How ad agencies are customizing AI models

Artificial intelligence tools are now offering powerful capabilities to advertisement agencies to enhance efficiency, optimize their campaigns, and strategize accordingly to deliver the best to their clients. From automating routine tasks to generating data-driven insights, these tools are reshaping how ad agencies approach creativity, media planning, and audience targeting.

Popular consumer-facing AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney have evolved into the go-to resources for creatives to generate text, visuals, and ideation assets in the blink of an eye. However, in some agencies, the use of AI tools goes far beyond these mainstream platforms.

“We continue to explore new tools, and based on the safety of those tools within the legal framework and within the brand’s data protection framework, we continue to add cutting-edge tools,” says Preetham Venkky, DDB Mudra Group’s Chief Digital Officer. “Some of the other tools that we’ve continued to add are Murf.ai for audio, RunwayML for video generative AI, and those are just a few examples. We have a team focused on evaluating new tools and adding the ones that fit the mentioned criteria. They’re meant to be powerful and advanced.”

Agencies are now developing customized AI tools designed specifically to meet the unique demands of their operations. Leading agencies are establishing in-house AI innovation labs where technologists and creatives collaborate to curate tools for campaign automation and social listening. These labs help agencies stay ahead of emerging tech while building solutions that offer competitive advantages.

As Starcom India’s Managing Partner, Anil Shankar puts it, these custom AI tools are “tailored to our specific needs and they are enterprise-grade, designed for scalability across the [Publicis] Groupe. We combine these solutions with best-in-class commercial tools to ensure both flexibility and scale to suit various projects. These tools power tasks from media planning and real-time optimization to analytics and creative automation and ultimately enhancing strategy and storytelling.”

Integrations like these enable agencies like Starcom to streamline their operations globally, align their creative output with real-time data, while also refining their campaigns with important insights. These AI models provide predictive test analytics, consumer behaviour mapping, and personalized ad targeting. All this results in precise campaigns that resonate with the audiences and push ROI.

Blurring the line between content made by AI and humans is also becoming possible with the advancement of these tools. Certain mechanical repetitions that AI does are also being dealt with as technological advancements take place. Sahil Shah, President of Dentsu Creative Isobar, says, “We are committed to doing this the right way. You’ll soon see work from us where you can’t distinguish what’s been made with Gen AI and what hasn’t and that, to me, is the next frontier.”

These tools have been gradually transforming into integral technological solutions within agencies. Beyond automation, they also support the original ideas growing in the minds of creatives. Mashrise, a digital marketing agency, encapsulates the idea well through its Co-founder Mrityunjay Kumar, who says, “AI isn’t at the core of our work, but it supports the thinking process behind it.”

After the leading British multinational communications company WPP spent £250 million on boosting its AI use early last year, Chief Executive Officer Mark Read said, “AI is transforming our industry and we see it as an opportunity not a threat. We are already empowering our people with AI-based tools to augment their skills, produce work more efficiently and improve media performance, all of which will increase the effectiveness of our work.”

AI has also enabled hyper-personalization of narratives with tools that allow for dynamic creative generation as per the audience’s behaviour and culture. A single ad campaign can now have different ad visuals customized with regard to the region its audience is based in, personalized taglines based on past purchases made by the users or simply their browsing history. This level of personalization is transforming storytelling each passing day as the AI models keep evolving.

Although the approach may differ between large network agencies and small ones, the fact that AI is transforming the advertising industry is clearer than ever. Not just in terms of operational efficiency, but also how creativity is shaped and delivered.