Sunday, April 15, 2018

Harley Davidson’s AI Revolution


Buying a classic, American-made motorcycle was for decades a personal experience of coming to a showroom, speaking with a dealer salesperson and test-driving a bike before making the final purchasing decision. From the dealer’s perspective, traditional print advertising to attract customers into the showroom was the most the effective marketing tactic. TV and digital platforms allowed Harley Davidson to replicate its successful advertising campaigns and expand its customer reach over time.

Today, the next frontier is intelligent digital marketing and this is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes into play. Artificial intelligence and machine learning have the potential to put digital marketing campaigns on steroids by continuously improving ad content and placement through A-B testing cycles until the optimal ad copy and targeting is determined. This functionality strengthens digital marketing through cost effectiveness, fewer ad dollars and time spent on placing unproductive ads, as well as better automation over time.

In the linked Harvard Business Review article below, a New York City Harley Davidson dealer takes the dive into an AI and sees a significant increase in qualified leads and resulting sales. What I find to be the most revealing in the Harley Davidson case is how seemingly simply it was to implement the AI strategy and impressively boost sales almost immediately after the initial activation.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has cited artificial intelligence as a panacea for addressing hate speech and bullying on the social media platform by filtering and blocking posts.


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