Marketing and AI … it’s much more than chatbots and DALL-E pictures … from efficiency and speed to creativity and innovation … reaching new markets, and driving profitable growth

December 11, 2023

AI is the biggest thing since the steam engine, and will change our world. AI is hype, AI is real.

In my 33 years in marketing, I’ve seen plenty of change, but also much that endures. The AI hype of 2023, sparked by the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, is akin to the “dotcom” moment in 1999, when the Internet really captured every business leader and marketer’s imagination.

Yes it was transformational, yes it was full of hype, and ultimately yes, it changed the future of every market and organisation. But at the same time, you still needed lots of conventional logic too. Who’s the customer, the proposition, the business model, and much more? And you still needed investors, employees, and society to be in support.

Of course, AI is just part of the technosphere which is likely to enable more change in the next 10 years, than the last 250 years. Its intelligence will drive to converge and accelerate other tech adaption – from blockchain and robotics, to genomics and quantum computing.

But ultimately, it’s not about the tech, it’s how you use the tech.

Real world, right now

So how do I see organisations changing right now? I have the fortunate to work with some of the world’s leading companies – across geographies and sectors. Here are some of the real projects that I have worked on recently:

  • Microsoft’s shift to AI, alongside Cloud, as their predominant proposition to corporate clients. This means their sales and marketing people take a much more bespoke, consultative approach to selling, rather than product focused as previously with selling standardised versions of software.
  • Carrefour using AI to engage consumers through digital marketing and personalised shopping, using predictive analytics for recommendations, and chatbots for digital customer support. Instore, using AI for dynamic pricing, offers to mobile devices. As well as broad use of AI in supply chain and inventory management.
  • Holcim  using AI to enhance client solutions with a broader range of remote diagnostic tools – digital twins to simulate physical building, energy efficiency diagnostics, predictive maintenance. Such services offer new revenue streams and ongoing relationships with construction clients, and building owners.
  • Inditex’s use of AI for intelligent consumer behaviour analytics, from segmentation to range selection, store locations to online and instore merchandising, pricing and inventory management. It also uses AI in communication to personalise messaging, social media engagement, graphical imagery, and chatbots.

Any strategic decision, marketing or business generally, would take into account technology drivers. AI has become a significant component within the understanding of business drivers. So to understand AI alone, and marketing specifically, is not always obvious.

In general the majority of marketing-related AI is currently being used in

  • Customer analytics, trend prediction, audience segmentation etc
  • Inventory management, maintaining stocks, optimising supply etc
  • Communication optimisation, personalised offers, social engagement

Increasingly it will start to take a much larger role in

  • Dynamic pricing, by individual, by location, by time, by promotion
  • Product development, made on demand, personalised colours etc
  • Liquid engagement, across media platforms, and distribution channels
  • Addressing critical issues, eg climate change, society benefits, and ethics.

AI applications in marketing

Here some of the significant ways I see AI shaping marketing right now:

 

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