Humanity is a Premium in the Age of AI
Something’s…off. You don’t remember exactly when it happened, but now you can’t unsee it. Every ad features an uncanny, poreless face. Every voiceover has the same eerie sing-song cadence. Every tagline reads as if it were written by a committee of aggressively average clones. You thought the future would be more like Blade Runner: Replicants running around trying to pass as humans and slick, dazzling holographic adverts. Instead, the robots are just boring us to death.
Spooky!
The Trailblazers Burden
Marketers possess an inherent drive to embrace the shiniest new tech and dive headfirst into uncharted territory. Behemoth brands like Coca-Cola, Nike, and Apple have pioneered advertising innovation for decades. But the path of the early adopter is fraught with peril.
It takes courage and a strong stomach to navigate the dangers of untested mediums without fully grasping the repercussions, risking reputation for the sake of novelty, and potentially alienating your audience. Missteps like these can provide competitors with fodder for their next campaign or, at the very least, serve as a cautionary tale of what definitely not to do.
McDonald’s Netherlands found out the hard way in late 2025 when its AI-generated Christmas ad received backlash from customers who were frankly creeped the f*@# out. Viewers pointed out that the burgers looked “off” and the “humans” holding the Big Macs were unsettling. The public didn’t see innovation; they saw a big brand trying to pass off AI Slop as entertainment. The ad was swiftly pulled, serving as a reminder that just because we can doesn’t mean we should, if you’re a billion-dollar brand anyway.
Despite some high-profile snafus, the use of AI in marketing isn’t slowing. Some studies claim that over 73% of brands are already using generative AI in their marketing workflows. We’re clearly past the early adopter stage, and brands are using AI often and excessively as they fight to not fall behind.
We’ve been here before. The US food industry transformed in the mid-twentieth century when it saw the opportunity to capitalize on the prestige of the Atomic Age. “Processed” food was synonymous with modernity, convenience, and the promised liberation of housewives from the daily grind of preparing homemade meals. Cookbooks like The Can-Opener Cookbook found a spot on the shelves of millions of kitchens.
By the 90s, it had become a dirty word. The pendulum swung, and the people yearned for “farm-to-table” and “organic” foods instead of artificial ingredients. More than anything, people demanded transparency in return for their dollar.
We’re seeing a similar arc within our industry. The average person has stopped giving brands the benefit of the doubt. Every piece of content is suspected of being created, at least in part, with AI because it’s advanced to a point where it’s difficult to tell otherwise.
A few months ago, LEGO was forced to clarify #HonestlyItsNotAI after people refused to believe that its 2026 World Cup ad, "Everyone Wants a Piece," featuring Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé, and Vini Jr., was made by humans.
It feels like we’ve hit the Gelatin Mold era of AI-generated content: we’re using it for everything, whether it truly makes sense or not. And we’re so obsessed with the mold that we’ve forgotten to ask if anyone wanted it in the first place.
So where are we headed? Best-case scenario: marketers use AI to handle the drudgery while we humans provide the soul. Worst-case scenario: AI becomes sentient and deems human beings and our silly little advertising obsolete.
Fingers crossed that we land somewhere in the middle, but with us still in charge of the machines. For now, brands and marketers must meet the moment by figuring out how we can work together to create better experiences for our audiences, not plunge us deeper into the Uncanny Valley.
Finding a Pulse
For years, we chased the ultra-polished, glossy aesthetic of impeccably curated IG feeds. But winds are shifting once again, and perfection is now viewed as a red flag for “fake”, aka AI-generated.
And for the love of God, we’ve had enough of “iPhone face” in 1800s period pieces.
Imperfections are no longer something to avoid at all costs. They’ve become refreshing differentiators that consumers actively look for. A shaky camera, a gravelly voice, the subtle imperfections that signal that what you’re seeing on your screen is real, and was created by real people. It’s true that a lot of brands today are using AI to take shortcuts and replace creatives.
But the good ones are finding new ways to show signs of life behind their work.
Brands are using lo-fi content, raw, unedited clips, and behind-the-scenes footage showing off their creative process. When people thought Apple TV used AI to create its new logo, they released a timelapse proving that it was sculpted from real glass by real human hands.
BTS content used to be a fun way to share a peek behind the curtain — now it’s an essential tactic for proving your humanity and artistry. If AI’s pursuit is the mean, humanity will be found in the outliers. Being flawed is a differentiator. It builds trust and relatability between consumers and brands, because to struggle is to be human.
And marketers can’t forget that there are real people at the other end of our efforts, too.
People with unique experiences and beliefs, and customer journeys that can be highly personal and complex. The needs of someone looking for a senior living provider, for example, can differ dramatically from one family to the next. We can’t treat everyone the same or make assumptions about who they are. We can’t rely on generic insights spit out by public LLMs (that probably came from Reddit).
This makes first-party data a treasure trove in a sea of AI-aggregated sources. In our era of constricting privacy laws and cookieless browsing, first-party data is priceless, providing nuances, edge cases, and originality. It doesn’t just provide insights into Molly from Tulsa, but the nuances of why she reached out in the first place. It helps us understand our customers' idiosyncrasies to give them what they actually need.
Taking A Stand
In our new world of overly sanitized, generic AI-generated brand strategies and content, taking a stand is how we can stand out.
Companies need to embrace what’s ownable to them: their mission, their voice, their values. Polaroid launched its “AI Can't…” campaign to draw attention to the real-life moments that AI can never replace: the feeling of sand between your toes, a night out with friends. Aerie pledged to never use AI to generate or alter images of people, honoring the commitment they first made in 2014 to feature imperfect, unedited human bodies. Marketers need to lean into the defining brand qualities that consumers expect from them, and do so with authenticity.
That’s why we’ve taken Nebo’s 22-year-old philosophy of being human-centered and applied it to Nebo Ignite. We’ve always believed that humanizing ourselves, our clients, and their customers was the recipe for great marketing. We believe that great brands will always need real people behind them. So we created a tool to help those people work better, faster, and spend their time on what really matters: the Big Ideas that require the thinking and creativity of human beings.
Searching for Goldilocks
If this sounded like a “How to Be Human… for Dummies” guide, it kind of is. As marketers, we often wonder how much is too much? Sometimes — ok, maybe many times — we push too far. We get so caught up in the how that we lose sight of the why.
We’re charmed by claims of “this platform can pump out ad creatives 67% faster” and that SaaS will “cut your CPA in half”, but should your audience care if there’s no pulse behind the screen? When everything is optimized to perfection, nothing is memorable.
God, that’s incredibly boring. But we like to think we’re able to course-correct.
The future of marketing lies in human hands and brains, just with better tools. Marketers are resilient, and it’s our job to adapt to the nuances of human behavior. Sometimes we need to be told to go outside and touch grass.
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