Professor Russ Newman of New York University does not believe that AI will cause humanity’s extinction. Instead, it should help enhance human intelligence and productivity and our quality of life. After putting the AI revolution into historical context, Prof. Newman discussed aligning AI with human values. At our current stage, he believes the regulatory mechanisms in place are sufficient. He explained how large language models work, what allowed them to come into existence and their future impact, describing the effect on marketing and advertising, as well as what the individual user experience will be like.
A democratizing, hyper-personalized experience could take place where AI agents advocate on their owner’s behalf and negotiate each transaction with their owner’s preferences in mind. Over time, he sees a great diversification of models coming into being. Historically speaking, each groundbreaking technology that changed the world has been a net gain for humanity. What makes AI different is that if applied correctly, it could make us smarter. The question is, if AI gives us exceptional advice, will we take it?
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On February 28th, the ARF Young Pros gathered, both in person and virtually, to learn about the utilization of AI tools and their capabilities by companies like Comscore and LinkedIn. Paul Donato, representing the ARF, began with an overview of the recently published ARF Handbook on AI in advertising research. Following that, Danan Ren and Tiffany Terilli from Comscore shared insights on how the company currently leverages AI and how we can all benefit from this technology. Virtually, Rogier Verhulst and Kendra Speed from LinkedIn presented how they use ChatGPT to understand brand association, with Kendra providing a practical example of integrating AI tools into our daily work. Finally, attendees practiced creating surveys using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Bard.
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At this Insights Studio, researchers in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. presented work in relatively new fields that have high-impact potential for the advertising industry. Starting with a forthcoming paper on sonic branding, the authors described their ground-breaking framework for measuring the implicit effects of sonic branding using music to manipulate visual scenes in video, film and TV. Next, a deep dive into autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR)—a sensory-inducing device in ads—included strategies for helping brands collaborate with successful ASMR influencers. Lastly, a preview of an article to be published in the March Prosocial Advertising Special Issue showed how brand activism influences attitudes and purchase intentions, revealing a credibility gap between established activist brands and brands emerging in that space. Taking questions from Paul and from attendees, panelists in the concluding Q&A explored links between sonic branding and ASMR, the demographics of ASMR followers, ways for emergent activist brands to close the credibility gap with established activist brands, and future research possibilities.
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On February 6, Analytics Council Organizational Working Group members Shelley Yang (Director, Insights Activation at Ipsos Creative Excellence) and John Baro (Manager, Market Research & Insights at Spectrum Reach) shared a summary of their learnings from a set of 21 in-depth interviews (IDIs) conducted with ARF members to understand what insights and analytics departments should do to future-proof themselves. Then, a panel of senior researchers -- Helen Katz (EVP, Research at Publicis Media), Michelle Gibb (Vice President, Global Insights & Analytics at Mondelez International), and Jed Meyer (SVP, Media Solutions Leader of Kantar) -- and an industry observer, Simon Chadwick (Managing Partner at Cambiar LLC) joined Shelley to share their perspectives on the topic. Their conversation was moderated by Steven Millman, Global Head of Research & Data Science at Dynata. The presentations and panel touched on AI, outsourcing, skill sets, and mindsets.
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