Riding the AI tsunami: Harnessing creativity and efficiency in the digital age 

In the dynamic world of consumer-packaged goods (CPG), my curiosity has converged around brands, consumer behavior, behavioral economics and the intriguing domain of artificial intelligence. What excites me most about this landscape is AI’s ability to increase efficiency and drive creativity.

AI: A driver of creativity and efficiency

AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a transformative force for creativity, augmenting human ingenuity rather than replacing it. AI will profoundly impact the workplace and the roles of people working on creative. Many people I speak to talk of the boundaries or limitations of AI, noting where it falls short of expectations. This then justifies their lack of adoption. 

I am pushing everyone on my team to explore AI’s potential aggressively. I understand the apprehension, especially among creatives who fear AI encroaching on their domain. However, I firmly believe AI will be an integral part of jobs going forward, and those who don’t use it will be replaced by those who do.

Demystifying AI: Bridging the unknown

This is a wave of change, a tsunami and we have a choice: do we let it overwhelm us, pass us by, or embrace it? I’m advocating that we all ride this wave by rolling our sleeves, experimenting and embracing AI tools. Consider this: practically no creatives working today do so in pencil; they utilize technology to elevate their work. AI is just the next phase of technological advancement. 

I recognize there is a significant change management challenge. Not only is this technology new, but it promises to do work for which we are being paid and consider ourselves skilled. Because of lingering doubts, I believe in identifying those exploring AI’s capabilities, celebrating their accomplishments and inspiring others to follow suit by incentivizing early adopters.

Today’s AI applications

In our marketing organization, we’re using AI in various areas, including copywriting, image generation, ideation, mood boards, tagging metadata and storyboards. Mood boards, for instance, are visual collages essential for conveying a marketing campaign’s desired aesthetic and emotional tone. Before AI, creating them was a painstakingly manual process, involving extensive searches for relevant images, sorting through physical samples and arranging them to convey a cohesive vision. Now, this process is streamlined, enabling quicker iteration and exploration of diverse creative directions.

Before AI, copywriting involved a labor-intensive and time-consuming task of brainstorming and drafting numerous versions to find the most compelling copy. With AI-driven copywriting, we save time and generate many creative options, allowing us to select the most effective copy tailored to different audiences and contexts.

Georgia Pacific’s AI initiatives span multiple brands and the impact is notable. The small team engaged in these tasks can now handle a significantly larger workload, contributing to a more agile and responsive marketing organization. 

Goals and challenges

As we look ahead, we are focused on adoption and experimentation. The tools are only getting more advanced and we need to be learning and testing. We have devised tools to gauge our progress. We leverage software to track our utilization, throughput and quality, evaluating timeliness and content quality compared to agencies our clients have traditionally engaged. We’re focused on improving efficiency while enhancing creative quality. We seek tools to evaluate creative concepts swiftly before market launch, ensuring our messaging resonates personally and authentically.

AI’s impact on business and customers

AI is already reshaping our business and enriching customer experiences by personalizing interactions and anticipating customer needs more effectively. For instance, we leverage tools to write copy that is search-engine optimized for respective content platforms and use eye-tracking models to improve text saliency, messaging hierarchy and brand consistency in our creative. This has resulted in more engaging and targeted customer experiences.

We recognize this is a journey and are only at the starting line. While there are tools that can deliver immediate results, the real value will come from empowered employees embracing tools and refining processes over time. This shift in perspective emphasizes building a sustainable foundation for AI integration rather than merely chasing the newest shiniest objects.

In the next 12 months, our organization aims to further leverage AI in predictive analytics for market trends. We anticipate gaining insights into emerging trends, consumer preferences and market dynamics by harnessing its power to analyze vast datasets, ultimately empowering us to bring more work in-house, reduce reliance on external partners, reduce costs and increase our effectiveness. 

The future of marketing: AI’s role and challenges

Over the next five years, AI will revolutionize the marketing industry, redefining the roles of many professionals. Some positions may disappear, while others will evolve to empower individuals for more innovative tasks. The rapid advancement of language models, surpassing human capabilities, will heighten the pressure to achieve more with less.

Creative AI, though somewhat gimmicky now, will enhance creativity and ideation. While the industry emphasizes the need for human creativity in exploring the unknown, the average individual should be concerned about the evolving landscape.

Adapting to this transformative period is intriguing and challenging and offers boundless opportunities for those at the peak of their creative game. The true challenge lies in harnessing AI’s potential and briefing it effectively — a critical aspect of modern creative work.