We are closing in on the end of 2023 and it will be unfair if we conclude the year without talking about the marketers’ favourite buzzword,ChatGPT. TheAI marvelintroduced byOpenAIlate last year truly emerged as a star player, especially for marketers, throughout2023.

They used ChatGPT in lots of clever ways. It helped make chatbots super smart at answering questions and made content that felt personal to each person reading it. It basically became a big part of many successful marketing plans. It became the ultimate secret weapon, allowing brands to have conversations with customers that felt real and natural. Imagine talking to a helpful and friendly expert whenever you reached out online—that's the magic ChatGPT brought to the table, according to marketers.

Marketers quickly realised that ChatGPT wasn't just another tech gadget—it was a game-changer. Its ability to understand and mimic human conversation made it an invaluable asset in creating personalised experiences for consumers, ultimately boosting brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.

As the year draws to a close, it's essential to reflect on how ChatGPT revolutionised the way marketers approached their craft. Its impact wasn't just about technology; it was about forging genuine connections in a digital world, proving that the future of marketing is indeed as personal as it gets.

Speaking of personal, the AI tool helped Abhinay Bhasin, Head of Product Marketing at ProfitWheel to boost his personal productivity. He says, “While there have been several cool use cases I've explored this year around marketing strategy, using it as my personal assistant to do research on growth strategies in audiences, I think, is the most fun I’ve had with ChatGPT this year. It has been around building personal productivity trackers – right from a cohesive work and non-work plan.”

To Bhasin, using ChatGPT as his smartest apprentice and asking it for guidance and then solutions through conversations has had the most impact.

The AI tool also helped several marketers to chart out their content plans more efficiently and effectively, according to Ashish Tiwari, CMO, Home Credit. “It has certainly helped with the content game, by addressing the concern around writer's block,” he mentions.

However, what did seem like a star player at the beginning of the year, might not have retained that position for itself by the end of the year.

A senior marketer from the BFSI space said on the condition of anonymity that while ChatGPT might have helped people on a personal front, it wasn’t really a big standout for him when it comes to the organisation’s marketing plans. “Having said that, it would differ from person to person, I am a creative guy. I know the prompts to put in, I know what I want and a mere tool cannot give that to me. As marketers we are always on the lookout for moment marketing. During the World Cup for example, I did try, but somewhere I wasn't satisfied with the outputs I got. I instead got better ones out of the youngsters in my team,” he said.

There has also been a lot of back and forth over the year, about the applications of generative AI and the challenges that are about to set in, during the coming years. While almost all aspects have been spoken about, written about, CK Birla’s Group CMO Deepali Naair brought up a fresh perspective on the same.

Naair highlighted that with the application of Gen AI in the marketing tools, by 2025 we would have seen enough use cases and shifts in the marketing ecosystem.

“I predict that in India, the so-called BTL agencies will face a threat of existence. Bulk of the revenues of a BTL agency are driven by repetitive creative-oriented tasks such as adaptations to various sizes, changing dealer panels resulting in thousands of digital banners, posters etc. These tasks and more value-added tasks of creating product descriptions, newsletters, etc can be managed very well with Gen AI. We will continue to need supervisors and editors. But the structuring and costing of BTL Services providers will see disruption,” she added.