Since ChatGPT was launched at the end of last year, it sometimes seems as if it has taken over the world. Its natural-language AI model allows it to have human-like conversations, answer questions, write blogs, compose speeches, and generate melodies. Only a few months ago, the most pressing question may have been, “What can ChatGPT do?” The question now appears to be “What can’t ChatGPT do?”

At the root of most of these inquiries is whether AI can do what humans can. It can create anything from computer code to works of art (with varying degrees of success), but is it really creative? More pointedly, can ChatGPT do the work of marketing creatives? This post explores whether ChatGPT can outperform humans when it comes to crafting slogans.

Can AI Be Creative?

Creativity is generally considered the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. Because AI learns by consuming a diet of ideas created by humans, it can’t really be considered truly original or imaginative. It can, however, combine ideas in new ways, revamp old content into new versions, and create new works based on the attributes of old works.

So when it comes to creative marketing endeavors, do humans still have the edge? Or is AI’s brand of creativity creative enough? Quality Logo Products recently looked to answer that question by pitting AI against humans in a slogan-writing contest to see which creative ideas are more successful.

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Original Ideas Prevail

Some slogans now seem inseparable from the brands they represent. Forbes and AdAge have both listed Nike’s “Just do it” as the number-one slogan of the 20th century. Similarly, it’s hard to think of the brand Gillette without also quickly thinking, “The best a man can get.”

It may not come as a shock, then, to discover that Americans prefer many original slogans to the new AI-generated versions. AI’s suggested Nike slogan, “Elevate your game,” didn’t make the grade according to most survey respondents. While AI certainly understood the assignment (and even got some wordplay in), its resulting Gillette slogan “Sharper than the rest” simply didn’t cut it.

Most of the original slogans that convincingly beat out the AI versions belonged to food and beverage brands. It seems that this industry has a good grasp on what its customers want — or perhaps their customers just don’t like change. Skittles’ iconic “Taste the rainbow” beat out “Taste the technicolor” by a landslide (93% to 7%). Most Americans preferred Subway’s “Eat fresh” over the clunkier AI suggestion, “Bread baked fresh daily, memories made always” (90% to 11%).

Survey respondents also resoundingly rejected the AI-generated slogans in favor of the originals in the case of McDonalds (88% to 12%), KFC (85% to 15%), and Burger King (83% to 17%). Apparently, “Taste royalty” just doesn’t give the same vibe as “Have it your way.”

People Still Preferred AI Slogans at a High Rate

Human marketers aren’t completely in the clear just yet, however. Americans prefer the original slogans only 54% of the time, which means AI won nearly half of the battles. In some cases, the AI slogans took the vote by a landslide. Whether it’s somewhat ironic or only fitting, tech companies were often bested by their own creation: artificial intelligence.

In case you didn’t know, Google’s motto is apparently “Do no evil.” Americans, however, much preferred the AI-generated alternative, “Explore everything. Miss nothing” (87% to 13%). Similarly, the Facebook slogan “It’s quick and easy” lost out to the AI version, “Your digital neighborhood” (83% to 17%). Americans also overwhelmingly voted for the AI brand slogan in the cases of Samsung (82% to 18%), Adobe (80% to 20%), and GoPro (76% to 24%).

What makes a good slogan? It should send a message, evoke an image or emotion, and be memorable. But one thing many slogans apparently don’t do is persuade consumers. Consumers often see slogans as overt attempts to influence them, and those attempts can often backfire. When this happens, according to Harvard Business Review, brands and slogans are often at odds. It may stand to reason, then, that the best brand slogans are seen as catchy and creative but not manipulative.

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AI Is Good, but Humans Are Still Better

So what’s the bottom line? The majority of Americans still prefer slogans crafted by humans, choosing AI 46% of the time. The fact that AI won nearly as often as the originals, however, means that some companies may benefit from a slogan refresh. For example, most people apparently found the AI-suggested slogan for Adobe (“Designing your dreams”) much more relevant and modern than the original (“Changing the world through digital experiences”).

For now, it seems that AI will be another tool for marketers to use, rather than replacing the marketers themselves. The lack of human emotion and social context can sometimes result in outlandish or even offensive AI-produced content. So perhaps AI is best leveraged as an extra team member in the marketing department, one that can churn out additional ideas during the brainstorming process, come up with new combinations of human-generated suggestions, and develop rough drafts that real-world creatives can then polish and perfect.