Do this or drown.
Okay, the original genius line was “Do This or Die, penned by Bob Levinson for DDB, circa 1960.
But, hell, times have changed. Right?
No question, AI is what's up in our collective grills, and with quantum computing in trail, maybe at a speed that blows way past Moore’s Law.
But not to worry. This isn't about relitigating whether the AI is glass overflowing with abundance, half full of promise, half empty with none of the above, or just a case of glass shards mixed into the advertising industry’s shit sandwich.
We can arm wrestle over the relative merits of “democratized creativity” versus “the loss of intuitive humanity” (and a whole lot of jobs) at a later date.
But I have been thinking about the super simple question knocking on the screen:
What happens when writing a short prompt is all it all it takes to “make” something that looks, feels, and smells, like an ad.
Or at least an ad-like object. Frictionless. Effortless. While-U-Watch.
Not gated by anything other than budget. Which, outside of the Super Bowl, major event streamers, and in the world of “SET YOUR MEDIA SPEND FOR AS LOW AS $5 A WEEK” ain’t hella nothing.
No gold stars for getting this right in one: the fucking world is going to be inundated with more and more advertising.
Using the entire supply of screen, surface, and what the fancy neuroscience pants call “metal availability.”
Maybe the occasional brand starts putting frequency caps on this stuff. Maybe, a few even stick with “if it’s not high impact, we won’t use it.”
But those will be the exception, not the rule.
Here’s my real fear. The green eyeshade set, both on the agency and client side, are salivating over the prospect that “AI-made will allow them to reduce creative headcount and costs.
While the former is terrible news for newbies looking to get a point of entry into the business, the latter is all about eliminating high cost — more experienced and proven talent — from the overhead nut.
Not to mention the actual production costs involved with shooting, crafting, and making the thing worth seeing.
Again, you input the prompt and AI spits something that looks a lot like real. But it really isn’t, at least not if you care about actual bang for actual buck. And with nobody with the judgement to push the stop button.
Or, gasp, to actually, make the thing worth the spend.
Funny thing is that if you read the copy of “Do This or Die,” you’ll find it’s about not trying to trick the audience.
Levinson’s context and copy were about product truth. But they could so easily apply to the truth of making the case for the product.
Paraphrasing:
“If we also play this trick we die.
Because bad advertising only makes advertising fail faster.
No donkey chases the carrot forever.
He catches on. And quits.
That’s the lesson to remember.
Unless we do, we die.
Unless we change, the tidal wave of consumer indifference will wallop into advertising indifference.
That day we die.”
So maybe the question isn’t “what happens if AI makes it effortless to make an ad?”
Maybe it’s “are we ready for the flood?
Hey – if you want to see how far ahead DDB was on this stuff: http://hogd.pbworks.com/w/page/18698597/Bob%20Levinson%20DDB%20ad%20Do%20This%20Or%20Die