The Media Leader Podcast | Believe It or Not
In a new mini-series, former Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes is joined by former Dentsu International CEO, now AI strategist Hamish Nicklin to argue over the nuances of AI development and its use in the creative industries.
In episode three, the duo debate for and against the prompt: “AI means you don’t need human creativity in ads anymore. You come to a media owner or platform, you tell them your objective, connect your bank account, and everything is done for you.”
Taking the “for” side of the argument is Nicklin, while Oakes represents the “against” side, posing sceptical questions.
The argument derives from a claim by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made last May that Meta (and platforms like it) will be able to automate the entire planning, buying, and creative process on behalf of advertisers.
As Zuckerberg described, this would be made possible by leveraging the data from billions of ad campaigns across its platforms, including what worked, what didn’t, what audiences to target and with what creative.
Just hype, or a reality the advertising industry will need to reckon with sooner rather than later?
Listen now by hitting the play button or use the appropriate entry point into Spotify, Apple or Google Podcasts:
Highlights
00:35: Recent developments in AI: Meta’s “Claudenomics” rankings, Anthropic’s Mythos
7:08: The technological case for Zuckerberg’s argument. Do you just need a bank account, some brand assets, and a partner platform to make an effective ad campaign?
16:11: Is targeting more important than the big idea? Does creative still matter at the bottom of the funnel? What about brand building?
26:56: Unintended consequences: declining trust, impact on production businesses, K-shaped job market
35:47: Is it “intellectual snobbery” to avoid using AI and complain about AI content? Or is the creative process the point?
47:14: An experiment, reversion to the mean, and the power of prompting
52:09: Verdicts
Believe It or Not Ep. 2: Will humans still touch media plans within five years?
Believe It or Not Ep. 1: Will AI replace most white collar jobs?
Introducing Believe It or Not, a mini-series about AI in media hosted by Omar Oakes and Hamish Nicklin
