EDAY 2023: AI, white sneakers and a bit of Deja Vu

Last week I had the pleasure to join the yearly EMERCE EDAY, one of the larger digital marketing and worthwhile conferences in the Netherlands. At the event over 2.000 leaders and decision makers from media, brands, tech and e-commerce with some of the world’s brightest thought leaders in digital and business gather up, with the majorty of white sneakers to get inspired and network. Or as Gijs Vroom from Emerce claims ‘get updated on what really matters in the next 364 days’.

As you can expect there where this year’s edition had a lot of talks on Artificial Intelligence, the implications of it to the creative industry and of course some wild predictions of where the industry will go to, ranging from both doom day to glory day scenarios. ?The obvious use cases included how AI will

1. provide better data-driven insights: with the ability to analyze vast amounts of data to uncover insights into audience preferences, behaviors, and trends fueling creative teams to define better strategies and content creation, resulting in more relevant and engaging campaigns and better overall ROI.
2. allow extreme personalization: dynamically tailor content to individual users, ensuring that each interaction feels truly personalized increasing engagement and conversion rates.
3. enable automation of repetitive tasks: with the ability to automate routine tasks such as data collection, A/B testing, campaign optimization with AI, freeing marketers from these time-consuming activities and allowing creatives to devote more of their energy to ideation, storytelling, and innovative campaigns improving overall better utilization of talent.
4. fuel collaboration and ideation: by using AI to assist creative teams in brainstorming and generating ideas helping to refine and develop new creative concepts.

These 4 domains are not new and something I have pitched myself a lot in the past with IBM Watson and examples like ChefWatson, Northface, UnderArmour, REI, Compta Wildfire Detection, BlueIT's bioBotGuard and many other cases causing me to have a little bit of a déjà vu.

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However, what is different compared to previous years is that the overall sentiment now is that AI is here to stay and that it will transform our industry. We crossed the mindset chasm and are the verge of mass adoption and utilization. So, you will not survive with an ostridge strategy ignoring the change happening around you. Incorporating AI into marketing is no longer an option, but a necessity to stay competitive in the even more rapidly evolving landscape.

To be successful you need to see AI as a complementary partner not as a threat. Ai does not replace human creativity it can unleash and explovate enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in your marketing efforts.

So what matters

1. Ai is only a good as your data. Foster a culture of data-driven innovation to harness the benefits of AI and drive true business growth. But dont be a data hamster, focus first on what you already have, structured and unstructured.
2. AI will need to be transparant and requires regulation to protect consumers, install trust, mitigate bias and ensure fairness in the data models and its applications.
3. With massive personalization branding will matter more than ever. Generalists and cost driven brands will be even more substitutionable than ever– brands with an emotional connection will win in AI.
4. Adopt an A-player mindset. You can dream big of what AI can do in totality, but you have to start now. If you want to finish a marathon in record time tomorrow, you need to start practicing and working today. ? So dont try to boil the ocean and complexify things. Have an idea, dedicate resources, work the problem, learn from it and keep pushing forward to stay future-ready. ?
5. and lastly, remember this is not a drill.

So, the future of marketing will lie in the collaboration between AI and human creativity, offering endless possibilities for innovation and engagement – and that future is now. ?So perhaps E-DAY should be rebranded D-DAY :-)

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Are you good to go?

#AI #GenerativeAI #Leadership #Marketing #CMO

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