Vero launches Rover, an AI-first PR agency

Vero, a communications consulting firm in Southeast Asia, has launched an artificial intelligence-based PR agency called Rover. 

 

Working alongside Vero's current offices in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, Rover will act as an incubator for brand campaigns and use artificial intelligence (AI) to support the work processes of both new and existing clients.

 

Offering a range of PR and creative services to clients in a variety of industries, Rover says it will utilise AI-powered tools to improve efficiency, the quality of digital content, and accuracy. 

 

Deploying generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Firefly to accelerate and automate content creation across various media formats, including text, images, 3D videos, animation, voice synthesis, and music, the agency says the tools will be used to enhance output and not replace human staff at the agency. 

 

Spearheaded by founding VPs Skylar Thwe and Hong Phuc Ngo, Rover has launched with a collective of practitioners made up of consultants, creatives, planners, media relations specialists, editors, strategists, data analysts, and media buyers. The AI tools it plans to use will enable copywriters, editors, and designers to create bigger stories with a more diverse range of styles, tones, and formats and reach more audiences in far less time. 

 

"The agency is run by communication consultants (real people) who are trained and equipped with AI tools. Our plan is to build a core starting team of 15 PR and creative professionals," says Thwe. "We believe that AI, if used responsibly, presents a fantastic opportunity for creative consultants, brands, and their customers to power important stories."

 

The agency says it is also equipped to provide AI consulting and literacy training for brands seeking to embed best practices for AI within their organisations and in-house communications and marketing teams. 

 

“AI technology is now ripe. Brands using artificial intelligence to amplify human creativity are empowered to tell bigger and bolder stories, so PR and communications agencies must be fluent in AI to accompany their clients on this journey,” added Hong Phuc Ngo.

 

In addition, the newly launched agency plans to use its AI-driven methods to further support improved influencer collaborations, marketing strategies, trend identification, and immersive experiences. In doing so, it will abide by a set of guiding principles, including fact-checked content, to provide safe and legitimate AI-enhanced work to the public and its clients.

 

Rover is not the first agency to adopt an AI-first approach. Back in April, top Chinese marketing agency BlueFocus announced it would no longer outsource creative work to human copywriters or creatives and instead use AI-generated content models. 

 

While many agencies maintain that they only plan to use generative AI as an enhancement tool and not a replacement of humans in marketing efforts, research agency Forrester has predicted that more than 30,000 jobs will be lost to AI within U.S. ad agencies alone by 2030.