Advertising’s Real Problem (and AI Can’t Fix It)

AI recreation of Bill Bernbach's famous portrait.

As the twice-late Bill Bernbach once said:

(his second death was last week)

"Creativity is the last unfair advantage we’re still legally allowed to have over our competitors."

I still haven’t seen uses in marketing and advertising where AI has taken on this role of unfair advantage.

Are there people who are ahead? Yes, but that’s not exactly an unfair advantage. It’s just the future being distributed gradually. Soon we’ll all be on the same page.

What I see most often is the same thing that existed before, just faster, cheaper, or without the headache.

Better? Questionable.

Advertising is mostly "bad" by principle.

Good products are a scarce resource.

Talent is a scarce resource.

So far, I’ve only seen AI try to play the game of abundance.

And if it’s abundant, it’s not exceptional.