How IPG Mediabrands will use Google's generative AI models for brands

IPG Mediabrands struck a deal with Google to speed up brands’ use of AI by using Google Cloud to develop applications that use generative AI to “codify the essence of a brand.”

IPG Mediabrands will incorporate Google’s generative AI tools with machine learning models that are available in Google Cloud, the Interpublic Group of Cos. media agency group announced today. Google has generative AI models that create text and images, and brands are starting to use these to assist in ad campaigns.

IPG Mediabrands’ plans for generative AI are an indication of where the ad world is headed, with generative AI helping to power advertising, iterate on varieties of ads and plan where to place ads.

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IPG Mediabrands has two products in the pipeline for advertisers, a spokesperson told Ad Age. One is called “BrandVoice AI,” which will “codify the essence of brands so that written and image-based content can be ideated, briefed, and drafted,” the spokesperson said in an email. That means the AI will get a good sense of a brand, its history and its general tone in the marketplace, to build assets in the brand’s image.

Secondly, there is “BrandPortrait AI,” a conversational platform where IPG Mediabrands strategists can chat with AI to help plan ad campaigns and gin up research. IPG Mediabrands declined to name the first brands that would undergo this AI transformation, but the spokesperson said clients are in fields such as finance, consumer goods and retail.

Top ad agencies and holding companies have been aggressively pursuing generative AI programs and have been working with major platforms, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta. In June, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Omnicom struck several generative AI partnerships, including one with Google. And Google showed off new AI ad products, including what it called “Demand Gen,” which uses a brand's library of content—images, copy, product catalogs—to arrange video ads for multiple formats and to appeal to different audiences.

There has been a rush of marketers translating their libraries of data into a language that AI can use for marketing. Brands also are trying to protect their data so that their information isn’t used to train AI models in ways that could benefit rivals. They also don’t want their businesses surreptitiously absorbing data that isn’t their own.

“All content will be approved by the brands—IPG’s clients—before being utilized by the AI pilot platforms,” IPG Mediabrands said in its announcement.

Data, text, imagery and descriptions from brands’ libraries will be fed into Google’s generative AI tools, with the consent of the brands, IPG Mediabrands announced, adding that the first phase of its AI pilot program with Google Cloud will be complete by the end of September.

IPG Mediabrands sees the potential for generative AI to help global brands create tailor-made content for different regions, a spokesperson said. Auto brands, for example, could use branded content creation tools to help market the launch of new cars, and they could use AI in the campaign planning process to target ideal customers.

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