The AI Revolution: A New Era for Branding
The AI revolution is upon us, and its adoption has been nothing short of spectacular. ChatGPT, just one of many AI platforms now available to everyone, reached 1 million users in a week and 100 million active users in two months. For context, TikTok took 9 months to achieve similar numbers, and Instagram needed 2.5 years. Today, ChatGPT boasts 180 million users and 637 million monthly visits – and it's still growing.
There's no doubt that AI will profoundly change how we create, build, and market brands. But will it really make a difference where it matters most?
In my 35 years of creating, building, and managing brands across the globe, one observation has remained constant: within every category, once you get past the top 2-3 brands, almost all others tend to be interchangeable. You could swap logos or messaging between them, and few people, if any, would notice.
The Sea of Sameness: Isomorphism in Branding
This phenomenon, known as "isomorphism," is the tendency of organisations within similar fields to adopt similar behaviours and become increasingly alike. I call it "the sea of sameness" – where positioning, propositions, messaging, and even brand identities drift towards category norms. Isomorphism is the enemy of innovation and the antithesis of building great brands.
So, what does this have to do with AI?
Distinction Matters: The Essence of Great Brands
Great brands are distinctive – as an idea, a personality, a product, an identity, or an experience. Usually, they're a combination of these elements. They create a unique and indelible imprint in the minds of consumers, enabling favourable recall and strong associations that the beige majority can't achieve. Great brands add value – to their consumers, their owners, and the economies in which they participate.
AI: The 'Black Plague' of Branding?
While AI promises to markedly change how we create great brands, the real risk is that it's the perfect technology to do the opposite.
AI brings a long list of benefits to brand managers and marketers: personalised experiences, hyper-targeting, rapid content generation, real-time customer responsiveness, task automation, predictive analytics, scenario testing, idea prototyping, and iterative concept creation, to name a few. As a collator and organiser of knowledge, AI is already superior to humans in many fields.
However, AI will never fully replace talented people in creative fields, including branding. Why? Because AI can only analyse what has been, not imagine what might be. It's limited by its training data, the quality of the prompts it receives, and the biases inherent in both. It's the digital equivalent of driving along the road guided only by the rear view mirror.
Consider this: only 100-200 generative AI tools are being used to distil often-common data sets. This creates a choke point for innovation and a perfect scenario for isomorphism. As AI-generated work is continuously added to the global dataset, the source from which AI derives its viewpoint will become more recycled and homogenous.
AI as a Tool: Enhancing Human Creativity, Not Replacing It
The fear that AI will take over brand creation and management is misplaced. In fact, the need for skilled brand builders has never been higher. The winners will be those who can embrace AI's benefits while interpreting its output through the lenses of competent brand stewardship and intuitive human understanding.
There's a saying that "you won't lose your job to AI, but you'll lose it to someone like you using AI." In branding, this couldn't be truer.
As with all past technological leaps, humans will adapt and thrive, but at a higher level. Albert Einstein once said, "Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else has ever thought." AI can't do this – only people can.
AI will augment human creativity in crafting compelling brand narratives. Natural language generation tools will assist in developing story structures and content variations, while AI-powered analytics will help identify which narrative elements resonate most with audiences. However, the core of brand storytelling – creating authentic, meaningful narratives that connect with human values and aspirations – will remain a human-driven creative process. The challenge will be using AI as a tool to enhance, rather than replace, human storytelling skills.
The Future of Branding: A Synergy of AI and Human Insight
In brand design, AI will become an integral part of the process, offering tools for generating and iterating visual elements. This will enable rapid prototyping and testing of brand identities. However, the art of creating visually appealing and emotionally resonant brand designs will still rely heavily on human creativity and intuition. The future of brand design will likely involve a symbiotic relationship between human designers and AI tools, with humans directing the creative vision and using AI to explore possibilities and refine executions.
The future of innovation and decision-making won't be about choosing between AI and human intuition, but rather finding a harmonious balance between the two. AI offers unparalleled capabilities in data analysis, efficiency, and scalability, making it an invaluable tool for organisations. However, it's human intuition that drives creativity, ethical considerations, and emotional connections – elements essential for truly groundbreaking ideas and sustainable business practices.
The most effective organisations will leverage AI to enhance their analytical capabilities while relying on human intuition to guide strategic decisions and foster innovation. By embracing a collaborative approach, where AI supports human creativity rather than replacing it, businesses can unlock new potentials and navigate the complexities of the future more effectively. This synergy will likely yield the best outcomes, combining the strengths of both AI and human insight to create a more innovative and responsive organisational landscape.
Great brands = Human intuition to the power of AI
Great brands of the future – the ones that stand apart from the 'sea of sameness' – will be created and managed by talented and creative people using AI. Over time, the quality of brands and brand experiences, and the way they connect and respond to their consumers, will be enhanced by AI. But the differential between great brands and the merely good will be maintained.
"A rising tide lifts all boats," opined JFK, and AI will indeed lift all brands. But great brands, like those celebrated here, will always stand apart. In this sense, AI will bring profound change to how we manage brands, but in the end, it won't change the difference between the good and the great. The human touch, guided by creativity and intuition, will remain the defining factor in building truly exceptional brands in the AI era.
Comments