Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing. Between Expectations and Reality.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly swarmed our everyday and professional spheres, occupying an important place in it at an incredible speed. Its presence has expanded so much that even the European Parliament had to adopt the Artificial Intelligence Act on March 13, 2024.?

So, being experts in marketing and design, our team has decided to shed light on the opportunities and challenges this tool opens up in our craft in particular. Let's take a closer look at what all the buzz is about.

Creating a marketing or brand strategy is the art of combining logic and business goals with a creative approach and intuition. Each strategy and brand is unique in its own way; it follows a particular cycle, constantly changing under external challenges and company resources. The packaging or slogan is a logical continuation of the brand strategy, embodying its attributes and uniqueness, which are critical to broadcasting to all interested audiences.

Yes, AI can now create a concept of packaging based on given parameters. It may be perfect from an aesthetic point of view, but does it reflect the uniqueness of your brand? Does AI reproduce its philosophy, main idea, and attributes? And finally, does this packaging sell?

With AI functionality, we open up many possibilities. Still, the main task of packaging is to incite customers to purchase your products. This is especially true when companies opt for an impulse purchase model or when they do not have enough funds to build a brand image through communication channels.

Stand Out on Shelves: Packaging that Cuts Through the Crowd

The development of such packaging requires not only the analysis and interpretation of an extensive array of data but also a creative approach. In AI, the creative process looks like a constructor. The machine receives a sample of data, gets a task, and tries to assemble the package you want from the available data parts. AI does not create it from scratch or consider the context in which the package can be used. Instead, for humans, the packaging is more than a combination of colors and elements, such as a lid or a container. Humans can take into account the sensation of touch, imagine the packaging amongst competitors, and plan how the consumer can use it.

That is why our agency Monami ADV employs an entire team of specialists to work on the packaging development: a strategist, a creative manager, an art director, and a group of designers. The result is packaging that creates long-term brand value and increases sales now.

Regarding strategy, marketing experts' task is not only to respond to today's challenges. They also have to see subtle trends that will significantly affect the company's activities in the future and effectively use or counteract them — all that to be proactive, not reactive, in their work.

In short, don't follow trends but create them.

Of course, developing long-term strategies in turbulent conditions is extremely difficult, but this does not mean it is now possible to do business without them. Basically, only the focus changes: strategies become more adaptive and based on several possible scenarios. The main thing remains unchanged: the essence of strategic planning is to reduce uncertainty in the formation of management decisions.

Today, it’s possible to develop marketing strategies with AI, but they are so general that reading a few good marketing books is much more worthwhile.

Why does it happen?

You must realize that AI systems use data from open sources, while the strategies remain strictly confidential. AI simply does not have a sufficient and relevant database for analysis, so its capabilities in creating effective strategies are limited. As a result, all their recommendations are the same.

At the same time, strategic planning experts understand that strategies can and should differ even for companies operating in the same market segment and selling similar products. This is because, despite the same conditions and resources, companies can have completely different goals and require an individual approach to forming unique strategic solutions.

So, we can note that AI is currently, and probably for a long time to come, will be able to develop bright, logical marketing or branding strategies for companies, but they won’t be unique and 100% relevant.

But is AI in marketing all that bad? Of course not. AI can be a useful assistant in generating entertaining content for social networks, adapting design to different formats, and quickly generating insights.

However, when it comes to communications with a clear purpose, AI won't replace any Leonardo da Vinci of today, giving the world something unique. Its role will be limited to generating a strategy based on all the tools and cases of the past.

Another area where AI can prove to be helpful in generating quick insights when it's difficult to assemble a focus group or brainstorming team. However, research suggests that combining pairs of creative individuals yields more effective results, at least for the time being.

In summary, AI undoubtedly has its application in marketing, but selectively and with an understanding of its capabilities and limitations. Don't use it simply because of the trends.

What do you think of these ideas? We would love to hear your thoughts and examples of how you use AI at work.