Are Marketers Robot Toast?
24 Feb, 2023
Amazing tech is not a replacement for human creativity or strategic thinking, but marketers must develop new skills to stay relevant, believes Unilever's former VP Global Marketing, Ian Maskell, in his latest column for MAD//Insight.
If you cut into a stick of zeitgeist rock in February 2023, Artificial Intelligence will appear in sticky deep red script.
A thread bounced around my echo chamber last week. ChatGPT was asked to describe the detailed attributes of a delicious cheesecake, the response was fed into an AI image generator – called MidJourney - and Voila! – a mouth-watering image. What are the implications for the food porn industry – the creatives, food stylists & camera geeks? Apparently, we now have whatever we imagine - at the click of an AI button!
Content creation is but one small slice of our craft, is AI coming for the rest of the cheesecake?
Martech digital tools used to plan, execute and analyze marketing campaigns are climbing out of the primordial soup and quickly automating most marketing processes. Especially ‘bottom of funnel’ (BOF) activities like CRM, email & social marketing, SEO and data analytics.
It’s a blur, 15,000+ Martech platforms now exist.
These robots can drive short-term results, but building a strong brand requires long-term investment in creating a unique and valuable proposition that resonates with customers. Marketers need to find the balance.
Amazing tech is not a replacement for human creativity or strategic thinking, but marketers must develop new skills to stay relevant. Human brand builders bring valuable insights and expert knowledge of consumer behavior, competitive landscapes and industry nuance. Humans are required to interpret results of martech tools and make informed decisions.
In "The Long and Short of It" Les Binet and Peter Field proved the importance of balancing short-term and long-term goals, the role of creativity in driving business results, and the need for marketers to invest in both short-term (BOF) and long-term campaigns (TOF) to achieve sustained growth.
A creative brand strategy can deliver a unique value proposition that powers an entire company and a distinctive visual aesthetic.
Top of Funnel (TOF) marketing is about generating awareness, while BOF marketing is about converting potential customers into paying customers. Two different stages of the customer journey needing marketing strategies tailored to the target customer at each stage.
Martech tools are most effective at automating repetitive tasks, providing insights into customer behavior, and helping optimise campaigns. However, these tools still require human creativity, strategy, and critical thinking to be effective. Humans make decisions which tools to use, how to analyze data, and how to implement campaigns.
Furthermore, martech tools give us the gift of time by automating dull tasks, so marketers can focus on the sexy stuff - such as developing creative campaigns, analyzing customer data, and builidng long-term strategies.
I asked ChatGPT “What is the optimal number of martech platforms needed to build an FMCG brand in 2023?”
GPT response ‘There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question as the optimal number of martech platforms needed to build an FMCG brand in 2023 can vary depending on a variety of factors such as the size and goals of the brand, target audience, budget, and resources.
That’s another role for us mere mortals, if you need help curating your tech stack speak to a human!
BUT marketers better keep up, this is moving with exponential speed.
Ian will be writing a column for MAD//Insight regularly throughout the year.