Creative.ai’s founders believe it can transform ads creation for games developers
The fear that new technology will render existing roles redundant goes all the way back to the industrial revolution, when textiles workers smashed up new machinery because they expected it to take away their jobs. But the reality of innovation is that it almost always creates more opportunities than it destroys, argues Athar Zia, co-founder and CEO of Creative.ai. He believes generative artificial intelligence will prove the point once again.
“I think generative AI can help creatives to get back to what they love doing and what they’re best at,” Zia argues. “That’s creating exciting new concepts, rather than just doing the same thing over and again.”
Creative.ai is a start-up founded last year to help video games developers produce better advertising for their games more quickly and at lower cost. It’s a market that has changed, Zia argues, and one where AI now has a crucial role to play.
“In today’s digital landscape, where Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework has reshaped online advertising, a robust and innovative creative strategy is crucial for marketers to unlock success,” Zia argues. “As privacy takes centre stage and tracking signals become limited, creatives have emerged as the most critical factor in driving profitable advertising spend and achieving marketing excellence.”
The problem is that those creatives have got stuck in a race to the bottom. “As soon as a developer identifies an ad that works, creatives are tasked with producing endless imitations and iterations of it,” Zia says. “They spend 70% of their time on this demoralising copycat work.”
Creative.ai therefore seeks to automate that process. The company’s technology effectively consists of two strands. First, it has used machine learning techniques to analyse the ingredients of successful ads in the video gaming industry. And second, developers can use its generative AI engine to develop new ads for their games that incorporate this blueprint for success.
Zia is confident in the power of the Creative.ai’s algorithm. Working with its first clients over recent months, the company’s ads are delivering superior results to those produced by in-house creatives, he says. Installation rates are 38% higher, Zia says, with cost per installation down by 25%. “It costs less to produce ads this way and you’re getting more for your spending,” he promises.
That’s good news for developers keen to sell more games, of course, but it’s also good news for their fed-up creatives. If they no longer need to spend 70% of their time simply producing more of the same, they can get back to the far more rewarding work of coming up with new ideas and producing original content.
So far, so good, but can a small start-up like Creative.ai hold its own in a market where generative AI is suddenly everywhere? Not least, Facebook owner Meta has recently announced it is to launch a generative AI service to help businesses create digital advertising.
Zia believes Creative.ai has two advantages in this regard. First, he argues that Meta and the other tech giants will go after more straightforward industry verticals such as ecommerce before they turn to the video games sector. “Creating compelling ad content for gaming is actually very challenging,” he argues. “You need a much wider range of expertise and functionality than in other verticals.”
The company’s second edge, Zia suggests, is its industry expertise. He and co-founder Jay Shah previously launched BLKBOX.ai, which focused specifically on ad testing data in the gaming sector. “This is our bread and butter,” Zia says.
The company also believes one other factor is in its favour. Existing generative AI technologies are image-focused, but not yet ready to work well with video, Zia argues. Moreover, they’re typically open source, meaning that users effectively have to share their data. “Our technology operates in a closed ecosystem for each advertiser,” he points out.
Time will tell whether such confidence is misplaced, but Creative.ai is already picking up top-tier gaming companies as clients, offering access to its platform through a software-as-a-service model. It has also attracted new talent, including William Hughes, who has joined as chief creative officer.
Hughes, a big fish in the gaming sector, is certainly sold on the proposition: “Generative AI replaces human bias and outdated production methods, allowing studios to reduce overhead, increase production volume, and improve performance, giving creatives more time to be creative,” he argues.
