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The Brain Behind Modern Ads: 

AI's Expanding Role in Advertising

by Sumin Lee , Cub-Reporter

minnida_@naver.com

Unlike the past generation, which has been exposed to the world through text such as books and newspapers, new generations in their teens to 30s have been influenced by video more than text media since childhood. Furthermore, as time goes by this form of media accounts for a larger portion of our lives. The development of technology affects various sectors, and video media, which appears as a product of technology, stimulates vision and hearing at the same time, and conveys information more vividly and immersively. In our society, advertisements that provide more exciting and attractive content and win the hearts of consumers have emerged. Also, now they provide consumers with more enhanced communication power such as customized advertisements that appeal to consumers' preferences through the intergration of new technologies such as AI. Aren't you curious how far you know about AI-based advertising and content?

Current of AI-powered Advertising

  With the expansion of technologies such as artificial intelligence, including machine learning, deep learning, computer vision and generative AI, public awareness and understanding of these technologies are growing as they increasingly influence our daily lives. We have beyond personalized video recommendations on Youtube to more advanced applications such as displaying airline ticket discount ads after watching travel video, recommending prodicts based on user conversations on social media, and suggesting menu items on food delivery apps by factoring in the user's location and time of app usage. These technologies are essentially tracking our lives to provide even more personalized advertisements. Furthermore, generative AI has extended this trend by directly creating images, text and videos, enabling the production of visual and video content to be delivered directly to consumers.

Background and Examples of AI-based Advertising

  Advertising based on AI has emerged against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding online, contactless society accelerated by technological advancement and the post-pandemic era. In such an environment, consumers increasingly seek content tailored to their interests, leading to fatigue and resistance toward indiscriminate and repetitive ads. This shift has been further reinforced by the growing influence of the MZ generation(Millennials and Gen Z) in the consumer market, who prefer simple and short-form media, making platforms like social media, YouTube and short-form video apps more effective advertising channels. For example, Coca-Cola uses AI that incorporates computer vision and deep learning to detect whether Coca-Cola bottles or logos appear in images uploaded to social media. This allows the company to analyze user preferences and automatically generate ad content based on this information. This image recognition-based ad targeting enables personalized advertising that reflects consumer tastes, resulting in increased click-through rates. Likewise, OTT(Over-the-top) service providers analyze users' viewing behaviors to recommend ads based on content preferences. Unlike previous YoTube video recommendations, these systems can now insert ads more sensitively, for instance, showing cosmetic or dating app ads to users who frequently watch romance genres, demonstrating how the role of AI continues to expand with the advancement of big data and deep learning technologies. 

Generative AI and Its Achievements

  In addition to these personalized ad technologies, generative AI is now receiving significant attention in advertising. Tools like ChatGPT and Gemini can generate multiple ad copy options in a short time, while platforms like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion can provide various poster design mockups based on a single concept or mood. OpenAI's Sora and Runway ML create videos featuring virtual models or environments based on big data, making them highly effective in today's short form content which is driving the advertising market. These tools allow for the fast and low-cost production of high quality content and eliminate the need for influencers of film crews, thus expanding their utility in company budgets. For example, the Seoul Dairy Cooperative used an AI models that overlaid a child actor's face onto that of an adult actor to depict different stages of growth in an ad for its A2+ milk. Similarly, Lotte group produced a 2024 campaign ad entirely through AI, including image and video editing, music and voiceovers, reducing both production costs and time and demonstrating the growth potential of this technology.

The Dark Side of AI-based Advertising

  While these advanced technologies bring positive impacts to the consumer market, they also have downsides, as with any innovation. For instance, it's still difficult to trust the quality of products recommended by AI influencers. AI-generated ads may appear smooth on the surface but lack emotional depth or trustworthiness due to the absence of human sentiment. Moreover, personalized ads often required vast amounts of personal data, raising concerns about data ethics, such as AI learning from biased date without user consent. As AI takes over roles traditionally held by humans, advertising professionals may find their jobs at risk. Additionally, it becomes difficult to assign responsibility when generated content contains incorrect or biased information.

As our lives become more interwined with such technologies, and as the MZ generation solidifies its influence in the consumer market, it is essential not to blindly accept and adopt these expanding technologies. Instead, we must recognize the potential issues they bring and prepare for them by establishing laws and systems that can keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies. 

Sources:

http://youtu.be/QHfXglhrKkQ

https://www.hankyung.com/article/202401179808Y?utm_source=chatgpt.com