08 August 2025

Dynamic creative vs Generative AI: Which delivers smarter, safer personalisation?

In summary

• Dynamic creative offers structured personalisation by assembling pre-approved assets based on logic and targeting rules, not freeform AI output.
• It ensures brand safety, legal compliance, and consistency across channels, especially critical in regulated industries where generative AI can introduce risk.
• You can scale personalisation confidently, with full creative control and media integration, setting up your campaigns for both performance and accountability.

AI is fast. But dynamic creative is focused

AI-generated content has opened new doors for marketers, from rapid asset creation to real-time variation testing. It’s fast, flexible, and often impressive.

But speed alone isn’t a strategy. Without the right structure in place, generative AI can introduce inconsistencies, compliance issues, or off-brand messaging, risks that are especially pronounced in regulated industries like automotive, finance, and retail.

That’s where dynamic creative comes in. Instead of generating content on the fly, it assembles pre-approved assets based on defined logic and targeting rules. The result is personalisation that’s consistent, compliant, and built to scale.

Here’s how it works, and why more brands are leaning into it.

The AI hype trap: Speed without strategy

Generative AI has flipped the content game on its head. Take Midjourney, ChatGPT, Sora, or Springboards, for example, they’re fast, flashy, and full of promise. But in the real world of marketing, where structure, strategy, and brand safety matter? Speed alone doesn’t cut it.

Here’s why:

• Lack of control: Generative tools can go off-brand or introduce legal and ethical concerns, especially in regulated sectors.
• Inconsistent quality: Output can be generic, repetitive, or riddled with hallucinations.
• Limited platform integration: AI-generated assets often sit outside your media workflow, making versioning and optimisation harder to manage.

Dynamic creative: Safe, scalable, structured

Dynamic creative flips the script. Instead of freeform generation, it uses a structured system to combine approved headlines, images, CTAs, and other assets based on rules like user location, behaviour, or product preference.

Think of it as personalisation with a pilot, not a black box.

When we refer to dynamic creative, we mean structured, rule-based asset assembly used in platforms like Google Studio, Campaign Manager 360 (CM360), and Display & Video 360 (DV360). These tools give advertisers full control over how image-based assets (e.g. banners, HTML5, and display creatives) are combined and targeted.

This is not the same as Google Ads’ AI Max – Text Customisation, which applies only to Search text ads. In that case:

• Only text assets (headlines and descriptions) are dynamically combined
• Combinations are dictated by Google’s internal logic, not yours
• There’s no support for dynamic image or video assembly
• Image generation (if used) is handled by AI, not logic-driven creative rules.

Structured dynamic creative vs. AI Max – Text Customisation

Feature	Structured Dynamic Creative (Google Studio / CM360 / DV360)	AI Max – Text Customisation (Google Ads Search)
Ad format	Image-based (e.g. display banners, HTML5)	Text-based (headlines and descriptions)
Asset assembly	Based on custom logic defined by advertiser	Based on Google’s internal automation
Control over combinations	Full control over logic and asset pairing	No control – combinations are chosen by Google
Use case	Display campaigns, programmatic buys, multi-market localisation	Search ads and responsive ad formats
Brand safety and compliance	High – pre-approved assets and custom governance	Lower – potential for off-brand or non-compliant pairings
Media platforms	CM360, DV360, Google Studio, Meta	Google Ads (Search only)
Support for localisation	Yes – logic supports regional rules, offers, and languages	Limited – text variation only, no localisation rules
AI use	Optional – assets can be human- or AI-generated, but logic is rule-based	AI-driven – Google decides how assets are assembled
Image support	Fully supported with logic-driven templates	Not supported – static upload or AI-generated only

What structured dynamic creative looks like in practice

• Built-in brand safety: Every asset is pre-approved, reducing compliance risk and ensuring message consistency.
• Cross-platform integration: Works seamlessly across Google Studio, CM360, DV360, and Meta. (PMax can be supported, but asset combinations are controlled by Google.) It does not allow advertisers to control how assets are combined, that login is entirely managed by Google.
• Real-time testing and optimisation: Quickly identify top-performing combinations and iterate without rebuilding everything.
• Scalable localisation: Ideal for multi-market or product-specific messaging, such as regional finance offers or dealership campaigns.

Why it matters now

AI will continue to evolve, and Louder will continue testing the best ways to use it responsibly. But right now, many marketers are asking a vital question:

How do we scale personalisation without losing creative control?

Dynamic creative is the answer we trust. And so do our clients. From major auto brands targeting by dealership location, to financial services navigating compliance and disclosure needs, we help structure their personalisation strategies for performance and peace of mind.

It’s not about picking sides in a tech showdown. It’s about knowing when to use the right tool for the job.

Louder’s recommendations

Whether you’re already working with Google’s creative stack, dabbling in PMax, or building toward omnichannel automation, we help:

• Simplify the process and workflow
• Provide guidance on flexible templates that scale
• Troubleshoot feeds
• Map out the right logic and targeting rules
• Keep your creative safe, consistent, and compliant
• Measure what matters, and feed it back into future decisions

So if you’re navigating the AI hype but still need results that are real, it might be time to revisit a smarter foundation.

Let’s talk about personalisation that performs, and protects.

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