Meta unveils its first generative AI-powered ad features
As announced at Meta Connect, businesses will soon be able to use AIs for business messaging on Messenger and WhatsApp to engage with customers for ecommerce, engagement and support.
Tech giant has announced its first generative AI-powered features for ad creatives in Meta’s Ads Manager, with a global rollout complete by next year.
The new features include Background Generation, Image Expansion, and Text Variations, which aim to add to the existing AI-powered experiences and tools used to build for businesses. With the launch of these features, the company aims to maximise the productivity and personalisation for all advertisers.
“As an early adopter of Meta’s AI Sandbox, Publicis is excited to experience how it will apply to important client use cases,“ said Keith Soljacich, EVP, Head of Innovation, Publicis Media Content Innovation, in a statement.
“Ad creative development that is faster and integrated into the larger Meta ad platform will be a game changer,” she added.
The Background Generation tool lets users create multiple backgrounds to complement the advertiser’s product images whereas the Image Expansion feature adjusts creatives to fit different aspect ratios across multiple surfaces. Text Variations tool allows users to generate multiple versions of ad texts based on the advertiser's original copy, highlighting the selling points of their services.
Earlier this year, Meta unveiled AI Sandbox while testing the GenAI features with a small set of advertisers who have been providing feedback to build the product.
The launch follows the Meta Connect event from last week where it unveiled the Quest 3 mixed-reality headset and several other generative AI products, including editing tools and AI-powered smart glasses.
Saving time and resources
According to a survey of advertisers that participated in early testing, findings show that half of them believe that the technology will save them five or more hours a week—the equivalent of one month per year. This will allow them to create multiple asset variations with the click of a button, reducing time spent on time-consuming editing tasks.
To add more, nearly all advertisers agreed that the products being tested in AI Sandbox will help marketers drive campaign performance by enabling quicker development of more ad creative variations at scale. The company further stated that Gen AI eases creative fatigue but there is still room to customise.
AI for business
Meta claimed that generative AI would enable advertisers to introduce new ad creative faster yet needs work on delivering outputs customised to every brand’s unique voice. The company aims to find new ways of partnering with agencies to help train these models on their unique perspectives.
“We plan to offer advertisers more ways to generate ad copy to highlight product selling points or generate background images in minutes with tailored themes, like outdoor images for an athleisure brand,” stated the company’s press release.
As announced at Meta Connect, businesses will soon be able to use AIs for business messaging on Messenger and to engage with customers for ecommerce, engagement and support. Meta has also said that they are currently testing the feature with a small number of businesses in Alpha with plans to scale further next year.
Edited by Kanishk Singh