【Madrid, Spai】AI and Advertising: Ally or Threat to Creatives?

by

Editor’s Note

This article explores how artificial intelligence is transforming the creative process behind iconic advertising, from slogans to jingles, as it moves from traditional media to digital platforms.

None
The Intersection of AI and Advertising

There are videos, images, or advertising jingles that have already become part of the collective imagination. Those ads—for soaps, beverages, supermarkets, perfumes, dolls, and a long list of others—that each generation recognizes as its own, previously on television or radio, and now also on social media and all kinds of platforms. Behind them are teams of creatives searching for the best slogan or the catchiest tune. Also meetings, briefings, contacts with brands and media, report writing, and other actions that make a campaign succeed.
In this entire process, there is now an additional participant: artificial intelligence. Its use in marketing is not new, but rapid advances in the sector and its increasingly precise capabilities have burst into the advertising world like a hurricane.
Can a machine replicate the human touch? Are we on the path towards extreme personalization of ads? Does AI amplify existing biases? To what extent does an algorithm know more than professionals? How to ensure transparency with clients and brands? All these questions were raised at the first breakfast of the Trends Project, moderated by Gonzalo Teúbal, Director of Audiences and Artificial Intelligence at EL PAÍS, and bringing together AI and advertising experts Iván González, AI Director at GroupM, Raquel Melero Velayos, Data Partnerships Director at The Trade Desk, and Gema Núñez Ventura, Head of Advertising Industry Relations at Google Spain.
Algorithms can generate ads—generative AI creates texts, images, and even videos at high speed—personalize messages, and optimize campaigns in real-time without human intervention. This is a revolution, but it raises a question: is artificial intelligence an ally or a threat to creatives? According to data from consultancy Oliver Wyman, in some sectors AI can increase efficiency by up to 40%. And the GroupM report “This Year Next Year: 2024 Global End-of-Year Forecast” highlights that this technology is consolidating itself as a new category within the advertising sector. It is projected that by 2029, AI will represent one-fifth of the advertising market.

None
Expert Perspectives: Adaptation and Support
“We must place ourselves in the year we are in. [AI] can give us an extra boost and be an ally, at least in the short term. From automations, repetitive tasks, ideation, or analysis. Not only in what we see most directly, which is that part of generating creativity. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a series of challenges associated [with the technology] or that AI can’t lead us to lose focus on what we want to achieve,” says González.

The expert has spent the last 15 years linked to the digital world and now leads the artificial intelligence team at GroupM, focused on developing generative AI solutions in marketing.
Melero agrees that adaptation to change is fundamental:

“Challenges don’t have to be negative, but it takes time to adapt to them and understand how to find benefit in what AI brings us. It’s a situation somewhat similar to the appearance of the steam engine at the beginning of the 19th century. Perhaps it’s a clichéd example, but a very good one to understand that these are evolutions that lead us towards a necessary transformation.”
None

Melero has developed her career in leading companies in the advertising sector, such as Yahoo and Atresmedia Publicidad.

“Artificial intelligence should be a support for creative agencies and professionals, to exploit all resources to the maximum. It is a very powerful technology and professionals will be needed who bring sensitivity, common sense, experience, consumer knowledge, brand knowledge, and the final objective of a campaign. This is going to cause roles within agencies to change, new profiles will be incorporated, people without training will have to be trained, but it is undoubtedly an ally and we must work to exploit it to the maximum,” explains Núñez.

The professional has worked in advertising for more than 25 years and the last 15 at Google Spain. Previously, she developed her career in media agencies such as Zenith Media or Havas Group.

The Challenge of Regulation

Alongside the emergence of AI and the gradual professional adaptation, there is another aspect that plays a key role: regulation. Technology advances, in many cases, faster than regulations, causing legal gaps or no-man’s-lands that must be considered. What happens if a campaign generated with artificial intelligence contains misleading information? How to be transparent when a message may be partially or entirely designed by an automation system?

None
Full article: View original |
⏰ Published on: March 14, 2025