Council Post: Using AI To Humanize Your Brand In 2021

Grant McDougall is the CEO and Co-Founder of BlueOcean, an AI brand strategy platform that helps companies outmaneuver the competition.

The first two decades of the 21st century could accurately be called the Data Age for the marketing industry. The internet, and specifically social media, ushered in an era where marketers had access to more information than ever before. All this information became supercharged as artificial intelligence promised to uncover new data-driven insights. With this flood of information, terms such as precision, efficiency and measurability became the new buzzwords. The Mad Men era was well and truly over as the quants had their day in the sun at agencies and in-house marketing departments across the world.

But something happened on the way to data domination. As economic challenges roiled the economy, a series of scandals eroded public trust in our institutions and a global pandemic had everyone reevaluating their priorities, a shift occurred and it became clear that utilizing data purely for the purposes of maximizing targeting efficiency was not enough. While it’s not time to chuck all that data in the bin, the changes I’ve seen in society and consumer behavior call for a reevaluation of how AI and big data are being leveraged.

Turning The Focus Outward

It’s time for marketers and strategic planners to reorient themselves, and their brands, in order to engage and connect with consumers who are scared, skeptical and, most importantly, looking for someone to trust. Smart marketers are using technology not just to listen to consumers, but to understand them and their needs. Consider the pivot made by Microsoft, a highly feature-focused marketer, as it looked to engage knowledge workers forced to work from home using its Microsoft Teams solution. Rather than focusing on a laundry list of features, they showed how coworkers can be seen, share ideas and be together. 

In preparation for the Tokyo Olympics this summer, NBCUniversal is an example of a company using AI to help marketers shape their content and messaging. Its Olympics Ad Engine examines data from Olympics-related content of the past and then applies those insights to scripts, storyboards and rough cuts of ads.

Another prime example is Diageo’s Bulleit brand bourbon. It used data to “hear” the conversations that were happening during the pandemic and learned that it wasn’t just the consumer who missed having a drink at their favorite bar — this was a time when bartenders were also struggling. This led the company to find the whitespace in the media landscape and identify an opportunity. Thus, it created the Frontier Fund and a clever ad highlighting the wasted skills of bartenders when all the bars are closed.

The Way Forward: Working At The Speed Of Algorithms

How should marketing executives and brand planners be thinking about data as we head toward 2021? First, come to grips with the realization that data access is still a difference-maker and key to any successful strategy. Data observation and media analytics provided by artificial intelligence need to be harnessed to truly support human-based insights, not supplant them. This partnership allows for decisions to be made at the speed of digital — sorry Don Draper, analog isn’t going to win.

It’s also important to know that data isn’t the end result but rather a better starting point. Data provides a jump start and potentially a differentiator by bubbling up key insights faster and with more clarity.

While 2021 offers the promise of a fresh start in many ways, the lessons of the recent past cannot be ignored. The brands that can take in data and properly use it not just for greater efficiency but for greater understanding will be well-positioned to connect with audiences who are looking for more from the brands they choose to support. Artificial intelligence will be an essential tool for marketers, with its ability to ingest massive amounts of information and turn it into something usable. 

Is your brand utilizing AI?

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