Digital Horizons

How OpenAI’s Ad Platform Could Reshape Marketing Strategy Overnight

• James Walker & Brian Hastings

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We unpack OpenAI’s move toward an ad platform inside ChatGPT and what Atlas on Mac means for how people browse, search, and buy. We share why trust, memory, and hyper personalization could reshape ad strategy and where agencies can still add an edge.

• mission to help marketers use AI tools, tactics, and news
• OpenAI hiring for ads and what it signals
• Atlas browser setup experience and default switch
• ad formats likely mirroring SEM with clear labels
• evolution from mass media to conversational intent
• trust-driven recommendations and faster buying
• privacy tradeoffs with memories and personalization
• agency role shifting from platform ops to strategy
• risks of platform defaults and wasted spend
• early adopter advantage with cheaper CPMs
• test budgets and measurement for quality outcomes

If you're a brand marketer or a digital agency or an agency of any kind, keep an eye out for the launch of the OpenAI advertising model and make sure you've got a test budget set aside to be on the platform early and try to extract as much value out of being an early adopter as possible


The Digital Horizons Podcast is hosted by:

James Walker - Managing Director WHD
Brian Hastings - Managing Director Nous

SPEAKER_00:

I don't search anymore. The early adopters are the ones who are getting the cheap traffic, the cheap CPMs, because it took a while for people to adapt their strategy and to get onto these platforms. That's the scary part as an agency on the side. Welcome back to Digital Horizons. This is the show where we talk about AI specifically for marketers. We want to go through tools, techniques, anything that's coming up, even just what's going on in the news that is going to impact marketers from a point of view of how they can improve, be more efficient, be faster. Take advantage of all this amazing stuff that's coming out regularly from within the AI section.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we're going to focus on news and things that are popping up in the market, but also try to cut through to what's actually working. Try some of these tools, some of these tactics that leverage AI, and actually see what works and what you as a marketer can use to get the best out of AI tools.

SPEAKER_00:

That's it. And anyone who hasn't been following along, both Brian and I run digital marketing agencies, so I guess we get first hand experience in what it's like implementing tools and trialing testing things within our businesses, but not just for our businesses, but things that are going to help our clients. So it gives us a really good overview of what is working and opportunity for us to test very quickly.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Today we're talking about a new release from OpenAI. Did you want to break it down, James?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so there's been um a news release saying that OpenAI has launched some job ads trying to attract engineers to start working on their ad platform. So this is a very, I guess, big step to what I think every saw everyone saw was coming, is that AI is going to launch an ad platform within uh ChatGPT.

SPEAKER_01:

It kind of opens or demystifies a path for agencies, especially as to what the future could look like. There's been lots of umming and r'ing around well, what's it gonna be like when search declines? Is there going to be ad options for advertisers, marketers, brands, agencies to place their clients on in the AI space? We sort of knew it was coming, but it's just nice to get some certainty.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I think like uh lit recent data is saying that there's 800 million weekly active users now in ChatGPT. Like that's a massive audience. And in comparison, I guess uh Facebook's at about three three billion. Um Instagram's well into the twos, but in the billions. Um so it's not anywhere near that level, uh, but it is a very strong audience. Yeah that if and the hyper personalization that we're gonna which we're gonna discuss, um, the the ability to target is gonna be so much further than what we've ever been able to do in terms of targeting for um ads.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think they're going to continue to release tools that people use as a default, which will attract wider audiences to it, similar to what Google offers.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, I mean, today we're just discussing the launch of Atlas, which is ChatGPT's website browser. Yeah. Um, now available on Mac. I've just downloaded it and went through the setup process, and it was so simple it was like push a button, it imported literally everything from Chrome, set it as my default browser, and I'm just going to give it a go to see how it changes because it looks like it's going to be my default going forward.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I think this means we've got a future path for integrating our clients' brands within these platforms and making sure that we're able to serve our brand messages within these tools. I presume there will be a lot of protection of the answers that ChatGPT provides, meaning they probably wouldn't just allow the highest bidder to provide the answer in every situation. I'm assuming there'll be some sort of structure like the Google search engine results pages where there's ads, sponsored content, and then there's the real answers or links below.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I believe that's right. So I think from what I've been reading is that it will be any commercial intent searches. So if I'm searching for, I don't know, we always use the microphone example because it's always right in front of our face when we're talking about it. But if I was searching for a microphone, it would be a list of recommendations and then sponsored ads. Same as what you get, I guess, when you're on currently or Google. Um and it would be clear, very clear that these are ads, but it would slot amongst the suggestions that are within your standard results that you're getting now.

SPEAKER_01:

It sounds a lot like SEM and SEO at the moment, where you've got to build up the right answers and great quality content. So organically, your answers are being served as the trusted version of the responses. And then in the paid side, you're making sure you're there and visible and not just letting clicks go off to your competitors. It's gonna be a mix of both to make sure your brands are served organically by AI as well as in those paid areas. Yeah. Um, I think it's great. I think it's a good move, and I'm presuming open AI is going to just become Google's biggest competitor in the ad space as it starts to roll out this browser and get more and more growth in that space.

SPEAKER_00:

100%. And I guess let's think about we we both watched, I shared a video with you recently, which was sort of going through, and this is what sparked the idea for today's um episode, but going through the evolution of advertising. And I guess going all the way back to the the paper and you know, you sort of mass, mass advertising, and then you've got TV, which is again is broadcasting in front of, you know, you've got a little bit of demographic data that's been fed back to you. Um, but it's more of an awareness piece. Followed on through then to the internet with Google, it's intent-based. So people are searching, you're then search sho showing an ad. Someone searched for, hey, I need this, here's an ad for this. Yeah. First time we've ever been able to do that in the past, and and that's that's what's happened. Um rolling then to social media ads. So then understanding and getting a really good understanding of who the person is and serving based on their actions, their behaviors, and and their intent, um, not from their search, but actually the what they're doing online. Yeah. Now, this is going a whole nother step. So this is going from, I guess, all these different iterations that we've had within the the different landscape in advertising to now people's personal thoughts, and I mean people do that when they're searching on Google, but this is different. This is they're having a conversation with uh almost like a trusted advisor sometimes that they're going back and forth, and then to provide that level of information, it's first party data that ChatGPT can then just throw in an ad every now and then. Yeah, that level of personalization is just miles above anything that's capabilities that we've ever been able to do as an advertiser before, which is pretty exciting, but I guess it also raises quite a few privacy concerns.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I I feel like these ad suggestions will be coming from my trusted advisor. Yes. Like Google, I don't see as the trusted advisor. It's a a search tool that I have learned to use in ways that serve me. But ChatGPT, I have conversations with. It helps me go through a thought process on business strategies and real estate research and holiday planning. It knows me intently from all of our past conversations. If it recommends something, I'm gonna trust it.

SPEAKER_00:

I allegedly bought something yesterday from it. I was I've got it currently helping me with a bit of a nutrition plan that I'm doing. And it was, I was like, this is the current protein I'm using, and it's like, nah, it's shit. This one's better. And this isn't even an ad. It's just gone, this and this is why. And then I went through, I'm like, okay, cool, click through the link. I did the same thing. Same thing with protein and creatine. That was the protein, and that's how I got to the outcome of making that purchase because I would and I didn't even bother reading any of the reviews or anything. I was like, Yeah, that's good enough for me, I'll just go and get that one.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like I even it it listed the brands and then recommended the brands.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you get U-Protein? That was the one that taught me to get.

SPEAKER_01:

And then the creatine listed from another store. Well, I then said, okay, thanks for these brands. Can you just give me links to the product now and I'll just go and buy it? And it's like, yep, here you go. And then one of the products was in a different store, the creatine, and I just said, Oh, this first protein you recommended also sells creatine. Can you compare it with the creatine that you suggested from the other one? And he goes, Yeah, that one would be perfectly fine too. So I just don't know much anymore.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no more research. And you know, we talk about the importance in digital marketing as how important reviews are and all this kind of stuff. But once you become more trusting of the AI, you don't bother with the reviews. It's like, look, that's good enough for me. I don't have the time to go do anything to the code.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm hoping my AI looked at them. That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

And if it's recommending it, and so it is, and that's where it's coming from, is that it's got the trust already. People, and so I guess that's where ChatGPT is gonna and OpenAI are gonna have to be very careful of the way they approach this because people are using it because they trust it. And if they start feeling that every single time they're typing into it, they're gonna be sold something, then I think that's gonna have a negative impact in the way people are using the platform. So I feel that the ads, the way the ads are inserted within the context of the the responses and the conversation need to feel natural and it doesn't feel like it's downplayed the the importance of how people are using it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think it's gonna be a a really trustworthy ad platform if they get it done well. Yes. I also think the knowledge that it has about you, like you were saying before, is way more than Google has just based off my browser history. Like I've done IQ exams in Chat GPT. I've done like morality quizzes, like where it's sort of doing a morality study. Like I'll see something on TikTok and it'll explain. Oh, there's this old morality study where it tests like what type of morality you have. So I just go back to ChatGPT and I go, pretend you're a psychologist or psych psychiatrist testing my moral makeup using this methodology, and then it'll test me and I'll get my range or answer. I'll do the same with IQ tests. It knows where I stand. Like I also use it for financial advisory, like what would be best for tax effectiveness and what would be best for you know returns, forecasting of returns. So it knows my personal finances down to a lot of detail. I have gotten over the thought that if you're putting stuff into Chat GPT, it's available for others in a paid version when I'm putting this content in. It isn't shared, but it might be.

SPEAKER_00:

Until it gets shared to advertisers.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. That's right. But like it's now knows that. Yeah. So advertisers will be able to have access to it. And knowing what it knows about me, I'm excited as an advertiser, as an agency, to go, well, if it can learn from that and I can begin to target not through my assumptions of who the audience should be, but using its AI assumptions, I think it'll be amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

It will be. But I guess also we're talking about excited as an agency. But if you think it can do all of this and it's got their video models, it's got their image models, it's got it. What does it need us for? What do they need it for? They they know the website, they know the person. They would just be like, hey, you know what, give us some money. You're selling microphones. We know what a microphone looks like, we know the exact copy that's going to get them to purchase the microphone right now. Just push a button, give us money, and we're going to serve your ads to people.

SPEAKER_01:

Money equals you getting sales. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And and we'll probably divvy that up just as we talk about Google does with Performance Max, and we're going to give you just enough sales to make you happy and keep advertising. But then we also want your competitors to advertise with us. So we'll just make sure we put enough in there that you're happy with your returns, but we're making a lot of money.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like Facebook is like Meta is shifting towards. So that's the scary part as an agency on the side. I've always just had faith in the need of an overarching strategy. Like these are just individual platforms. The way we get paid as an agency off individual platform management may change and evolve as it becomes easier. If we don't need to spend as much time in these platforms running them as we used to, as we currently have to, then where our time is spent will change.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

There'll be more room for overarching strategy that includes multiple platforms. We'll just have to adapt as well. If it gets super easy and you can get a great result from just using the made-for-everyone advertising tool to access it, then how are we going to get an edge for our brands over and above everyone else who's just using it like a you know an umpty?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um so there will always be space for trying to get the most out of it to get that competitive advantage. And that's why where I see our space continuing to be. Yeah. Uh you could you can run all of the stuff yourself that we currently do for our clients, but you could also waste a lot of money, or you could be missing opportunities, or you could be serving terrible ads that don't hit on your your brand appropriately.

SPEAKER_00:

There's always the risk as well. Like we know if you follow all of Google's recommendations in your Google ads account, you're gonna end up wasting a lot of money. Um so you do need to uh have an understanding of how the platforms work, not to work in their interests, but to work in your own as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And you know, there's also that side of ad agencies where you'd probably be better off doing what Google recommended versus some of these agencies making mistakes or wasting money or um or taking their markups. So yeah. It's interesting time ahead. I'm just happy to see that advertising is still very much driving or at the forefront of even OpenAI's path, just because Well, the money on the table, right? Well, Sam Altman has previously mentioned he didn't really like ads or wasn't interested in serving ads. So that made me a little bit worried. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um well the I mean the the initial discussion on it is that the free version of ChatGPT, it will fund it. So basically you're just same as YouTube, it would be like, hey, yep, I'll use the platform for free, but I agree to get ads. Yeah. Um and then the paid versions potentially won't have ads, I guess we'll see how that works. Um but that's I guess very initial talks about how it could work. Um and just a thought back on when we're talking about the privacy side of things. When I signed up for Atlas, ChatGPT Atlas this just this morning, there was a question on there that was like, are you happy to include your memories or something in and have it turned on? Yeah. So basically it's saying, I'm happy to give all of my shit to you to personalize and give me better answers, basically. And imagine what it was.

SPEAKER_01:

Like there's no world where you're turning that off. You don't want it because you want it to be able to give you the best information.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's like it is the opposite of what Safari does. Yeah. You sign up to Safari and it's like, we're gonna block fucking everything. Yeah. So you're not gonna be able to do that. No one don't want to know anything about you. Well, this is the complete opposite. This is like going complete switch from keep me private, I don't want anyone to know I'm a private history browser history, I don't want any of the shit. To now it's like fucking take everything and make this the most personalized experience possible because I know I'm gonna be able to get more out of this platform by doing it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And I've I find that is more of an appeal to me. I expect tools, brands, platforms to remember my preferences, to remember what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00:

I've typed things and it says uh it asked me something and it was like um can you I don't know that information, so can you please I need some more information before I can complete this task. I'm like, you fucking know this.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I've spent all the time uploading it. I do ask that now, I go, um, do you have access to my tax return or something like that? And it goes, yep, you uploaded this. Okay, good. Now that we have that in place, let's consider this. Um but if it says no, and I'm like, I couldn't find that conversation, I know we did it. I've never wanted to opt out of advertising anyway. I know I'm an advertiser, but I prefer the tailored ads.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think ChatGPT continuing down this path of the sort of a free internet, like great tools made in exchange for advertisers to have access to you. You know, it'll keep the internet free and available and good tools being created and developed where the brands fund it and the users just get access to the the quality tools. Yeah. Um I think it's good.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'm really excited to well, I'm gonna go mess around on the Atlas thing this afternoon now that I've got access to that. Um but just gonna keep me keeping a complete, I guess, eye on on what's happening and developing in this because it also presents a massive opportunity. Because we saw even with TikTok that once the ad platform launched, or even Facebook ads, Google ads, the early adopters are the ones who are getting the cheap traffic, the cheap CPMs, because it took a while for people to adapt their strategy and to get onto these platforms.

SPEAKER_01:

And they want to make it cheap for you so you keep coming out.

SPEAKER_00:

And also people will be less used to the ads there. So I guess it depends on how people react there. But I think it it presents a very big opportunity for brands who get and agencies who get ahead of it and are across it and are on there as soon as the platform launches. So I think that's something we want to be keeping across completely.

SPEAKER_01:

If you're a brand marketer or a digital agency or an agency of any kind, keep an eye out for the launch of the OpenAI advertising model and make sure you've got a test budget set aside to be on the platform early and try to extract as much value out of being an early adopter as possible. We will be trying to push this uh as a trial for our clients when it comes available so that we can extract the most out of it as possible, but also learn where the competitive advantages are first before our clients' competitors get there.

SPEAKER_00:

100%. Cool. Well, really excited by this one. Um, as always, I think every time we talk about a new AI tool or platform, though, especially on the advertising side, it's um it's something that's really exciting for us. So thank you for watching today. I hope you got a lot out of it, and um, we'll be back again shortly with a new episode. Thank you. See you later. See you later.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. That's Digital Horizons for this week.

Contributor

Brian Hastings

Co-host