Marketing and communications practitioners, its AI (Artificial Intelligence) time, AI is here. It’s all around us; it’s in all we do from data analytic, to new product development, to customer experience/ service, hyper-personalisation, to brand building. The statement, AI reduces time and increases productive, is people`s way of trying to give it a tactical meaning, AI is as strategic as it gets.
Lets set the records straight, this article was not written by an AI, It does not cover all you need to know about AI but I hope it will make you curious enough to find out more about AI. These are some statistical data on AI in marketing. A survey conducted by WFA (World Federation of Advertisers) finds that three in four companies already use GenAI or plan to use it soon. Eight in ten have developed or are developing internal policies on the use of GenAI. Nearly two-thirds of brand owners (63%) are already using generative AI in their marketing strategies.Eighty percent of multinational brand owners have expressed concerns about how creative and media agency partners are using generative AI (gen AI) on their behalf. More than half of the companies plan to review contracts with media and creative agencies to address issues that might arise with the use of AI. Marketers also admitted to a lack of capabilities in this area (55%) and a general lack of AI maturity (49%). These are data from outside the country, what would the Nigeria data say to us, if we had any?
The field of AI research was founded at a workshop held on the campus of Dartmouth College in 1956. Many have predicted that machines as intelligent as humans would exist within a generation,Elon Musk predicts AI will outsmart humans by the end of 2026. Over the years AI as a subject matter has developed.The high point being the launch of Open AI -GPT. For those that don’t know the famous Alexa is AI. What is AI?and how does it work? I am not an expert in the field of AI but someone who follows trends to find-out what its all about. My AI knowledge journey started in 2021 with a training, AI for Everyone: Master the Basics by International Business Machine (IBM). AI simply put is the ability of machines to predict outcomes. When you are using an excel sheet there is a predetermined outcome. AI is also like that, two plus two is four in excel, this it can do with the use of already inputted formulas. AI is more advanced, excel is a basic machine learning tool,it’s not able to deal with big data sets and complicated algorithms. What formulas are to excel is what LLMs (Large language models) are to AI. The type of advanced AIs we have today, are possible because of amount of computing power and billions of available data to training the language models. Here is a crash course in AI, You get a lot of data and input it into a software or programme, get the system to identify patterns and come up with outcomes. You then put this outcomes to extensive testing. This is to ensure that the outcomes have high level of accuracy. This does not mean that AI is never wrong. The best way to get the best from AIs is by prompting it properly.I would recommend you read up on the various terminologies and test under AI
Getting an AI tool is one thing,using it properly or adequately is another thing more of design thinking problem. Why is a certain AI tool better for your marketing task? I would recommend you understand the differences in these tools in term of their capabilities as well as outputs.If your business is dependent of AI. You must be able to pounce from one to the other. I am trying hard not to mention any branded chat tools, visual or video content tools because I would like you to explore as many tools as possible and compare their outputs. A note of warning, these AI tools are mostly open source, meaning the learn from each other.I will however want to stimulate your intellect by leaving you with some interesting concepts that have gotten the AI companies working to produce some products that we have today. AI generated influencers avatars, AI generated music,zero clicks searches, AI systems connected to your CRM, AI vision enhancing interactive capabilities. The big one for me is the AI UNICORN (a billion dollar company), which is a one person operated company using AI as predicted by open AI boss, Samuel Harris Altman. Nigeria is already thinking about AI unicorns with the launch of Nigeria`s National AI strategy document as formulated and adopted by the current administration as well as its push for the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (IA) in every aspect of what we do as a country.This was demonstrated by the recent meeting between Google CEO Sundar Pichai and President Bola Tinubu in Paris, France. Can marketing and communications be left out?
My personal prediction with regards to AI in Marketing and communications would be the areas of internal marketing and budgeting. AI makes internal communication cost effective and impactful. E.g. translate internal communication to multiple languages and visuals. As for budgeting,the adequate amounts of funds needed to achieve a desired results could be arrived at using AI marketing analytic. While generative AI revolutionized the content creation process, Agentic AI goes a step further, its the most transformative technological shift. This technology promises to make interactions more seamless, efficient and personal, executing task on behalf of customers based on theirpreferences as predetermined by their analysed data. Successin AI will require adaptability, innovation and a willingness to rethink traditional marketing strategies. At a macro level, you must understand what principles defines your brand, determine its issues and agree the activities or initiatives that would resolve them thereby moving the brand and business forward.There are currently 5 groups of people when it comes to AI. Those that see the potential,but taking it in the wrong direction with lack of relevant application,those that see it as producing rubbish but hope to get more involved if it ever gets to improve,those trying to STOP YOU and penalise you for using it, those that think there are experts but only tapping 5% of its potential and finally the forward thinkers, entrepreneurs, explorers. Which group do you belong?
In summary, AI would separate the men from the boys . AI willdrive the competitive advantage to a level never seen before, helping to differentiate your brands, enable them stand out and win in the marketplace.I cannot with a hundred percentage confidence tell you AI will or will not take your job, but certainly someone with the same level of marketing and communications skills as you, using AI will definitely take your job, and this I would bet be happen in every part, sector and level of the industry. This is not just one of the normal marketing jargon you here from everyone that wants you to believe he or she is a thought leader in the marketing and communication space. Many of these, so called leaders are not yet at even, AI entry level but would act as if they are at mastery just to give the wrong impression to their teams and the industry. My advise is beware of such people, go get AI knowledge for yourself. AI will ensure you are authentic and consistent in every consumer torch point or interaction. At the heart of AI for marketing and communication of is the ability to drive meaningful hyper-personalisation at a large scale. We now have unprecedented tools to engage with individuals in ways that are more relevant and impactful than ever before. But with great opportunity comes great responsibility. Guide against the unethical, illegal, IP issues as well as deep-fakes that comes with the use of AI. May the force be with you, as you go on this journey.
