GenAI in the Mix
The marketing function has undergone several waves of transformation over the past decades, thanks to the evolution of technology. From black-and-white print ads and footnotes to digital hoardings, video ads, social media ads, and hyper-personalized ads, we have come a long way. But something that has reduced significantly is the lack of room for error. While there were enough “marketing-gone-wrong” incidents in the past, one luxury marketers enjoyed was the time to rectify their mistakes. For instance, in 2006, Sony delivered a printed ad in the Netherlands to market its white-colored Playstation Portable with the tagline, “Playstation Portable. White is Coming”. The poster portrayed a massive white woman with an aggressive expression, tightly holding the face of a scared-looking black woman. Sony was criticized a lot for its racist remarks, but it pulled the campaign and apologized to anyone offended by the ad. Things quickly went back to normal. But more recently, Dove entered muddy waters for a not-so-vaguely racist advertisement. When the ad hit social media, hell broke loose, and Unilever eventually apologized, saying it should “never have happened.” They even faced calls for boycotting.
The vast reach of the online world and social media means that even minor oversights can significantly harm a brand's reputation. Marketing professionals must move beyond relying on assumptions or gut feelings. Instead, they should leverage the most reliable source of information: customer data. This approach ensures that advertisements are not only effective but also align with ethical standards and societal expectations. Going forward, things are going to get more interesting with the fine-tuning stage of AI in marketing. IDC predicts that by 2027, GenAI will assume 30 percent of traditional marketing's mundane tasks, such as SEO, content and website optimization, customer data analysis, segmentation, lead scoring and hyper-personalization. On this note, we present our yearly special edition, which sheds light on marketing leaders in Japan.