3min read

 

Let’s play devil’s advocate for a second.

The warning signs are already here. AI has been with us for a short time, but its adoption rate and press puffery has flooded the internet with poor quality content.

When it’s used by responsible people in responsible ways, it can provide tremendous benefits.

But the world is not full of responsible people, and marketing as an industry is proliferated with quick buck salespeople selling their secret elixirs of success. The lure of the quick buck is too strong for some.

In the blink of an eye, our social media feeds have been flooded with AI generated content. Captions that don’t quite make sense or, in a weird way, make too much sense to be written by a human. Visuals that are dangerously realistic, so that you only realise its AI generated on the 3rd watch or by scouring the comments.

We’re seeing the popular emergence of AI generated spokespeople for brands, or software that can turn a photo of your staff member into an animated version of themselves that can be programmed to say anything.

At its worst, you can’t help but feel like we’re living in the early stages of a Black Mirror episode.

So where will we be in 5 years? Heck, where will we be in 1 year?

And has anyone stopped to think whether the use of this technology is in the long term interests of the brands we are all working for?

Data privacy, ethical and environmental concerns aside, for marketers the value of a marketing channel depends on the audience it can influence.

 

So the key question we must ask ourselves right now is:

 

What does marketing look like in a world where nobody trusts the internet?

 

I predict it will go back to the future.

The very first marketing tool, and the discipline that has survived through every rise and fall of industry fad and technology is branding.

Brands exist to help make decisions easier. They are a decision-making shortcut so that our primitive brains can navigate the complex environments we all live in.

The hardware in our heads is not changing anytime soon, and it’s already being confronted with the most overwhelming & difficult barrage of information in its history.

In the face of so many options, counter views to every option, and serious doubts over what to believe, decision-making for anything of consequence is overwhelming and will continue to be.
These are ripe conditions for brand marketing to blossom again. They are the beacon to guide consumers through the analysis paralysis and take action they feel confident with.

For marketers, building a brand relies upon consistent actions over a long period of time. It means resisting the secret elixirs of immediate success that AI has promised in favour of an old fashioned, but proven strategy.

Can you commit to the delayed gratification?