At the latest South by Southwest conference in Austin,
discussions surrounding the impact of AI were front and center. One panel looked
to the future of AI and marketing, and representatives from Home Depot and L’Oreal
explained how AI has played an ever-increasing role in tailoring relevant
content for visual searches on platforms like Pinterest. The panel also
explored how AI has given messenger bots the capability to handle way more than
just transactional conversations — now they can give product
recommendations, subscribe customers for loyalty programs, and perform other
aspects of customer care.
"For us, we really see [bots] as a future channel of
shopping and commerce," said Rachel Weiss, VP of innovation and
entrepreneurship at L'Oreal. "We make it so that it's a one-stop shop
[and] the most effective and fast way that you can't do on any other channel,
that you can't do on social and you can't do in a store."
The panelists articulated how these advancements in AI will
impact marketers. “As with any industry disruption, these developments have
unsettled brands' businesses as much as they've presented new opportunities for
innovation and reaching shoppers,” says Peter Adams of Marketing Dive. The
panelist from L’Oreal added that AI requires different backend systems, can
come with considerable expenses, and requires different talent. Furthermore, AI
is shifting KPIs for brands and requiring new ways to measure success around
customer retention and satisfaction. While these difficulties and others make
the implementation of AI challenging, the benefits (and soon-to-be necessity)
of incorporating it into a company’s approach are becoming undeniable.
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