Overview of How AI Is Reshaping the Advertising Industry
This Wall Street Journal “What’s News Sunday” episode (host Alex Osaleff) examines how artificial intelligence is changing the advertising industry—from Super Bowl spots to daily agency workflows. Reporters Katie Dayton and Suzanne Vernitsa explain where AI is being used today (mostly behind the scenes), why advertisers are experimenting with it (cost savings and speed), what risks and legal questions it raises, and how AI companies themselves are using high-profile ad buys (the “AI Bowl”) to win users.
Key takeaways
- AI is already integrated across the ad-creation process, but mainly as a back-end tool (briefing, storyboards, production prep, audience simulation), not yet as the dominant force for polished, high-profile creative.
- Cost reduction is the primary driver for using AI in ad production: CGI, virtual sets, and synthetic talent can significantly lower shoot expenses.
- AI companies (Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft/CoPilot) are buying Super Bowl ad time to build name recognition and win users—turning the event into a marketing battleground for chatbots and copilots.
- Fully AI-generated ads still risk poor creative quality; brands avoid using unproven AI creative in marquee placements like the Super Bowl where reputation and recall matter.
- Brands are training AI on their historical creative and brand assets so future AI output more closely matches their voice—making indistinguishable AI-generated work likely in the near future.
- Legal and regulatory questions are emerging (e.g., false representation in beauty ads, disclosure norms), though there is not yet a clear law requiring AI disclosure in ads.
- Industry structure is shifting: consolidation and layoffs are accelerating, but lower-cost AI tools could enable nimble smaller agencies to compete on creative strategy.
Topics discussed
- The Super Bowl as the ultimate advertising stage and why AI companies are buying big-time spots.
- Examples of AI usage in advertising today:
- Back-end workflows: briefs, storyboards, production mockups.
- Audience research: “artificial audiences” that simulate consumer responses.
- Creative generation: experiments with synthetic characters and recreated nostalgic tropes.
- Notable industry players and examples:
- Anthropic, OpenAI, and Microsoft expected to air Super Bowl spots.
- Coca‑Cola used AI-adjacent creative at Christmas that tested well because it invoked nostalgia (familiar music and imagery).
- Svedka claims a predominantly AI-generated Super Bowl ad using an existing “fembot” character.
- Business and labor effects: agency consolidation, cost cuts, layoffs, and the potential for smaller shops to compete using AI.
- Legal/ethical considerations: honesty rules in advertising, potential false-ad claims if imagery misrepresents real people or product efficacy, and the current absence of explicit disclosure laws.
Notable quotes and framing
- “This year it’s going to be the AI Bowl.” — frames the Super Bowl as the battleground for AI product recognition.
- “There’s a death match going on for users.” — on intense competition among AI platforms.
- “Nobody wants to risk the millions of dollars that it costs [for a Super Bowl ad] with people being upset about what it looks like.” — explaining caution about AI-driven creative for marquee spots.
- Humorous audience observations: Super Bowl ads often use lowbrow, broad-humor tropes (e.g., toilet jokes) because of the mass audience.
Implications for advertisers and agencies
- Short term:
- Use AI to cut costs and speed up pre-production, research, and testing.
- Avoid deploying unvetted AI creative for high‑stakes, high‑visibility ads until quality improves.
- Medium term:
- Expect brand-specific models trained on proprietary archives; AI creative will increasingly match brand voice.
- Prepare for legal and reputational risk management (disclosures, accuracy of representations, data provenance).
- Workforce and industry structure:
- Consolidation and layoffs likely to continue; some roles will contract while demand grows for AI-literate strategists and creative directors.
- Smaller, agile agencies can exploit AI to compete more effectively on creative strategy without massive scale.
What to watch (Super Bowl ad highlights)
- Anthropic ad — expected to generate significant buzz in the chatbot/name-recognition battle.
- OpenAI and Microsoft (CoPilot) spots — part of the high-profile AI ad cluster.
- Svedka — claims the first predominantly AI-generated Super Bowl ad (uses an established “fembot” trope).
- Coca‑Cola — example of AI-adjacent creative that leaned on nostalgia and tested well.
- Lighter fare to note: Liquid IV (toilet humor), Raisin Bran (counter-programming/nostalgia).
Practical recommendations (for marketers and brands)
- Start with AI for research, briefs, and iterative storyboards to reduce time and cost.
- Reserve big-budget, high-visibility creative for vetted human-led or hybrid approaches until AI quality is demonstrably reliable.
- Train proprietary models on brand archives to improve authenticity; document data sources and permissions.
- Build legal and disclosure checks into workflows to avoid false claims or misrepresentation.
- Upskill staff in AI tools and hire talent that understands both creative strategy and AI capabilities.
- Test AI-generated creative on representative audiences (or validated artificial audiences) before major rollouts.
Bottom line
AI is already reshaping advertising operations and economics—accelerating back-end workflows, enabling cost savings, and shifting competitive dynamics as AI companies advertise aggressively. Creative quality and legal/ethical clarity remain constraints for high-stakes placements like the Super Bowl, but brand-specific AI and rapid tool improvement mean indistinguishable AI-driven ads are likely in the near future.