U.S. Bank taps AI to create audience models for national campaign

Dive Brief:

U.S. Bank has launched a national campaign, “The Power of Us,” leveraging artificial intelligence to create audience models to test its creative against, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. The campaign is the first under new CMO Michael Lacorazza.
The campaign is centered around a brand video and three additional spots that tell the stories of what U.S. Bank, its employees and clients can achieve together. The spots have both Spanish and English versions, with the latter voiced by actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
Agency Supernatural AI’s AI platform was used to create avatars of U.S. Bank’s core target groups to develop the campaign strategy and conduct testing. The campaign will span connected TV, broadcast, out-of-home, digital, social and sponsorships.

Dive Insight:

AI’s potential remains a strong pull for marketers looking to optimize their campaigns, both when making media investments and for developing creative assets. Klarna, for instance, said it reduced its sales and marketing spend by 11% in Q1 by using AI for processes like image generation and editing. Starburst, meanwhile, is using AI to deliver content in campaign spots in a variety of scenes and styles. For its new campaign, U.S. Bank tapped Supernatural AI’s capabilities to optimize its messaging across different potential audiences by using AI to create avatars of its target audience groups.

Campaign materials are intended to resonate with a large range of people, from business owners to new parents, as well as U.S. bank employees and institutional bankers. The hero video depicts people celebrating retirement, graduations and other milestones, as well as employees working late nights in deserted offices, attempting to work on crowded flights and juggling to maintain a work-life balance. A voiceover explains how the bank is there for both the celebrations and the hard work: “It’s tough for sure, but less tough when you have the right people by your side.”

The voiceover also highlights the bank’s employees and their dedication to clients: “If it’s important to you, it’s important to us.”

“This year, we made a commitment to tell the stories of our amazing clients in a way that highlights the people who are at our core,” Lacorazza said in a statement. “The resulting campaign brings to life our purpose, Powering Potential, and tells our brand story through the moments that unite us — from our clients to our tellers, advisors, branch managers, commercial bankers and everyone in between.”

The campaign notably leverages a partnership with New York City-based Supernatural AI and its proprietary AI technology platform. Using AI, the agency created avatars of the bank’s core targets representing six audiences — young affluent, midlife affluent, high net worth, small-business owner, corporate and commercial — to develop the baseline campaign strategy of “powering potential.” The agency then used those audiences to test the strategy and the initial creative executions.

According to the agency, all of the AI audience models understood and appreciated the double meaning of the campaign line, “The power of US.” The agency used those findings to ensure consistency across all elements of the campaign. The speed-to-market for the project was less than four months, per release details.

The latest campaign from U.S. Bank is the first under new CMO Lacorazza, who was appointed to the role last fall, according to LinkedIn. The exec prior to his latest appointment held roles at companies including Frontpoint, Wells Fargo — where he also served as CMO — TD Ameritrade, Digitas and Marriott International.