AI is big for you right now. Your partners are using it. Your team is using it. And you know you need to evolve with technology — but not at any cost.
You want to stay grounded in a human-led approach while taking advantage of modern tools and techniques. And you want to work ethically and intentionally, which means deciding what you’re okay with, and how to operationalise those choices.
We use AI ourselves — for tasks like editing copy and brainstorming ideas. But in marketing, knowing your customer is key. And that’s where AI still falls short.
No matter how well you craft your prompts, AI struggles to understand your customer personas or the context of your unique situation. That’s why its outputs can often feel generic or miss the nuances that matter.
AI-generated content needs a human lens.
We still reject a lot of what AI suggests. Instead, bringing in the language and phrasing we know will resonate — because we’re actually out there speaking to people, and that’s how connection works.
You know the language your customers use. You understand their mindset. These are the details that are critical for engaging communication.
AI can also be helpful in advertising — for testing variations of copy and creative. But this comes with risks.
You wouldn’t want it publishing some of its suggestions — inaccurate claims or off-brand messaging. Yet, that can happen automatically when AI options are turned on in platforms like Google and Meta. Ad copy can be generated and published for testing without sign-off.
Advertisers still have a responsibility for their adverts.
We may use AI for generating ideas but when it comes to advertising we’ll always make sure messaging is approved before publishing.
All of this can be daunting when the technology is new and you have people coming at you saying “just give it a try — what’s the worst that can happen”, right?
One client I worked with considered using AI-generated images instead of real photos after they’d heard another organisation doing this in their campaigns. It seemed like a good option to bypass getting permissions for image use. However, when we discussed the values of their brand — of which cultural sensitivity and genuine representation was important — and that AI-generated images might not represent their people, we decided to stick with the real images and take the little extra time to request the right permissions.
Often the line is not clear.
Coming back to your values helps to validate your thinking.
And if you’re not being heard, you may just be talking to people who don’t get it yet.
Find your people. We’re out here.
AI is a powerful tool. But it’s not a solution in itself. We need to apply a human lens that’s customer-orientated, legal and ethical when deciding how to use it — as professionals, as businesses, and in the way we show up in the world.
📌 This was Issue 05 of The Forward — our regular newsletter.
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