One year into AI: Insights and future projections

Delhi: The MMA Impact Delhi event saw the unveiling of Modern Marketing Reckoner (MMR) 2024, centred around the theme 'Winning With AI.' The report launch aimed to arm marketers with insights and strategies encompassing the 4Ps of marketing, Product, Price, Place, and Promotion through the lens of AI.

The report's key highlights were decoded by a panel comprising Moneka Khurana, Country Head & BOD Member, MMA Global India, Rohit Dadwal, CEO & BOD, MMA Global APAC & Global Head of SMARTIES WW, and Parthasarathy MA, Chief Strategy Officer, South Asia, GroupM. 

Delving into the key thoughts of the report and the application of AI for innovation and inspiration, Chandan Mukherji, Director & Executive Vice President of Strategy, Marketing & Communication at Nestle India, stated, "We see AI as a means of enhancing brand awareness."

This approach offers valuable insight into the essence of the brand and the ongoing conversations among consumers. Mukherji emphasised that AI won't supplant human understanding but rather complement it, enabling it to efficiently connect the dots and cultivate innovative ideas.

In terms of content creation,  engagement, and optimisation he highlighted that AI could trigger fresh thoughts to think about and by leveraging this creativity, one can employ AI for storyboarding, enhancing the narrative process.

Dhruv Dhawan, MMA India Board Member and Head of Ads at Disney+ Hotstar, highlighted three key factors: creativity, media planning, and measurement. He emphasised that AI has a significant role to play in all these areas.

Addressing the data utilised by marketers to train AI models and identify existing gaps, Khurana pointed out, "While there is a discussion on AI utilisation, there's always a crucial oversight on data readiness.

Khurana emphasised the importance of being data-ready, stating, "It starts with effective data organisation, collecting it strategically across touchpoints and developing the capability to segment it accurately." 

She highlighted that even with advanced technology like AI, without proper data segmentation, it fails to deliver the expected benefits.

Pratik Mukherjee, the Head of Business at Beauty House of Masaba, emphasised that as a designer label brand, they have identified specific themes for enhancing packaging without compromising craftsmanship. They aim to leverage AI to strengthen the designer's vision rather than dilute it.

“Integrating product, packaging, and content is something we are exploring with AI,”  he added.

When discussing the integration of AI at HP, Pradyumn Pasari, AI & Growth Marketing Lead for HP India, highlighted the challenges faced in selling their diverse range of technical products through various channels like offline stores and multi-branded outlets. 

He said that with around 180 technical SKUs being sold by approximately 1700 in-store promoters across India, expecting each promoter to possess comprehensive product knowledge is a challenge. Additionally, understanding the content better in vernacular language among these promoters poses another hurdle for effective content communication.

To address these challenges, Pasari said, “We've integrated a Sandbox version of OpenAI ChatGPT into our workflow." This integration empowers the generation of content tailored to the needs and language preferences of in-store promoters.

Furthermore, Pasari explained that this AI tool is utilised to create content that resonates with in-store promoters, ensuring comprehension and engagement. However, before this content reaches customers, it goes first to product trainers to ensure the accuracy and relevance of content delivery.

Parthasarathy explained that when it comes to AI, usually the tendency is to go for the icing and the cherry and not about the cake and the ingredients. It is about the core data that goes into it, he highlighted.

"We must ensure that AI models are firmly rooted in the most relevant data. Understanding the brand's essence, its key values, and identifying the assets that align with the brand are fundamental," Parthasarathy emphasised.

Secondly, he stated that AI needs to pick on the signals that are meaningful to the consumers when it comes to changing perceptions and driving purchases. 

One year into AI: Insights and future projections

AI is advancing at an exponential rate, with progress accelerating 5-10 times in just one year. To understand this potential trajectory of AI over the next twelve months, the panel of experts shared their perspectives on future expectations for AI and the broader implications for various industries.

Mukherji stated that AI will become significantly more refined in all the areas it is tailored to address. Whether it's knowledge, inspiration, content, media, or engagement, these elements will become much sharper. He added that a crucial factor for this advancement is ensuring the accuracy of data and teaching AI to focus on what truly matters.

Khurana stated, “We are moving toward core vertical integration with AI. This means we will deeply explore business use cases, the modern context of customer experiences, measurement, content, and audience segmentation.”

These advancements will, in turn, redefine the structure of marketing strategies and campaigns, she stated.

Mukherjee highlighted a key theme for the marketing and business community using AI to enhance full-funnel profitability. He noted, "Given that there's a certain percentage of wasteful spending we typically can't identify if AI can improve profitability even by a few percentages, its adoption across industries will be broader and more rapid."