The Ad Generator: Advertising Via Algorithm

Advertising is all about understanding human psychology and how the brain works. The more studies are performed, the more data is collected, the more knowledge we have, the stronger effect advertising can have on the consumer. More and more, it’s becoming a science.

Right now, all the data and information is interpreted by a human in the marketing department. How long before we can create advertising creative using an algorithm? Based on an interesting design project, I think it could be done right now. Check it out:

Alexis Lloyd, a student at Parsons The New School for Design, created an algorithm like the one I described as part of her thesis project. She calls it the Ad Generator. Here’s the description from the Ad Generator website:

The ad generator is a generative artwork that explores how advertising uses and manipulates language. Words and semantic structures from real corporate slogans are remixed and randomized to generate invented slogans. These slogans are then paired with related images from Flickr, thereby generating fake advertisements on the fly. By remixing corporate slogans, I intend to show how the language of advertising is both deeply meaningful, in that it represents real cultural values and desires, and yet utterly meaningless in that these ideas have no relationship to the products being sold. In using the Flickr images, the piece explores the relationship between language and image, and how meaning is constructed by the juxtaposition of the two.

Launch the Ad Generator – click that link to see it in action.

Pretty interesting stuff. What do you think?