2020 Digital Trends Deep Dive: AI Gets Marketers Back into Marketing - Adobe
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2020 Digital Trends Deep Dive: AI Gets Marketers Back into Marketing 2020 Digital Trends 1
AI Gets Marketers Back into Marketing
Artificial intelligence frees marketers from daily AI capabilities rooted in solid tech foundations
minutiae
Ironically, for a technology that takes analysis beyond the
There is often a tendency for new technologies to be seen not human realm, AI/ML provides a means for enterprises to
as a means to an end, but an end in themselves. Underlying understand and connect with people more closely. This is
business aims and objectives can be lost in the fervour, with inarguably an area where many companies still struggle, even
the investment case not properly thought through. if they have paid top-dollar for the best minds in the business.
With artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), To make best use of this capability, however, organisations
things are no different. Gartner’s 2019 Emerging Technologies need to build solid foundations:
Hype Cycle1 published in August 2019, notes the rapidly
accelerating interest that has been seen around advanced AI • They need to have properly marshalled their resources –
and analytics applications. With their ability to enable “deeper whether cultural, organisational or technological – and
insights, predictions and recommendations”, they are placed aligned them around a strong commercial strategy. It’s
alongside other developing technologies with “superhuman no good creating new insight into customer behaviour
capabilities”, such as personification and augmented without the ability to direct it effectively, or to invest
intelligence, on a rising curve of expectation. in new capabilities without a clear vision of what the
business wants to achieve with them.
But AI/ML – like any digital technology – is no business
panacea. And for marketers, it is only really of relevance if it • Some have positioned AI/ML – along with blockchain,
helps fulfil one goal: helping deliver an improved experience quantum computing and others – as a ‘post-digital’
for customers. technology, suggesting that digital transformation is a
prerequisite for full exploitation of these technologies
and techniques. Just in the realm of IT, many
organisations are still working towards achieving this
level of preparation. As seen in Figure 1, only one in ten
respondents say their businesses have successfully
implemented a ‘highly integrated, cloud-based
technology stack’, for example.
• While AI is atomised across multiple systems and
platforms, its foundation is the same data pool and
infrastructure as the rest of marketing; the databases
that support the tech stack.
1
https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/5-trends-appear-on-the-gartner-hype-cycle-for-emerging-technologies-2019/
2020 Digital Trends 2
Figure 1: What best describes your organisation’s approach to marketing and customer experience technology?
45% 9% 7% 26% 32% 28% 18% 45% 44% 11% 14% 21%
We have a highly We have a somewhat We have a fragmented We have little or no
integrated, cloud-based integrated, cloud-based approach with cloud-based technology
technology stack technology stack inconsistent integration
between technologies
CX leaders Large organisations (>£150m) Mainstream Respondents: 3,086
Perhaps, then, it’s not surprising that those companies This survey also shows clearly that organisations remain
with highly integrated martech stacks, based in the cloud, focused on the main goal of CX improvement. Utilising AI/
appear to be the early winners from AI/ML; these companies bots to drive campaigns and experiences is only eighth on
are more than twice as likely as those with other types of the list when respondents laid out their ‘single most exciting
technology setup to rate their AI/ML initiatives as ‘very opportunity’, heading into 2020. The broad objective of
effective’. optimising the customer experience remains first.
These table stakes for AI/ML likely explain why many AI/ML has most rapidly gained traction so far – and is set
organisations have not yet leapt into this brave new world. to grow further during 2020 – among CX leaders and larger
companies.
Naturally, these types of organisations will have many of their
digital ducks in a row already. Larger businesses typically
Barriers to AI adoption
have greater resources to take bets on new initiatives, and
the scale that makes the business case for efficiencies much
The companies that have not yet embraced artificial
easier to make. When your customer base extends into the
intelligence cite various barriers. Practical, internal limitations
millions, enabling real-time, high-quality experiences for each
around maturity, knowledge and resource feature heavily.
individual is becoming impossible to achieve without the aid
Notably, the proportion of non-adopters that see themselves
of AI/ML and a strong digital platform.
as ‘not mature enough to make use of AI’ has actually been
rising year-by-year, and now stands at 31% (Figure 2).
2020 Digital Trends 3
Figure 2: Why is your organisation not using or planning to use AI?
42%
No perceived need 38%
45%
33%
We haven’t assessed how we
30%
could use AI
36%
25%
Our organisation is not mature
27%
enough to make use of AI
31%
41%
Lack of knowledge on how we can
33%
use it
31%
38%
Lack of resource 32%
27%
14%
Current solutions are too
14%
expensive
17%
Amount of time required to 8%
train AI system logic 11%
12%
Lack of high quality data 13%
10%
Data in too many locations / not 9%
accessible 9%
12%
Current solutions are not advanced
12%
enough
7%
4%
Other 4%
3%
2018 2019 2020 Respondents: 1,475
How AI drives telecoms innovation But despite this urgency, Vodafone thereafter implemented
an AI framework designed to ensure internal deployments
Telecoms and media service providers, with their vast scale were performed in a controlled manner.4 “Only AI which is
and growth challenges, fit into this category. Marketing trustworthy, secure and robust has the potential to achieve
intelligence company Tractica has called the telecoms mass market adoption,” said the operator.
industry ‘ripe’ for AI-driven solutions, saying it will spend
$11.2bn on them by 2025, making the sector one of the As shown in Figure 3, large companies see a broad range
biggest spenders on this technology.2 of areas where AI/ML can help them perform tasks more
effectively.
When Vodafone changed leadership in late 2018, one of new
CFO Margherita Della Valle’s first moves was to accelerate
digital transformation initiatives, including rollout of its AI-
enabled TOBi virtual assistant. “This is all about now being
digital-first, because I believe that the size of the prize from
digital is so material that spending excessive time planning
and refining has a significant opportunity cost”, Della Valle
said.3
2
https://www.tractica.com/newsroom/press-releases/the-telecommunications-industry-is-ripe-for-artificial-
intelligence-driven-solutions-with-service-providers-expected-to-spend-11-2-billion-by-2025
3
https://investors.vodafone.com/static-files/5923bba4-4619-4a3a-85c6-7b84dac19365
4
https://www.vodafone.com/perspectives/blog/vodafone-launches-artificial-intelligence-framework
2020 Digital Trends 4
Figure 3: How effective do you think AI has been in the areas where it has been applied in your organisation? (organisations with annual revenues of
over £150m)
Data analysis 32% 57%
Content creation 21% 54%
Optimisation and testing 19% 65%
Automated campaigns 16% 70%
Email marketing 16% 60%
On-site personalisation 10% 66%
Programmatic advertising 10% 74%
Very effective Effective Respondents: 108
Their usage of AI/ML leans naturally towards areas where big
and fast data processing is required, making the limitations
of traditional processes and systems most obvious. Data
analysis is where AI/ML’s penetration is highest, with almost
nine in ten (89%) large businesses seeing the technology
as either ‘effective’ or ‘very effective’ here (Figure 3). This
is followed by automated campaigns, optimisation and
testing, and programmatic advertising – all areas that also
involve constant, quick-fire assessment of myriad variables
and possibilities, in order to power real-time, on-demand
interactions with customers.5
Sky UK is a good example of a major brand that has already
embraced AI in order to power real-time, personalised
experiences for its customers. Within its marketing stack,
the TV, phone and broadband provider is using the AI-enabled
features of an optimisation tool, coupled with analytics
software, to boost CX. Automated personalisation software
is helping Sky deliver much more effective, hyper-focused
product recommendations to customers, while analytics
technology is being used to direct callers to the right
customer service agent based on numerous attributes. AI is
at the heart of Sky’s push to help “bring customer intelligence
and communications far closer together”.
5
https://www.adobe.com/customer-success-stories/sky-uk-case-study.html; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk8__5o4WXE
2020 Digital Trends 5
Methodology Digital Trends 10th Edition is based on an online survey fielded to select Adobe and Econsultancy lists in the fourth quarter of 2019. The survey closed on November 8th having collected 12,740 qualified responses. Demographic profiles •Sixty percent of all respondents (7,531) are client-side marketers. The remaining sample is made up of consultants, executives at agencies and marketing technology/services vendors. •Eighty-two percent of client-side responses were at the manager level or above. •As defined by target market, the sample is almost evenly split between B2B (34%), B2C (32%) and those addressing both markets equally (34%). •O rganisational revenues run the gamut from SMBs (31% have revenues under £50M) to larger organisations (26% have revenues between £50 and £1 billion) and the world’s largest organisations (15% have revenues over £1 billion). • The sample is global, with EMEA providing the largest share of respondents (46%), followed by North America (38%) and the Asia-Pacific region at 10%. The survey was translated into French, German, Chinese and Japanese. •E very business sector is represented, with concentrations in Technology (11%), Media (8%), Financial Services (8%) and Manufacturing (8%). 2020 Digital Trends 6
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