IBM’s Watson Uses AI to Optimize Commercial Creative

IBM launched a new product, Advertising Accelerator with Watson, which uses artificial intelligence to predict which creative elements will result in the highest engagement and conversion for a targeted audience.

IBM said the product, introduced at CES In Las Vegas Tuesday, makes AI more accessible to advertisers, helps make faster predictive models and produces better creative performance and audience discovery. Advertising Accelerator learns and makes predictions to guide marketers’ media strategies, the company said.

“Ad targeting enables marketers to identify core customers, who are often overserved with messages that don’t drive immediate action,” said Jeremy Hlavacek, head of revenue, IBM Watson Advertising. “Advertising Accelerator with Watson addresses this challenge head-on, arming clients with IBM Watson to help them better engage and understand their target audience.”

Advertising Accelerator with Watson:

  • Predicts the right permutation of creative elements to drive engagement
  • Discovers new audience segments based on message resonance to expand a message to untapped audiences.
  • Analyzes each campaign from a creative and audience perspective, extracting rich insights on the highest and lowest performing experiences.

The product is being Beta tested with clients including LendingTree. IBM also used Advertising Accelerator on its own ad campaign, and saw an uplift of 3X in installations.

IBM is betting that 2020 will be the year AI goes mainstream in business. In a new survey 34% of companies said they are adopting AI technology, up from 14% a year ago. Exploration of AI is at 40%, according to the survey.

Advertising Accelerator with Watson will be made available immediately to advertising, marketing and media agencies.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.