AI-CD ?

TitleAI-CD ?
BrandMcCANN WORLDGROUP JAPAN
Product / ServiceMcCANN MILLENNIALS
CategoryB03. Self-Promotion
EntrantMcCANN ERICKSON JAPAN Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation McCANN ERICKSON JAPAN Tokyo, JAPAN
Production AOI PRO. Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Miyko Ohki McCann Worldgroup Japan PR Director
Atsushi Sasaki AOI Pro. Data Analyst
Taro Fumizono AOI Pro. Production Manager
Isamu Nakamura McCann Erickson Japan Executive Creative Director
Ryosuke Yoshitomi McCann Erickson Japan Creative Planner
Akihiro Orimo McCann Erickson Japan Planner
Taisuke Shirasawa AOI Pro. Producer
Natsumi Iwasaki McCann Erickson Japan Art Director
Shun Matsuzaka McCann Erickson Japan Creative Planner

The Campaign

They had no budget, no client, and no creative director to guide them. But they decided to use this to their advantage and turn it into a hook that will generate buzz. The team came up with the idea of actually building their own creative director using artificial intelligence.

Creative Execution

AI-CD ß officially joined McCann Tokyo as creative director on April 1, 2016 along with 11 employees newly graduated from university. News of the hiring was intentionally released right before April Fool’s Day. AI-CD ß will actually be assigned clients and will work with a creative team as creative director.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Through data and technology, the McCann Millennials team was successful in creating this year’s most talked about and anticipated new employee in Japan. The news of AI-CD ß was covered by some 60 media outlets in over 30 countries around the world and created big news and publicity both in Japan and overseas. The news also piqued the interest of a client, who then assigned the A.I. as a creative director to its ad campaign.

The team came up with the strategy of first targeting the ad industry and the tech industry to generate buzz and to spread the news out to the mass media from there. The name AI-CD ß was given so that the fact that it was an “Artificial Intelligence Creative Director” would be easily communicated. The team also gave a robot body to the A.I. and had it participate in the agency’s new-employee welcoming ceremony as one of the company’s new members to create an occasion for media coverage. Furthermore, the news of the AI-CD ß participating in the new-employee welcoming ceremony was intentionally released right before April Fool’s Day to generate a discussion on whether the news was a prank or not.