If you’ve not been waking up wide eyed, sweaty-palmed and panicked, after night terrors of a near-limitlessly intelligent artificial counterpart (AI) replacing your job– then you might not work at a creative agency. But we do. And while that was a massive exaggeration, the sentiment is topical. Widely discussed. And excitingly nascent. Are creative agencies at risk of being replaced by AI?‍

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You’ll be proud to hear we confronted our proverbial enemy head on. We asked AI chatbot ChatGPT if AI will replace agencies: “Well, as an AI myself, I can tell you that we're not here to replace humans - we're here to make your lives easier! AI is an incredibly powerful tool that can help agencies streamline their processes and create more impactful campaigns. But it's not going to replace the creativity and human touch that goes into crafting a brand identity.”

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We agree. With ChatGPT, and also Steve Jobs who famously said “innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity- not a threat”. Making our answer to question #1 a rather firm no. And thankfully AI agrees– we’re (all of us) not going anywhere. Because we can feel and create experiences with a brand. Which, of course, is irreplaceable in crafting strong strategies and messages that connect and resonate to emotions. But there are certainly reasons to involve artificial counterparts (see question two).

At Spectacle, we are trialing AI more and more frequently. While we’re not experts, we have discovered some definite must try scenarios we’ve had success with and would recommend to other curious marketers:

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• Use AI-powered analytics tools to gather insights about your target audience. While it is far less robust than qualitative and quantitative research it’s effective in a pinch and to get the ball rolling in projects or confirm “gut” instincts you may already have. 
• Harness the power of natural language processing to analyze research, findings, and customer reviews and sentiment.
• Use machine learning algorithms to further refine content and messaging for individual customers. Once you’ve crafted the brief, run it through AI tools and see how they can act as a proofreader to make your copy clearer and more powerful.

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We believe agencies (and all marketing professionals) should be using AI to be more efficient, broaden ideas, confirm consumer sentiment and provide fresh perspectives. Try it out. Consider integrating it into brainstorms and workshops. Even try it when rewriting that pesky insight or email you’ve been struggling to evolve. It’s a productivity booster.

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Before we leave, we’ll note one final observation on successful AI adoption. We think it further points to AI adoption being safeguarded by humans —
Success using AI, much like traditional creative work, is all about how well you craft the brief.

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‍(By the way, we write a lot of creative briefs. For help defining your creative challenge more clearly or considering how you evolve your processes with the power of AI, please reach out. Let’s build in the new world.)

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