Ad Agency BlueFocus Halts Outsourcing Copywriting to Adopt Generative AI

On April 12, Chinese media outlet Madisonboom reported that BlueFocus, a well-known Chinese advertising service provider, issued an internal email to its East China region procurement department stating that “In order to curb the trend of hollowing out core capabilities and build the foundation for embracing AIGC, the management has decided to indefinitely suspend all outsourcing expenditures related to creative design, proposal writing, copywriting, and short-term employees.”

Regarding this, Chinese media Yins Finance contacted BlueFocus’ securities department. The staff confirmed the authenticity of the email content. However, when asked about the application details of AIGC (Generative AI) tools, the staff said they were unable to respond immediately. This means that even work such as copywriting or creative design may not be able to escape being replaced by AI in the future.

SEE ALSO: AI Poses A Threat to Game Concept Artists

In the field of advertising and marketing, projects are becoming increasingly refined. Outsourcing certain parts of advertising companies can effectively introduce external resources and capabilities to deliver projects more efficiently and with higher quality.

However, if core parts are also outsourced, then advertising companies may become figureheads. In addition, these types of companies are often just “shell companies,” which could lead to fraudulent practices in cooperation with clients.

It is worth mentioning that AIGC’s emergence is driving a major reshuffle in the content creation (especially commercial content creation) industry.

According to a report by The Paper, the rapid development of AI has had a significant impact on enterprise recruitment. Positions such as game concept artists or graphic designers have been shrinking while some outsourcing teams already have plans for layoffs, but there hasn’t yet been any large-scale unemployment situation so far. Meanwhile, AI talent is highly sought after by enterprises with salaries reaching up to millions of yuan per year.

Goldman Sachs previously released a report predicting that with breakthroughs in AI, it is expected that 300 million jobs worldwide will be replaced by generative AI, with lawyers and administrative staff being the most affected. Jobs that require physical strength or outdoor work such as construction and maintenance are expected to be less affected.

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