A couple of months ago, I had written a post on the inevitable ambient future of what we now call the internet, and the role of AI in it. The post was mostly on the rapidly changing nature of interfaces. The ones we actively interact with – mobile, VR/AR, gesture/haptic based tech – and the relatively more ambient ones like a certain kind of wearables and IoT. In that post, the argument was that Google was best placed to tie together data from mobile, social, sensor, location etc and give it context with the help of AI. (Hello, Alphabet!) As this Wired post states, Google is not a search company, it is a machine learning company. Do read about Google Brain while you’re at it! It has a role in several Google products we use, and shows the potential of what is possible when machine learning really works on content surfacing.
But all that is only context setting. Something that has been occupying a lot of my mind space these days is the impact of these continuing developments on brand communication and distribution. For years, the limitations of traditional media have forced brands to communicate to lumpy masses of ‘target audiences’. As the internet transitions into a much more ambient an ubiquitous form, all of brand marketing will be digital either overtly or under the hood. But even digital’s early versions have been on the same path, with incremental changes based on intent/interest. That, I think, is about to change fast. This superb article on the same subject puts it really well – we need not simply digital strategies but strategies for a digital world. It also explores the technological and platform advances that will allow frictionless experiences for consumers and what it means for brands.
While the consumer end of tech is racing ahead, ad tech is still (largely) learning to navigate programmatic on digital, arguably the flag bearer of digital marketing omnipresence. There are already challenges – for example, trust between publishers, advertisers, and the layers between, on what really is being delivered. We haven’t even gotten to a level where we can debate or negotiate trust between consumers, advertisers and brands. The potential is absolutely clear. Data and advanced tech/interfaces will allow brands even more opportunities to build a cohesive narrative that’s equal parts consumer and brand centric. But that requires some fundamental rethinking, incremental may not cut it anymore. Not just in terms of understanding and deploying the gazillion tools that ad tech has to offer, but also, far more importantly, figuring out how to create interventions in terms of communication and experiences and deliver them in relevant contexts. There’s no time like now to get started, and as one of my favourite lines go,
And that’s where I’m headed.