GroupM: marketers believe in Big Data and artificial intelligence, less enthusiasm for AR and the Internet of Things
Big data and artificial intelligence are the disciplines in which Polish advertisers most strongly believe in the impact on marketing. A GroupM study involving top marketers shows that they now attach less importance to AR, VR, or the Internet of Things.
Big data and AI leaders among technologies
Big data and artificial intelligence are the solutions in which Polish advertisers most strongly believe in the impact on the future of marketing. More than half of them believe these are technologies that will strongly shape the future of the industry, shows a GroupM study involving 50 top local marketers. Less faith in their translation into what marketing will look like is enjoyed by augmented reality (AR) or the Internet of Things – technologies that a few years ago were sweeping industry media and conferences.
Augmented reality loses recognition
Marketers' beliefs often go hand in hand with the actual use of new technologies in various solutions for marketing and business.
- Indeed, the greatest surge of tools and start-ups today is observed in the area of big data and artificial intelligence solutions. I'm talking here about both geolocation solutions, such as Proxi.Cloud, which works with us, and image recognition, part of AI developed among others by the start-up Astra One associated with mSpark – says Tomasz Szulkowski, COO of mSpark, a start-up accelerator operating alongside GroupM
– On the list covered in the study, however, we also have technologies that still offer promising solutions for marketing but have ceased to be appreciated by advertisers, perhaps due to earlier 'overpromise,' i.e. their overhyping a few years ago. I'm talking, for example, about augmented reality, which is only now gaining momentum in social media. Advertising creatives that allow the consumer, for instance, to enter a virtual fitting room and try on glasses or earrings of a given brand on their own face are gaining popularity, and these are precisely the capabilities of AR – adds Szulkowski.
The epidemic accelerates digital change
The GroupM study was conducted in April of this year, during the coronavirus epidemic.
- Because of it, technological transformations accelerated, and the effects of some of them, such as the shift toward e-commerce, may stay with us for longer. The economic slowdown, however, may mean an acceleration of innovation in media. I wouldn't be surprised if television channels now took a greater interest in, for example, the addressable TV desired by marketers, i.e. targeted television – says Izabela Albrychiewicz, CEO of GroupM, under which the agencies Wavemaker, MediaCom, and Mindshare operate.
The GroupM study was carried out using online interviews in April of this year.
Concepts from the article
AI — Artificial Intelligence. A set of methods and systems performing tasks usually requiring human reasoning, learning, perception, or content generation. In HEXX AI CMS, it includes language models, document analysis, and automations.
Why it matters: It takes over repetitive tasks — transcriptions, descriptions, translations, selection — and shortens the path from idea to publication. In a newsroom, it means more time for work a machine won't do: evaluation, contacts, decisions.
When it's used: To generate and edit content, analyze documents, transcribe, translate, and automate the flow of materials.
What the omission risks: Without AI, the team manually performs bulk work (photo descriptions, language versions, summaries), while the competition publishes faster and cheaper.
Summary
Polish advertisers attribute the greatest impact on the future of marketing to big data and artificial intelligence – according to a GroupM study conducted among 50 top marketers. AR, VR, or the Internet of Things, which sparked excessive enthusiasm a few years ago, matter less to them. Experts point out that AR is only now finding practical application in social media, for example in virtual fitting rooms. The study was conducted in April, during the coronavirus epidemic, which accelerated technological transformations and the shift toward e-commerce. GroupM CEO Izabela Albrychiewicz predicts that the economic slowdown will prompt television channels to take an interest in targeted television (addressable TV).
