GroupM recently asked its clients and partners to imagine these conversations between a consumer and their digital assistant (in this case, the Amazon Echo with Alexa voice recognition). “Alexa, what’s the most recommended anti-dandruff shampoo?” And on a different occasion, the digital assistant says to its owner: “You ordered ‘Brand A’ but ‘Brand B’ has a higher average recommendation – which one would you like?”
This was part of a passage about ‘What’s next for marketers’ in GroupM’s annual ‘Interaction’ document, which analyses the advertising market for clients and partners. It is another example of how the marketing industry is thinking about the implications of Artificial Intelligence for brands and advertisers. We reported recently how Omnicom Media Group believes it will have to start influencing the purchase behaviour of machines at some point.
The GroupM document highlights the ongoing need for a ‘data story’ to ensure discoverability for brands. It suggests that “as augmented reality teaches consumers to expect a data overlay on the real world, brands might wish to participate in this.” The thought-leadership report also suggests brands will need an actual physical voice, or at least the ability to respond to the human voice. “Voice search, and voice commands to IoT devices – from Echo to the autonomous vehicle – will, in some cases at least, require a spoken response,” the company says.