Audio by Paige L. using WellSaid Labs

Last week, MMA Global hosted their annual CMO & CEO Summit in California where an intimate group of industry leaders across various markets were united by the vision of making the right investments for the growth of their business. The event was fabulous, informative, and left many of us who attended feeling inspired. I wanted to share some of what was learned and discussed at the event. 

Some key takeaways: 

• Brand building is as financially measurable as performance 
• Companies that can adapt quickly and incorporate change rather than resist it will be the most successful 
• AI is primed for high-value audience targeting

Brand building is as financially measurable as performance 

A panel of Fortune 500 CMOs spoke about their strategy for building long-term ROI with near term initiatives. One of the most effective ways to create long-term value with marketing initiatives is to invest in building a brand for the business that resonates with buyers. Dedicating a portion of the budget for the year to test brand resonance with buyers and incorporate those learnings into new collateral ultimately yields long-term benefits by converting buyers who recognize the brand and increasing customer loyalty.

Companies that can adapt quickly and incorporate change rather than ignore it will be the most successful

Over the last 10 years, AI solutions have entered the market by creating efficiencies in our businesses by streamlining repeatable processes; and in turn, saving time and money. But in the past several years, there has been tremendous development with regards to AI, so much so that systems can ingest data, process and contextualize it, and then build an output based on various predictions, creating an entirely new value of the technology—monetization. This type of AI is commonly referred to as generative AI (genAI).

Yet, with most innovative and new technology comes concerns about implementation, ethical considerations, and long term effects on the industry as a whole. Executives from top global brands shared their conviction around innovation and adaptation. To be successful, companies must continue to innovate and adapt to changing markets. As genAI continues to evolve and improve, more companies will incorporate it into their workflows. Those who start to embrace the technology today, will not only pave the way forward, but will be in the best competitive position down the road.   

How to use AI for high-value audience targeting

Executives from Fortune 100 companies shared insights into how they are starting to incorporate genAI into their marketing strategy. The below examples share one common theme: personalization at scale while maintaining budget, with the main objective to increase lift.

One example is a text output, where one can write a command like “write one-sentence marketing copy for our new product X, for each of the defined target demographics''. Imagine the business impact of being able to scale personalized and targeted, engaging ad content to each of your audiences, all while sticking to your budget. 

Another example is an image output, where one enters a text description of an image and the genAI algorithm renders an image. Similar to the text output, the image output can be used to create infinite variations of marketing collateral to reach an infinite number of prospective buyers that resonate on a personal level. 

A third example is human voice output generated by AI. In an example where a company tested localized audio advertising with a male and female voice having different accents, this company saw returns of $30 for every $1 spent. Like the previous examples, one can now build audio and video ads unique to demographics, at scale, without compromising quality, and in any language.

Leadership teams are starting to align internally on a strategy, and identify the objectives and goals of incorporating AI into their workflows. Many are bringing ethical considerations and security into the top of the conversation for deploying AI. And the biggest takeaway here is to start small, slowly incorporate, test, iterate, and evolve with the technology.

The MMA Global event, the networking, the informative sessions, all left an indelible mark on my career in tech. It was incredible to listen to thought leaders share their ideas of incorporating this exciting new technology into their business.