Marketing has become a balancing act: Balancing technology and human relationships when communicating and balancing performance and brand building.
To maintain that balance, marketers will need to remain curious, said speakers during the opening day of the Brand Innovators Leadership in Brand Marketing Summit in New York. This approach will help brands keep up with emerging technologies and discover creators and cultural moments that can add a human element, said the experts.
The marketing transformation seen in the last five years is one of the fastest revolutions across the board, said Lisa Vortsman, CMO of The Magnum Ice Cream Company. While the “5 P’s” that used to be fundamental principles of marketing strategy are still valid, “I feel like every one of those P’s has been redefined,” she said.
“The power dynamics have really flipped. The brand doesn’t own the conversation, the consumer does,” Vorstman said. “The way brands have to communicate with people has completely flipped. Innovation has completely evolved.”
While Magnum works with R&D to create products, the inspiration also comes from input from influencers and consumers, who are redefining flavors and consumption patterns, she said.
Technology has changed the way creative work is produced, thanks to the increased use of AI. Vortsman noted that her team can come up with optimized creative in a week after talking to focus groups and using AI.
The technology is causing a tectonic shift in marketing, said Terence Kawaja, Founder and CEO, of LUMA Partners. While admittedly he said “there are all the indicators of hype,” around AI, it now seems to be table stakes for marketers. Kawaja cited a survey that showed 94% of marketers claim to use AI every day.
However, Kawaja warned many users don’t exactly understand the technology and how to evaluate it.
“It’s a little bit noisy right now,” said Allen Jones, SVP of sales at Gannett. Still, AI will change everything he said: “This is the Industrial Revolution.”
Data and measurement offers one of the best AI use cases, said Khara Bozler Hutchinson, head of programmatic and integrated digital activation at Bayer HealthCare. Advances in measurement are game changers, she said, noting that requests to look at data in new ways that weren’t possible a year ago, are now possible.
“Today we’re getting so much granular measurement,” she said. “And it’s getting better and better.”
This is also allowing data to be more predictive. AI can now ingest more data points more quickly to understand what drives consumers and connect them with the right messages, said Diana Hummel, senior VP of advertising sales & media partnerships at Accuweather. For example, she said AI can connect weather with running apps to target joggers based on the forecast. “Now we can be even more data-driven in how we bring these lifestyle indices to life,” she said.
While enthusiastic about the potential of AI, most speakers warned users to be alert for trust issues. Kawaja noted the top sources of data for large language models are platforms built on user-generated content, such as YouTube.
Despite any misgivings, “there is no option to do nothing,” said Kawaja. AI will affect most business factors, including CMO credibility, he said. It will upend search marketing, “reframe what performance means” by giving data more predictive potential and drive the creator economy because the AI models are ingesting user-generated content at scale.
In-culture, not in-language
Technology is also increasing the pressure to build human connections. The growing automation only increases the imperative to leverage communities and creators to make authentic connections with consumers, said speakers. To stand out, brands will need an extra helping of cultural relevance, especially when targeting younger generations.
The recent announcement that musician Bad Bunny was selected to headline the Super Bowl halftime show – and the social media storm that followed – only highlights how important cultural moments are in the age of AI slop, said a panel on cultural moments.
The group of panelists agreed that cultural moments require more than jumping on a social media bandwagon to reach Gen Z – a diverse and vocal demographic. A quarter of the cohort identifies as Hispanic, but marketers underestimate the diversity within that segment, said panelists.
“There’s something really important about listening to communities. It’s something brands don’t do enough,” said Adrian Hernandez, Founder/CEO of publisher UglyPrimo. Many brands start by defining the audience and choosing creative, rather than seeking the views of those who are already in the culture, he said.
The way some marketers approach the Hispanic market is an example of how to get it wrong, said speakers. Many simply focus on in-language communications and neglect to account for the diversity within the population and their many interests.
“We’re not looking for in-language, we’re looking for in-culture,” said Josh Galvez, executive director of social & brands at Hispanic media group Relevant+.
“Translating your campaign into Spanish is not a strategy,” said Lorena Contreras, lead brand manager at Haleon, marketer of OTC brands including Robitussin and Tums.
Bad Bunny’s rise shows how layered and fluid Hispanic culture is, said Contreras. To approach it, brands have to listen to the creators shaping that demographic’s voice online.
“You have to invite those voices in early, before your campaign has taken shape,” said Contreras. “Showing up when it’s convenient for your brand isn’t going to work.”
Brands will need to build deep, lasting relationships with creators as part of wide-ranging storytelling strategies. “It’s what separates selling the product from connecting with the lifestyle of your audience,” said Katie Marston, CMO of Once Upon a Farm.
Research shows that companies that put storytelling at the center of their communications are twice as likely to see revenue growth of 5% or more, said Judith Carr-Rodriguez, Partner & CEO at agency FIG.
“If we’re not doing this, we’re not really leaning into the potential of our company,” she said. In this environment “if we’re not standing out, we’re wasting our investment.”
Measurement is still “fuzzy”
Speakers noted that efforts are complex and can be hard to measure with traditional key performance indicators. AI can help deliver creative fast at scale, but measurement often lags.
The tools for measurement and attribution have become much better, but the measurement demands on marketers are still far exceeding the capabilities, said Allison Stransky, CMO of Samsung Electronics America.
She noted that when Samsung launched its “SmartThings Meets AI Home” campaign linking its various products to their AI use and connectivity, it overdelivered on all the KPIs. But near the end of the campaign, company leadership asked how it was moving sales, and that stopped her cold.
Stransky couldn’t get sales data that quickly. But other numbers were useful including: a high number of first-time visitors to Samsung.com, and many return visits, along with a five-point brand lift. Given that appliance purchases run on a seven-year cycle, those were positives.
“We’re starting to warm up the funnel. This is a good sign,” said Stransky. She was able to identify that they were on the right track based on KPIs and management supported additional spend for the fourth quarter.
Measurement “is an important balancing act,” said Chris Norton, senior vice president, marketing, data activation & personalization at Marriott International.
Norton recalled that when the hotel company was consolidating various brands’ loyalty programs into Marriott Bonvoy, he faced pressure to produce short term results. He centered on a few long-term KPIs such as customer lifetime value and intent to recommend. This data reflected that the program should center on customers. A lot of what is being measured is about measuring emotional connection, given the nature of travel, he said.
“It took a lot of work and experimentation to show our senior management that it was worth it,” he said. “Once we did, the stars started to align.”
Measurements are still a bit “fuzzy,” but the technology is getting better and should validate the worth of storytelling soon, said Jessica Bernheim, SVP of marketing at food marketer Truff.
New measurement tools are able to measure creative against in-store sales, she said, and noted that the industry expects this feature to become more sophisticated in the future.
“We’re seeing more of the science allowing us to measure the art,” she said.
Whether the changes are overwhelming or comforting, speakers warned marketers against sitting still. The main piece of advice most offered was: Don’t get too comfortable. The risk of not acting fast and decisively is obsolescence, they warned.
“The biggest risk is being status quo,” said Mark Nielsen, executive creative director at grocer Publix. Brands don’t need to keep doing 180 turns, but staying the same will cause them to lose out on new customers and existing ones may start to ignore the brand, because they know what to expect, said Nielsen.
“Know where the line is,” he said, “and keep pushing it.”
