CannesGPT

We fed hundreds of 2023 Cannes Lions Winners into an AI to help you brainstorm new ideas

We've been exploring AI as an idea-generation tool for some time now. In October 2021, we published a demo that, as far as we know, was the first time anyone built an AI system to generate creative ideas for advertising. Since then, several others have launched AI demos and products in this space. Idea generation is a fascinating demonstration of AI's creative capacity, and we've continued to focus on it as a use case for R&D.

Today we're releasing our latest demo in this space, which we've nicknamed "CannesGPT." This AI system uses case studies from this year’s most awarded campaigns from Cannes Lions, including all of the Titanium and Grand Prix winners, to learn how to come up with good ideas.

You can generate a limited number of ideas for free on our demo site. 

This version of an AI idea generation system represents a significant improvement over our previous efforts. So if you're interested in learning more, please continue reading. 

How It Works

Getting AI to generate unique creative ideas is largely an alignment problem.

A foundation model like ChatGPT needs to provide factual answers and general-purpose advice. So when you give it a creative task, the outputs often feel tired and predictable. This is the inherent tension between originality and predictability.

The easiest way to solve this alignment problem is through in-context learning. In-context learning involves providing the model with a bunch of examples to align its output with your creative objectives. Think of it like providing creative references to the AI during the briefing process.

In this case, we used AI to create a database of hundreds of Cannes Winning ideas from 2023 that we dynamically feed into the model at inference to align its outputs with our objectives. 

To create this database we setup an AI pipeline that ingests case study videos and transcribes them using OpenAI's Whisper model. We then feed the transcripts into subsequent AI steps that adapt them into our desired in-context-learning format.

Once in the final format, we analyze the user's input to find the most relevant associated examples and load them into the LLM's conversation history at inference to align its’ creative output. 

Foundation Models

As noted in a previous post, we have begun using Claude for idea generation because we've found it more original when it comes to creative outputs. In our internal analysis of the two models' outputs, Claude outperforms GPT-4 in creative ideation by a significant margin (between one and two points on a Likert Scale).  

On the other hand, Claude is known less reliable than GPT-4 when it comes to performing complex tasks. As such, we use GPT-4 for all prior steps in our AI pipeline, a mix of summarization, style transfer, and synthetic prompt engineering.   

Taking It For A Spin

Let's take it for a spin and see how it does by giving it a simple prompt or brief to get it started. 

For the sake of demonstration the following ideas have been generated by a 🤖 without human editing.

Come up with an idea for Ikea to promote office furniture to creatives who work from home

Ikea should launch “Create From Home”, a challenge for creatives to envision an ideal workspace using only Ikea products. Entrants will submit mood boards depicting their perfect home office setup .The top 10 entries will be selected by a panel of design experts and these workspaces will be built by Ikea, equipped with webcams. For 6 months, the world can tune in to watch these creatives working, gain inspiration and shop the exact Ikea products featured in each office. This online reality show celebrates creative work being done from home, provides a platform to showcase home office possibilities and gives viewers the ability to instantly purchase any items they love – all reinforcing Ikea as the enabler of stylish, affordable workspaces.

Come up with an idea for Spotify to re-invent its 2023 'Wrapped' campaign using Generative AI

We will leverage Generative AI to produce 'Wrapped: Infinite Editions'. Every song a user listened to on Spotify in 2023 will be transformed into an AI-generated short story, micro fiction or poem based on the song's lyrics, title, artist, genre and the user's listening data. These personalized creative works will then be compiled into an endless, one-of-a-kind playlist for each user called 'Infinite Editions'. Not only will this re-invent 'Wrapped' into an exciting new format, but it will also showcase Spotify's innovative use of AI in a fun, imaginative way. The variety of short-form content will keep users engaged, eager to see what AI creation awaits them next. This unique experience will cement Spotify as the platform pushing the boundaries of personalization.

Come up with an idea for Unicef to raise awareness and donations for the Horn of Africa hunger crisis

We will create an interactive online experience called "The Hunger Games" to raise awareness and funds for the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. This data-driven campaign will select random UNICEF donors to participate in a virtual reality simulation of life in famine-stricken areas of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. Witnessing firsthand the devastating effects of severe malnutrition and thirst in a visceral way will generate empathy and motivate action. Participants can then choose to donate the cost of urgently-needed resources like therapeutic milk, medicines and water purification tablets to save lives. By making the experience social and shareable, "The Hunger Games" will spread organically and become a movement to end hunger, one virtual reality at a time.

Try it Yourself

Here's a link where you can try CannesGPT yourself. Please take it for a spin, and as always, let us know if you have any feedback.

Setting Up Your Own AI Tooling

We are developing a wide range of AI tools like this for agencies and brands. Idea generation is just one area where AI can help. Other use cases include Insights Discovery, Content Creation, Personalization, and Creative Optimization. If the task involves language, strategy, and storytelling, there's a good chance an AI system can help you do it faster, better, or both.

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