John Fanning reviews a new book which warns marketers about how tech is transforming consumer behaviour and expectations
Actuaries must have a spring in their step these days. If data scientists are ‘the sexiest 21st century’ profession (see review of Bernard Marr’s Big Data in Marketing.ie, November 2017) then actuaries can surely claim to have been there first. Customers the Day After Tomorrow (Lannoo Campus) by Steven van Belleghem is a more enthusiastic endorsement of the brave new world of data, fueled by artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.
It begins with an outline of the three phases of the digital revolution. From 1995 we got our information from the internet, then in 2007 everything was based on mobile technology. Now we are at the start of the third phase which will be dominated by automation and AI. It means we will all be able to solve the world’s problems before it is even known there is one.
For example, our machines powered by an unlimited amount of personal data will be able to alert us to the fact that we may be about to have a heart attack; cool or what. The author then takes us through six steps in the AI customer relationship indicating a more active role for artificial intelligence in consumer’s relationship with products and services.
We are familiar with the first three; curation of information, the provision of customised information and recommendations. In these three steps, AI performs well-defined tasks for which people set the outcome in advance. However, for the next three there is no need for human intervention, the machine does all the work, predicting what we might need, automating the service through chatbots and taking context into account.
For example, Netflix will realise you are down in the dumps and will recommend some entertainment to cheer you up. The most interesting part of the book is the analysis of the three central tenets of AI; faster than real-time customer service, hyper-personalisation and unparalleled ease of use. Examples of all three already are making cameos in some markets.
App approach to messaging: In Customers the Day After Tomorrow, Professor Steven van Belleghem explores how artificial artificial intelligence (AI), driverless cars and robots will change relationships between brand owners and consumers. The book uses the Aurasma app so you can view the book using a smartphone or tablet and see pages come to life.
Interesting and sometimes frightening examples of what tomorrow has in store include the fact that if you are stuck in traffic in the Port Tunnel your smart phone will spot this, relay the information to the airport and change your flight. An example of hyper-personalisation is a shop in New York where as soon as you enter a machine scans two million points on your body so that by the time you reach the counter there is a suit ready with your measurements.
The same applies to what the author refers to as four more areas of investment that will be required for tomorrow; expertise to mine the expected data avalanche for fresh insights, the ability to take account of the new user interfaces that will appear, and to equip employees to avail of augmented intelligence to overcome our cognitive limitations.
The fourth area is the ‘commodity magnet’; the danger that in a market dominated by algorithms decisions will be based on purely functional grounds leading to commodity markets. To an extent, the ‘commodity magnet’ issue is at the heart of this fascinating book. Van Belleghem makes it clear that all of the new tech he describes will mean that all markets will be more at risk of falling into commodity status because more decision making will be out-sourced to machines and their algorithms.
He concludes that in future as well as targeting consumers we will need to influence the algorithms on which the new technology is based; “marketing for machines will become an essential part of every marketing strategy”. It may be so but he underestimates the ability of marketing communications to avoid commodity status; Keeling’s being an example in Ireland.
Van Belleghem is very negative about marketing communications and branding throughout the book; “the greater the impact of algorithms the lower the impact of classic marketing techniques – the moment when people feel able to trust the advice of machines this marketing philosophy is dead and gone”. New channels will influence consumers in the future.
He is inclined to place more faith in machines than men (and women) and dismisses creativity as “trying something a million times until you find the right combination”; a most odd definition of creativity. It is not to deny the importance of the book which should be required reading for everyone involved in marketing communications.
But I believe that in the future, which is so eloquently described, businesses will need more, not less, of the services of creative agencies. When I skimmed over this book first I thought; now I see why Rothco felt they had to sell out to Accenture. But on closer reading to prepare for this review I thought; now I know why Accenture felt they had to buy Rothco.
John Fanning lectures on branding and marketing communications at the UCD Smurfit Graduate School of Business and is chairman of Bord Bia’s Brand Forum
