Technology Innovator Awards 2018

all-doing AI. The reality is that humans still have a significant role to play in the creative content process. Today’s AI content AI already impacts a large section of the marketing world. It’s taking over more of the rudimentary tasks and helping marketers make better media buying decisions through machine learning. Brand messages aren’t one- size-fits-all, yet displaying the same information across different mediums was once time-consuming. AI is now able to help tailor human- created messages to different platforms and increase reach. These traits are helpful to humans as it provides more resources for ideation. AI’s current inability to process emotions is a major setback when it comes to the tech flexing it’s creative muscles. Instead, it’s making do with empowering the human mind. Here are some ways the tech is evolving and helping to create better content, with the creative process still very much in human hands. 1) Lend me your eyes AI helps humans to make better content. Take image tagging and recognition, for example. Once upon a time, searching for that perfect picture to capture the look and feel of a marketing campaign was a chore. Now, thanks to neural networks, it’s now possible for machine learning to identify a person or object faster than a human can. The result equate to quicker searches with greater precision when looking for visuals online. Image recognition holds even more weight when you factor in self-driving cars and their need to recognise objects on the road. Visual communication plays such a pivotal role in many aspects of life, so AI’s ability to enhance and improve identifying visuals is most welcome. 2) Understand data Data is where AI perhaps currently performs at its most potent. More affordable and advanced data analytics tools give marketing teams ammunition to make better campaigns. At least it does in theory. There is an argument to be had around some marketer’s interpretations of the information at hand. The data should offer an unbiased outlook. However, if the people feeding the datasets to AI are doing so with a one-sided mindset, the results won’t always be pure. As far as marketing practices go, using AI-driven data to determine creative is still a relatively new method. There are bound to be good and bad points in the early stages. One thing is clear: the sheer depth of information available means we are now in a data-driven marketing era. 3) Custom news feeds Ever wondered why your newsfeed on social media platforms is catered to your interests? You guessed it; the robots are at work again. AI algorithms learn a users’ interests and suggest content it thinks you will find interesting. AI takes hundreds of variables and sifts through them to predict which posts a user will find interesting or disregard. Ultimately, the information provided helps marketers to understand consumer habits better. Even something as simple as interacting with a news post provides an opportunity to tailor content. Some of that content also includes sponsored ads, which have been cooked up by creatives to sell a message that resonates. 4) Measure ROI There is zero point in producing marketing campaigns if they can’t be tracked. Return on investment (ROI) is one of the most important aspects of any marketing assault. In the past ROI hasn’t been clear-cut. But now machine learning is helping to explain results to marketers in a way that allows them to understand with more clarity. With so much potential information available, AI helps to centralise the data. Marketers are left with clear results over how a campaign performed. They can measure metrics, understand customer journeys and better forecast for the future. The result is better campaigns and optimising outreach. AI at the forefront Marketing and creative share a relationship with different skill sets. Marketers deal in the realm of facts and insight to create better opportunities, while creatives bring the flair and innovation. AI’s role in the process isn’t at the stage where humans aren’t needed - and it may never be. In today’s world, it acts as an enabler to give marketing teams worldwide a better chance at understanding their audience. With better understanding comes improved content and more personalised services. And that is all consumers are looking for - more involvement with brands. The idea behind the campaign of your favourite brand might come from a human. But there’s every chance the reasoning and data came from AI. A closer look at AI in marketing g