Brandtech Group acquires AI SaaS platform Pencil

Dive Brief:

The Brandtech Group has acquired generative artificial intelligence (AI) and distribution platform Pencil, according to information provided by the company.
Brandtech is also launching Pencil Pro, a generative AI product designed to meet the needs of global brands. Unilever and Bayer have already committed to using the offering.
Pencil uses OpenAI’s GPT large-language model to create channel-ready ads and copy based on a brand’s objectives, assets and preferences. The SaaS platform bills itself as helping brands achieve twice the performance results at one-tenth of the cost.

Dive Insight:

Brandtech stated that Pencil has created more than 1 million creative executions for brands in the last 12 months, and the dataset that powers its predictions is built from more than $1 billion in real media spend.

An important component of the deal is the ready-to-launch Pencil Pro product, which Pencil and Brandtech developed in partnership over the past six months and which has attracted the attention of brand marketers. It rolls out with media integrations across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Google Display and Amazon Ads. AI integrations include OpenAI GPT-4 and ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion and Runway.

“Everyone is talking about [generative AI] and Unilever is excited to be running multiple pilots across the space,” said Giles Morrison, Unilever’s global vice president of brand communications, in a statement. “Pencil Pro is a true enterprise proposition that could really impact our business at scale.”

More than 1,000 Brandtech employees are now being trained in generative AI and Pencil. The training is being led by a team from Jellyfish, which Brandtech completed its acquisition of earlier this month. With the Jellyfish finished, Brandtech now claims more than $1 billion in revenue, over 7,000 employees and a client roster that includes eight of the world’s 10 largest advertisers.

Generative AI is still in its early stages in the marketing space but has generated a lot of hype. Many technology providers are investing to create their own products. Companies including Salesforce, AWS, Google, Zoom, PWC and Accenture have all announced plans to advance the use of AI and bolster the AI startup ecosystem.