We recently hosted our 2nd webinar where we unpacked how data science can support your marketing a company’s marketing functions and there were a few slides I do want to highlight. The first two slides I want to highlight might be a bit ominous, but they speak volumes of our future as marketers.
The first slide I want to highlight is of Homer Simpson in room full of robots in the power station he works, finding his job has been taken over by technology. And the second slide a bit further along in the presentation is a bank back office at the turn of the century with hundreds of people capturing transaction data from various bank branches the same work is now being by servers and specialized software employed by the banks worldwide.
And I can hear you all say it’s a frightening thought but it will not happen for many years still. Well that is our not so distant future reality as marketers and the marketing and advertising industry.
Recent examples include JP Morgan Chase, a huge multinational banking group concluding an agreement with a software startup that uses artificial intelligence to write marketing copy, following a successful pilot with the technology. JPMorgan Chase found that the machine learning tool crafted better ad copy than its own writers could muster!!! Even influencers are not safe. There is a rise in the use of virtual influencers as consumers have already seen creations like 19-year-old Lil Miquela release music, a regular face in fashion magazines and fronts a wide range of luxury brands. Harry Hugo, co-founder of the Goat Agency, says virtual influencers will be unavoidable in the next 12 months. “They can be available 24/7 and have a personality molded to be exactly what you want for your brand.
Change and disruption is unavoidable, and we have to accept this change that is coming but as always, we can be the part of change by evolving and embracing technologies like AI and Machine learning and join this evolving data science disruption in our marketing departments.
Right now, it’s not all doom and gloom data science can have a massive positive impact in various areas of marketing if not the entire company. So, the last slide I want to highlight looks at all the areas data science technology like AI and Machine learning will significantly help improve the efficiency and effectiveness. This can range from more accurate sales volume predictions that can update in real-time to media spend recommendation per channel even developing effective and efficient media plans or providing optimal integrated campaign budgets, and so much more. If you want to know more, you can view the webinar here
Jacques Erasmus is the Managing Director of Idea Foundry
Idea Foundry is a unique collective of skilled craftspeople from different backgrounds in brand, marketing, creative, strategy & insight and analytics collaborating to craft solutions that ignite and drive disruption and ultimately deliver the best results for the brands within a constantly changing consumer world!
