There’s a lot of chatter in marketing circles about generative AI and how ChatGPT will replace a lot of content creation jobs. It will, eventually, notwithstanding that when I asked it for a headline it suggested “ChatGPT Revolutionizes Communication Jobs: The Priyanka Chopra of AI”.
Content consumption is higher value than creation
The future most of us look forward to is not one where AI creates content, but one where AI reads it on our behalf to provide us a snappy update or Cliff Notes equivalent. This headline is just as good as mine because a machine doesn’t need catchy headlines to decide to open a mail – it cares only for the data embedded in it.
Marketing Takeaway:
Time poor consumers are looking for tools that will simplify their decision making by delivering easy-to-process information
Potato, Potahto – substance over form now
It’s easy to say “AI no good because it can’t create proper ads. Yet.” But communication is a gigantic pie compared to ads or marketing material. For example, take the humble corporate FAQ.
I wrote the first PR FAQ for Infosys in 1998 and it was full of questions like “what is the revenue of the company”, “How many employees in North America” “What is the gender split of the workforce” and so on – and it had to be updated quarterly at least.
I asked Chat GPT for an investor FAQ template and it immediately spewed out a set of 14 questions. It can easily answer these if provided with the facts. And soon there will be no need for fact-based questions or answers to be answered in real time at an investor call – my FAQ can talk to your FAQ. Only questions not in the FAQ will be answered by an actual, valuable, human.
Marketing Takeaway:
Apply the power of AI to get useful information out to your customers. You can finally customize to a market of one! And systems can talk to other systems.
The fine print is now an easy read
I don’t deal well with an overload of information. I would like organic food, but it shouldn’t travel a long distance and it also has to be tasty. You’d have to read a ton of labels to understand this. When all the data in the world can be communicated in simple language, recommendation engines will emerge that will sift through all the data and tell me what I should buy.
Marketing Takeaway:
Prepare to sell to recommendation engines. Or set up one yourself. Sites like Home Tester Club might prove useful if their detailed reviews feed into these recommendation engines.
The rise of trust symbols
In the midst of all this information, you can count either on (a) Arnab Goswami to tell you the truth or (b) count on the wisdom of the masses in the form of reviews or (c) worship at the feet of trusted celebrities.
Stars have the required reach to disseminate their AI generated content. Priyanka Chopra has the chops to convince you that their “high-performance, environmentally-conscious, and clean formulas” are the real deal for Anomaly Hair Care. Rihanna launched a makeup line “so that people everywhere would be included,” focusing on a wide range of traditionally hard-to-match skin tones, creating formulas that work for all skin types, and pinpointing universal shades. She co-owns 50% of Fenty Beauty along with LVMH.
Ryan Reynolds has minted money with his various brands as well – usually leading to an acquisition by a market leader.
Marketing Takeaway:
Large established firms seeking to build digital-first brands will need to partner with these credible authorities in order to garner reach and credibility for their products. For the requisite authenticity the products will need to be co-created not just endorsed.
The huge potential of ChatGPT is in translating the huge oceans of data into meaningful language on demand. This doesn’t have to be only B2C – there will be even bigger potential in B2B.
More on that another day!
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