Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably noticed that AI has seeped into nearly every corner of life. From your navigation app telling you it’ll take 34 minutes to get to work, to the way your Facebook ads know you’re in a “buy every beauty product” mood, AI is everywhere. It’s also become one of the most overhyped topics on LinkedIn — where every third post promises AI will either replace your job or save your soul.
At Moxie Creative, we think the truth is simpler: AI is a tool, not the boss. In this week’s episode of Behind the Brand, we dug into how we use AI in marketing, the hilarious fails we’ve seen, and why human creativity is still more valuable than ever.
AI in Marketing: What It Looks Like
For a lot of people, “AI in marketing” means ChatGPT. But AI has been in digital marketing for years — especially in advertising. Think of audience cloning. We can target people in a geographic area with certain interests, and once those people engage, AI finds “lookalikes” who fit the same profile. That’s why your feed sometimes feels creepily in tune with your shopping habits. One week it’s beauty products, the next it’s cleaning supplies — a reflection of whatever season of life you’re in.
The same goes for platforms like LinkedIn. Two years ago, you’d barely see a mention of AI. Now? Scroll three posts, and you’ll find one. That’s the power of AI hype, not necessarily its accuracy. Because at the end of the day, AI is just a sophisticated pattern matcher. It can generate outlines, suggest ad audiences, or help resize images. But it doesn’t know your brand, your story, or your customers like you do.
How We Use AI (and How We Don’t)
Let’s clear this up: no, we don’t use AI to create ads or write final creative for clients. What we do use it for is saving time on repetitive tasks:
- Drafting or shortening blog posts (always edited by us).
- Generating outlines as a starting point.
- Resizing or extending stock images with Adobe’s AI crop/fill tools.
That last one is especially handy when stock imagery doesn’t come in the orientation we need. Instead of waiting for a designer, we can quickly crop an image into a square for Facebook or stretch a vertical into a hero banner. It’s not design — it’s production.
On the flip side, we’ve also seen how clients (or competitors) rely too heavily on AI. Captions that feel hollow, websites that “say nothing,” and images that set off Facebook’s “AI-generated content” flag. If your brand is supposed to stand out, blending in with generic AI content won’t get you there.
The Fails We’ve Seen
AI is good at first impressions, but it stumbles in the details. Some of the funniest (and scariest) fails we’ve spotted:
- Distorted logos on billboards and social graphics.
- Faces with uncanny features — too smooth, too sharp, or just… wrong.
- Odd proportions — like an AI influencer who looked nine feet tall sitting next to a three-foot man at Wimbledon.
- Generic writing — lots of rhetorical questions, overused em dashes, and salesy lists that don’t say much.
Even when AI “works,” it can leave audiences uneasy. A client once questioned a stock photo we chose, convinced the model looked too “unreal” and worried about public backlash. Turns out, she was a real person — just very thin. Still, that moment shows how quickly AI suspicion can color how content is received.
The Ethical Question
One of the biggest challenges for creatives is how AI is trained. Many image generators scrape artists’ work without consent, blending it into outputs without credit or compensation. That’s not just unfair — it’s risky for brands.
Adobe has taken a different route, training its Firefly AI on licensed stock photos. That makes it more ethical (and legally safer) for marketers. Even then, we mostly use it for small tasks like filling in backgrounds or stretching an image. The “big creative” work — logos, campaigns, messaging — still requires human thought and nuance.
Why Human Creativity Still Wins
Here’s the thing: humans trust humans. Marketing is built on that. A logo designed by AI might look fine at first glance, but it won’t carry the layers of meaning a designer brings — like a symbol of lifting someone out of the fire or weaving in hope. AI gives you “basic.” Humans give you brand.
That’s why relying solely on AI risks dumbing everything down. The more teams outsource to machines, the less they practice problem-solving, writing, and design. For new grads or small businesses, that’s especially risky. If all your “experience” is typing prompts, how will you show up in an interview or build a career on those skills?
Everyday Uses (That Actually Work)
That’s not to say AI has no place. Used in moderation, it can make life easier. One of our team members uses ChatGPT weekly for grocery lists: input family preferences, select meals, and out comes a categorized list (produce, proteins, dairy, etc.). Another time, it turned a random combo of “cream of mushroom soup and nacho cheese” into a surprisingly good cheeseburger hot dish recipe.
These small, practical uses show AI’s real value: efficiency, not artistry. It’s the assistant, not the author.
So, What’s Next?
We’re in the “wild west” stage of AI. It’ll get smarter. It’ll get faster. But it will also plateau. Audiences will spot the generic. Brands that want to stand out will still need human strategy, design, and storytelling.
Because at the end of the day, AI can generate content for both Joe’s Garage and Mike’s Garage down the street. If you don’t want to look the same, you’ll need more than a prompt. You’ll need a team that knows your voice, your customers, and the spark that makes your brand unforgettable.
Tune In and Get Inspired
AI can make your life easier — resizing images, drafting outlines, even planning dinner. But it can’t replace authenticity, creativity, or the trust humans build with other humans. For brands, that’s the differentiator. Use AI as a sidekick, not the star of the show.
If you’re ready to break the mold instead of blending in, Moxie Creative can help. We’ll use the best tools available — AI included — but never at the expense of the human spark that makes your brand yours.
