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Ex-agency exec turned futurist Tom Goodwin thinks the AI hype machine is overblown and that the web is unlikely to become a bot-to-bot commerce engine any time soon. But what can be automated probably will be automated, – and he told ADMA’s global forum that those too focused on measurement, attribution and “average-vertising” over human instinct and craft already risk “training ourselves to be more robotic”. But Goodwin does think AI could yet deliver the promise of one-to-one personalisation, for good or ill, and that “AI for discovery of a recommendation” could be the future of search. Salesforce SVP & CMO, ANZ Leandro Perez disagreed with Goodwin’s take on AI agents – and said retailers are already moving.

Ex-performance marketing purist Temple & Webster last year flipped the script amid soaring acquisition costs and declining ROI. Over the last two financial years, the ecom pureplay spent $22m on brand, piling into TV and BVOD as well as online video and social. Record revenue and massive earnings growth suggest it’s working – and now the retailer is going always on for the “business as usual” brand play. But it’s also aiming to marry up hard customer data to become an authority on household trends within a volatile environment – and use those insights to feed product, marketing and curate customer homeware collections while telling more brand stories, hence its first Trends Report. Now to see if it moves the sales dial.

Even as its approach to personalisation gains sophistication through AI and predictive methods of tailoring communications with customers, MYOB has chosen to dial back personalisation in the early stages of its customer journey efforts. Why? Trust and value, says COO, Dean Chadwick. Over at Suncorp, customer segments have just been reviewed, and it’s adjusted the algorithms to tweak personalisation practices using customer data. That’s because of customer preferences, along with the growing responsibility marketers have to ensure their use of personal information fits within the frame of what customers value and expect, says Suncorp EGM of marketing and customer engagement, Mim Haysom. While personalisation brings meaning and often value to the customer’s lifecycle journey with a business, it’s also critical marketers know when to turn it on and off. Because not only is it the customers asking brands for this, Australia’s Privacy Commissioner, Carly Kind, is also not shying away from using her expanded regulatory powers to get brands back into line as we await a possible onslaught of change with tranche 2 of Australia’s Privacy Laws.

In one camp, we have those who view gen AI running end-to-end creative ideation and production as a derivative action, akin to trying to replace Michelangelo with machines. Yes, AI will do in the lower end of the funnel where the need for content is insatiable, and accelerated production processes are vital, they say. And it can help expedite the briefing process – or at least make you more succinct. But don’t bring it into strategy or emotive work, they cry. In the other camp: Tech platforms and AI agent-based solutions coming out of companies like research consultancy, Forethought, that claim to be producing creative work autonomously that’s testing as well as the top two or three campaigns brands have tested to date. Stuck somewhere in the middle are the curious marketers like those from Swinburne University and Specsavers. These CMOs are looking for data-driven effectiveness, better briefing processes, a way of feeling more confident about the investments they’re putting behind creative work and campaigns – but they also believe brand and human creative ingenuity remain vital in the mix. At Australia Post, meanwhile, the marketing team is using AI to transform operations, not replace creativity and has formed an internal AI council to keep pace with governance. Conversations about whether AI can, and should, be replacing humans throughout the creative supply chain is only in the early stages, and it’s already dividing the industry, as Mi3 discovers.