Photo: Canva
Nothing is more memorable than a brand’s catchy slogan. If it sounds just right and leaves the listener hooked, then chances are that brand awareness will pay dividends in the long term.
Quality Logo Products performed an experiment, taking their list of the top brand slogans and entering them into an AI program to rewrite them. With these new AI-generated slogans, Quality Logo Products listed them against the original brand slogans and “surveyed 1,007 Americans about which slogans they liked best. Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 76 years old, and were 53% female, 44% male and 3% nonbinary.”
In a time when humans versus AI is the new reality, the results of this contest were surprising. The survey concluded that overall, “people preferred AI’s rewritten slogans 46% of the time.” This graphic from Quality Logo Products shows the AI slogans that were picked by the majority over the original human-written slogans.
Following that, this graphic below shows which original human-written slogans remained more popular in the survey and proves that AI still has creative limitations, although it still fares rather well.
The most overwhelmingly liked slogans are some of the most unique and classic, such as the ones for Burger King, Skittles, Walmart, KFC, and Coca-Cola.
Although no major brand has yet admitted to using a fully AI-generated slogan, this experiment reinforces the fact that generative AI will always be a part of brand marketing.
Dash Agency shared in a blog about how some major brands are now utilizing AI in their marketing divisions, many of which consumers are already accustomed to, including:
- Amazon: With personalized shopping recommendations, “Amazon became one of the first companies to use AI to enhance customer experiences.” Amazon has also reorganized its structure over the years to “integrate AI into every part of the company” with the aim of becoming the biggest e-commerce website in the United States. It also introduced Alexa, an AI assistant, through Echo devices in 2014.
- Nike: To sell custom products, “Nike uses AI to engage customers by launching customizable experiences; Nike launched a system that allowed customers to design their own sneakers in store and online.”
- Sephora: The beauty brand utilizes multiple forms of AI, such as chatbots, virtual makeovers, color IQ, and fragrance IQ.
To top things off, ketchup brand Heinz has taken credit for being the first company to launch what they described as “the first ever ad campaign with visuals generated entirely by artificial intelligence.”
Although humans and AI are constantly poised to make standoffs against one another like a Wild West showdown, perhaps the better choice would be to find compromise and remember that AI is a complementary tool, created by humans for humans.
As an example, considering the AI-generated brand slogans featured in this article, here are some simple tweaks made to bridge the gap between humans and AI, showing the original slogan, the AI slogan, and a revised slogan:
- Pampers: Love, Sleep & Play –> For Your Bundle of Joy –> Bundle Up Your Joy
- Adobe: Changing the World Through Digital Experiences –> Designing Your Dreams –> Design Your Dreams
- Disney: Where Dreams Come True –> The Magic lives here –> Magic Lives Here
- GoPro: Be a Hero –> Life in High Definition –> Be a High-Definition Hero
- BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine –> Engineered for Excellence –> Power Engineered Into Elegance
Whether these are better or not is subjective, but it proves that even a little bit of revision can turn an AI slogan into a more human-sounding or better rendition.
BrainTrust
Susan O'Neal
General Manager, Promo Intel & Insights, Numerator
Jeff Sward
Founding Partner, Merchandising Metrics
Neil Saunders
Managing Director, GlobalData
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Do you think all companies and brands should be utilizing AI to some degree, especially with marketing? Are there areas where AI works best or should be avoided?
Poll
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Given that people preferred AI generated slogans 46% of the time, I am not sure this provides conclusive proof that AI is better at writing than humans. If anything, it seems to be a draw! To be fair, some of the AI slogans in the research are much snappier than the originals. However, the originals are chosen not just for how they sound but for their ability to encapsulate a message that resonates with the company’s ethos and its products. Philips is a prime example. Its original slogan is “together, we make life better”. The AI version is “lighting up your life”. The AI version is certainly punchier, but it pigeonholes Phillips into the lighting category when the company has products across so many more areas. AI hasn’t picked up on that nuance.
The determination of “better” should consider its influence on both awareness and sales, though this doesn’t consistently align with consumer preferences. Hence, the verdict remains uncertain in my view. Nonetheless, I am unequivocally convinced that AI can profoundly enhance efficiency and, consequently, productivity. This conviction is rooted in my own encounters, encompassing not only content generation but also content refinement, research, and a plethora of other domains. Fostering an environment where your employees and teams can personally explore AI, both on an individual level and as an integral aspect of your business, is imperative to avoid falling behind. (This response has been enhanced by AI, as in “rewritten to sound more professional”.)
What happens when humans rewrite the original human slogan? It’s great when AI has the advantage of all the work that went into the original slogan. So give humans the same advantage in the experiment. Then the comparison becomes fair.
Some of the AI written slogans were pretty impressive, however, some were not.This proves that an AI only approach is not ideal, but combined with human monitoring/editing, AI can enhance creative marketing content. It is good to know that AI won’t be replacing humans anytime soon. Phew.
I don’t think “all companies” should utilize a technology just because it’s the digital flavor of the month, but most do seem to follow that path over and over again, generally to mixed results – see Metaverse. GAI is a new tool and, like all tools, it needs to be understood both in terms of its limits and its potential. When we understand those parameters the applications – or non-applications – will be obvious.
Today’s narrative is fascinating. I mostly agreed with the crowd on both sides of the choices.
The answer is to be sure AI is at the creative table. Before AI, new slogans were well-tested prior to release. With AI, include what it comes up with in that research.
At this point, AI is not a substitute for creativity. However, it is a great tool to help you be more creative. Use it for its current capabilities.
Marketing is tricky area to leverage AI because there are so many colloquialisms and linguistic nuances. I could see an AI generated slogan running a massive risk of offending, so we will always need humans to check these decisions. That said, the offending does still happen with strictly humans as well. In many of these examples, the AI results are very literal, whereas the human slogans are much more implicit with their message- this makes sense given the limitations of AI, but it’s very much something to be aware of.
At the end of the day, humans are still selecting the slogans- whether they were offered up by AI or other humans. And frankly I doubt the AI would even care- although sometimes the humans would. Even with tracking and data results, there’s a subjective touch here that doesn’t vanish because an AI tool suggested it. What I would also suspect happens is that the AI generated slogans can inspire humans to generate their own slogans as well. I would also venture to guess that the AI tools ran through hundreds of not thousands of throwaway slogans that just didn’t make the cut. AI for marketing can be a valuable tool, but it won’t subsume the marketer.
Companies should be investigating ways to use AI responsibly with clear benefits. There’s a great deal of work done with slogans and I am sure that some of them have been tested with the brand and/or retailer’s target customers so I don’t believe that AI can consistently do it better.
If we revisit the audience of a slogan vs. the audience of this study, there may be a problem with the results. The research audience appears to have a goal to have a demographically/geographically fair representation of the US population. However, a slogan is focused on a sliver of Americans or a target consumer group. Why would we evaluate a BMW or Go Pro slogan with consumers that would never ever buy the program?
That said, I would agree that AI can help with the first pass or generation of new slogans for consideration. Humans need to evaluate and ensure that it will resonate with the target consumer.
To quote David Ogilvy “We all have a tendency to use research as a drunkard uses a lamppost – for support, but not for illumination.” I feel the same way about AI.
AI, properly used, is a marketing asset. In other words, it’s merely a tool, not the solution.
Indeed
I was clearly in the minnority here, the 27% who liked both. For me, some were clear improvements, some were clearly not and some were close. I think the humna imgaination has always relied on what came before or what is current to help create the new. I am hoping that in the creative world that remains true.
Many rock musicians fo past and present will tell you the vast majority of songs are different combinations of four basic cords. The “P” word is inevitable.
The AI-powered generated slogans are intriguing. While I disagree with the supposed improved list of slogans, a few improved ones stand out: Adobe, Facebook, GoPro, and Nikon. Slogans shouldn’t simply pass a likability test but must fit the company’s vision and purpose. When it comes to creativity, originality, and strategic fit, the human element still has the edge— for now.
I think the main takeaway here is that AI is a tool to help with efficiency, not a replacement for human ingenuity. Marketing a product or business requires a level of creativity that cannot be replicated by software.
I have a long list of human-made slogans from foreign and American companies that were badly translated into gibberish or offensive sentences. The literal translation makes no sense and cultural connotations were ignored or misunderstood. Also true for brand names like Bimbo, a Mexican food business brand.
My favorite good slogan is Delta Airlines—Delta is ready when you are.