Science Future: Inside Artificial Intelligence Advertising's Coolest Ads

By Heather Prather
Posted December 5, 2016

Talk about smart advertising. Changing the advertising landscape, Artificial Intelligence Advertising leverages technology, brand marketing and machine knowledge, along with gathered user interaction to create next-level options for companies who want to not only reach their audience in new and more creative ways, but also get to know their behaviors (and manipulate them) on a more intimate level.

FACT: The AI buzz has begun…

According to MTA, the Artificial Intelligence market is projected to grow by 53% by 2020. Artificial Intelligence is one of the most buzzed-about terms in technology. It’s also been reported that the AI market is estimated to reach $5.05 billion USD by 2020, up from $419.7 million USD in 2014 – a 53% increase.

With all of the Artificial Intelligence hubbub prominently positioned at the advertising forefront, we decided to take a closer look at some industry firsts, with cool ads ranging from beverages, to apparel and the arts.


Astra Bierre – "Girl Detection Billboard"
By Philipp und Keuntje

Cult fave of the Carlsberg group, German beer company Astra Bierre’s recent foray into AI Advertising focused on selling to a solely female demographic. By erecting an outdoor billboard featuring a built-in camera and facial recognition software, they were able to profile passersbys by gender and age. If the billboard detected a woman, they were shown an ad (one of over 70 age/gender specific produced – so nearly every visit by a single individual to the billboard was met by a unique experience). If the camera detected that the viewer was female and under 16 years of age (drinking age in Germany), they were told they were too young. If it detected a thirsty male passerby, it asked them to keep it moving.




United Colors of Benetton – "Face of the City"
By 180 Amsterdam

Iconic, global fashion juggernaut, United Colors of Benetton dug into their demographic with a melting pot approach that created fictional female models who represented the ethnic and cultural make-up of Milan, New York, London, Tokyo, Berlin and Paris.

The photos from each city were created via an algorithm that averaged and melded together the individual features (skin color, eyes, nose, face shape, type and color of hair) of  women from each city to create a face void of a single ethnicity but rather, representative of all ethnicities.




The Weather Company – Watson Ads
By Campbell's ads by GroupM’s MEC

Recently acquired by IBM, The Weather Company created Watson Ads featuring machine learning and natural language processing that enables consumers to have actual conversations with brands by asking questions via voice or text and receiving answers.

Campbell's Soup was the first brand to display Watson Ads that targeted users based on attributes such as weather patterns and location, meaning when a user sees an ad, they can ask Watson to suggest dishes to make based on the ingredients they provide.

The Weather Company has also partnered with Unilever, GSK Consumer Healthcare, Toyota and more.




Patrón – Patrón Cocktail Lab
By Razorfish

As part of Patrón's Cocktail Lab campaign, Patrón created an Amazon Echo skill (app) that enables users to ask for cocktail recommendations, along with other cocktail related questions via voice command. Currently only available on Amazon Echo, Tap or Dot, Patrón's skill uses data to create drink preferences. Users can ask for a recipe recommendation based on flavor, occasion or season and the more it's used, the more it learns individual user preferences to recommend better, customized cocktails.




TD Ameritrade – "Most Confident Fan"
By Havas Cognitive

Proof that positivity yields positivity, TD Ameritrade’s Super Bowl 50 sponsorship, “The Most Confident Fan” campaign employed IBM Watson to analyze football fans’ confidence levels with the theory that fan support and confidence has a direct impact on team's success. Fans connected via their social profiles and TD's Watson algorithm analyzed their posts to measure their confidence levels with a compelling outcome. The algorithm was able to find a direct correlation with confidence and team success and was able to predict that the Broncos would be the Super Bowl 50 winner.




Ubisoft – “Watch Dogs 2: Selfie Reveal"
By AKQA

"Selfie Reveal" explores the downside of all of those selfies we share. Viewers can upload pictures they've shared on social media and see first-hand what data can be pulled them. From the image itself, to location capture, age, etc. Though most are informed guesses, the thrust of the campaign is designed to inform posters of the possible risks of posting selfies. By detecting the image content through multiple image analysis APIs and comparing it against publicly available databases to draw possible conclusions about the user, the conclusions demonstrate how hackers, companies and the government could use the data against you.



ING – "The Next Rembrandt"
By JWT Amsterdam

For their Dutch arts and culture sponsorship, the world’s most innovative bank, ING, created the “The Next Rembrandt” campaign. With data as the painter, technology as the brush and 3D scans, digital files and various algorithms, plus Microsoft Azure machine learning and facial recognition as the medium, they were able to recreate Rembrandt’s famed self-portrait with astounding accuracy.

The algorithm analyzed Rembrandt's painting style -- composition, geometric proportion of facial features, etc., then a height map analyzed Rembrandt's brush strokes, with the final piece rendered using a 3D printer.




Cool stuff, right? Spark any ideas?Is the rise of Artificial Intelligence affecting your company’s marketing/advertising efforts? Have you seen any campaigns or treatments you love?

Tell us about it on Twitter or Facebook. We’d love to hear from you!


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