The focus was on Artificial Intelligence and how it is impacting the marketing when the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) recently held an Integrated Marketing Communication webinar on the theme, ‘Brand Management in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.’
The hour-long virtual event held via Zoom had Nigeria’s frontline AI expert and Chief Transformation Officer for MTN Nigeria, Bayo Adekanmbi as Keynote Speaker. In his submission, Adekanmbi rivelled participants at the webinar with the power of AI and its disruptive influence in the consumer journey, adding that the it has also disrupted the five ‘Ps’ of marketing. He added that Artificial Intelligence is changing the narrative on product development and that has made the product become an experience into which people have become embedded.
He said the industry is no longer dealing with rationally involved people but emotionally distracted people and as such practitioners must be ‘’conscious that people’s attention is actually distracted, we are seeking a share of their attention and as such we need a destructive approach to position the client’s brand and win a larger share of attention in the emerging complexities.”
The keynote speaker emphasized that artificial intelligence has come to support practitioners and it’s not going to replace them, but it has come to give practitioners new areas of exploration.
According to him, AI can be used by marketers to profile effectively beyond demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural characteristics. This will assist them to recognise and understand potential customers. Marketers can also use AI to engage in dynamic nano-segmentation which helps in effectively analysing behavioural intentions, purchase patterns in certain times and certain locations.
Prior Adekambi’s presentation, Registrar and CEO of APCON, Dr. Lekan Fadalapo, while welcoming guests speakers and participants, said the council intends to hold the lecture quarterly to learn about issues in the IMC industry as well as boost thought leadership.
Adekambi’s keynote address followed a robust panel session moderated by the CEO of DKK & Associates, Temitope Jemerigbe and made-up of speakers from key subsectors of the Nigerian market including the President of the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Femi Adelusi; Acting President of the Advertising Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Bunmi Adeniba and Chairman of the Lagos Advertising & Ideas Festival (LAIF) Management Board, Lanre Adisa.
Mr. Lanre Adisa of Noah’s Ark Communications agreed that the world is getting more and more complex and there is need to look at AI not just as artificial intelligence but as one that will assist practitioners to be better than before. ‘’The truth is that although AI can mirror where we are and what we have done, it still needs to mirror human thinking to be able to replicate it at a level that we possibly can’t as individuals and I think that is where the advantage of AI comes in’’
He however stressed the need to strengthen the human factor in the use of AI because ‘’we will need it as a tool but we will also need to generate relatable communication which can only come from human beings, AI needs us to project what is possible.”
Mrs. Bunmi Adeniba, the Acting president of ADVAN, a fellow panelist established that Artificial Intelligence is not just out there, it’s already here happening around us and marketers must do the learning journey and make it work because it can work. She held that ‘’there is no way we can represent the consumers unless we know them very well. This is what AI does, it helps us to get specifics which in turn results in sharper innovations, makes predictive forecasting in things like specialization and social listening.’’
Mr. Femi Adelusi, President of MIPAN agreed that AI is going to help redefine the way the advertising industry approach marketing and not take over jobs but cautioned that “If we don’t unlearn, learn and re-learn on a continuous basis that is exactly what it is going to do, it then means that AI will compete for the jobs we currently have.’’
