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So let me start
by bringing you back in time.
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We are 30 years ago,
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and the first word processors
and spreadsheets
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are about to hit the market.
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And the whole economic world is bracing
for the next big productivity revolution.
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Their promise at the time was
we'd all spend so much less time writing,
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drawing slides, computing
numbers on a calculator.
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And here we are, 30 years later,
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and the promise has come true.
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We all have so much
leisure time on our hands,
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and personally, I only work
two days a week.
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Of course, I'm just kidding.
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The reality of what
has happened 30 years later
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is we don't work less.
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We just write much longer word documents.
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And our PowerPoint decks
have gone from six slides to 50 slides.
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And I say that as a consultant.
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Also, we engage in much more
complex decision-making
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because the amount of data
that we have to process has just exploded.
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And why is that important today?
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Well, generative AI is coming,
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and it's coming to be embedded
in the core of our organizations
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and the way we work.
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And that will be the next
big productivity revolution.
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So the question becomes:
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how do we set ourselves up to actually
seize this productivity opportunity?
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I'm a marketer.
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I spent all my career in marketing
and also advising marketing professionals.
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Now, some say marketing is the number one
impacted function out there.
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Some say the productivity
impact in marketing
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is as high as 50 percent.
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So that question of how can I seize
that productivity opportunity
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is super high on my mind right now,
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and I want to make the case
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it should be super important
to you all as well,
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as business leaders
but also as consumers.
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So what will happen to marketing?
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Well, marketing has traditionally
been a super right-brained,
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creative type of function.
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That means what?
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Means we have excelled as marketers
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by tapping into the emotional
needs of our consumers,
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coming up with that perfect product,
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that perfect innovation to meet that need,
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and also then cracking that great message
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that will convert the consumer
at the right place in the right time.
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Already in the past 15 years,
with digital marketing and analytics,
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marketing has evolved from being
only right-brain type of general skills
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to a few more specialized skill sets,
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for example, digital marketing
or marketing technology.
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But now the difference with generative AI,
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it is transforming the core
of marketing activities.
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Now, in a recent study
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that the Boston Consulting Group
conducted with Harvard,
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we found that ChatGPT,
in its current form,
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already improves the right-brain
performance of marketers by 40 percent.
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Imagine what that number will be
in a year or two from now.
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So what do you think marketers would do
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with a day and a half of free time a week?
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More yoga?
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More family time?
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Do you think companies would allow that?
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Or do you think companies will just let
large chunks of the marketing function go?
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Well, I believe none of this
is going to happen.
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I think if we don't steer
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that productivity revolution
very actively,
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marketers will invest this time
in what they do best:
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more content and more ideas.
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Now, if you think of more content,
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there is a super productive outcome
for all of us as consumers.
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More content actually means
much more personalized content.
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Now think of that email
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that you're getting from your
favorite brand every week.
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Imagine if that email
was 100 percent tailored to you,
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means only images of people
your age and gender,
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even people wearing T-shirts
of your favorite rock band,
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every product relevant for you,
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and even a human-like experience
powered by a bot.
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That is certainly a productive outcome.
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But there is also a very negative outcome
for us consumers here,
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and that is content overload.
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How many of you already feel chased
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by the same content
over and over again online?
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Now imagine if that content chasing you,
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if that amount of content
chasing you just explodes.
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And imagine if that content chasing you
also all sounds the same.
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Now why is that a risk?
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Generative AI has been trained
on existing content and data.
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Because of that, it reduces
divergence of outcomes.
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And that great equalization of marketing
is certainly not a productive outcome.
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So what is the solve here?
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Well, I believe marketing,
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but also every function out there
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that is being impacted
by this productivity revolution,
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needs to grow a left-AI brain,
grow one fast,
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and also identify and protect
its top right-brained talent.
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You're going to ask me,
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"What do you mean
by growing a left-AI brain?"
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Well, I mean, the function needs
to strategically reskill and reorganize
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to embed people that can build,
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use and diffuse predictive AI tools
in the heart of decision-making.
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I mean, for marketing, building teams
of marketing data scientists,
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marketing data engineers
that build solutions
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that can be distributed to all marketers
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to, for example, unpack performance
and predict outcomes.
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Imagine in marketing
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being able to understand
what audience creative couples
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are really hitting it off in the market,
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or what product is working
with which consumer and why
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or how is the marketing funnel evolving.
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I recently partnered with a consumer goods
company that did exactly that.
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They decided to grow
a left-AI brain advantage.
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We helped them build tools
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that were diffused
in the entire organization,
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that helped every marketer predict
for every marketing initiative
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what was going to be the sales outcome,
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how a consumer behavior is going to be
impacted on every channel
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and every touchpoint,
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and go deep in unpacking
execution insights
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to understand what creative
was working and why.
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That created a super virtuous feedback
loop in the entire organization.
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It also took building a team of 30-plus
left-AI brain marketers
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that build these tools, customize them,
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but also in turn upskill the entire
organization to use them.
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But the team's only a part of the puzzle.
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I see too many companies out there
embarking on this journey,
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just training their algorithms and models
only on their current content and data.
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Now, if you do that,
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the risk for a brand is to be trapped
in your current territory.
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Concretely, imagine you are a brand
that is super strong with millennials.
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There is nothing in data and content
existing on millennials
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that will help you
to be successful with Gen Z.
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And in turn, if you're never
successful with Gen Z,
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you will miss out on important
innovations and trends
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that will make you
stronger with millennials.
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So I advise every company out there:
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think outside of the box,
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think outside your direct ecosystem
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on who could be super relevant
data and content partners for you.
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Imagine you're a construction company
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and you decide to market
to architects for the first time.
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You have zero data on architects.
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What do you do?
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Who has data on architects?
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Other construction companies,
but they're direct competitors.
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So where do you go?
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Well, you go outside your ecosystem,
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potentially, for example,
with financial institutions, insurances.
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You can set up a federated
model with them,
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train algos on that,
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that will in turn make you much stronger
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to market to a new consumer segment.
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And so are you done?
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If you have that, if you have that data,
if you have those skills
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are you done, you have
that left-AI brain advantage?
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Well, no, actually you are not.
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If you do that, there is a risk
you give all of your right brain
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to generative AI
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and in turn run a real risk
of losing that divergence,
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losing that super strong brand identity,
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being trapped in that grand
equalization of marketing
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I was talking about a minute ago.
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In the Harvard study we conducted
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with the Boston Consulting
Group and Harvard,
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we found that when people
over-rely on generative AI,
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the collective divergence of ideas
drops by 40 percent.
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Concretely, that means that new ideas
don't come to the surface.
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It means that true innovation
is being stifled.
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So what is a solve here?
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Well, you need to identify
the true artists,
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the true differentiators,
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the true innovators of your function.
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Now, if you've ever worked in marketing,
you know who these people are.
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They are the ones that always
disagree with you.
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Now you take these people
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and you need to strategically
reskill them to use AI well,
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for example, to be inspired by new ideas,
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to be inspired by new trends,
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to also crack fast prototypes,
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to multiply their impact
once they've cracked a great idea.
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But you need to protect them
and teach them
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from using the AI to generate
and originate original ideas.
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For that, they have to use
their human brain.
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To keep those human juices flowing,
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and that, in turn, will protect
the identity of your brand
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and your differentiation in the market.
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So I want to close with an advice
for any marketer out there.
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What are you good at?
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Are you super creative?
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Are you the true innovator in the room?
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Well, if you are, cultivate that.
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That will be your superpower.
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Do you like data?
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Are you super rational,
are you super fact-based?
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Then you should specialize.
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You should grow tech skills.
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You should be investing
in predictive AI competencies.
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But right now, every marketer out there
needs to choose their brain.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
