before the present is gone.
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EST 10:14:15
It seems many brands are still searching for the most effective ways to talk about technology, especially GenAI.
If you tuned into the Paris Olympics, you already know that AI commercials captured viewers’ attention just as much as the sporting events did. Considering companies spent $107 million on AI ads in the first half of 2024 — and the US Olympics team scored its first official “AI partner” this year — it’s no surprise that AI ads are as hard to escape today as the term “unprecedented” was four years ago.
Although AI spending is up, public sentiment is down. While families are adopting tools like Slack and Trello to organize household chores and students use Grammarly without second thought, using generative AI (GenAI) feels like a shameful act. Despite AI subcultures sprouting online, we hide our chatbot tabs at school and work, rarely disclosing that our intelligent ideas were born in an artificially intelligent algorithm. Clearly, we’re still far from the point of casually exchanging GPT prompts around a water cooler (at least with the same eagerness we reserve for our favorite lunch spots).
So, it’s no wonder that our reluctance to share our most clever AI use cases has led to clumsy attempts to market the technology, which often feel disconnected from our current — and desired — applications.
Take for example, Google’s [redacted] ad campaign for GenAI chatbot Gemini. The story is told from the perspective of a father whose young daughter idolizes Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the American track star and gold medalist. When his daughter wants to write a fan letter to her hero, her father turns to Gemini and says, “Gemini, help my daughter write a letter telling Sydney how inspiring she is.”
At first glance, the heartwarming visuals make it easy to miss how the ad is sharing the wrong story, suggesting that AI can be a surrogate for our most important roles, instead of freeing up our time to fill those roles ourselves. A few subtle changes could have transformed this campaign into something far more sincere. Picture this: “Hey Gemini, can you write these work emails for me so I can help my daughter write a letter to her favorite track star, Sydney?” Gemini would quickly produce three well-crafted email responses. After some minor tweaking, the father would send his emails and shut his laptop, turning his attention toward his daughter. The scene would follow the father-daughter duo squabbling over word choice, reminiscing over early running memories, and nervously hitting send — together.
It seems many brands are still searching for the most effective ways to talk about technology, especially GenAI. The stories that are best designed to strike a chord with modern-day audiences don’t emphasize technology’s ability to act human; they highlight its potential to knock mundane tasks off our to-do lists so we have the time to actually be human.
In other words, it’s time to flip the script. When brands remember that GenAI’s most important role in our lives is the supporting actor, not the main star, they’ll inspire us to share our own stories about the technology — how it takes care of menial moments so we can make meaningful memories.