SANTA MONICA, CA – The advertising industry is abuzz with talk of using artificial intelligence and mountains of consumer data to power a new wave of personalized marketing.
But industry executives must proceed wisely to avoid pitfalls.
That is the view of Carl Fremont, CEO of ad agency Quigley-Simpson, who is excited about the potential for AI and data-driven personalization – but also cautious about their risks.
The new opportunities
Fremont was speaking after sessions at the recent Beet Retreat industry gathering in Santa Monica, California, where executives discussed topics like connected TV, identity, contextual and AI.
Privacy paramount with consumer data
On the latter, he is upbeat. But Fremont, whose background is in direct marketing, also sounded a note of caution about using consumer data for personalization.
“With all the data that is available, we still have to be concerned about how are we handling all of that,” he said. “From a privacy side, that’s not going to go away.”
AI adoption requires clear strategy
Similarly, Fremont thinks advertising agencies and brands should be careful not to run too quickly to AI, without thinking it through first.
“If we’re too fast for adoption and we don’t really look at how to best deploy it, it’s not going to be effective,” he said. “If we rush to it without a concerted strategy, that’s where I think we all need to be concerned.”
Cusp of a new personalization wave
On the other hand, Fremont reckons the new toolset, properly deployed, could help marketers realize the decades-old promise of true one-to-one communication.
“We’re on the cusp – given technology, the aggregation of data we have – we’re at the cusp of really moving forward with personalization and one-to-one,” Fremont said.
“I love getting personalized, relevant messaging in my streams. I applaud it. Because I want to see information that’s more relevant to me.”
You’re watching coverage of Beet Retreat Santa Monica 2024. This series and event is sponsored by OpenX, Publica by IAS, Snowflake & Spotter. For more videos from the series, please visit this page.
