The Olden Days
Hey, remember the good old days of 2018? Back when you had to physically take a photo of your product or hire a professional to snap the perfect shot, then upload it online for your Amazon ad. How quaint, how primitive, how…exhausting! Well, Amazon has waved its magic wand (or, more accurately, flexed its AI muscles) to make all of that a thing of the past. The company has launched a shiny new AI-powered tool that lets advertisers generate imagery directly on the Amazon Ads platform. This tool is designed to not just increase sales but also make your marketing as smooth as a non-stick frying pan.
Staging It Right!
Imagine you’re selling DIY artwork. With this Amazon AI tool, you can generate digital pictures of your dreams with a background staging where you can drop your product into. Amazon claims this improves the click-through rate by up to 40% compared to listings with standard imagery. Now that’s a lot of potential customers!
However, Just like the time you tried to assemble that IKEA furniture without the instructions, there are some challenges. For one, rendering the correct scale is an issue. Artificial environments make it difficult to judge the actual size of products. As noted by New York Magazine, you could end up with a frying pan the size of a dinner plate or a saucepan that looks more like a thimble. Plus, most AI-generated images, for now, appear about as authentic as a plastic turkey on a Thanksgiving table.
Everyone’s Jumping on the Bandwagon
Amazon is not the only company using AI to create theoretically better ads. Meta announced its version of an ad generator last month, promising advertisers a new era of creativity that maximizes productivity, personalization, and performance. Google is also predicting that its product will allow the future of advertising to evolve, while TikTok has Creative Assistant, which draws information from a wealth of TikTok-focused creative knowledge. It’s like a digital Picasso for your ads!
What’s Next for Human Photographers?
Does this spell the end for product photography? Not just yet. Brands will still need good old-fashioned photos of their products. As Adobe SVP of Digital Media Ashley Still pointed out, fears of graphic design disappearing due to AI images are like the unfounded panic that painting would vanish after the invention of the camera. So, hang on to your lenses, photographers. There’s still a place for you in the world of advertising.