We got AI generated content for everything now, but is it adding any real value to brands?

Big companies are starting to replace visual ads with AI

By Markus Backman

July 2nd, 2025

Within the last three years we've seen a real AI boom emerge in generated content, and it just keeps evolving rapidly.

From flawless copywriting to images and even detailed video content now, generative AI is here to stay. Many say that it is great, and it is, but I want to talk about how it has changed people's beliefs and expectations, and most importantly, will it add real value to brands and companies promoting themselves with purely AI made creations?

Let's look at the following topics in this article:

• Generative AI is booming, but does it add any value to brands?

• Many consumers can’t tell if content is AI-made, and maybe don’t care.

• Are we heading toward a future where AI-generated media becomes the norm?

The social effects of generative AI

I feel like this is a topic doesn't get enough coverage at all. We have amazing GenAI based media from images to videos, different features in applications to websites enhanced with AI to make greater user-experiences, without mentioning AI-generated texts that work just right. Now what?

More and more content and creations are developed with AI, but since the beginning I've wondered will that add any real value to brands, companies, and other organizations promoting themselves with the help of purely AI-generated creations. Do consumers just don't care about AI being used?

Can value be gained with AI-generated images and video?

It's only until recently that AI-generated images and videos have started to become "sort of" sophisticated to be dared to used as a part of branding and marketing operations.

The thing might just be that it is a small percentage of people who actually have negative thoughts about AI used in ads. That might just be because most of the people won't recognize it, or the other aspect might be that just most people have other things to things to worry about if their products and ads are created with AI imaginary.

See, I'm a marketer myself, and always when I see corporations trying to snuck GenAI media into their ads makes me place that whole company under scrutiny? Like, really, do this company not really have the resources to create images made by real humans?

Will AI-generated content become the new norm?

Can it be so that AI-generated content will just become the new norm that is just so cost effective and good enough that it's always worth using?

I've seen some major brands, like the huge European grocery store chain, Lidl, starting to replace their ads with AI, and even food packaging with AI-generated imagery (it's obvious since you can still spot it is AI, and they even admitted to it).

Lidl developed and trained a custom AI model to do so, which they then utilize to take advantage of in all of their marketing efforts. In this case they've replaced their social media ads and some of the products.

It's for sure a very aware decision to do so, and they are not deliberately trying to hide the fact. Why are they doing it? They might think they have reached where doing that is more profitable than actually buying the media from production teams of studios and media houses. It might be that consumers do not really care, and using GenAI may be more profitable in the long run.

Using ChatGPT generated copy and all of that have more or less become a norm now to be used in marketing, but I don't think that applies to visual media such as images and video.

I've heard a lot of negative talk about companies using such images in their advertisements, but in the end it might just be a small percentage of consumers recognizing it, or really caring about it in the first place. That might just be Lidl's conscious marketing strategy.

Does GenAI add any real value to brands and companies?

This is my greatest question here. Now, I'm specifically thinking about visual media, images and video. Personally when I see an advertisement where for instance people were replaced with obvious GenAI creations it would immediately lower the reputation I have of that brand. That would especially apply if that was a well-known, globally established company.

I think many people would agree that GenAI ads looks bad, but the thing might be that many people still don't care, nor do they even recognize it is AI in the first place. It's just becoming more profitable for companies to do it with AI

Does using GenAI add any real value then? Probably not as much as if it was created all by humans, but replacing that human workload could be just so profitable. Why spend something like 20,000 Euro on a social media ad when it can be done with something like, 20,00 Euros anyway?

I found this Reddit thread discussing Lidl using GenAI in a social media post which got some negative feedback.

The future and GenAI in marketing

It might just be like with anything revolutionary that was introduced to society, like sewing machines in the 1900 century when people really placed those under scrutiny. Like, I don't trust a machine to sew my clothes, only a human can do it the right way. However, not long after that, the days of fully manual clothes manufacturing were over and consumers didn't have a problem with that, nor do they even to this day.

This phenomena will most likely happen with GenAI too, it's just not mature enough right now to be fully adopted in marketing attempts, since it still makes many errors compared to media created by humans. We are not just ready yet, but probably will soon.

The same happened sort of with copywriting, in just less than three years, we've seen ChatGPT come and to a big part being accepted. Those writings generated with AI might not even not recognizable even more if done right, and that might just be the reasons people don't care.

At last

The big question isn’t whether generative AI can produce marketing content, because it clearly can. The real question is whether audiences value it, trust it, or even notice it. As GenAI mature, companies will have to question do they go for efficiency or authenticity.

Right now, AI-generated visuals might still raise eyebrows, but just like with AI-written copy, we might stop noticing sooner than we think. In the end, what matters isn’t just how the content is made, but how it connects with people.