LAS VEGAS – Mobile has already shaken up the landscape for how brands interact with consumers. Now a new wave of technologies is provoking yet another big reconsideration for advertisers.
That is according to an ad-tech exec who was just named to head Group M’s reconstituted data and technology division.
Brian Gleason, who already headed Group M’s Xaxis programmatic division, is now CEO of [m]Platform, a “suite” that comprises data analytics, audience insights, data scientists, technologists from across other Group M divisions.
Interviewed by The Drum earlier this month at a Consumer Electronics Show in which Amazon’s Alexa voice-control system was decreed a winner for third-party integrations, despite Amazon not having exhibited at the show, Gleason said he sees the future of retail and advertising changing as a result.
“When you think about how much we do on our mobile device, whether it’s shopping, watching television, it’s completely changed the way that we live,” he said.
“With the new (Amazon) Echo or Dot, when you think about voice recognition and the way that we use that, the way that we search or shop, it changes the way that we’re going to make technology intelligent.
“Consumers want it easy, they want it fast and they want to be able to buy things in a way they feel comfortable with. We’ll see it completely change … the way people engage with the brands is going to change.”
Echoing Gleason’s forecast, GroupM North America CEO Brian Lesser agreed – voice assistants are the biggest shake-up to consumer interaction in a generation of technology.
Asked to name the most transformative technology, Lesser said: “Applications of Amazon Echo and Google Home to connect various parts of the home experience.
“These tools will become the operating system for the connected home, which will connect your television experience to your tablet experience, to audio, to all the functions of your home.”
That is going to mean an opportunity for digital platforms to capture new voice-derived user search data, as well as to bring the consumer purchase opportunity right up in to the immediate conversational experience.
At CES, advertising executives said the consumer purchase journey is shortening as advertising messages are changing to deliver in-built purchase opportunities. Interviewed in the video are:
- Videology sales strategy and data analytics SVP Aleck Schleider
- Geometry senior VP Brian Spencer
- GroupM North America CEO Brian Lesser
- [m]Platform COO Nicolle Pangis
- [m]Platform CEO Brian Gleason
- Jivox CEO Diaz Nesamoney
