Something was off.

Last summer, the clothing brand Snag Tights began noticing some AI-generated tweaks to its Meta ad creative, Brie Read, brand CEO, told Marketing Brew. The brand addressed it in a Facebook post in February: “If you see an ad from us that looks ‘off’ or has that strange AI sheen, please know: It isn’t us.”

Turns out, Read told us, Meta’s AI ad tools had modified the brand’s ads without its knowledge, which Read said could pose more serious business implications.

“If the picture isn’t of anything real, you’re effectively scamming the customer, right?” Read said. “If I go to AI and go, ‘design me a rainbow handbag,’ and it makes me a picture of a rainbow handbag and then I upload it [to] Meta…To the actual customer who buys that handbag, that’s a scam, because [the product] never really existed.”

After the mishaps, Snag Tights requested that Meta turn off AI testing for its account, Read told us, and it did. But the experience spooked the brand enough that it’s looking to shift some ad spend off of the company’s platforms, Read said.

Snag Tights isn’t the only advertiser experiencing challenges with Meta’s AI-powered ad tools. Amid Meta’s push to increase AI throughout the ad buying and creation process, some marketing agencies said they’ve noticed unwanted AI-generated elements or distortions in creative assets, while some advertisers’ budgets have automatically included AI ads testing, even if that wasn’t the intended use of the funds.

In response, some advertisers are trying to shut off Meta AI—sometimes with mixed success.

Continue reading here.—JS

Are you a Barbie girl in a Barbie world?

Coachella attendees could live out the lyrics to Aqua’s 1997 hit song in real life this month as part of the brand’s first-ever activation at the music festival, called “You Can Be Any Barbie,” where visitors could inhabit different Barbie personas in a portrait studio session.

The experiential activation, which also included a charm bar and gallery wall, is one way that Barbie, after getting a major brand boost with the 2023 blockbuster film, is marketing to multiple generations this year.

“We think of Barbie as so much more than a toy—she’s a cultural icon,” Nathan Baynard, VP and global head of Barbie for Mattel, told us. “This is yet another way for us to show up in a culturally relevant space and continue to connect with the next generation.”

The activation drew nearly 12,000 visitors over the course of the festival’s two weekends, according to the brand’s PR team, which also shared that Barbie invited 16 creators including reality star Olandria Carthen and four members of the press on a Barbie brand trip to the festival. Influencer content from the first weekend totalled 533 posts and brought in 132 million views; social posts from the brand’s channels, meanwhile, saw 13.5 million video views and roughly 604,000 organic engagements, the company said.

It’s likely Coachella won’t be the only experiential effort from Barbie this year. “Experiential will continue to be a key part of our strategy,” Baynard said. “We believe in continuing to connect with the multiple generations that Barbie has relationships with…You have my commitment and the tease that more will be coming.”

Read more here.—KM

Meta is playing catch-up to TikTok in the AI and e-commerce game.

At Shoptalk in Las Vegas last month, Meta debuted not only creator affiliate partnership features, but also checkout in its Business AI agent and retail media network product discovery offerings.

The affiliate tools are similar to the affiliate marketing offering that TikTok Shop operates, according to Scott Kramer, head of growth at AS Beauty, which operates a portfolio of brands including Laura Geller Beauty and Cover FX. He said the tools provide opportunities for brands to measure the ROI they’re seeing from creators in terms of who is driving sales, noting it’s a “first step” for Meta.

However, some brands may be slower to adopt affiliate tools, Kevin Simonson, CEO of e-commerce marketing outfit adMixt, said, noting that affiliate offerings lend themselves more so to verticals like beauty and wellness.

“Affiliate, in general, is not as important to most brands as paid. It’s generally an afterthought from a strategy perspective,” Simonson said. “I’m sure some people are obviously getting on it, but as far as brands we work with, I’ve had zero people reach out to me about it.”

Continue reading here.—JS

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Executive moves across the industry.

• Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from the role on Sept. 1; John Ternus, the company’s top hardware engineering exec, is set to replace him.
• ANA CEO Bob Liodice is stepping down at the end of the year after more than three decades at the advertising trade organization.
• LinkedIn promoted COO Daniel Shapero to the CEO role.
• E.l.f. elevated e.l.f Beauty Global CMO Kory Marchisotto to president of e.l.f Brands and named former Maesa marketer Oshiya Savur as CMO.