AI search engine Perplexity to air Jim Harbaugh ad during MNF

AI-powered search engine Perplexity will launch “its biggest ad campaign yet” as it prepares to air a national ad “during the first half of tonight’s ‘Monday Night Football’ game on ESPN and ABC.” The ad, a 60-second spot, features Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh during a press conference, while “the term ‘AI’ is not even shown or mentioned” in the spot. Harbaugh is fielding questions when he takes a “swig from a bottle labeled with Perplexity branding,” and from there, Harbaugh is ready for any question. Perplexity Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko said the company “had long been kicking around the idea of using a press conference for an ad premise” because it features a “barrage of questions and answers in which its platform would be applicable.” Shevelenko said the depiction of AI as a drink “and not an amorphous technology was meant to further demystify AI.” The commercial was developed with creative agency Sandwich (AD AGE, 9/9).