Watson Advertising Accelerator: AI-Powered Creative at Scale
Brian led the invention, product strategy, and launch of IBM Advertising Accelerator with Watson—a first-of-its-kind AI platform that personalizes display and video creative in real time. Unlike traditional dynamic ad tools, Accelerator used predictive AI to anticipate which creative combinations would resonate most with individual users, driving increased engagement and performance.
Launched at CES 2020 in partnership with the Ad Council, the product helped major brands automate creative experimentation, understand evolving audience behavior, and define what "effective" means in a modern media landscape. By combining machine learning with scalable creative frameworks, Advertising Accelerator redefined what’s possible in performance advertising.
Creative That Learns While It Runs
Award-winning Technology
The Weather Company Advertising Accelerator takes a new approach to engaging and converting consumers that goes beyond creative optimization.
Using curated sets of creative elements, Accelerator’s AI continuously defines audience segments and predicts optimal ad variations for each of them. Performance is measured in real-time to further refine these predictions throughout the campaign.
Accelerator campaigns allow advertisers to be highly flexible with their creative concepts, which can help them gain a clearer picture of their audience and identify patterns that can help inform future strategies. This approach enables more relevant, performant creative—delivered with the speed and precision of machine learning.
Winner: Best Advertising Rich Media Online Ad
Brand Innovation Finalist
Winner: Innovation in Machine Learning & AI
Best Creative Optimization Finalist
Winner: Best New Technology Initiative
Excellence in Online Advertising - AI
Best Digital Product Innovation Finalist
Outstanding Utilization of Data Finalist
Most Innovative Publisher Finalist
Best Personalization and A/B Testing Finalist
Best New/Emerging/ Experimental Media Finalist
Winner: IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award
Accelerator Video
Starting with 16 variable video assets (2 music/ sfx tracks x 2 video sequences x 2 VOs x2 end cards x 2 strategic template themes), The video MVP starts at 32 permutations but can generate hundreds of creative video ad variables to serve audiences across all video and CTV platforms predictively.
For detailed specs and examples, view the spec deck here.
See the example multi-variant video ad here featuring 32 permutations all in one link.
Accelerator Display
Starting with 27 variable graphic assets (3 background images x 3 headlines x 3 CTAs x 3 strategic template themes), The display MVP starts at 81 permutations but can generate hundreds of creative display ad variables to serve audiences across all display platforms predictively.
For detailed specs and examples, view the spec deck here.
View the example display performance dashboard here.
March 2021 Update:
Since launching at CES in 2020, Brian’s team has won over a dozen industry awards for IBM Watson Advertising Accelerator. He is honored now to receive an Outstanding Technical Achievement Award from IBM.
Generating meaningful results is the mission, and utilizing AI to assemble beautifully crafted ads based on audience performance does just that. Like helping the Ad Council educate Americans on the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines. One of the largest public education efforts in US history.
See the press release here.
Smarter Advertising, Real Results
Watson Advertising Accelerator demonstrates how AI and design can work together to create high-performing, adaptive ad experiences—built to optimize in real-time and deliver measurable results across platforms.
Platforms: Mobile, Tablet, Desktop, App, CTV, OTT, IoT, Display, Video.
Features: Interactive, Animation, ML (Machine Learning), Watson AI (Augmented Intelligence), Location, Weather, and 1st-Party Data