The AI Revolution Will Be Authentic: Brands, Creatives And Tech

According to recent data from Goldman Sachs, the total addressable market of the creator economy will likely double during the next five years to $480 billion by 2027 from its current $250 billion, in tandem with the rise in global digital advertising spend growth.

That presents a unique opportunity for brand marketers, creatives—and AI developers.

As brand marketers look for new ways to optimize marketing spend, they are turning to creators to boost brand recognition, drive engagement and encourage D2C sales through social platforms. According to new Goldman Sachs Research data, today’s 50 million global creators will increase by between 10 and 20 percent CAGR for the next five years, with 70 percent of creators earning most of their income from brand deals. 

That means marketers may be spoiled for choice when selecting the right creator for their brand—but they may also shift spend towards alternatives as new ways of creating content and engaging audiences take center stage—including AI.

Will There Be A Place For Creators In An AI-Powered Ecosystem? 

Yes—that’s a given. While the sheer sum of creators making content will continue to rise, brands and the audiences that they need to reach will demand authenticity, personalization, and the kind of human-centric, intimate connections that drive repeat engagement across social platforms. Recent research shows that an overwhelming majority of consumers not only prefer humans moderating the content that they interact with online as opposed to strictly AI, but new research published in The Journal of AI, Robotics & Workplace Automation also suggests that even when AI gets marketing a product or service exactly right, consumers still associate humanity with likeability.  

And as every marketer knows, likeability is key to stoking brand engagement and long-term loyalty.

That tracks with what’s happening in the marketplace: the ability of creators to connect with consumers means that brands generate about $5.20 for every dollar spent on influencers, and nearly 70 percent of brands plan to increase their influencer budgets this year.

Savvy brand marketers are now using AI tools to help them identify new creators—like micro-influencers and nano-influencers—who match their brand’s priorities. They also are leveraging AI as a tool to unleash new creative formats to connect with audiences.

Here are three other ways brand marketers and creators can leverage AI to improve marketing impact:

• Developing customized content curation tools designed to develop more impactful content streams based on user preference and engagement data
• Leveraging AI-generated content enhancements (like videos) to drive earned media value as influencer marketing strategies scale
• Identifying new opportunities for influencers to collaborate across platforms using AI tools that make it simple for nano-influencers and micro-influencers to connect, collaborate, and build new branded content

As marketers reckon with changes in the ecosystem, they should investigate AI’s potential to make marketing more, not less human-centric.

Learn more about ION