Generative artificial intelligence and user-generated content in event marketing: The case of the promotional action #desal_ia
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Abstract
Introduction: The emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) is reshaping the dynamics of experiential marketing, particularly in User-Generated Content (UGC) practices linked to events and promotional actions on social media. In this context, digital platforms not only facilitate participation, but also condition its visibility, circulation, and public legitimation. Objective: To analyse how GAI is integrated into UGC dynamics within experiential event marketing, based on the case study of the #DESAL_IA campaign associated with Desalia 2024 (Ron Barceló) on the social network X. Methodology: A qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory design is adopted based on a case study approach. The analysis focuses on brand posts aimed at activating, framing, and legitimising the participatory dynamic, as well as on selection of user-generated content in heterogeneous formats, such as intertextual visual threads, music pieces generated with GAI, and AI-assisted argumentative texts. Results: The findings show that the brand not only encourages participation but also guides users’ generative creativity through examples, tools, and specific interaction frameworks. In addition, it validates and hierarchizes certain outputs through platform-based visibility mechanisms, helping to sustain conversation around the event and project its promotional imaginary in advance. Discussion: The case analysed suggests that the incorporation of GAI into this type of campaign encourages forms of brand-guided co-creation, in which UGC no longer operates solely as spontaneous expression, but becomes integrated into a more structured, multimodal, and participatory promotional architecture. Conclusions: Based on the analysis of the #DESAL_IA campaign, it is observed that event promotion shifts from a merely informative logic towards a shared digital experience, in which the brand encourages, guides, and publicly validates user participation on the platform.
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