When creativity meets code: AI ads that took the spotlight in 2024

New Delhi: Brands went gaga for AI in the past year. AI seeped into society in unimaginable ways and among the many sectors embracing this shift, marketing has welcomed this new toolset with open arms. 

Advertising campaigns wholeheartedly greeted AI as a powerful ally in the fierce battle for consumer attention. But as they say, the universe always maintains balance; there were equal hits as there were misses. 

Be it a hit or a miss, one thing is undeniable - brands leveraged the power of AI not only as a tool but as a premise for their campaigns. 

Here’s a closer look at five of the most captivating AI-powered ad campaigns that have turned heads this year.

P.S. The list is not a ranking but a glimpse into the changing landscape of marketing, all driven by AI.

Tight and tailored

India’s popular food delivery platform, Zomato, hit a six with its AI-powered campaign during the Tata IPL 2024. The campaign featured actors Ranveer Singh and Samantha Prabhu, and cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara as brand ambassadors.

The food platform devised personalised and tailored advertisements, showcasing a specific restaurant and its signature dish. The campaign ensured that Zomato’s restaurant partners garnered increased visibility during the T20 season in the country. It also helped elevate the connection between consumers and their favourite local eateries. 

Watch the ad here: 

And here’s another version with a similar premise

The “Mediocre” masterstroke 

Aligned with its philosophy to tickle the funny bone, Mondelez India’s Cadbury 5 Star waged a war to make AI “mediocre.” And hence was born the campaign M.A.M.A., or Make AI Mediocre Again. 

The campaign introduced the thought of AI getting faster to the extent that humans will struggle to keep pace, making it increasingly harder for people to get time to just sit back and do nothing. 

The brand built the world's first server farm that works 24-7 to make existing AIs less efficient. These dedicated servers pump out thousands of authentic-looking webpages that are filled with confusing, nonsensical information. 

Since AIs train from internet data, all AIs are likely to pick up these nonsensical pages as genuine training data, which can cause them to make silly mistakes and effectively become as error-prone as humans.

Watch the campaign here: 

Tata Tea & Vitamin D

On the occasion of World Vitamin Day, Tata Tea Gold VitaCare launched an ad campaign with integrated AI technology to raise awareness about vitamin D deficiency. The ad highlighted that 70% of all Indians suffer from this deficiency. 

The campaign featured a digital AR filter ‘face test’ that consumers could use to measure their lethargy. In addition, the filter acted as a portal for the consumer to land on TataTea Gold VitaCare’s shopping page. Moreover, this feature also helps consumers garner education about Vitamin D deficiency and the importance of Vitamin D. 

Watch the ad clip here:  

Pedigree adopting AI

In the first half of 2024, Pedigree turned heads as it launched Adoptable, a campaign that used AI to find homes for the furry friends we all love so much. 

In the campaign, the AI first churns out a digital double of a dog who is up for adoption. The digital double is then generated in multiple poses. This provides the general characteristics of the dog. Then the machine-learning model makes the final look of the advertisement which is then highlighted on the back of Pedigree’s global media reach. 

The campaign was developed by Colenso BBDO, an agency based out of New Zealand. 

Watch this video introducing the aspects of the campaign: 

Dabur, Dada, and AI

Dabur during the festive season, entered the AI trendwagon with its regional marketing campaign for Durga Puja. The campaign monikered ‘Pujo with Dada’ allowed consumers to send and receive personalised messages by cricketer Sourav Ganguly.  

The brand, in collaboration with BTDT Media, developed a microsite www.pujowithdada.com, where users could create customised videos and greetings featuring Dada. 

Watch the Instagram post shared by Dabur here: 

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