Lifestyle brand Stanley uses AI behind the scenes — but execs claim it won’t touch ad creative

Stanley 1913 chief brand officer Kate Ridley said the lifestyle brand has not used AI for any external-facing, consumer-facing creative and will not do so for the foreseeable future, even as it uses AI behind the scenes for personalization and efficiency. Ridley cited concerns about losing the human element in advertising for a brand built on authenticity, while 73% of advertisers believe AI will transform advertising for the better, per IAB U.K. research.

Lifestyle brand Stanley uses AI behind the scenes — but execs claim it won’t touch ad creative Stanley 1913, the lifestyle brand, openly embraces AI behind the scenes, but is drawing a line amid the AI hype when it comes to what consumers see. Stanley has “not used AI for any external-facing, consumer-facing creative” and it will stay that way for the foreseeable future, said chief brand officer Kate Ridley. Brands are racing to automate everything from media buying to creative production as execs cite speed and cost. But the more difficult question — how much of the actual ad-making gets handed to a machine before the work stops feeling human — doesn’t have an industry consensus yet. Stanley’s answer is AI everywhere except the thing the customer actually sees. Plenty of other brands are drawing that line much further downstream, if they’re drawing it at all. “It AI takes a lot of manual work out of our processes, and it’s definitely useful in things like personalization, but I don’t really see that we will use it in a creative sense,” Ridley said. That line holds even in its newest push, the campaign for the Vitalized Temp bottle. For Stanley, generative AI doesn’t touch anything the consumer sees, though it’s fair game in everything upstream, including ideation, concept and pre-box. Ridley isn’t outsourcing her way around that constraint either. Stanley has poured money into its own creative muscle: in-house teams in North America and Europe plus an internal photo studio that functions as the brand’s content engine. For Ridley, the concern isn’t the technology itself. In fact, she admitted that it provides “a lot of opportunity to be more efficient in our marketing.” The concern, she continued, is what gets lost when AI starts replacing the human element of advertising. For a brand built around authenticity, she argued, that’s a risk Stanley isn’t prepared to take. Stanley already has 79% unaided brand awareness in North America alone, per the company’s own stats, and sees significant opportunity to grow across Europe, the Middle East and in Asia Pacific. For Ridley, that comes from human creativity, not AI-generated campaigns. Which is why Stanley continues to rely on creators to tell its story. “We have really massively increased our budget towards creators,” Ridley said, without sharing specific figures. “But I would also say we have gone back to a more traditional approach of seeding and allowing more creators to try our product, so there’s more of an authentic connection,” she added. “That’s an important aspect for Gen Z — they can smell a mile away if it’s just the hashtag at pay-to-play relationship.” None of this means Stanley is ruling out AI altogether. As the tech evolves, Ridley said the company is spending considerable time establishing internal guardrails around where AI can — and can’t — be used. “We have different creation centers in all of our regions who are creating their own marketing tools and content,” she said. “We need to ensure that if they were using an AI tool for personalization, we’re all using it in the same way with the same boundaries.” The line marketers draw between how much they use AI to generate creative will likely continue to move. 73% of advertisers believe AI will transform advertising for the better, and 90% are already seeing faster turnaround times, according to research https://www.iabuk.com/state-of-ai-advertising from IAB U.K. “Stanley’s approach reflects where the industry is right now,” said Alex Kozloff, director of industry relations, IAB U.K. “AI is becoming part of almost every stage of advertising, but brands are making different decisions about where they want human creativity to remain front and centre. The pace of change is remarkable.” More in Marketing TikTok’s Kat Marquez unpacks NBA and WNBA creator deal https://digiday.com/marketing/tiktoks-kat-marquez-unpacks-nba-and-wnba-creator-deal/ TikTok’s latest move to secure its share of the leagues’ growing audiences sees it play gatekeeper between creators and rights holders. As athletes embrace owned media properties, they’re pushing for more involved brand deals https://digiday.com/marketing/as-athletes-embrace-owned-media-properties-theyre-pushing-for-more-involved-brand-deals/ The NBA player’s union is pushing for stars to have a bigger say in brand deals. It highlights a larger shift in sports and creator marketing. How Bloom Nutrition is expanding internationally https://digiday.com/marketing/how-bloom-nutrition-is-expanding-internationally/ Bloom Nutrition is launching in multiple foreign markets that include Australia, France and the U.K.