Creative Production

Three questions to ask yourself when purchasing a scaled content solution

Subject Matter Experts

Platforms like Google or Instagram might offer help and share their best practices with brands, but that’s no substitute for the nuanced, first-hand knowledge that agencies themselves have from running successful campaigns on a day-to-day basis.

Brands today face the challenge of producing a staggering amount of content to keep up with an ever-expanding range of media channels and platforms—from short-form video on Instagram to dynamic carousels on LinkedIn.

The hitch is that budgets aren’t keeping pace with the demand for content, leaving brands scrambling for new, scalable solutions (or churning out junk content simply to meet the voracious demand).

One solution for companies looking to scale content creation? Automated production tools.

When evaluating any automated production solution—especially those claiming to integrate AI—brands should ask a few key questions to ensure the tool is truly built for their needs today and into the future.

Question #1: Is the solution templated?

The rise of automated production tools was a godsend for brands struggling to produce content quickly and efficiently.

Many of these tools use templates to generate multiple versions of an asset. You supply a toolkit of master assets; the software breaks everything down into layers.

Using logic-based systems, these tools can generate various versions of content for different platforms, resizing and reformatting as needed. This can be especially useful when dealing with the glut of platforms, from TikTok to LinkedIn, each with its own idiosyncratic formats and specs.

This is convenient, and it was cutting-edge for a while. But as effective as templates can be, they have a major limitation: rigidity.

By their nature, templates are fixed, which means there’s limited room for creativity or deviation. Today’s consumers are constantly barraged with content (up to 600 pieces of content a day, by some guesstimates), so standing out is not an easy task.

When evaluating an automated production solution, ask yourself:

• Is it templated? If so, how restrictive are those templates?
• How often is the tool updated as new ad formats emerge?

If the solution is templated, ensure it allows enough room for customization and creativity—or better yet, consider a tool that utilises AI for more flexible, adaptive content creation. More on that later.

Question 2: “Is it media-informed?”

Understanding platform requirements is crucial when producing content at scale. Different platforms—YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok—each have unique ad formats, dimensions, and specifications.

Some automated content creation tools are quite savvy in understanding these specifications, ensuring that assets generated meet platform requirements.

However, there’s more to being “media-informed” than just knowing dimensions and file types so that an asset that looked great on Instagram doesn’t look totally screwed-up as a Facebook ad.

An effective tool should also be able to incorporate insights from media plans and understand the specific objectives of a campaign. For example, if you’re planning a YouTube bumper ad campaign or a carousel on LinkedIn, the tool should not only produce the right formats but also optimise the content for engagement based on what works best for those specific platforms.

That said, being media-informed goes beyond software. It requires deep insights into the platforms themselves—something that media agencies often excel at but that most tech vendors do not.

When choosing a tool, ask yourself:

• Does it take into account platform nuances beyond the basic technical requirements?
• Does it have the expertise to optimise content for specific formats?

Tools that are both technologically advanced and media-savvy will deliver far greater value than those that only check the box for compliance with ad formats.

Question 3: “How customizable and future-proof is the technology?”

Automated content production tools have been around for years, but many of the older solutions rely on outdated logic-based systems that can’t match the speed and agility of next-gen AI models.

These older systems may struggle to keep up with current needs, resulting in slower production times and less flexibility.

Generative AI, on the other hand, has revolutionized asset creation. Unlike traditional systems, generative AI can adapt to various needs and quickly produce a wide range of content formats.

But not all AI-powered tools are the same. Some vendors may claim to use AI but rely on legacy systems or lack the flexibility to integrate the latest models.

When evaluating a solution, ask:

• Is the technology built with the newest AI models?
• Is it flexible enough to evolve and adapt as the tech improves?
• Is the tool capable of generating content that not only meets basic platform requirements, but also evokes the right emotions and engages the right audience?

The best tools offer a high degree of customization, allowing brands to not just create more content, but better content that drives real engagement.

A few reasons why SmartAssets might fit your needs

When considering tools to create assets at scale, it’s important to choose one that not only keeps up with today’s demands but also addresses future challenges.

Here’s why SmartAssets, part of Stagwell Marketing Cloud, might offer the right blend of AI-enabled functionalities for your advertising needs.

No templates, and full flexibility with GenAI

The shift in marketing is away from sheer volume and toward meaningful, engaging content that actually resonates with consumers. But how do you produce that winning content, at scale, with tight budgets?

SmartAssets isn’t bound by the restrictions of templates. By truly leveraging GenAI, the platform can create content in any format or style, without being bound by pre-set templates.

The thrilling thing about AI is that it can create things that are utterly unique. The risk for brands is that this will go too far, generating assets that are weird, off-brand, or simply bizarre.

SmartAssets splits the difference by harnessing AI’s potentials while giving it guardrails, allowing for truly bespoke content production at scale.

Deep media knowledge & expertise

SmartAssets isn’t just a software solution; it’s powered by the real-world media expertise of Stagwell, a network of industry-leading agencies.

Platforms like Google or Instagram might offer help and share their best practices with brands, but that’s no substitute for the nuanced, first-hand knowledge that agencies themselves have from running successful campaigns on a day-to-day basis.

The wealth of knowledge derived from Stagwell’s agencies is baked into SmartAssets, and continues to power and sharpen our models. That’s a competitive advantage that other software solutions just don’t have.

Built with the latest tech, and constantly re-evaluating

SmartAssets stays ahead of the curve by being technology-agnostic, meaning it can pick and choose the best generative AI models available at that particular moment.

Rather than relying on outdated or single-model AI systems, SmartAssets continuously evaluates and uses the most effective technology for the job at hand.

That means brands themselves don’t have to do the grunt work of determining what the best LLM is for a specific task as of late 2024—the SmartAssets team is on it.

Truly bespoke customization

SmartAssets offers unmatched customization options, allowing you to incorporate your brand’s unique identity into every piece of content. Whether it’s your logo, color palette, or tone of voice, SmartAssets ensures that all creative elements are on-brand.

But what’s really striking is how the tool can integrate deeper brand needs, such as the emotions or sentiments you want your audience to feel, ensuring that the content is not just engaging but also aligned with your brand values.

Think that sounds a little sci-fi? We’d love to show you how it works—click here to schedule a quick demo.

About the author

Lindsay Hong is CEO & Co-Founder of SmartAssets part of Stagwell Marketing Cloud