In the follow-up to my original musings on the future of AI in marketing1, where I laid out five bold predictions for the close of this decade, I’ve decided to hone in on a topic that’s causing quite the buzz in marketing circles: hyper-personalization at scale.
Imagine a future where your car not only knows your driving preferences but also syncs with your schedule to suggest the best times to travel, the optimal routes to take, and the most convenient places to stop for a coffee – your coffee, just the way you like it. As we fine-tune data and AI algorithms, the narrative of hyper-personalization unfolds, paving the way for captivating marketing experiences that cater to individual needs and preferences.
Picture this: You’re walking down the street, lost in thought, and your smartphone buzzes. It’s an alert from your favorite coffee shop – the one with that rich, dark roast you can’t resist – offering a coupon just as you pass by. It seems serendipitous, doesn’t it? But as we’ve learned, serendipity has a new partner in AI.
Hyper-personalization at scale is the marketing equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack without ever setting foot in the barn. It’s AI’s capability to whisper into the ear of the consumer with a message so apt, so timely, that it feels like kismet. It’s this ‘at scale’ part that’s truly revolutionary. No longer is personalized marketing the domain of boutique shops and high-end services. Now, it’s everywhere, for everyone, and it’s reshaping customer expectations in every sector.
Rewind to my earlier days, fresh out of B-School in ’97, when personalized marketing meant addressing customers by their first names in emails. Today, that same concept has undergone a metamorphosis, much like I witnessed the transformation of the music industry from analog to digital, and games from boxed products to cloud-streamed experiences.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate the finesse with which companies like Amazon and Netflix have championed this art. Amazon, with its anticipatory shipping2, has turned predictive analytics into a customer delight dance, leading the waltz of what you need next. Netflix, on the other hand, curates your evening entertainment as if it knows you better than you know yourself, recommending “that one series with the dragons” just as you’re thinking about it.
But the charm of hyper-personalization doesn’t just lie in its ability to surprise and delight. It’s also about the numbers – the sheer scale of possibilities. Imagine a world where every marketing message is a one-on-one conversation using natural language processing with each customer, irrespective of your database size. That’s the magic we’re witnessing; that’s the reality we’re building towards as we edge closer to 2030.
Yet, as we’ve all experienced, with great data comes great responsibility. The modern marketer walks a tightrope between personal and invasive, between delightful and downright creepy. It’s about striking that balance where the customer feels understood, not watched.
As I look back at my time leading marketing for Amazon Prime Video’s Direct publishing platform, I recall the exhilaration of transforming content delivery through direct consumer insights. This level of engagement and understanding of creator-audience dynamics was just the beginning. And at HTC VIVE, launching VIVEPORT, the industry’s first VR apps subscription service, taught me the potential of personalized content in immersive experiences – a lesson in customer engagement that continues to inform my strategies.
So what’s next on this thrilling journey? For one, companies will need to harness the raw power of customer data platforms (CDPs) to create these hyper-personalized experiences3. They will have to weave together customer interactions across all touchpoints, much like a conductor leading an orchestra to a harmonious crescendo, ensuring each instrument – or in this case, channel – plays its part perfectly.
In concluding this episode, I invite you to envision a marketing world of 2030 where every interaction is an opportunity to understand and serve the customer better. The narrative of hyper-personalization is being written today, with every piece of data and every AI algorithm we fine-tune. And as we continue to navigate this fascinating landscape together, one thing remains clear: The path to hyper-personalized marketing at scale is as infinite and diverse as the human element it seeks to captivate.
- https://rahulsandil.com/2023/10/28/how-ai-will-revolutionize-marketing-by-the-end-of-this-decade-5-predictions-based-on-27-years-of-learnings-as-a-marketer/ ↩︎
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2014/01/28/why-amazons-anticipatory-shipping-is-pure-genius/?sh=7bc6e9904605 ↩︎
- https://www.everestgrp.com/cx-customer-experience/customer-data-platform-the-torchbearer-of-the-personalization-at-scale-movement.html#:~:text=Customer%20Data%20Platforms%20(CDPs)%20enable,market%20can%20set%20brands%20apart. ↩︎
Image created using AI with Adobe Firefly. Prompt: dark haired Person walking on a planet made of colorful chocolate looking at options of other colorful planets in a cyberpunk style
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