Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly prevalent in our day-to-day lives, and the marketing and advertising industry is no stranger to this evolution. MMGY is excited about the proliferation of AI, and that other disciplines will be leveraging it to the same extent that media has been for years. While the changing technology landscape will inevitably impact how MMGY approaches media planning and buying in the future, the good news is that we’ve already been utilizing these tools to deliver campaigns for our clients. As agencies and industry partners alike continue to discuss AI, it’s important to understand what it is, how it is currently being used, and future applications and opportunities for MMGY and our clients.
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
While AI isn’t new, it is helpful to understand a few different terms that are used interchangeably to describe various tools and applications.
- Artificial Intelligence: The ability of machines to mimic human intelligence (theory-based). Ex: virtual assistants
- Machine Learning: A subset of AI in which machines are able to make decisions or predictions based on algorithms and structured data without explicit programming. Ex: sentiment analysis
- Deep Learning: A branch of AI and a subset of Machine Learning that uses neural networks to train a model and make decisions with unstructured data. Ex: facial recognition
- Generative AI: A subset of AI in which machines can generate new content (images, videos, text, etc.) that could be indistinguishable from something created by humans. Ex: ChatGPT
How Is Artificial Intelligence Being Used Today?
Within the Media Department, we’ve been using AI for years in the form of Machine Learning. Both agencies and vendors in the programmatic media space have used Machine Learning to help deliver more efficient media buys and make campaign optimizations at scale. According to a recent MNTN and AdExchanger survey, over two-thirds of respondents said they are already using AI in some capacity related to advertising.
A few of the key ways Machine Learning has been leveraged include:
- To better understand when and where to serve an ad
- To determine who is most likely to convert based on past performance
- Bid optimization to determine the optimal price for ad placements
- Creative development with headline and copy suggestions
- Making future campaign delivery suggestions based on user engagement
What Future Applications and Opportunities Are Available to MMGY and Our Clients?
As Artificial Intelligence continues to gain traction, it will be important to keep in mind that while there are plenty of unknowns, there are myriad opportunities to harness its power. We expect AI to play a more prominent role in the following key areas of our business:
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Expanding Creative Concepting Capabilities
- We see this as an opportunity to evolve how AI tools are being used in the creative space beyond traditional headline and copy suggestions – ultimately aiming to complement human inputs with AI to expand upon creative ideas. Generative AI has the ability to take prompts and create imagery and concepts that might otherwise be challenging or time-consuming to reach.
- AI will allow for faster content creation and iterations based on performance as well as creating more personalized content to engage with consumers on a personal level.
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Cross-Channel Campaign Optimizations
- As digital media continues to grow and branch into different strategies, cross-channel optimization will be paramount to driving success for our clients. Advancements in AI will allow for larger data aggregation and time-sensitive optimizations. It will also provide the opportunity to better align traditional digital tactics with the growing CTV space to ensure messaging is aligned with user engagement.
- While the use of AI in campaign optimizations isn’t new, it has largely taken a reactive approach. We see this changing as the ability to ingest more and more data grows and the tools at our disposal have the ability to take in forward-looking data to make campaign delivery suggestions. Instead of using past data to make reactive moves, we will be in a place to meet consumers with more accurate data before they’ve potentially already made a decision.
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Data Analysis, Insights and Measurement
- Clients are continually pushing us to provide them with more actionable data to drive visitation, bookings and revenue. While there are many tools available to us, it is still a somewhat manual process to aggregate and analyze data from various sources. Advances in AI will provide our teams the ability to take data from more sources and make real-time decisions rather than mid- or post-campaign changes.
- AI will also help our teams see data in a different way and allow them to uncover insights they might otherwise miss. With less time spent on data input, teams will be able to spend more of their time analyzing trends and data signals to better understand who is converting, how and when they are converting, and new ways in which we can reach more people that fit our desired target audience(s).
There will likely not be a world in which the human element will be entirely taken away from the media planning and buying process; however, the ways in which we interact with advanced technologies will impact how we support our clients. Leaning into the various branches of Artificial Intelligence will allow our teams to be more efficient, think beyond what they have traditionally done, and open up greater opportunities for both the agency and our clients. While there is no one-size-fits-all AI solution to content creation, campaign optimization and data analysis, MMGY will evaluate tools as they become available while continuing to leverage the existing AI tools we already use. In staying true to our entrepreneurial spirit, it is likely that the best approach will be to create our own proprietary tool that taps into our wealth of travel and marketing expertise.