Following our Dstillery sponsorship of the first annual BrXnd AI event last May in NYC, our Executive Director, Taylor Zamora, and I attended the first LA version at the NeueHouse Hollywood. 

BrXnd AI Founder Noah Brier has emerged as a leading authority on how brands can and should use, and are using, generative AI tools at all stages of the marketing process. Brier’s team consults with companies of all shapes and sizes about using AI, publishes a newsletter and Marketing AI landscape, and hosts in-person events.   

Reflecting on a day of learning and inspiration, I am thoroughly convinced that AI is not overhyped.  It is having real impact.

The first half of the day was mostly about the state of AI and trends in how brands are using it.  The second half was essentially demos/pitches.  Both were impressive and thought-provoking.  A few themes emerged: 

– The consensus view is that we are still very much in the discovery & experimentation stage with AI

– The LLM model itself is a tool, and our collective imagination in using it to solve business challenges is the value-add 

– ROI is hard to measure at this stage and it is premature to try and assign dollar values 

Having sponsored and attended BrXnd NYC’s 2024 event, we saw some amazing progress. There were fewer demos of working AI technology in action. Tools were not ready, so the conference was heavy on trends and themes and light on specifics. We have come a long way.  

The audience for the products is marketers and agencies, and there were some VERY cool demos of tools that simplify and speed up agency and digital media workflows, opening up new opportunities.  Here are a few of our favorites: 

– Pencil creative canvas 

– McKinney’s Brand Attention Index 

– JellyFish Share of the Model (how do brands show up across models?)

– Springboards.ai creative brainstorming 

– Social Department video social asset extraction 

– And my personal favorite, the Waldo.fyi research assistant

These are very cool customer-facing tools that help brands and agencies do their work better, faster, and more cheaply. Eight months ago, they did not exist. Now, they are compelling workflow tools gaining adoption among our clients. I am blown away by the pace of the progress.  

Above all, I am convinced after the BrXnd AI showcase that we are only just getting started.