Melissa WardEarlier this week, JPMorgan Chase announced that it had inked a five-year deal with Persado, a company with a product that produces AI-written marketing copy. Copywriters, don’t start hyperventilating … robots haven’t come for your jobs, yet.
According to a press release from Persado, in 2016 JPMorgan Chase started a pilot program with the company’s Message Machine product. Using the tool, Chase took marketing copy for its Card and Mortgage businesses and reworked it. The end result was a lift in clickthrough rates as high as 450% from AI-written marketing copy created using Persado’s tool, compared to a previous CTR range of 50% to 200%.
Credit: JPMorgan Chase, sourced from Philadelphia Inquirer
Persado’s Message Machine uses a database of over 1 million tagged and scored words and phrases to create the AI-written marketing copy, but that doesn’t mean its use by Chase, and other brands, will render the need for “human touch” obsolete. In an article from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Erich Timmerman, executive director for media relations at JPMorgan’s tech-oriented office in San Francisco was quoted:
“The goal is to get to copy that resonates. Edits and review have always been integral to the process.”
Throughout Persado’s press release, Chase’s CMO Kristin Lemkau is quoted, giving high praise to Persado’s product, and stating: “Machine learning is the path to more humanity in marketing.” While I’m personally not sure where I stand on that last statement made by Lemkau, I also feel like you can’t argue with what is working for the financial services company.
I can't wait until the Persado algorithm starts optimizing for clicks –
"You'll never believe this one simple trick for getting a home equity loan."
"Five tips for paying your bill on time."
— Paul Alfieri (@palfieri) July 31, 2019
Chase clearly took its time to dedicate itself and its marketing to go through the pilot program, and it liked the results. And to note, the financial services company is not the only major brand working with Persado — the client list also includes Dell, Air Canada, Staples, and more. But, according to an Ad Age article, Chase is the first marketer working with Persado to employ its AI writing across all platforms.
I think this move is an interesting one for Chase, and since it was made following plenty of testing, I think it makes sense. Do I think AI-written marketing copy will always win out? No. But I think we can learn something about copywriting from AI.
And at the end of the day, there are bigger things to stress about … like French’s partnering with Coolhaus Ice Cream to create yellow mustard flavored ice cream. Worry less about a robot coming for your job, and more about why someone thought this was a good idea.
