News Media Alliance

Challenge

With AI companies’ and big tech’s introduction of generative AI (GAI) technology into Search (which summarizes and replaces original content), it is a brazen move to capture billions of dollars in revenue while illegally using copywritten articles without permission. With the unfair use of this content, they have taken press articles and other journalism resources without permission or payment from the original source.

AI companies and big tech are using – or worse, misusing – this content without fair compensation to journalists and publishers. This illegal use of copy is threatening to destroy American journalism and circumvent the public’s access to creative content and credible news sources.

News Media Alliance partnered with Zozimus to create a movement to fight back and call on Congress to support responsible AI. NMA believes lawmakers should pass legislation to require compensation and regulate these AI and big tech companies around transparency, sourcing, attribution and other measures that would allow for fair exchange.

The key issues News Media Alliance is focused on are:

• Content Theft: AI steals content from publishers and creators without permission or compensation, undermining the business model of media creators and local journalism.
• Lack of Choice: Publishers can’t opt out of AI use without also opting out of search results, which is crucial for their online traffic.
• Effect on Consumers: News and media consumers are left with either unreliable AI summaries or no news at all.
• Threat to Journalism: AI summaries reduce traffic to original news sources, AI-generated summaries marginalize creators and undermine the sustainability of quality journalism.

Strategy

Zozimus worked with News Media Alliance to create a comprehensive advertising campaign centered around bringing awareness to lawmakers and the public on the impact of journalism and copyrights from AI tools.

Our team was tasked with campaign strategy, creative concepting, advertising, copywriting, content creation, website development, and overall campaign management. Our work covered their social media development, initial content seeding across the campaign’s major channels, and their overall social media strategy.

We worked closely with NMA executive leadership and its communications committee, which included members representing some of the largest media outlets and publishers in the country to create a fully comprehensive plan to target the mis-use of copyrighted material and journalistic integrity.

The main objectives of this strategy include:

• Raising awareness among government officials, lawmakers, and the public about AI stealing content.
• Pushing for legislation requiring fair compensation for content use.
• Intensifying pressure on lawmakers and regulatory officials to address the AI issue.
• Driving a call to action to submit a letter to individual’s local representatives.

Solution

Our team worked closely with NMA to develop a content strategy to access the ideal audience to promote their AI regulation message. This strategy included a web page to drive traffic for more information on the campaign, and actions for individuals and lawmakers to make in support.

The Zozimus creative team created and executed a national advertising campaign, a press outreach strategy, the NMA website, as well as the initial social media campaigns. With messaging centered around “Keep Watch On AI” – these graphics created a bold and scroll-stopping call to action to incite the movement of “Supporting Responsible AI”.

Campaign Results

Over a 3–4-week period, these ads ran in more than 100 U.S. media outlets – both online and in print. Notably including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and many others.

Additionally, the campaign and its message were picked up organically by reporters, generating earned coverage in over a dozen media outlets across the country.