Unilever Says the ‘Jury Is Out’ on Generative AI, For Now

With 400 brands to sell across 190 countries to millions of consumers, Unilever certainly recognizes the potential generative AI tools such as ChatGPT or Dall-E could play in helping it produce ads that shift products at scale.

At any given time, the Ben & Jerry’s owner has around 300 applications of AI supporting its supply chain, digital and product innovation functions. Lynx (AKA Axe in the U.S.) leaned on machine learning in 2022 to develop a new scent based on 3.5 million potential fragrance combinations. AI satellite imaging lets it detect changes in tree cover on farms that supply its produce.

However, according to its top chief digital and commercial officer Conny Braams, the marketing team is being both “careful” and considerate about how its creative teams are deploying the latest suite of neural networks.

Internally, Unilever has set up a “Generative AI Marketing Collective,” a global cross-functional steering committee that’s helping it figure out the “appropriate use” of generative AI through a marketing lens. The team includes senior employees from its brand, innovation insights, tech, media, consumer engagement, legal and procurement teams.

“We see that different functions play different roles, and [generative AI] has an application across so many different roles,” Braams told Adweek during a press event at Cannes Lions Festival last week.

She said the Dove and Hellmann’s maker was committed to responsible marketing. Braams added her team was “absolutely aware” of the IP, privacy and human bias issues associated with increasingly sophisticated machine learning programs. They have the potential to automate content creation, chew complex data sets and allow creatives to test infinite iterations of a campaign for effectiveness before they even go live.

The veteran marketer recognized this dichotomy: “At the same time, I don’t want to say to anyone in the company, ‘Stop [using it] because we do need to start piloting it, but in a safe space.’”

“We don’t want everybody to go out on ChatGPT and make our assets part of the public domain,” she said, alluding to generative AI’s ability to generate content without human oversight or produce original ads based on existing ones.

To ensure this is the case, instead of banning ChatGPT or similar, Unilever has put in place guidelines and safeguards so colleagues can experiment with these tools in way that’s aligned to the Dutch businesses’ own principles and ethics code.

‘Jury out’ on generative AI

At the outset of 2023, brands’ excitement around the creative potential of generative AI resulted in campaigns including Kraft Heinz’ “AI Ketchup” which asked OpenAI’s Dall-E to draw a ketchup bottle using non-branded prompts. The results underlined a clear preference for Heinz’ classic condiment and delivered a cheeky, eye-catching ad campaign in the process.

However, in recent months this buzz has dampened as marketers balance the impact AI will have on marketing departments versus how it could help them cut costs around the way ads are made, sold and bought.

More than 75% of companies are looking to adopt AI tech in the next five years, according to a 2023 report from the World Economic Forum (WEF). Elsewhere, in the U.S. job portal Indeed said generative AI-related job postings jumped 20% in May, indicating growth opportunities for the employment market.

Braams—who is poised to leave Unilever at the end of the summer after 33 years with the business—said the industry initially viewed generative AI as an “efficiency play,” but now conversations had moved towards how to apply it to production and creativity.

“But equally, the jury is out: Will it give us more of the same creativity or allow us to tap into a new pool of creativity?” she questioned. “We can’t tell at this moment in time … but one thing is for certain, we need to use it in a responsible way.”

Some practical examples she believed AI could be applied included in marketing mood boards and concept pitches.

Speaking during one of Adweek’s sessions during Cannes, Bayer’s chief marketing, digital and information office Patricia Corsi concurred, saying she couldn’t envisage a world where robots would be creating campaigns alone without a human touch.

“The advertising industry is in the midst of a transformation, and this shouldn’t be seen as a negative force,” she said. “I’m interested in how it can be used in improving the lives of my team—I want repetitive tasks to be done using AI so they can focus on doing the stuff an AI can’t.”

Corsi observed it’s about freeing up time, not replacing people. When we embrace this with confidence as an industry, it’s going to be a positive thing.”

For Alessandro Manfredi, chief marketing officer at one of Unilever’s most valuable brands Dove, there was in interest in the potential of generative AI to “leverage and accelerate, not replace creativity.”

However, in line with Dove’s brand purpose around improving confidence and self esteem, and banishing stereotypes, he expressed concerns about how information fed into AI (including stock imagery) could perpetrate existing human biases.

“It’s a massive topic, and we’re reflecting on what we can do [as a brand],” he revealed.

For some marketers at Unilever, it seems the next frontier will be addressing AI’s impact on society as well as within their own teams.