By Troy Kelleher, VP, Creative Director

What does Maclyn do best?

Building trust. Solving problems. Being there when our clients need us.

We use technology—we have always used technology—to do those things, and to improve our work and our workflows.

But at the end of the day, tech is a tool. AI is a tool. So when we think about AI, we think about how we can use it to bring more value to our clients by supercharging what we humans do best.

Let me show you what I mean with a quick story.

Everyday Challenges, Unexpected Solutions

The other day, the Maclyn team was working with a client when we encountered a fairly common problem.

We had been building their website for months. Now, the design and development were nearly complete.

Then we hit a roadblock.

The client—an artist, advocate, and prominent member of the Intellectual Disability community—had an e-commerce shop. She needed descriptions for both current and future products.

We were, of course, happy to write descriptions for current products. But when it came to things that didn’t yet exist, the best we could do was provide guidelines.

It's not like we could write those descriptions for her.

…Or could we?

After a quick conversation, we created a templated prompt system for the client. Now, she could simply copy-and-paste a prompt, along with specific data points, into ChatGPT and instantly generate any product description she needed.

It was a simple solution, but a valuable one.

Even a few years ago, it would have seemed like magic. Now, it’s just one example of how we’re using AI to bring value to clients in new and often unexpected ways.

Here are a few more.

Automating rote tasks

Across our creative, advisory and experiences departments, we’re constantly finding new ways to streamline our workflows using AI. This includes everything from generating robust lists of data points to removing objects from images, tasks that are critical but often time-consuming and resource-intensive.

By using AI, we can perform tasks that once took hours in seconds. Saving time on our end allows us to focus on what matters most: bringing meaningful value to our clients.

Researching & learning

At Maclyn, we’re always learning about our clients and their businesses. AI makes it possible for us to learn better and faster, taking in large volumes of information and understanding it quickly and deeply.

Here’s one example: We were recently onboarding a new staff member to a client. Rather than overwhelming them with a ton of information, we took publicly available data, uploaded it to an AI program, and had the software generate a podcast.

The podcast made it possible to quickly get an in-depth overview of the client and retain the most important info. Very cool. And very useful.

Strategizing, brainstorming & concepting

In marketing, most of the conversation around AI is about efficiency. But we’ve found that it can also help us be more creative and strategic.

Currently, we’re using AI to:

• Show concepts (rather than just describe them).
• Digest and analyze data.
• Explore multiple possibilities before landing on a solution.

AI is not replacing our critical and creative thinking. AI is enhancing them, allowing us to think bigger and demonstrate our ideas more clearly and efficiently.

Creating client tools

For us, this is one of the most interesting frontiers of AI in marketing. How do we build tools for clients that make their day-to-day work more efficient? How do we help them use AI the way we do?

That story at the beginning of this blog—where we created a prompt system to help a client write future product descriptions—is just one example, but it illustrates the potential.

We’re here to create value for our clients, and AI helps us help them.

How are we keeping our clients’ data safe and secure?

Of course, AI’s potential means nothing if we can’t keep our clients’ data safe and secure.

We can and we do. Data security is always our top priority. That’s why we have robust digital security systems, as well as a clear, proactive internal policy that keeps confidential data secure while allowing us to take advantage of this powerful technology.

What’s next?

There are many valid concerns surrounding the future of AI. For me, when it comes to marketing, it’s clear that anyone who talks about ‘replacing’ entire professions with AI likely doesn’t understand them in the first place. Good marketing is rooted in emotion, trust and connection, things that are (at least for now) distinctly human.

At Maclyn, the work we do is deeply human. Right now, we’re using AI to enhance that human work and give us more time and energy to focus on it.

Our clients are going to feel this shift, if they aren’t already. More creativity. More quality. More out-of-the-box thinking.

More of what Maclyn does best.