The Digital Marketing Podcast: CIM Digital Summit Special 2017 – Gimmicks Vs Reality

Date: October 16, 2017
Hosts: Daniel Rowles & Ciaran Rogers

Episode Overview

This special edition of The Digital Marketing Podcast explores the boundary between tech hype and practical impact under the theme “Gimmicks Vs Reality.” Recorded for the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Digital Summit, Daniel and Ciaran discuss emerging and fading technologies in digital marketing, evaluating which are transformative realities and which remain mere novelties. The main focus areas are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, virtual and augmented reality, and technologies that struggled to find lasting adoption, like QR codes and NFC.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (00:28–08:35)

• Hype vs. Reality:

  • AI is often misunderstood and oversold at conferences, leading to misconceptions.
  • The reality is subtler: what most people call “AI” in marketing is actually machine learning.
  • Google is shifting terminology from “AI” to “machine learning” to reflect this (00:57).

• Practical Examples:

  • Photo Apps: Automatic grouping and tagging of photos using facial and location recognition (01:33).
  • Personal Assistants: Tools like Siri, Amazon Echo, and Google Now are becoming more proactive, predicting user needs based on patterns (03:03).
  • Ad Targeting: Machine learning allows for more intelligent advertising, matching content based on user behavior rather than basic keywords (04:15).

• Potential Pitfalls:

  • Machine learning systems can be misled (“garbage in, garbage out”). Daniel cites Microsoft's failed AI Twitter bot, which was corrupted by trolls within 48 hours (05:36).

• Mislabeling and Misinformation:

  • Bots and scripted auto-responders were labeled as AI, leading to public skepticism when they failed to deliver true intelligence (06:36).

• Notable Quote:

  • “Artificial intelligence, rather, I’d refer to it as machine learning. And it’s an absolute reality and it’s starting to come into place already. And actually, it’s really, really exciting...” — Daniel Rowles (07:15)

2. Virtual & Augmented Reality: The Next Frontier? (08:35–14:34)

• Definitions:

  • Virtual Reality (VR): Fully immersive digital environments.
  • Augmented Reality (AR): Digital overlays on real-world views (“mixed reality”—as Microsoft rebrands it).

• Adoption & Use Cases:

  • VR is still niche—mainly for gaming due to hardware costs and logistical challenges (09:06).
  • Gaming platforms like Oculus and PlayStation are leading adoption, but tethered headsets limit accessibility (09:30).
  • Entry-level VR: Google Cardboard offers an untethered, affordable VR experience (10:23).

• AR Growth Potential:

  • Pokémon Go is seen as a telling example of AR’s commercial viability (11:15).
  • New developer toolkits from Apple and Google are set to unleash a wave of AR apps (11:59).
  • Wearable AR, like Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens, though early in development, point toward future everyday integration—for business as well as consumer use (12:29).
  • Prototype AR contact lenses exist, but remain impractical for mass market—for now (13:29).

• Societal Implications:

  • As AR/VR blend into daily life, marketing strategies may need to adapt to user-controlled realities—future scenarios may include ad and even “person” blockers (13:55).

• Notable Quote:

  • “When you’re marketing in a world where people start changing their own reality, then we get into very, very sci-fi kind of stuff. But that’s the journey we’re already on.” — Daniel Rowles (13:57)

3. The Dark Side & Behavioral Impact (14:34–15:46)

• Augmentation & Identity:
  • Online tools already allow users to present enhanced versions of themselves—AR could escalate this trend (14:34).
• Risks:
  • Concerns about social comparison, self-esteem, and teenage depression tied to digital “augmentation” (14:58).
• Marketer’s Role:
  • Responsibility to deploy these technologies ethically and ensure safety nets are in place.

4. Failed & Floundering Tech: QR Codes, NFC & Beyond (15:46–23:59)

• QR Codes:

  • Daniel: “To me, [QR codes] make perfect practical sense... But they didn’t really take off in the way that I hope they would.” (15:55).
  • Ciaran: The ‘ugly’ design, lack of integrated readers in phones, and poor marketing use led to QR’s downfall (16:35).
  • Ciaran’s favorite alternative: SnapTags—beautiful, circular, but vanished mysteriously (16:35).
  • Marketers are partly to blame for the failure, deploying QR codes without thinking about context, journey, or consumer value—like linking to generic homepages or placing codes where there’s no connectivity (17:22).
  • Successful case studies existed, such as a plant nursery using QR for added value (19:44).

• Critical Mass & Platform Adoption:

  • Daniel stresses the importance of platform integration (19:24): “Apple and Google aren’t going to embrace [proprietary formats]...”
  • Blippar recognized objects without codes but never reached mainstream adoption (20:30).

• NFC (Near Field Communication):

  • Touted as revolutionary, mainly adopted for payment systems like Android Pay and Apple Pay—limited by restricted developer access on iOS (21:13).
  • Useful in business cards and retail but never realized the full marketing potential due to ecosystem fragmentation (21:44).

• The Test-and-Learn Culture:

  • Marketers should rigorously test new tech before dismissing or embracing it. Many gave up on platforms like Twitter too soon because they tried only superficially (22:41).

• Notable Quote:

  • “It’s about a culture of test and learn.” — Daniel Rowles (23:30)

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On Misunderstandings of AI:

  • “If it’s really machine learning and people are expecting artificial intelligence, the whole intelligence thing is going to become a little bit of a joke quite quickly.” — Ciaran Rogers (08:06)

• On Digital Consumers:

  • “If you look at my phone 120 times a day...why not stop me having to look at my phone and just put a screen in front of my eyes?” — Daniel Rowles (12:57)

• On User-Controlled Realities:

  • “I could have a people blocker. If I’m really tired of you talking about QR codes all the time, Kieran, I can make you invisible.” — Daniel Rowles (13:49)

Useful Timestamps

• Artificial Intelligence vs. Machine Learning: 00:28–08:35
• Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality: 08:35–14:34
• Social/Behavioral Impact of AR/VR: 14:34–15:46
• QR Codes, SnapTags, and Failure Analysis: 15:46–20:30
• NFC and Platform Adoption: 20:30–21:44
• Lessons for Marketers and Test & Learn Culture: 22:41–23:59

Conclusion

Daniel and Ciaran provide a measured yet optimistic view on emerging technologies in digital marketing. They stress the necessity for marketers to discern hype from reality, debate the lasting importance of machine learning over artificial intelligence, explore the real-world promise and dangers of AR/VR, and analyze why some technologies never reached critical mass. Their biggest piece of advice: foster a culture of experimentation and rigorous testing to sort the transformative from the trivial.

For further resources and in-depth use cases, check the show notes at Target Internet.