AI’s potential to homogenize creativity poses a threat to brand distinctiveness, warns Phillip Lomax of MediaScience.
Audiences show a strong aversion to AI-generated content, especially when its artificial nature is apparent.
The market may split between platforms prioritizing human authenticity and those built around synthetic experiences.
AI promised infinite creative possibilities. Instead, it risks building a creative monoculture where brands become utterly forgettable, drowning in a sea of sameness.
That threat of homogenization is exactly what Phillip Lomax is warning against. As EVP of Business Development at audience response and media testing firm MediaScience, he argues that the fundamentals of brand are the only defense.
Forget about it: “As we go into the age of AI, the risk is that everything becomes the average—average storytelling rather than differentiated storytelling,” Lomax warns. “When everyone has access to tools that generate seemingly premium ads, standing out becomes even more critical.” The real danger is not low quality, but creative that blends in so well it disappears.
Wanamaker was wrong: “Out of the 107 B2B ads that we’ve measured, 81% have little to no value,” Lomax says. He argues that the successful 20% lean on distinct brand assets, citing McDonald’s iconic Golden Arches as a prime example. “It’s not simply enough to just have a logo,” he explains. “It’s necessary to understand distinct brand assets and use them early and often throughout your ad. Even if we don’t see all of the Golden Arches—just a part of it—we know it’s McDonald’s. That kind of salience is what most B2B brands are missing.”
AI’s first hurdle: For Lomax, AI isn’t a cure-all; it’s a tool that demands a principled strategy. The real question for brands isn’t can they use it, but should they. “If we’re trying to evoke a construct of confidence within a brand, does using AI as a tool in the first place achieve that objective?” he asks. “If it doesn’t, then should we even be considering using AI for this?”
The AI ick: “When you ask someone how they feel, what you get is the rational interpretation of how they think they must feel,” he explains. He points to a MediaScience study on AI audio that revealed an unvarnished truth: “When audiences can determine it’s AI, they really do not like it. The faster that they can determine this, they dislike it even more.”
A great divide: Lomax predicts this tension between authentic and synthetic will reshape the digital landscape entirely. “We’re going to see platforms that recognize that it’s going to be necessary for a very human experience—a trustworthy, authentic experience with humans at the center,” he says. “And then we’re going to see other platform experiences that just go deeply into synthetic experiences. This bifurcation will lead to new social media platforms being born and legacy ones being forced to transform.”
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