Gartner: CMOs Need to Handle AI’s Double-Edged Sword with Care

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A report by Gartner advises CMOs to tread carefully in the use of generative AI to avoid damage to their brands, and to invest in top creative talent to distinguish their content from generic, machine-produced messaging.

HERE’S TODAY’S ACTIONABLE AI MARKETING AGENDA:

• Top News: Post-Cookie Strategic Alliance Formed by Acxiom and MetaRouter

• AI Marketing Trends Analysis: Gartner: CMOs Need to Handle AI’s Double-Edged Sword with Care

• Marketing Tech VC Deal: Influencer Marketing Platform Primetag Raises $3.5 Million

• Today’s Master Marketing Tip: Steve Jobs, founder of Apple

TOP NEWS

Post-Cookie Strategic Alliance Formed by Acxiom and MetaRouter

MetaRouter, the provider of a first-party data collection and integration platform, has formed a strategic partnership with Acxiom, a provider of identity and customer data management solutions, to provide new marketing tech stacks that help clients fine-tune their first-party data strategies.

The strategic move comes as third-party cookies are set for complete phase-out by Google starting this quarter, making that long-standing strategy for tracking online behavior obsolete.

Acxiom and MetaRouter say they’ve already launched projects with several clients using their newly combined tech stack, designed to address a pressing need for alternative first-party data strategies.

“By collaborating with MetaRouter, brands can leverage our customer intelligence cloud capabilities across advertising and marketing efforts, optimizing first-party data strategies to drive those personalization events that customers expect today,” said Jason Skelton, Head of European Partnerships at Acxiom.

The two companies say their new collaborative approach enables clients to tap the potential of internally owned data, leading to more informed decision-making, precise marketing reach and better ROI.

AI MARKETING TRENDS ANALYSIS

Gartner: CMOs Need to Handle AI’s Double-Edged Sword with Care

The market research firm Gartner recently released a roundup analysis and set of forecasts for CMOs, based on a several separate surveys about major trends in AI adoption as well as customer perceptions of the tech’s use in marketing operations.

The report’s high-level takeaways indicate that AI tools for marketers will continue as an important enhancement for the work flows of advanced creative professionals, but that audiences are growing increasingly concerned about misuse of the technology.

Among key points included in Gartner’s survey roundup are the following:

• A survey of 320 consumers conducted in 2023 found consumers’ perception that AI-powered experiences and capabilities are better than humans is eroding.

• A separate survey of 305 consumers, also conducted in 2023, found 72% of consumers believe AI-based content generators could spread false or misleading information.

• Over 7 in 10 consumers think that greater integration of GenAI into social media will harm user experience.

Due to these concerns, CMOs will still need to adopt AI innovations to increase productivity of their teams’ creative talent, while taking into account the risks to their brands that could result if done so without strategic care, according to the report.

“The use of GenAI in a creative team’s routine daily work frees them up to do higher level, more impactful creative ideation, testing, and analysis,” said Emily Weiss, Senior Principal Researcher in the Gartner Marketing Practice. “As a result, creative will play a more important and measurable role in driving business results, and CMOs will actually increase their spending on creative and content.”

In this regard, the report makes the following forecasts:

• By 2026, 80% of advanced creative roles will be tasked with harnessing GenAI to achieve differentiated results, requiring CMOs to spend more on this talent.

• By 2026, 60% of CMOs will adopt content authenticity technology, enhanced monitoring, and brand-endorsed user-generated content to protect their brands from deception caused by GenAI.

• By 2027, 20% of brands will lean into positioning and differentiation based on messaging the absence of AI in their businesses and products.

“Mistrust and lack of confidence in AI’s abilities will drive some consumers to seek out AI-free brands and interactions,” said Weiss. “A subsection of brands will shun AI and prioritize more human positioning. This ‘acoustic’ concept will be leveraged to distance brands from perceptions of AI-powered businesses as impersonal and homogeneous.”

The report also found the following, regarding AI-enhanced search:

• A Gartner survey of 299 consumers in August 2023 found consumers are ready for AI-enhanced search, with 79% of respondents expecting to use it within the year.

• 70% of consumers expressed at least some trust in GenAI-backed search results.

“CMOs must prepare for the disruption that GenAI-backed search will bring to their organic search strategies,” said Weiss. “Marketing leaders whose brands rely on SEO should consider allocating resources to testing other channels in order to diversify.”

MARKETING TECH VC DEAL

Influencer Marketing Platform Primetag Raises $3.5 Million

Primetag, the provider of an influencer marketing data and analytics platform, has raised $3.5 million of venture capital that was co-led by Indico Capital Partners and Iberis Capital.

Founded ten years ago, Primetag offers an SaaS platform that enables influencer marketing planning, measurement, and the optimization of campaigns, providing omnichannel measurement for both online and offline sales conversions.

The company’s solution allows marketers to gain insights about influencer audience size, growth rate and average reach rates, as well as easily compare content performance across formats, such as average reach rate, impressions, views, replies, and likes.

Primetag said it will use the new investment funds to expand its product pipeline, markets, and sales capabilities, and finalize an MVP designed for a new line of business.

TODAY’S MARKETING MASTER TIP:

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THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY, FOLKS!