Monday Morning Marketer: Musings from Viva Tech 2018
Another VivaTech has come and gone, leaving us with lots of food for thought on marketing, technology, and the growing intersect between the two in the digital economy.
Despite the long lines ("Viva Queue" was overheard more than once at Stage One and food lines), this year’s event didn’t disappoint, with President Emmanuel Macron and a host of other prominent technology CEOs (Facebook, Microsoft, Uber, SAP, IBM among others) all presenting. Oh, and the official launch of GDPR on Friday too …
Most of the themes I’d anticipated before the show (check out my preview article here) held true, with big data, and its use for both business growth and societal good, front and center across sessions both days. Here are a few additional takeaways:
Personalization comes at a cost
A bulk of time was devoted to GDPR and how companies are adapting their customer engagement practices to comply. (NOTE: one company, Snips, a private-by-design voice assistant, took a more festive approach, throwing an all-night party to celebrate GDPR's official launch).
In large part, consumers have opted to share their data with companies, in exchange for tailoring a product or service to their specific wants or needs. What GDPR has done is remind them when they've done so, and given back some control and transparency on how that data is used, as well as to create accountability when a company misuses it. In his fireside chat, Mark Zuckerberg cited that good regulation can reinforce trust between consumers and companies, and how Facebook will roll out tighter controls not just in EU, but to all users, in the coming months as a result of GDPR.
He specifically mentioned the Clear My History function, which will allow users to clear their historical data on Facebook a similar fashion to clearing your cookie cache and browsing history (NOTE: I find it interesting that this feature has been around for quite awhile, as the CNET article linked above was published in 2014).
The big question on the table remains — are consumers willing to forego the higher level of personalization they've grown accustomed to, in exchange for data privacy? For example, allowing Facebook to relearn your preferences for your news feed. Thus far, the vast majority of consumers still choose to opt in or ignore the barrage of privacy policy emails they've received asking for consent around GPDR, due in no small part to the varied 'legalese' verbiage used in those messages.
Augmenting human capability
Many people fear that technology, led by AI, will become the dominant form of intelligence on Earth, with computers or bots taking control of the planet away from humans.
While there are many people, both in media and tech (Elon Musk comes to mind) in this camp, most speakers at VivaTech encouraged us to embrace data as the opportunity and challenge of our lifetimes. The mass consensus was that AI will not replace humans, but augment our existing capabilities by removing mundane tasks not typically in our wheelhouse (math, memory recall) and free us up to focus on tasks that require human judgment and creativity.
“Nothing in life is to be feared, only to be understood” — Marie Curie
Freedom within a framework
Several years ago, I rolled out an updated framework for shopper marketing strategy and activation at Coca-Cola. My supporting argument then was the same as that cited now with AI — process (or new tech) can drive creativity, by handling routine tasks and freeing up brainpower to work on the stuff most marketers prefer to do — understanding their customers and crafting better creative that delights and inspires them (to buy).As a marketer, I'm especially interested in how marketing will evolve in this new economy. AI and IoT has the potential to automate several marketing tasks:
- Content optimization (real-time edits to key visuals and calls to action, with AB tests to test & learn)
- Precision marketing (micro-targeting consumers based on a variety of attributes, on an evolving basis, not just once a year)
- Merchandising compliance (bots that perform store audits and planogram checks)
I spent an afternoon watching top startups pitch at the L’Oreal booth, as well as visiting with others on the floor, and saw that many of these technologies are already here, just waiting to be deployed.
Widespread adoption of AI will only happen with human intelligence and creativity providing the oversight it demands. That being said, there are two imperatives that companies must act upon:
- Re-training our workforce for new collar jobs
In the context of outsourcing tasks, not jobs, to technology, teams must build new skills to capitalize on the vast potential that the proliferation of data presents. Skills around the interpretation and application of data will be key.
Marc Pritchard from P&G asked, “does marketing still matter?” The response is a resounding yes, but companies must enable their teams to evolve from project managers that outsource everything to having their “hands on the keyboard” and lean into the analytics, insights, and creative development that AI and machine learning gives them more time to do.
New collar jobs will require the reinvention of skills and education, with retraining no longer handled exclusively through traditional means (e.g., diplomas from 4 year universities). It will also require larger companies to rethink how they view investment in employee training, with companies contributing, but not owning, employees' long-term careers, as average tenures continue to shrink.
At VivaTech, Crédit Mutuel announced a joint venture with IBM, reassigning 200,000 working days annually towards training, upgrading advisors’ skills and expanding sales activities through deployment of AI solutions powered by Watson.
2. Ethics to guide what & how we apply new tech
Just because we can doesn’t mean we should do something (said in a parent-like tone). Yes, data and technology are drivers for insight, goodness, and better outcomes, but as Facebook's recent struggles with election integrity (referenced 4 times in Zuckerberg's chat) have shown, it's no longer enough to assume that on balance people use those tools for good.
Controls through regulation (like GDPR) are a good start, but it's not enough. As a business community, we need to assess the ethical boundaries of how far we're willing to augment human capability and how that technology is democratized to ensure it's equally shared.
In one session, speakers discussed how technology could be used not just to overcome limitations (missing limb, brain damage) and return to the previous norm, but to significantly enhance them. Think about athletes with smart glasses that improve visibility and performance measurement, a mechanical arm that allows you to lift 2–3 times as much or rotate your hand 360 degrees, or brain 'food' that you ingest to boost neural activity? This last example reminds me of steroids in major sports, where strict regulation had to be implemented to ensure a level playing field.
Defining ethical guidelines around topics like these is no small task and will require collaboration across companies. Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, committed to sharing IBM's principles around transparency and trust with other companies, which is a good start and hopefully role models that behavior for others to follow suit.
Working in our favor, consumers are increasingly savvy, and will reward companies that are transparent and worthy of their trust.
#TechForGood
Let's end this article on a positive note.
President Macron has set a high bar (a "moonshot" in his words) for global technology companies, both in his meeting with several CEOs on Wednesday and reinforced in his keynote Thursday morning. The same principle I mentioned earlier — doing what we already do better — doesn’t just apply in a business setting, but also across society as a whole.
Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, used the term “digital prosperity,” referencing how we augment existing capabilities with IoT and blockchain technology to achieve more and improve people’s lives. In SAP’s case, this constitutes two filters in their product/portfolio planning: does it help the environment? Does it help society?
There were many great examples cited at VivaTech, of AI being used to address social challenges, including but not limited to:
- IBM's Call for Code initiative, in partnership with the United Nations Human Rights Office and Red Cross, asking developers worldwide for solutions that improve preparedness for natural disasters
- SAP's partnership with ERP (Elephants, Rhino, People), for the tracking, monitoring, and protection of endangered animals in Africa
Given the uncertainty and fear that exists around big data and new technologies in this era of change, it's refreshing to remind ourselves every once in a while of the greater good that can come from our work.
Want to hear more about VivaTech? Drop me a note — happy to share the rest of my notes and takeaways from the event.