Why Looking Back in Marketing History will Help us Transition into an AI Powered Future

Eugene Schwartz, Dan Kennedy, Claude Hopkins, Joseph Campell.?

When I think of these authors and their writings, I think of fundamentals, and I believe that having a strong grasp of the fundamentals of marketing & branding is more important than ever in today’s rapidly shifting world.?

These days it seems like conversations about AI disruptions to our industry are everywhere.?

Some people are excited, others are fearful. But, as a very wise saying goes “the only constant is change.”?

And we have seen change before, we’ve already seen this dance, maybe not quite in this iteration, but familiar in some sort of way.?

We have fundamental ways of receiving marketing information that haven’t shifted (yet…there’s some interesting work by David Eagleman that makes me wonder how information reception could change, but that’s a totally different subject). The mediums that marketing has been focused on are visual (print, design, video), & auditory (spoken language and musicality). There’s some interesting, but minimal marketing work being done on the olfactory, gustatory, and tactile levels, most likely given the practicalities of it, so we’ll be focused on the main two.?

The thing that has shifted as technology has evolved is how information is marketed to these visual and auditory mediums. However, the fundamentals of what works to convert to a sale have stayed the same, as our humans haven’t shifted with technology. The same will be true as we enter into a world disrupted by AI advancements.?

Marketing isn’t new.?

Based on records, the first-ever written ad was found in the ruins of Thebes in Egypt. It was a Papyrus created in 3000 BC by a slaveholder trying to find a runaway slave while also promoting their weaving shop.The first step toward modern advertising came with the development of printing in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, weekly newspapers in London began to carry advertisements, and by the 18th century, such advertising was flourishing. It became a major force in capitalist economies in the mid-19th century, based primarily on newspapers and magazines. In the 20th century, advertising expanded like wild-fire with new technologies such as direct mail, radio, television, the internet and mobile devices. At each step of the way, the amount of content available to us increased, competition became more fierce, and thus mastery of fundamentals became even more important to stand above the crowd.?

I think that looking back in history will be critical to stay ahead of AI disruption in the future. If we understand the core human behavior behind why we do what we do, and really understand how/why successful marketing has been done throughout history, it will allow us to more gracefully grapple with a shift in the landscape.?

Breakthrough Advertising (published in 1966) and Scientific Advertising (published in 1923) are two works that I like to study to stay connected to the fundamentals. We can also look at works written by Joseph Campbell, who studied ancient works to better understand the hero’s journey, which is now used to build better brands and marketing campaigns. History can give us a key to unlock the future.?

So, with the advent of AI disruptions to how we do marketing, I’m looking backwards to think of fundamentals & honing in on human behavior.?

Here are some of my predictions & thoughts about the next iteration of marketing/branding based on my understanding of the fundamentals of branding/marketing & historical trends/behavior.?

• Niching, segmenting, targeting, and personalization will be more important than ever. Both B2B and B2C marketing & branding experiences will be personalized. Strategies such as Account Based Marketing will be more necessary than ever to convert clients. We’ll have to find novel visual and auditory experiences that are niched, segmented, targeted & personalized.?
• Tuning out the noise will be more important than ever. The average American is already exposed to 4,000-10,000 ads per day! With AI, content creators will be super-powered, and thus over-marketing exposure will be even more of a problem. Again, niching, segmenting, targeting, and personalization will be absolutely critical to rise above the noise.?
• Mastering story-telling, and mastering connecting to human emotions through messaging will be key. It will be really interesting to see what novel visual and auditory (and beyond?) experiences we will see in the next few years.?
• Creating a sense of belonging (think of Brene Brown’s work) through messaging will become paramount.?
• Creating a shared sense of humanity through messaging will encourage people to tune in, rather than tune out. Human first experiences will become even more valuable.?
• Branding will be more important than ever. Brands allow people to connect with messaging at a deeper emotional level than marketing alone, and thus masterful branding will be critical.?
• Mastering behavioral economics, human psychology, belonging dynamics, and neuroscience will be more important than ever. Rather than a nice-to-have, it will be necessary to utilize best practices from these fields to excel.?
• Marketers will need to understand AI-powered marketing workflows. The capacity of what a marketer can do will be super-charged, but that means marketers will have to stay on top of the evolution of the marketing field. Mastering the technology and the integrations that better automate & optimize campaigns will be a must-have for those in the industry.?
• Velocity of change is something that we’ll have to contend with. I wonder what tools we’ll develop so we can work at the speed of change??

What are your predictions, questions, and thoughts about what is to come??

How do you think that looking back in history empowers us to be better prepared for this next chapter of marketing/branding??

Are excited, afraid, ambivalent when it comes to the velocity of change??

Looking forward to hearing/reading your thoughts, questions, and predictions!