From the ability to generate personalized creatives, analyse consumer behaviour and provide real-time data insights, Generative AI has propelled marketing into uncharted territories in the year 2023.
Businesses are already investing in generative AI for marketing, dedicating a significant budget towards marketing technology, seeing this breakthrough technology as a catalyst for creativity and innovation in marketing.
According to Capgemini Research Institute’s latest report ‘GenAI and the evolving role of marketing: A CMO's Playbook’, on average, Indian marketers are allocating 62% of MarTech budgets to GenAI tools. The report also noted that nearly half of the organizations have already allocated teams for the implementation of generative AI in various aspects of marketing and advertising.
Others are in the assessment phase, carefully evaluating risks and identifying suitable POCs tailored to their circumstances, industry experts say. There is no certainty what specific path this ecosystem will take going forward.
As the marketing landscape undergoes a profound shift, the role of CMOs has become all more important. Reason: The human touch still remains irreplaceable, especially when it comes to the intricate task of Media Mix Modeling, marketers tell e4m.
Media Mix Modeling is a marketing analysis technique that determines the impact of marketing efforts on sales. An organization’s media mix consists of traditional advertising channels, like print, broadcast, TV, social media and online advertising. They optimize their media mix in order to gain insights into what they need to target their audience effectively.
Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) of almost all big brands are currently experimenting with various tools for Media Mix Modelling (MMM). The results are not exciting enough so far, CMOs say.
"Generative AI powers dynamic content creation and real-time data analysis, providing marketing teams with the turbocharged momentum required to craft personalized customer communications and offer market predictions. However, when it comes to media modeling, AI tools are still in nascent stages and use cases are minimal for predictive scheduling, targeting and media delivery. Currently, only human intelligence can effectively manage such an intricate task," remarks Rajiv Dubey, Media Head at Dabur India.
Dubey adds that in the very future, advanced AI tools may have such capabilities to use behaviour aspects to have personalized targeting, messaging and delivery of desired media targets.
Many large advertisers like Maruti, Marico and Polycab are also conducting pilot tests with such MMM tools, although assigning this task to AI is still far away, their media heads say.
“AI tools designed by various companies for Media Mix Modeling are being tested and improved through the internal IT Development department,” says Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki.
All technologies bring their own strengths and opportunities. At business, we need to continuously explore the use cases which are best suited for business requirements. There is a big scope for Gen AI in content creation, especially in making Customized and Vernacular Creatives, Customer Interactions, Vernacular Voice Bots and for predictive targeting of existing customers for reselling, cross selling, up selling (Using Customer Data Platform), says Srivastava.
The auto major is also using Gen AI for its internal meetings, minuting, summarizing, analyzing dealer financial statements and identifying gaps and action planning (Under Development).
GenAI to add USD 1.2 trillion to India’s GDP
Generative AI has the ability to add USD 1.2 to 1.7 trillion over the next seven years to India's GDP which represents an additional 5.9% to 7.2% of GDP in 2029-30. Of this, more than ? will come from business services, claims the latest EY report, titled 'The Idea of India: Generative AI's potential to accelerate India's digital transformation'.
“The impact will vary across sectors, with business services, finance, transportation, education, retail, and healthcare expected to benefit most. These sectors are well-positioned to capitalize on AI's potential due to their digitalization and focus on productivity, efficiency, and personalized experiences,” writes the report.
Readiness
As companies embark on their AI journey, uncertainty looms regarding the specific trajectory this ecosystem will follow in the future. Currently, there is a dearth of a comprehensive strategy for delivering scalable and sustainable business value. “Others are still in the assessment phase, meticulously weighing risks and pinpointing suitable Proof of Concepts (POCs) customized to their unique circumstances,” industry experts say.
Despite this uncertainty, AI tools are being tested and deployed by a diverse set of advertisers across India. As per the EY study, three in five C-suite executives believe that AI is having a significant impact on their businesses although 3/4 respondents admitted they have low to moderate level of readiness in benefitting from AI.
“These are still early days for GenAI. Unsupervised customer touchpoints need to be in a controlled environment. Marketers are wary of over-reliance on GenAI at this stage. Concerns over hallucination as well as incompleteness persist,” says Amritanshu Nanda, an independent marketing expert who served as chief marketing officer of Zepto and Pepperfry in the past.
Moreover, advertisers are concerned about privacy laws, accuracy of AI generated results and possible job losses.
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