News Releases

Spark Foundry and AI Music Introduce AI-Generated Creative for Audio Ads
Beta Marketer Cox Communications Sees Reduction in Production Time and Costs, and Increase in Brand Engagement

CHICAGO, March 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Spark Foundry, a leading media agency part of Publicis Media, and AI Music, a London based AI company, today announced an innovative new solution, Sympaphonic Ads, which will bring deeper personalization to audio advertising by using AI to produce ad creative. Sympaphonic Ads are an industry-first and will help marketers increase brand engagement while reducing costs and saving time associated with creating audio ads.

A partnership conceptualized by Spark Foundry's innovation team, the AI-generated audio ads use AI Music's proprietary artificial intelligence engine to dynamically produce ad creative that matches the user's current music genre for a more euphonious and personalized listening experience. The ads are then distributed via AdsWizz, a leading global digital audio advertising solution provider, to reach the right audience.

"With the increase in personalization of content, consumers of today expect to see tailored and contextually relevant experiences everywhere. However, this type of personalization is not a reality for audio advertising until now. Most marketers are still using generic audio ads across all platforms due to the time and money that it would take to create varied audio creative assets," said Eric Levin, Global Chief Content Officer, Spark Foundry. "By using contextually relevant audio ads, our beta marketer, Cox, has already begun to see an increase in brand engagement and by using AI for creative work, we were able to also help them save both time and money."

Cox Communications is the exclusive beta tester for Sympaphonic Ads. Since kicking off the campaign in late December 2018, Cox has already seen a significant reduction in production time and costs for creating multiple audio assets and an increase in brand engagement with the more relevant treatments.

"Consumers do not want an ad that is jarring and disrupts their listening experience," said Mollie Andrews, Vice President of Marketing Operations, Cox Communications. "This innovative technology accelerates our speed-to-market and, most importantly, speaks to our customers in the tone and style that is consistent with their preferred music genre."

Previously, in order to personalize a campaign for audio, it could take up to 2-3 days to create a single audio ad. Through AI Music's proprietary artificial intelligence engine, which enabled real-time shape shifting of existing music and audio assets, Spark Foundry was able to create dynamic and personalized audio ads in under 10 minutes. This reduced the normal production time, helped make the budget go further, and freed up time for the agency to focus on other more strategic tasks.

"We are extremely excited to bring our cutting-edge AI solutions to the advertising space with the collaboration and partnership of Spark Foundry." said Siavash Mahdavi, CEO, AI Music. "We are motivated to inject new innovation to the audio advertising space with dynamic AI-generated audio ads. We see this as an important step for AI Music as we are on a mission to evolve all aspects of how music and audio is created and experienced, from a static, linear interaction to one of dynamic co-creation and personalization. 

In order to reach the right audiences at the right time with these new audio creative assets, Spark Foundry selected AdsWizz as an audio distribution partner. The company has robust genre targeting capabilities across a network of digital audio platforms, such as Pandora, where Cox's beta campaign is currently running. Cox's campaign will run through the end of Q1.

About Spark Foundry
Spark Foundry is a global media agency brand within Publicis Media, a key division of Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40]. Spark Foundry's bold vision harnesses a startup spirit with a powerhouse soul that melds an entrepreneurial, innovative business approach with the full resources, capabilities and marketplace clout of Publicis Media. With 4,000 employees across the world, the agency brings the heat with the best industry talent and a growing footprint of offices in key markets including the U.S., UK, MENA, Poland, Australia and China.

About AI Music
AI Music is a London based AI company led by CEO, Siavash Mahdavi. AI Music is on a mission to change how music is created, experienced, and interacted with. With deep experience in AI and music, the company is leveraging proprietary technology to evolve music from a static, linear experience to one of dynamic personalisation and co-creation. AI Music is backed by world-leading AI and machine learning investor, Alpha Intelligence Capital, and previously part of the famous Abbey Road Studios Red incubator programme in conjunction with Universal Music Group. www.aimusic.co.uk

Media Contact

Katherine Wong
Spark Foundry
Katherine.wong@sparkfoundryww.com

SOURCE Spark Foundry