Artificial Intelligence: Your Brand’s Guardian Angel?

The rise of generative AI has been the talk of the tech world in 2023. Whether it’s been used to pass university exams or create songs that caught the attention of Grammy organisers, its every development has stolen column inches the world over.

That said, for all its potential to revolutionise the way content is created, far less has been covered about the potential of curative AI to manage it, essentially working as the flip side of generative AI by deconstructing assets and comparing them to existing rules. As brands expand their offerings to capitalise on the ever-growing number of sales channels it’s essential that their content remains consistent across them, compliant with different regional regulations and accessible to all.

In that respect, AI could prove to be business’s guardian angel.

A strong visual identity communicates ‘who’ a brand is, ‘what’ it’s about, and ‘why’ people should engage with it, with one survey finding that branding consistency could increase revenue by 33% as it makes it easier for consumers to discern a business from competitors. While it may seem small to some, elements like fonts, layouts, logos, and language can have a serious bearing on how a brand is presented, especially if it’s inconsistent.

Through the use of AI, which can download and analyse written and visual data faster than humans ever could, content can be intercepted during the review process so that quality or consistency concerns can be flagged immediately. Rather than asking workers to ensure a brand’s visual identity is uniform across multiple channels, geographies, and markets – a tall order for even the most detailed-oriented content editor – the task can be handed over to machines.

And since AI doesn’t sleep, it can make sure that nothing off-brand ever goes public. It also doesn’t forget (unless asked to), and so it can keep tabs on old pieces of content that are already live and cross-check that they adhere to updated visual guidelines. All of this means that the content a brand plans to put out will always meet the standards expected of it, and that historical content can be held to the same scrutiny – all without taxing the human workers that brands rely on for creativity. AI can even be used to keep an eye on competitors’ content, too, which some retailers are already taking advantage of to monitor rivals’ banner ads.

For regulated industries like pharmaceuticals, finance, alcohol and tobacco, legal requirements can add a layer of complexity to content creation.

For example, as tobacco and alcohol branding are highly scrutinised, AI can be used to analyse whether people featured in marketing materials are of legal purchasing age and provide recommendations when language or tone is potentially inappropriate.

Or it can review reams of complex pharmaceutical documents to make sure copy is scientifically accurate and meets regulatory standards. By using the technology as the first line of defence, it can trim down the reviews process immensely by ensuring that by the time content is put in front of human eyes, the majority of concerns have either been eliminated, addressed or flagged as needing attention. This can also help shrink firm’s carbon footprints by minimising the need for possible reprints.

The use of AI also saves businesses that operate across regions from needing to have local experts verifying content, as it can be instructed to look out for different things in specific markets like variations in drinking ages, image use rights and the like. This can even be retrospective, ensuring brands aren’t caught out by using media that was licensed years ago that they are no longer allowed to use.

Similarly, in the finance sector where numerical exactness and precise wording of terms and conditions is essential, AI can scrape thousands of documents and surface any discrepancies it finds, eliminating the risk of publishing incorrect disclaimers, offer terms, or figures before they become a legal headache.

Accessibility has risen up brands’ priority lists in recent years as public backlash over tone-deaf or non-inclusive content has grown louder due to consumers’ heightened social awareness. The reputational risk of running unintentionally harmful content cannot be understated, and by using AI brands can ensure that everything they put out adheres to the rules they have in place.

For instance, it can be trained to scan documents to ensure they align with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or a brand’s readability standards. Or it can be used to identify when visual materials are falling short in the diversity department. By setting hard and fast rules that it needs to follow, AI can help to cover up for the inherent biases that can influence people’s work and lead to them overlooking how accessible branded content is.

It could even be used as a way to check whether assets are suitable for the visually impaired, with humans only needed to tell it what to look out for. Again, acting as a brand’s first pair of ‘eyes’ over content can save workers hours of cross-referencing materials against existing policies, and minimise the human errors that everyone makes from time to time.

The benefits of using AI don’t stop at the improved quality and consistency of content – they can be felt business-wide.

From our own conversations with clients, we’ve seen it reduce the time spent on reviewing content by as much as 92%, and with the cost-savings being nearly the same. And while AI can be an expensive investment if built in-house, when outsourcing an AI-driven content manager, marketers can expect to quadruple their initial investment.

Which is all to say that while generative AI may continue to make headlines, spare a thought for the curative kind. It’s the key to making sure the content made by a brand’s best creative minds can be fully aligned to achieve a flawless, consistent brand identity.