Advertising Week Briefing: Marketers have a lot to worry about in the face of AI-induced shifts

That tension was front and center at Advertising Week New York, where a record 20,000 attendees flooded Midtown’s Penn Station District. The usual carousel of panels offered a familiar mix of cautious optimism and recycled talking points, while nearby coffee shops and happy hours played host to the real conversations – the kind that don’t make it into official program but tend to be more honest.  

Read on for a breakdown of what actually mattered — and what didn’t — from day one.

Generative AI

It’s been one thing to whisper about how generative AI is reshaping the talent pool in advertising. But now the conversation has seeped into the halls of the conference, where the topic was tackled in panel discussions on Monday and was expected to continue throughout the week.

“Even if the industry is changing it doesn’t mean it doesn’t need us,” said Touseef Mirza, co-CEO, Purpose Hive, a growth strategy company, leading a working room discussion on making a career change given the growing spotlight on AI.

In the basement of the conference hall, the working-group-turn-therapy session offered worksheets to attendees to find the venn diagram between what individuals enjoy and current industry needs.

“You just sometimes have to pause and say, ‘Am I going to be OK? Is this going to be alright?’, Mirza said, adding that it was important to acknowledge that humans can do some things “better” than AI.

While AI is predicted to transform how the ad industry at-large operates, there was a flat change in the total number of jobs in advertising, PR, and related services, according to the August figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. LinkedIn’s latest workforce figures from August also support that, recording only a .3% year-on-year increase in technology, information and media AI hires.

Still, this summer seemed to be a turning point for some in the ad industry, who woke up to the idea that entry level roles — particularly those that rely on automated mechanisms — would need to be redefined.

Some agency execs who spoke with Digiday mid-summer said that their incoming college interns were blurring the lines between student and teacher on the topic of AI. For one CMO, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, this has meant reconsidering the talent pool for full-time roles to seek out applicants with creative portfolios, containing such things as a well-performing TikTok, instead of traditionally trained ad school credentials.

That instinct may only grow stronger. With OpenAI’s Sora Meta’s Vibes flooding the market with on-demand AI-generated videos, the idea-to-execution gap has all but disappeared. Content that once took days and teams to produce can now be generated in seconds –by anyone. 

The idea being that a person who knows what will grab attention is more important than, say, knowing the mechanics of writing a traditional commercial.

Creators as marketers

The creator economy is one area that has already benefitted from this subtle mindset shift, as holdcos and brands themselves have begun to hire more creators en masse to use their affinity for virality, and authenticity to increase brand awareness. The advent of AI-generated content – and the flood of AI slop that comes with it – is only accelerating that trend. In a sea of synthetic sameness, creators are increasingly positioned as the more human, more relatable alternative. 

Over 2,000 attendees signed up for creator-related sessions at Advertising Week this year, according to Ruth Mortimer, global president of Advertising Week, which is offering expanded programming to capture the nuances of the creator economy.

What is authenticity?

No conference is saved from the use of buzzwords — even as the issues have taken on new life. Take the term “authenticity” — in this economy? Under this administration? Never before has it been more en vogue to discuss.

But one panelist’s proclivity for avoiding the term during a session entitled Trust as the New Currency: Navigating Brand Loyalty turned the room into a group think on words that the industry could afford to replace. She asked the room to come up with synonyms for the word “authenticity.”

“Integrity,” one man shouted from the crowd. “Genuine,” another man said.

Ultimately, the conversation volleyed back to the panelists to discuss consumer loyalty — regardless of the marketing jargon the industry uses to cement it. “You can’t build loyalty if you haven’t established trust,” said Adam Shlachter, U.S. client president, WPP Media on the panel.

Overheard

“It comes down to listening to our customers [to establish trust] and — I’m sorry AI people — that’s something AI cannot do.” — Amanda Forth, head of partnerships, sales and media, FabFitFun