Social Pill launches AI tool to ease the process of self-declarations for advertisers

Anticipating the ambiguity and chaos surrounding the implementation of the self-declaration form for all advertisements going out, Social Pill, a Mumbai-based digital marketing agency, through its AI-forward stance, developed a custom AI tool built on ChatGPT, which could make the process a lot easier and smoother.

The custom tool aims to assist advertisers to reduce their time of submitting the self-declaration form to about three minutes or less from the traditional 10 to 15 minutes for every single advertisement. It currently works for digital and print ads, but at present supports only static versions.

On May 7, 2024, the Supreme Court mandated all media and advertising agencies, starting June 18, must furnish a self-declaration certificate before airing every single outdoor, print, television, and digital media. While the mandate aimed at safeguarding consumer interests, many advertisers were flummoxed and voiced their concerns about its practicality and implantation.

The new regulations require self-declaration for every advertisement, which involves the tedious process of filling out the details of the advert, including the script, description, and other information on the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) portal. The task just adds to their workload. 

Rajnish Rawat, co-founder & CEO at Social Pill, said the agency started working towards the custom GPT around the second week of May when the Supreme Court directive on self-declarations was issued. "We wanted to be compliant with all protocols since we feel advertising is a responsible business as you are influencing a lot of people," he said.

He further added that they have always leveraged technology to make things simpler. The free tool aims to cut down the burden on the executives managing the campaigns by trimming the time needed to fill in the self-declaration forms. With the tool, the advertiser needs to upload the ad creative to the custom GPT and it will automatically read the creative and furnish the information that needs to be filled in with regards to the ads.

As of today, the tool is only being shared with select contact along with 50+ usages from various agencies and brands. This AI tool is available for free. It is available to pro users as well as free users, as well. 

L-R: Social pill co-founders Rajnish Rawat & Neelesh Pednekar

When asked if they plan to turn this free AI tool into a paid service in future, Neelesh Pednekar, co-founder & head of digital media, Social Pill, said "it will always be free till it is on the ChatGPT store. At some point, if we build a custom integrated portal with the GPT to automate the entire MIB and Press Council SDC, we might put a small subscription to it. This, however, will not be for profit but only to offset the server and bandwidth costs.”

The purpose of this product is to ease the process of brands and agencies applying for SDC since this was an additional step in execution. This is not a commercial product or service but rather meant to be a give-back to help the advertising fraternity to save time, he added.

The tool is ready to use, but further changes are likely, post further clarifications regarding the mandate come in on July 9, 2024

How it works

Media and advertising agencies can follow the step-by-step process of filling out the self-declaration form in the YouTube video released by Social Pill. All one has to do is log in to the AI tool, upload your print or static ad directly, allow GPT to analyse your ad, copy the generated details (with little to no manual edits), and add specific company or brand-related information, and finally, paste it on the MIB portal.