AI-powered CI check

Faster approvals for local advertising campaigns

When branches design their promotional materials outside the marketing management system, they must ensure they comply with brand guidelines to qualify for advertising cost subsidies. With the AI review in the socoto system, they receive approval more quickly. And the advertising cost subsidy teams can focus specifically on special cases.

The local football club needs new shirts, and the retailer would like to support them as a sponsor. Their logo is to appear on the shirts, alongside the brand’s logo and perhaps accompanied by a suitable slogan. The design is ready; the order could be placed. There’s just one step left: for the brand company to cover part of the costs via the advertising subsidy, it must approve the design beforehand. In doing so, it checks whether the design complies with corporate identity guidelines. And time is of the essence: after all, the shirts need to be on the pitch by the start of the season.

When local advertising goes its own way

Many brand companies provide their retail partners with centrally managed, CI-compliant advertising materials via marketing management systems. However, some local campaigns require their own format.

Whether it’s perimeter advertising at a sports club, sponsorship of a local music festival or an advert for a town festival: retailers regularly develop their own advertising initiatives to raise their profile in their region. If they apply for advertising cost subsidies for these, the submitted designs must comply with brand guidelines.

Until now, this checking has often been carried out by staff at agencies or central marketing departments. They check whether retailers have correctly implemented logos, typefaces, colours and design rules. This takes time and can become a bottleneck, particularly for campaigns planned at short notice.

AI checks promotional materials against brand guidelines

The advertising cost subsidy teams can delegate a large part of this checking process to AI. In socoto, the AI check runs directly within the workflow. It is based on the individual brand guidelines of the respective brand owner.

The AI analyses the submitted designs and compares their layout with the stored specifications. It detects whether the retailer is using the correct logo, whether the clearance areas around the logo are correct, and whether the colours and typefaces match the corporate design.

The AI also helps after approval. It compares print files with the approved version and flags up any changes a publisher may have made to an advert prior to printing.

Traffic-light system makes results transparent

A traffic light system displays the result of the AI check:

• Green: The promotional material complies with the checked CI guidelines.
• Amber: The AI detects anomalies that require further checking. A team member receives specific details of potential deviations and decides on the case.
• Red: The promotional material does not meet the requirements, and the retailer receives a rejection. However, they can see which guidelines are affected and can make targeted improvements.

Less effort, more speed

The AI-supported CI check takes the pressure off advertising cost subsidy agencies and marketing centres, particularly in clear-cut cases. Instead of personally reviewing every piece of promotional material, staff can focus on the submissions where the AI has detected anomalies.

This means retailers receive feedback on their designs more quickly. For campaigns with fixed deadlines, this can be crucial. After all, if the shirts need to be ready for the start of the season or the perimeter hoardings need to be up before the first home match, every day may count.

We’d be happy to show you in a demo how the AI review in socoto works with your brand guidelines. Just get in touch!