Mark Anthony, Jelmar Execs Debate on Whether AI Is Making Marketers Less Important
AI is transforming the traditional responsibilities of the marketer, and at the Consumer Goods Sales & Marketing Tech Summit, held Oct. 20-21 in Chicago, two senior leaders debated how much the dynamic is changing.
When asked whether AI outperforms marketing teams when deciding where, when and how to spend media dollars, Sam Wong, senior director of data and AI, The Mark Anthony Group of Cos., said AI takes a continuous look at consumer behavior, inventory, pricing, geography and media performance and makes decisions immediately.
"Do I think marketers disappear from media? No, but I think the number of people required to manage media declines dramatically,” he said.
Jaci Volles, chief marketing and strategy officer, Jelmar, maker of CLR Brands, said that while her company engages in automated media buying, she has learned that there are calls that humans still need to make (such as what social channels audiences are active on).
“I’m an AI fan, but a super human fan. ROAS is not always the most important thing, but we as humans get to say, ‘This is our audience. This is what we need, and that's what a human can do that a computer can’t,” Volles said.
When it comes to leaving trade promotion decisions up to the algorithms, Volles said a human needs to be in the mix.
“Just because the data tells us this is the right thing to do with pricing, doesn't mean we should do it, because what will come out of that is a lack of consumer trust. I want the data, but they have to have the human element participate,” said Volles.
Wong leans toward a different AI-led approach, citing the success of PepsiCo’s pro AI system, which evaluates millions of product, promotion and pricing combinations to guide the creation of promotional calendars.
“They reported 85% of the [AI] recommendations were accepted and executed. So if the machine is right 85% of the time, the human role becomes more about managing exceptions,” he said.
From his point of view, “the best field sales teams may eventually be the ones that execute what the algorithm tells them to do.”
But what about the future of traditional marketing plans? Volles still believes in an annual plan, but one with fluidity.
“It's hard for me to say it's only about humans because you've got to have the data and be super fluid to adjust on a regular basis,” she said.
Wong agreed that while marketing plans are a great idea, they are too static. AI can only help make adjustments that keep up with trends.
“They're dealing with 13 billion computations every day, making adjustments to their plans. So imagine having that power at your fingertips to help accelerate a plan,” he said.
Looking five years ahead, marketers will have to decide what decisions will be left to machines and what will be human-led. Wong believes it will be about alignment.
“We have access to more data than any other point in history, and that's going to continue to grow. So how is a human able to digest all that information and make those decisions?” said Wong.
According to Volles, the future is going to be about building a team that can think critically and challenge AI.
“You never go to AI and ask the question and assume that what comes out is accurate," she said. "The future is going to be about surrounding yourself with people who can do critical thinking.”
Ultimately, both Wong and Volles agreed on keeping a human in the marketing loop, especially when it comes to guardrails, guidelines and framework.
This article was originally published on P2PI sibling publication Consumer Goods Technology.
