there, making sure that you're able to use these [music] tools in ways that create resonance that you would not
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otherwise be able to do if you weren't using [music] these tools, and you're
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thinking about it from that focus point of view, you probably aren't going to
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get into any trouble. >> Americus, always fun to chat with you, my friend.
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>> I appreciate you, sir. [music] Thanks a lot. Thank you. America, a professor of
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marketing here at the Wharton School. And of course, as you can tell, for those of you watching this video on
00:15:53
YouTube, he is the co-host of Marketing Matters right there on the screen behind
00:15:57
him with our friend Barbara Khan every week here on the Wharton Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to The
00:16:04
Ripple Effect. We hope you found this episode informative and engaging. Don't
00:16:08
forget to subscribe and leave us a review so that we can continue to bring you the best insight from the Wharton
00:16:14
School.