AI and Copywriting: Why We Need Each Other
My type on paper?
Personally, I’m excited and inspired by AI, happy to hold hands and face the future together.
It’s not all hearts and flowers. But as an agency copywriter, I’m already seeing the benefits of having AI tools at my fingertips. More importantly, I’m also seeing where AI needs me.
I’ve got a blank space, baby
Countless articles have already been written/generated about what AI can do for copywriters. At bbd, we’re using it every day, both to complement our skills and to do the more mundane tasks.
ChatGPT is our favourite all-rounder, a reliable partner for text summarisation, fast editing, exploring different angles for social copy, etc.
But, it’s not a monogamous relationship.
Hemingway…
We also use Hemingway Editor to ensure we achieve the correct reading scores for one of our financial services clients. Hemingway Editor is designed to ‘make your writing clear and correct’. Paste copy into the app, it will highlight ‘problematic’ phrases and suggest ways to fix them.
…is a bit of a killjoy
The issue with these suggestions? They tend to strip the copy of any flow and give it a mechanical quality. Hemingway doesn’t account for brand voice or stylistic preferences.
And it knows bugger all about financial services. Which means it flags product names and industry terms that don’t need fixing. So, it still needs me to tidy up after it and put humanity back into the copy.
Six areas where AI is the weaker partner…for now
AI is gaining abilities by the day, but there are still some areas of copywriting where AI can fall short. (And it did a damn good job of summing them up.)
1. Highly creative and original content
2. Brand voice and tone
3. Thought leadership and creative strategy
4. Emotional and persuasive writing
5. Cultural sensitivity and controversial topics
6. Proofreading
- Advertising campaigns: Creating highly original and engaging ad campaigns that require a unique voice, clever wordplay, or innovative concepts.
- Storytelling: Developing compelling narratives and brand stories that connect emotionally with the audience.
- Maintaining brand voice: Ensuring consistency in brand voice and tone across all content, particularly when the brand has a distinctive personality or style.
- Voice development: Developing a unique brand voice from scratch, especially for new brands looking to establish their identity.
- Thought leadership: Creating thought leadership articles/lead magnets that offer deep, original insights into industry trends and future directions.
- Creative strategy: Combining a thorough understanding of the organisation's goals, market dynamics, competitive landscape and industry trends.
- Emotional Appeals: Crafting content that evokes deep emotional responses, such as personal testimonials or heartfelt appeals.
- Persuasive Copy: Writing persuasive copy that requires subtlety and an understanding of complex human psychology.
- Culturally-nuanced content: Producing content that is sensitive to cultural nuances, idioms and local customs.
- Ethical dilemmas: Writing about topics that involve ethical considerations or controversial issues, where a balanced and sensitive approach is crucial.
- Contextual understanding: AI struggles with understanding context and nuanced language, often missing subtle errors and inconsistencies.
- Style guides and industry language: AI lacks the ability to accurately interpret and apply industry-specific language and cannot apply complex style guides.
Human-led, AI-supported
Most of these areas are core to what we do at bbd. It doesn’t mean AI can’t help, but a human copywriter needs to lead. The win is in the copywriter knowing how best to use their AI partners to drive the best work.
This is something we’re constantly working on. And it’s exciting.
Skipping off into the sunset together
So, I’m happy with my AI partners. We each have our strengths and we can teach each other a lot. And I’m still hunting for new AIs to join the copywriting polycule. Can’t have too much of a good thing, right?
Where AI needs a human copywriter
There are still a lot of agency requirements where AI can’t do my job. It can’t ask the right questions on client calls. It can’t talk through tricky amends. It can’t offer the reassurance that it’s taking responsibility for the quality of the work being produced.
I enjoy working closely with our clients. Direct contact always creates better work. And it’s a key part of my role to act as the bridge to AI, so our clients get the full power of AI in their work.
