As the data and innovation pillar of The Brandtech Group, our NYC-based team had a firsthand look at how the biggest industry players are already leveraging GenAI to gain an edge in brand, creativity and performance.
Roughly 200 senior marketers and executives gathered to hear the latest GenAI innovations from Brandtech Group companies, PencilAI and Jellyfish, alongside Google’s technology masterminds. The energy in the room echoed the early days of e-commerce, when brands that embraced digital transformation became household names in the marketplace.
One thing was abundantly clear: GenAI is no longer science fiction. It’s a reality that’s rapidly transforming industries, and data is the key to staying ahead.
David Jones, The Brandtech Group Founder, is a driving force in leveraging GenAI as a catalyst for the new age. As an investor in technology for nearly a decade, David’s keynote detailed the rapid evolution of AI in 2024, illustrated by the question: “Muffin or Chihuahua?”
At the start of the year, GenAI models were still a work in progress, often producing inaccurate or nonsensical results. A prime example of this was their inability to differentiate between a muffin and a chihuahua- a comical but telling illustration of their limitations at the time.
Thankfully, large language models (LLMs) no longer fill chihuahuas with blueberries or have muffins sprouting fur. By the end of 2024, Brandtech company PencilAI created over 235,000 pieces of GenAI content across three of the world’s top 10 largest global advertisers.
David points to this growth as a key signal to the incredible advancements of AI technology alongside other key milestones from the year such as creative breakthroughs like AI-generated phoney Nike ads and music videos to business impacts like NVIDIA's valuation and Pencil's innovation award, plus cultural milestones like ChatGPT passing PhD tests and the rise of the "Agenic Future."
This staggering growth proves one thing: GenAI is a horizontal, not a vertical. It’s not confined to one single industry or sector, disrupting everything from healthcare to entertainment. Executives recognize this as a competitive edge, actively investing in AI technology and talent, with 61% of CEOs expecting GenAI to improve their businesses within the next 12 months. But how will we see this transformation continue to play out in 2025?
Google, Jellyfish and PenciAI shared a well-rounded view of practical GenAI contributions to three core pillars of marketing: brand, creativity, and performance.
1) Brand | Shaping What AI Models Say About Your Product
John Dawson, VP of Strategy at Jellyfish, took the stage to share one of the most thought-provoking questions of the day - How is AI perceiving your brand? Are you on ChatGPT’s list of best products- and if not, how do you get there?
Jellyfish’s GenAI tool, “Share of Model,” reimagines brand awareness in the AI era. Built on Google Cloud, the platform provides valuable insight into how AI models perceive your brand. As John brilliantly summarized, “every digital asset you create is a mini brief for an AI model.”
2) Creativity | Get the Most Out of Your Creative Content
Next, Bernie Milan, AI Business Transformation Leader at Google, showcased how GenAI is revolutionizing video creation with Veo 2, Google’s newest AI-powered video generator. From creating realistic skin and hair to crafting high-action, physics-aware scenes, Veo 2 is designed to push creative boundaries and bring imagination to life in record time.
3) Performance | Optimize Performance in Real-Time and At-Scale
Amy Arnell, GenAI Business Manager at The Brandtech Group, captivated the audience with a live demo of Pencil AI, which showcased the platform’s ability to create full ad campaigns in minutes. However, what sets Pencil apart, is its capacity for real-time performance predictions, helping marketers understand what works best and enabling marketers to quickly optimize before assets even go live.
The tectonic disruption of GenAI in marketing is clear, but adoption isn’t just about technology. New tools bring new skills, new processes and new ways of thinking. Knowing where to start can be the hardest part, and change management is critical.
We loved the conversation between David Jones and Marta Martinez, Managing Director of Data, Technology, and Measurement at Google, highlighting a critical factor in AI's effectiveness: AI is only as powerful as the data you put in it.
As the resident data nerds of the Group, we cannot echo this sentiment enough. Data is the secret to cutting through the noise and creating AI use cases that actually work for your business. Brands already have the data and we’ve helped them find the value with use cases that show results at any stage:
Crawl | +83% Revenue Lift from GenAI-Powered Product Feeds
For marketers, product feeds can often be an afterthought. Platforms already have clear standards, and brands have the data on what’s working but optimizing files manually takes many hours of painstaking effort. Salomon saw this as the perfect opportunity to leverage GenAI, working with us to build an AI-powered product catalog spanning 700+ products, driving a +43% increase in CTR and a 2.4x lift in ROAS.
Walk | +12% Increase in Add-to-Cart Rates from AI-Powered Targeting
Shiseido used AI to pinpoint their most loyal customers: the lifetime buyers. By integrating machine learning into their marketing analytics, we helped them create an AI-driven engagement strategy that stays ahead of the curve, increasing conversion rates by 27%.
Run | Reimagined Grocery Shopping with AI-Powered Exploration
We teamed up with Chronodrive to tackle the daily struggle of “What’s for dinner?” With GenAI, users can snap a photo of any dish, from a restaurant or social media, and instantly receive a customized recipe and shopping list. This use case goes beyond a fun tool. GenAI provided a new way for Chronodrive to engage consumers, going beyond products and tapping into their broader interests to drive real results.
This event reinforced what we’ve long believed: the brands that take a thoughtful approach to AI aren’t just keeping up but are shaping the future.
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