WPP Partners with Google Cloud to Revolutionize Marketing with Generative AI
WPP and Google Cloud have announced a new partnership that is set to revolutionize marketing. The collaboration, which was unveiled at Google Cloud Next’24 in Las Vegas, US, will see the integration of Google’s Gemini model with WPP Open, the company’s AI-powered marketing operating system that is currently in use by more than 35,000 employees and has been embraced by significant clients like Nestlé, L’Oréal, and The Coca-Cola Company.
WPP and Google Cloud forge partnership to revolutionize marketing with gen AI tech
With the new partnership, marketers will be able to use generative artificial intelligence (gen-AI) to accomplish tasks they could only “imagine.” This partnership aims to revolutionize marketing efficiency and effectiveness by fusing Google’s extensive knowledge in data analytics, generative AI (gen AI) technology, and cyber security with WPP’s end-to-end marketing capabilities, global creative scale, and brand awareness.
Google Cloud’s cutting-edge gen AI tools will be combined with WPP’s exclusive marketing and advertising data as part of the partnership. As a result, WPP’s clients will be able to use gen AI to produce brand- and product-specific content, acquire a better understanding of their target markets, forecast and explain content effectiveness with precision, and optimize campaigns through continuous adaptive processes.
Use cases for WPP and Google Cloud’s gen AI capabilities
WPP Open integrates with any client, partner, or technology provider to create optimized and automated marketing capabilities by leveraging WPP’s decades of experience serving enterprise clients. The partnership’s initial phase, which is a component of WPP’s yearly investment of £250 (316) million in technology, data, and artificial intelligence, is concentrated on the creation of the following four cutting-edge use cases:
Enhanced creativity with WPP Open Creative Studio
Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro technology has been incorporated by WPP into Creative Studio, the company’s next-generation AI app that is a part of WPP Open and helps with tasks like creating headlines and converting sketches into images. More than just brand content and guidelines can be used as prompts thanks to Gemini 1.5 Pro’s large context window, which enables it to run one million tokens of information consistently. Examples of this include the brand’s color palette, fonts, voice, and even previous marketing campaigns. This makes it possible to create user interfaces that are much richer and more dynamic, and it also makes it possible to create content that is more creative and true to the brand.
Smart content optimization
WPP has improved the way it forecasts the performance of marketing content, even before campaign activation, by integrating Gemini 1.5 Pro into its AI Performance Brain service. This upgrade uses AI to predict how well marketing content will perform. With this update, predictions are made much more quickly and accurately. Additionally, the reasoning behind the predictions is enabled, providing better suggestions for content improvement. With the help of this effective tool, brands could be able to reinvest millions of dollars in only the most successful campaigns.
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AI Narration
By being the first to introduce real-time streaming capabilities for both description and narration, WPP is elevating the game in video description solutions. The system automatically generates modifiable video narration scripts using Gemini 1.5 Pro. The WPP partner ElevenLabs receives these scripts and uses them to create a realistic voice for the narration. This method allows for a personalized touch and speeds up the production of videos.
Hyper-realistic product representation
To produce better product images, WPP is redefining product representation with the help of Gen AI. This system incorporates the shape, design, and packaging of an actual product in addition to understanding a brand’s style guidelines (logos, fonts, colors, etc.) using Gemini 1.5 Pro and Universal Scene Description 3D file formats. The outcome is a comprehensive, brand-compliant, three-dimensional product image that is ideal for promotion and marketing.
Here’s what they said
Stephan Pretorius, Chief Technology Officer at WPP, said:
“This collaboration marks a pivotal moment in marketing innovation. Our integration of Gemini 1.5 Pro into WPP Open has significantly accelerated our gen AI innovation and enables us to do things we could only dream of a few months ago. With Gemini models, we’re not only able to enhance traditional marketing tasks but also to integrate the end-to-end marketing process for continuous, adaptive optimisation. I believe this will be a game-changer for our clients and the marketing industry at large.”
Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, added:
“AI has the potential to unlock new levels of effectiveness for marketers, whether it is optimising campaigns, automating repetitive tasks like brand descriptions, or sparking entirely new ideas. This partnership brings the power of Google Cloud’s gen AI capabilities together with WPP’s marketing domain expertise to help our mutual customers create better campaigns that resonate with consumers in a deeper way.”
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Google Cloud Introduces New Generative AI Tools for Retailers
On the eve of the annual convention of the National Retail Federation, Google unveiled several new generative AI tools intended to improve the online shopping experiences and other retail operations of retailers. The tools make use of artificial intelligence technologies that are generative. They are made to make the implementation of chatbots and AI easier, enhance search, and produce more customized shopping experiences. One of these new products is an AI-powered chatbot that merchants can incorporate into their mobile apps or websites.
The most recent illustration of generative AI’s expanding impact in the retail sector is found in Google Cloud’s products. Retailers can modernize operations, personalize online shopping, and change in-store technology rollouts with the aid of these generative AI-powered technologies. These virtual representatives can converse with clients and make recommendations for products based on their likes.
Google Cloud unveils new generative AI tools for retailers
In addition, tools for improving retailers’ customer support systems and streamlining their product cataloging procedures are included in Google’s recently released AI products. In addition to e-commerce, physical stores are receiving new artificial intelligence capabilities via Google Distributed Cloud Edge, an already available hardware and software package.
All these areas seem to have a great deal of room for improvement. After using virtual assistants, only about one-third of customers are happy with them, and almost 20% say they wouldn’t use them again. Customers are still very interested in using AI, though. Eighty percent of those who haven’t used the technology for shopping would like to give it a try. The majority, or five9%, would like to use AI applications while they shop.
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New generative AI tools
Google’s offerings are aimed squarely at these issues. The new tools include:
Conversational Commerce
Similar to brand-specific ChatGPT, Conversational Commerce facilitates the joining of chatbots on websites and mobile apps. The salespeople converse with customers in plain language and make customized product recommendations depending on each person’s preferences. When it comes to products, they can have “helpful and nuanced” conversations with customers. Moreover, it offers recommendations based on their preferences.
Catalog and content Enrichment toolset
Google Cloud’s new Catalog and Content Enrichment toolset, which uses GenAI models—including the previously mentioned PaLM and Imagen—to automatically generate product descriptions, metadata, categorization suggestions, and more from as little as a single product photo, complements the Conversational Commerce Solution. Additionally, retailers can use the toolset to create new product images from pre-existing ones. Furthermore, it can also leverage product descriptions as the foundation for AI-generated product images.
For example, when a customer is looking for a formal dress for a wedding, a virtual agent can talk to them and offer customized product options based on their preferences for colors, the type of venue, the weather, complementary accessories, and price range. Importantly, rather than taking months, retailers can use these advanced conversation AI agents in a matter of weeks. This new solution can be integrated into a retailer’s current catalog management software or run on the Vertex AI platform on Google Cloud.
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Vertex AI
Additionally, Vertex AI Search for retail, a product from Google Cloud, has a new LLM capability. It provides retailers with natively embedded Google-quality search, browse, and recommendation capabilities on their unique product catalog and shopper search patterns. With the addition of new large language model (LLM) capabilities, Vertex AI Search enables sellers to tailor an LLM to their specific catalog and the search habits of their customers. By better ranking possible products as a fit for any given search term, it can give users more relevant search results.
Customer Service Modernization
Customer Service Modernization combines chatbots with an existing retailer’s CRM data. It enhances self-service, recommends products, sets up appointments, monitors order status, and more.
Google Distributed Cloud Edge
To lower IT expenses and resource commitments related to retail GenAI, Google unveiled the Google Distributed Cloud Edge. It is a managed self-contained hardware kit designed specifically for retailers. It is intended to facilitate retailers’ use of AI in places with spotty or nonexistent internet. Store analytics, frictionless checkout, and streamlined mission-critical store operations are currently its main use cases. The edge cluster, which powers customers’ GenAI apps, is said by Google to be compatible with a variety of retail spaces, including convenience stores, gas stations, fast-casual restaurants, and grocery stores. It comes in a range of sizes, from single-server to multi-server configurations.
Here’s what they said
Carrie Tharp, vice president of Strategic Industries, Google Cloud said,
In only a year, generative AI has morphed from a barely recognized concept to one of the fastest-moving capabilities in all of technology and a critical part of many retailers’ agendas. With the ability to accelerate growth, boost efficiency, fuel innovation, and reduce toil, generative AI solutions are ready to be deployed now, and Google Cloud’s recent innovations can help retailers recognize value in 2024.
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