The commercialization of artificial intelligence brands: a technography study of urban advertising and organizational storytelling

Purpose – This study examines how artificial intelligence (AI) is culturally and commercially framed in outdoor advertising, focusing on billboards in urban centers across New York and California. It analyzes the semiotic strategies used by tech companies and explores how marketing messages sustain the AI hype. Design/methodology/approach – The study examines AI-related billboards in New York City and California, combining visual documentation with descriptive content analysis to explore both the visual and textual elements of the advertisements. It adopts a cultural and interpretivist–constructivist perspective to investigate how these messages operate within the broader marketing landscape. Findings – The study demonstrates that outdoor advertising reinforces cultural values surrounding technology, emphasizing narratives of innovation, efficiency and inevitability in careers and beyond. AI-related billboards by tech brands promote these values, potentially shaping public perceptions and fueling the current AI hype. Originality/value – Based on fieldwork and a technography approach, this article analyzes AI marketing in urban spaces, highlighting how tech companies use outdoor advertising to shape cultural narratives around AI. By combining visual documentation with content analysis, the study provides a focused perspective on the persuasive strategies employed in AI advertising.