In partnership with
BetMGM's 120-person in-house creative department uses Arcana AI, a suite that gives access to several models, to make imagery and video spots, Digiday reported this month. It has held the tools back from anything carrying betting odds.
The reason, Gonzalez says, is that you cannot hold AI accountable. In a strictly regulated category, that line is the brief.
Where AI sat: While it's using AI tools including Arcana AI, a generative AI suite combining access to several models, to create imagery and video spots, some in-house production is reserved for human staff, given its strictly regulated category. — Digiday
On the record:
That's not to say humans aren't capable of making mistakes, but we haven't found that trust in the machine yet to actually do it all.
Today in Creative AI
Midjourney is testing a Thinking Mode for image generation on its alpha site, announced October 8. You rerun any job with "Rerun (Thinking)" and the model spends longer on it; Midjourney says its tests show better prompt accuracy, typography and coherence.
It is a test with a feedback request, not a release, and there is no date for a wider rollout. For teams that have given up on Midjourney for anything with words in it, it is the feature to watch.
Today’s Sponsor:
Blu Dot surpasses 2,000% ROAS with self-serve CTV ads
Home furniture brand Blu Dot blew up on CTV with help from Roku Ads Manager. Here’s how:
After a test campaign reached 211,000 households and achieved 1,010% ROAS, the brand went all in to promote its annual sales event. It removed age and income constraints to expand reach and shifted budget to custom audiences and retargeting, where intent was strongest.
The results speak for themselves. As Blu Dot increased their investment by 10x, ROAS jumped to 2,308% and more page-view conversions surpassed 50,000.
“For CTV campaigns, Roku has been a top performer,” said Claire Folkestad, Paid Media Strategist, Blu Dot. “Comping to our other platforms, we have seen really strong ROAS… and highly efficient CPMs, lower than any other CTV partner we've worked with.”
Using Roku Ads Manager, the campaign moved from a pilot to a permanent performance engine for the brand.
The Read
BetMGM's rule and Midjourney's test are the same problem from two sides. The brand keeps a model away from the odds because it cannot yet trust the output.
The vendor is adding a mode that thinks longer because typography and accuracy are where users lose trust. Until the second catches up, the first is the right policy.
For brands: Write down which elements of a spot a model may never produce, the way BetMGM drew its line at odds, and put it in every brief.
For agencies: Sell the check, not just the generation. A client in a regulated category will pay for the person who reads every odds line before it ships.
Tool Review → Beautiful.ai
Beautiful.ai automates slide design rather than content: layouts rebalance as you edit, and brand-locked templates and shared libraries keep a whole team's decks consistent. Pro is $14.50 a month billed yearly, and Team is $40 per user a month for two to twenty seats.
For the creative review BetMGM runs on every spot, it is the deck that shows the variants and the rule that governed them, without a designer rebuilding slides. The limit is control: auto-layout will not let you break the grid when the idea needs it.
Worth it if your team presents weekly and the decks keep drifting off brand. Skip it if you present rarely or need bespoke design.
AI-Ready Ads is part of the AI-Ready network. If you are less like a creative, more like a marketer, follow our sister-publication, AI-Ready CMO.
