How Should Brands Use AI? | Americus Reed

Should Marketers Use AI?

Dan Loney: [AI is impacting many areas.] One area that we're going to talk about right now is the world of marketing and the use of visuals in advertising. This, obviously, from the advertiser’s perspective, helps them save money and time in production. But is it the right way to go about this, when you're talking about that connection to the consumer? And how much should the public know about how much AI is being used in the advertisements they see? A pleasure to be joined by our friend Americus Reed, professor of management here at the Wharton School, and co-host of the Marketing Matters podcast on the Wharton Podcast Network. AR, good to talk to you again. How are you, sir?

Americus Reed: I'm doing well. Dan, Happy New Year to you. Very excited for this conversation.

Loney: Thank you. So, we're early in 2026. As we are talking here right now, how much AI is involved in marketing and advertising at the moment?

Reed: Well, I love that question, Dan. I think that what we're seeing right now — and this is amazing to me to watch — is that there is an incredible trajectory of accelerated participation and use of AI. Dan, it's the Wild West. Everyone is jumping in on this, and the parameters are are being discussed and framed out as we go.

What I'm seeing, especially with smaller companies, is that there is this leveling up, just like you just said, where you're able to do things that you could not do as a small company, in terms of cost-prohibitive creative that you can create now using these types of tools. And so we're going to continue to see smaller companies really trying to reach that same level of quality in the creative that the bigger companies can see.

On the consumer side, just like you're saying, consumers are aware that these are tools that are in use from a marketing perspective, certainly with respect to actually creating advertisements, messaging, things like that. But also on the back end, with respect to the research that has to get done to understand what consumers want, and to do the typical types of things that we do as marketers. So these tools are there. In my point of view, there's no choice but to take on these tools and dive in and try to learn how you can best be productive using these tools.

Loney: You mentioned the research side. How much are you doing that with your work at the moment so that you can best understand where that right level is, so that you're getting the message across, but you're also not impeding the consumer as well?

Reed: I love that question. Even in my own work, I was hesitant. Because, you know, I am a digital immigrant. All of these things are just wildly new to me. But even in my work as a professor, I've had to force myself to lean in on these tools to help me write and come up with ideas, to have an agent that can go out and do research on my behalf and to help me form my ideas, articulate my ideas, get structure around my ideas. In the classroom, it's happening with respect to my interactions and engagement with the students. It is totally there.

As I said, there's no choice. It would be like product services organizations saying to themselves in 1995, “You know what? Let's skip this whole internet thing. Let's not jump in.” You can't do it. AI is this next milestone. It is this thing, and we're all going to have to use it. And we're just going to have to get over that threshold of fear and jump in and start trying to use these tools.

Every day, I seem to wake up, Dan, there's a new set of tools that are being introduced to me. A new brand, a new product platform of AI machinery that is entering into my space. So I have to figure out, even in my own world, what are the tools I need to level up on my skill sets? And I've already started that process.

Loney: You mentioned big business versus small business in terms of the use of these tools in marketing. It would seem to me that this is a great opportunity for smaller businesses to play catch up and to be able to play on the same playing field. To be able to level up with some businesses in their specific sector, because of how AI can give them a boost.

Reed: That's a hundred percent correct. And I love this. Because, to me, what's happening here is a marketplace change, Dan. It’s the idea that everyone has to get better. And that's actually ultimately better for the consumer. If smaller companies can compete with larger companies, and there's more competition, and there's parity with respect to brands, product, service organizations, from innovative, smaller startup types of companies competing with the big guys. That's a good thing. We're seeing right now many of these companies starting that process of figuring out how to bring these tools into the play.

One of the things that I am noticing here that's very, very important is the question of, “How do I use these tools?” And one thing I counsel companies with, is to say, “Listen. Don't just be sort of a hammer looking for a nail.” In other words, yes, the tools are there. But you don't want to just use the tools for the tool's sake. You want to actually be able to solve a problem that you would not be able to solve but for the use of these AI tools. That's a different way to think about it, with respect to deploying them in ways that can really enhance your productivity.

Loney: Well, [it’s probably] something that, up until maybe five, 10 years ago, companies really didn't even probably put that into the mix to begin with, right?

Reed: That's a hundred percent correct. Now, it is literally the Wild, Wild West. I'm seeing right now, when I am watching the early stages of AI a few years ago to the quality of what can be produced now— very soon, Dan, we're going to get to a point where you will not be able to tell the difference between an AI generated, creative piece of output, and something real. And that's scary, because now we're talking about affecting consumers. We’re talking about, how do you deploy these tools in an ethical way? How do you stop misinformation? How do you make sure that you're doing these things the right way?

This is going to be opening up a whole plethora of regulatory issues, companies’ best practices. Right now, I'm not aware of any sort of focused parameters that are being put out there. It's all sort of forming in real time, and we'll see how this all plays out. But there's no question in my mind that if you are a product, brand, service, organization, you have to start using these tools.

AI Best Practices for Marketers

Loney: You kind of answered what I wanted to talk about next in terms of best practices. But do you think it's a necessity to have, whether it's not official rules, but best practices [or] guidelines that companies try to adhere to, so that they are delivering the message that they want to, but at the same time they're not infringing on the consumer's life, their territory?

Reed: I love that point, Dan. I think that's a critical question that basically is at the crux of the issue here. When we're thinking about, how do consumers respond to these types of creatives and creative output? Do they look at this and say, “This is not authentic. It's made up. It's fakery.” Or do they look at this and say, “Hey, that's pretty cool?” And so I think the answer to that is, it depends on how it's deployed, right? If you're Coca-Cola and you're making AI- generated ads, it might be a very different reaction, let's say, from the point of view of the consumer, in terms of a smaller sort of company.

There's nuance here. In other words, how do I deploy the tool? How do I make sure I'm deploying the tool in a way that ensures that the consumer understands that I know what they detect as real and not real, and that they understand I'm using these tools to create deeper connections, more resonant connections? Especially with younger consumers, perhaps. And that these tools can help me do that. But just using these tools to be using the tools is probably not as efficient and desirable as really saying, “You know what? I have a specific issue of an ad I need to create. And AI is going to help me do this to really facilitate my brand, to facilitate the meaning system around my brand. And AI can help me do this in a way that I would not be able to do otherwise. So I'm going to deploy it.”

Loney: There is so much AI content out there right now, and it seems like it grows every day. For many of us, a lot of that AI content has a level of humor to it. Do marketers benefit from the fact that there seems to be that connection between AI and humor right now? And it will benefit them if they go that route with the messages that they are trying to deliver?

Reed: I think you're touching on something that's really important insight here, Dan. And that is to say yes. The answer to that is yes. In other words, the expectation of AI and humor, there's a natural synchronicity there, right? And we're all seeing the funny memes that are coming out that are so fantastical it blows your mind. Whether it be President Trump and the former president of Venezuela Crip Walking together, or whatever it is, it's one of these things that is hilarious.

Loney: Rocky and Apollo Creed, except it's Trump and Maduro.

Reed: Exactly. But here's something that's really deep, an insight that you just pointed to. Humor is a natural gateway into this, right? It's a safe way to expose people to these tools, and your use of these tools as a product, brand, service, organization, in a way that doesn't potentially have the same backlash that you might have with respect to something that you would purport is an actual real thing that's happening. If they know it's fantastical, then you get a “get out of jail free” card, if you will, in terms of deploying that kind of thing. That's one of the nice things about using humor as part of the way to create that familiarity and safety with the consumer, so that they can trust what you're doing when you execute on these types of creative efforts later on down the road.

How Are Consumers Reacting to AI?

Loney: The understanding that the public has currently about the use of AI in marketing efforts — do you know yet whether it tends to occur better with younger generations, digital natives, than older generations? Or is everybody kind of picking up on what is going on right now?

Reed: I think the answer is the latter. I think everyone is attuned to — because of what you had mentioned with respect to the proliferation of AI in the humorous, comedic kind of setting — that people are aware of this, I would think that younger consumers have a more built-in kind of familiarity with these sorts of tools, because they're growing up swiping left and right and things of that nature.

But I think […] the more and more proliferation of these AI tools that happens out there, Dan, across generations of consumers, the less it becomes differentiated. There's a challenge there, because once everyone starts using these tools, then everything level sets, and it's sort of the same. The question becomes, “How do I differentiate my specific use of these tools in ways that elevate my brand above competition?”

That's going to be where the people who are most creative, the genuine, authentic narrative storytellers, are going to be able to really elevate. Because they're going to understand how to use these tools to create trust and resonance and brand connection with both younger and older consumers. And we're going to wait until that happens with respect to the market shaking out with respect to the tools themselves, but also the products, brands, services, and organizations that are using these tools.

Loney: As a professor and as a researcher, are there elements that you are most interested to see how they develop within this entire AI growth marketing process?

Reed: Again, there's two areas that I'm interested in. One is on the side of the creating the intelligence that allows us to understand and predict how consumers are going to react to the types of things we would like to do as a brand, product, service, or organization. That's this gathering information and understanding the consumer side. And then on the other side, executing on creating messages, advertisements, promotional kinds of things that can really elevate on the creative side as well. I think there's going to be a convergence of these two areas happening within the context of those marketers that are savvy enough and smart enough to jump on this train now and to start figuring out how to use these tools in the best ways that we've been talking about in this conversation.

Loney: I'll finish up with this question, because you just mentioned brand. And brand is something that you and I have talked about a lot, especially in recent years. All of this that is being advanced still has to be done with the brand at the forefront of the thought process. Because the last thing a company wants to do is something that is going to really put a crimp, put a hurt, on their brand, even with this advanced technology.

Reed: That's a hundred percent correct. I love that point. For example, we talked about the Coca-Cola ads that have been coming out. Porsche came out with an ad [where] they literally came out and said, “This was not made with AI.” And, you know, it's been going viral because of that. It really illustrates the point that you're making, Dan, which is that, again, you don't want to just use this tool for the tool's sake. You definitely want to use the tool, but you want to use the tool in service of elevating the brand, keeping things consistent, making sure synchronicity is there, making sure that you're able to use these tools in ways that create resonance that you would not otherwise be able to do if you weren't using these tools. If you're thinking about it from that focused point of view, you probably aren't going to get into any trouble.