WPP, one of the largest advertising groups in the world, has partnered with chipmaker Nvidia to use generative artificial intelligence in the production of large-scale advertisements for its clients.
The new technology platform, to be announced by Nvidia boss Jensen Huang in Taiwan on Monday, will allow WPP to use AI to create campaigns in minutes that previously would have taken weeks.
The platform combines 3D imaging software that can be used to produce a perfectly accurate photorealistic image – of a car, for example – which can then be integrated into a 2D video or advertisement generated by the AI engine. .
In the case of a car, this could be placed in a desert or rainy street, with the car adapting to its surroundings – sparkling wet or reflecting glare – in processes that would have taken days using a green screen traditional or an actual shoot. .
The speed of production means that advertising campaigns can be quickly adapted to different markets or countries – putting the car on the streets of Hong Kong or New York, for example – and will be able to create personalized advertisements for different digital channels such as YouTube or TikTok and their specific user groups.
Stephan Pretorius, chief technology officer at WPP, said his customers were starting to ask to use generative AI. “We are able to use generative AI to now personalize and . . . personalize (advertising) to every environment in the world: you can create 10,000 versions in minutes.”
Many in the advertising industry are concerned that AI will replace their work given its ability to reproduce familiar creative content. Advertising agencies are already using AI in media planning and buying.
WPP chief executive Mark Read said: “It is much easier to identify the jobs that AI will disrupt than to identify the jobs that AI will create. We have applied AI a lot to our media activities, but very little to the creative aspects of our business. »
Read, who said the technology would be “fundamental” to WPP’s business, added that “customers are seeing ways to quickly reduce production costs, to meet the demands of new channels.”
The technology partners with Getty Images to ensure copyright is also protected, addressing a big concern over the use of AI given the risk that it can “scratch” and use images illegally.
WPP has been working on trials of this technology with Nvidia for several years. Rev Lebaredian, vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology at Nvidia, whose stock price skyrocketed last week thanks to its AI technology, told the Financial Times that now is the time to use generative AI in advertising.
“We had the ChatGPT moment. Everyone realized now how transformative AI will be – you see it now in our stock price. WPP understood that early on.
Nvidia’s Huang said: “Global industries, including the $700 billion digital advertising industry, are racing to harness the benefits of AI,” Huang said, adding that WPP would now be able to to offer brands “product experiences and compelling content at a level of realism and scale never before possible”.
