Brands are increasingly leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to make the consumer experience more relevant and to better-approximate human-to-human interactions. AI can allow companies to personalize the marketing experience while saving money for brands.
Brands are using artificial intelligence to build better customer experiences and they’re just getting started. IDC predicts that global spending on cognitive systems will reach $31.3 billion by 2019. Accenture found that AI could double economic growth rates by 2035 and boost labor productivity by 40%.
While there’s an undeniable lure of AI delivering cost savings for businesss, the greater goal for marketers is using it to make the brand experience more personalized and predictive.
Probably the most public face of AI today is IBM’s Watson, the cloud-based cognitive engine “that can think like a human” that uses natural language processing and machine learning. Watson now works with dozens of brands in 45 industries across 20 countries.
Campbell Soup Co., Unilever, Toyota and GSK Consumer Healthcare are using Watson Ads, a cognitive system for advertising. Incorporating data from Weather Company, which IBM bought in 2015, Watson Ads helps brands offer relevant one-to-one brand experiences built on new consumer and product insights uncovered by Watson. Consumers can now ask Watson for Campbell Soup recipe ideas with answers built around weather, personal preference, past choices and even groceries on hand.
AI at its core is about helping humans work better. While there are many current examples of brands using AI, looking forward, there are several key emerging areas in customer experience: generating insights for optimal targeting, determining what customers want beyond simply sentiment analysis, and the ability to interact with customers in the same way a human salesperson would.
Advertising Age (free-article access for SmartBrief readers) (11/1)
