How can technology, creativity, and humanity converge to improve brand storytelling? It’s a question that Swayable CEO and Founder James Slezak and Human Code’s Abigail Posner (former Director of Google’s US Creative Works) explored at Advertising Week New York 2025.
In their fireside chat, James and Abigail spotlighted how, five years into the AI revolution, brand teams are successfully using automation to power rapid creative pre-testing and quickly gather insights into what concepts and messages change people’s minds.
They stressed that the most successful AI-powered testing and measurement programs are grounded in real human responses. Swayable is a prime example of taking this approach with global brands, whose marketing and insights teams use the platform to deploy rapid randomized controlled trial (RCT) experiments to generate insights into what creative persuades (and what doesn’t) in as little as 24 hours.
Keep scrolling for James and Abigail’s key takeaways—and watch the full session below.
1. Creative testing is essential for better storytelling
“As humans, we want to connect to stories that are meaningful,” said Abigail. “Imagine a world where everyone was inspired to be a better communicator. Who knows what could happen.”
Swayable’s role as a creative testing partner is to help global brands uncover how to effectively communicate messages to their target audiences, with the ultimate goal of persuading consumers to think about a brand differently.
Marketing teams in industries ranging from technology to CPG conduct iterative creative tests to learn how their messages and visuals impact brand lift metrics, such as favorability and purchase intent—and they use those insights to inform creative changes.
“The role of a storyteller is critical. It’s about changing minds,” said James. “Stories that change minds are what drive long-term growth and prosperity for brands.
“The way to prove an idea works is to measure it against thousands of consumers,” said James. “We work with creatives to prove their ideas work by delivering rapid brand lift data.”
Successfully deploying an agile marketing program often requires a shift in how creative teams use pre-testing data. Data doesn’t have to limit the freedom of creatives. In fact, it can serve as a catalyst for creatives to take greater risks in their stories.
The team at Swayable sees this firsthand, with rapid RCT results providing marketing and insights teams with evidence that certain storytelling concepts positively impact consumer perception.
“When I was in the ad business, I felt like all my great ideas went to the cutting-room floor,” said Abigail. “Data gives creative thinkers a way forward to activate their great ideas.”
AI automation plays a central role in upleveling the creative testing process, particularly when it comes to accelerating insights generation.
Swayable’s AI Analysis Factory leverages verifiable, human responses to help get marketers to the “why” of their results faster, generating customizable insights that are ready to share with stakeholders.
The founders of Outlaw Sake, who were determined to launch a new sake brand as quickly as possible, saw the benefits of Swayable’s automated creative testing program firsthand. By testing with Swayable, the founders quickly validated that their AI-generated ad concepts were well-received by sake and seltzer drinkers, reducing the brand development process from four months to four weeks.
“We view AI as a way to generate consumer insights more easily,” said James. “ You can gain extra efficiency from AI-generated insights summaries, topline memos, and syntheses that previously took hours to gather.”
Watch the full session, “First Principles Thinking: Grounding AI and Ad Testing in What Actually Matters,” below:
Interested in learning more about how Swayable deploys AI-powered creative testing? Book a demo and download our Proving Persuasion whitepaper today.