SMB marketing and tech powerhouse Scorpion has announced that it has integrated ChatGPT ads into its platform. This will bring ChatGPT ads to SMBs, allowing them to play in the AI advertising sandbox and benefit from an early mover advantage in an emerging and high-intent ad medium.
There’s lots to unpack there, including the particulars of what Scorpion is offering. But before going there, what are ChatGPT ads? For those unfamiliar, this is OpenAI’s attempt at ad monetization, allowing advertisers to make themselves visible in an environment with high conversational intent, as we call it.
There’s ample potential for AI-engine advertising, following many of the strengths of search advertising. Those strengths – involving high volume, targeted placement, and high intent – could be amplified in AI engines. This will depend on ChatGPT’s continued usage growth, currently at 900 million weekly actives.
Back to Scorpion, it wants to build AI ad competency into its Revenue Max platform, and offer maximum optionality to its SMB advertisers. As noted, it’s also about helping them gain an early mover advantage, in terms of developing muscles in what could be a competitive (and auction-driven) ad marketplace.
“Search is shifting to contextual and conversational,” Scorpion SVP of Advertising, Ashlie Kim told Localogy Insider. “People type full questions now and expect the platform to understand what they mean. ChatGPT gets to build its ad system from the ground up for that, while Google is layering context onto a keyword-based platform through AI Max. Building for it from the start is a real advantage, and we’re excited to help our clients get in early while the channel is still taking shape.”
Executional Layer
As for particulars, Scorpion is going beyond just activating an API or wrapping an ad manager around ChatGPT advertising. It has formally partnered with OpenAI to shape the future of the program together. As we’ve reported, OpenAI continues to form such relationships to advance its ad-world positioning.
For Scorpion, this formal designation lets the company create, launch, and manage ChatGPT ad campaigns on behalf of its clients, and within its signature platform. This is well aligned with Scorpion’s model, as it acts as both a technology platform and a full-service agency for SMBs.
This combination is rare in the ad-tech world that serves the SMB long tail. That makes Scorpion not only differentiated but advantaged in its vertical integration. For example, its agency-services and campaign execution are natively primed and adeptly executed around its own platform. Everything is cohesive.
As it relates to ChatGPT ads, the full-service approach is key, as SMBs are famously late adopters for emerging ad tech. This longstanding principle of the SMB world means that few will work with ChatGPT advertising on a self-serve basis. They will need their hands held in a do-it-for-me (DIFM) sense.
That’s where Scorpion will hold an edge. Its role in the value chain, won’t be a typical ad manager dashboard for AI ads (which many others are doing) but an executional layer. This could be a smart move as Scorpion accelerates SMB adoption, while growing (and taking a piece of) the AI advertising pie.
