“As content creation demands soar, brand and marketing teams must leverage technology to stay ahead. The creative industry is facing a pivotal moment as AI allows creative professionals to work in new and innovative ways. With this study, we hope to further businesses’ understanding of the impacts of AI and how it ultimately provides businesses with a competitive advantage.”
Andrew Fingerman, CEO of PhotoShelter
Additional findings from the PhotoShelter Report Include:
Streamlining content workflows is essential for growing brands
Many creative professionals have been grappling with the difficulties of creating unique and engaging content while meeting the increased demand for outputs. A staggering 85% reported facing increasing pressures to produce content more rapidly, creating numerous challenges with their content creation workflows. Other insights marketers shared include:
- 1 in 2 respondents expressed a strong desire for streamlined content-creation tools
- 38% struggle with creating relevant content and/or increasing social media followers
- 42% reported trouble driving higher brand engagement, a challenge 47% more prevalent among those employed by enterprise companies with over 10,000 employees
AI investment is already on the rise
In response to these challenges, many marketers have already started adopting AI tools and DAM (Digital Asset Management) platforms to increase team efficiency and productivity, and the quality of their content. Over half (59%) report incorporating these solutions into their content and asset workflows, and it’s only the beginning.
- 78% of marketers believe AI can help companies increase revenue
- 56% say their company has already increased its AI budget allocations in the past year and 39% say their company has plans to invest in additional AI tools in the next year
- AI adoption is even more pronounced in the C-suite. Chief Marketing Officers are 66% more likely to leverage AI for task automation and 40% more likely to use AI for asset organization
The ROI of AI is clear for marketers and creative professionals
Creative professionals believe that companies that embrace AI and DAM tools are more likely to gain a competitive edge, while those that don’t, are leaving opportunities behind. Overall, current AI users are reaping significant benefits and are seeing the positive impacts of AI.
- 88% of users state it has increased the ROI of their work by freeing up more time for more meaningful tasks
- 84% of those who have implemented a DAM tool in their workflow reported increased quality of work
- 69% believe AI could help their company expand to new markets, while 71% believe that companies that don’t embrace AI will lose their competitive edge
Ethics will play a critical role as AI tools grow
However, embracing AI technology is not without its concerns. There is a shared sentiment that AI has a place in content creation but AI implementation needs to prioritize ethical considerations in content, marketing and branding.
- 66% of respondents expressed concerns about the ethical implications of AI-generated content in marketing
- 66% are concerned about avoiding bias when using AI-generated content
- 71% are concerned about maintaining transparency when using AI-generated content
To learn more on how AI will shape the future of brands, join PhotoShelter at The Storytellers AI Summit, a digital event for marketers and creatives. Sign up to register here.
Methodology
PhotoShelter conducted the AI: Brand’s Next Frontier report online between October and November 2023. It reflects the opinions of 601 individuals working full-time as creative professionals in brand, social media, communications, marketing, and design. The survey was conducted at 95% confidence with a +/- 4% margin of error. To learn more about AI: The Next Frontier for Growing Brands and access the full findings, click here.
About PhotoShelter
Founded in 2005, PhotoShelter is an industry-leading digital asset management solution that helps you organize, manage, distribute, instantly share, and collaborate with your team on digital content. With 5+ billion assets securely managed and nearly 100 million annual downloads, PhotoShelter is the fastest, easiest, and most intuitive way to manage and automate your end-to-end content workflow to drive your brand engagement, get better ROI from content and improve efficiency across your team. That’s why thousands of organizations and enterprises globally like Delta Airlines, FreshDirect, IMG Golf, Wendy’s, and more trust PhotoShelter with their success. Now, with the 2023 acquisition of Socialie, PhotoShelter is able to help brands activate the social channels of all their stakeholders via automated content distribution and better understand how social content is performing across partner channels, to exponentially expand their reach and drive more engagement. Learn more at: brands.photoshelter.com.
