How are marketers embracing the ambiguity and challenges around AI?

The term Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the new ‘buzz’ in the marketing world. Many marketers consider AI to be imperative for growth and innovation. However, while the concept of AI may still evoke uncertainty and ambiguity, forward-thinking marketers are embracing the "grey areas" and leveraging a lot to navigate this transformative journey.

Speaking to afaqs! at the 13th edition of the recently held MMA Impact India, April 2024 several marketers spoke about the ways in which they are integrating AI into solving everyday challenges.

Moneka Khurana, country head & board member, MMA Global India, says India today stands at the forefront of the arrival of AI.

She adds that India as compared to global markets is more equipped at accelerating the adoption of AI.

“According to an EY study, 30% of consumers in India are comfortable with AI and 17% globally within the sample size. Clearly, India is more geared to experiment and adopt AI faster than other markets. India also has a lot of capabilities and talent pool which is why a lot of the deep work in AI is coming to India because of the skill sets available and the amount of engineers that exist in India.”

“We have to build our capabilities and skill sets and have an extensive appetite to leverage it and embrace it. But because it is an area which is still new and there aren’t any ready answers or frameworks, we have got to be comfortable in embracing the ‘grey’. Because answers will unfold as we walk the path and learn with each other's experiences and take on the collective wisdom coming our way,” says Khurana.

The challenges

Rohit Bhasin, president- retail liabilities product & CMO, Kotak Mahindra Bank says that despite all the progress, a fundamental challenge seen across the industry is with the ‘implementation’ of AI. According to him, there is an immediate need of cultivating a robust data team capable of extracting meaningful insights from AI-driven analyses.

Asked how organisations and especially mid-sized and small-sized businesses actually implement AI, he explains, “AI has to be driven through people. It doesn't work on its own. You have to build the right data scientist and analytics because if you are not able to analyse your data and deliver the right insights, then you will not be able to make the best use of AI. You have to make sure your organisation has a very strong data team. You also need to have constant practitioners who can constantly ask AI the right questions. Then it is all about doing it again and again,” states Bhasin.

Pawan Gurnani, head of B2C growth, DSP Mutual Funds speaks about the potential scepticism associated with the term. However, he says that as marketers everyone needs to be more conscious and responsible about what gets communicated.

“We need to keep an eye on what are the unethical practices taking place and how as a brand we are responding to it. So that our line of communication does not get diluted.”

Implementation and use-cases

AI is not just a technological tool, but a paradigm shift in marketing strategy and consumer engagement. Giving an example of diverse use of AI, Devika Sharma, VP and GM – India InMobi speaks about the transformative role of AI in content delivery and user engagement. 

Sharma states that AI enables personalised content recommendations, enhancing user experience and driving relevance across a number of platforms. “AI plays a huge role as it enables us to understand consumer behaviour.”

“AI is also able to analyse and understand all of this behaviour and populate content recommendations to users. Therefore as a platform, AI is our backbone,” she explains.

Similarly,  Gurnani of DSP Mutual Funds explains, while they don’t term their AI resources as AI but have integrated it from a customer service perspective.

“The minute you label it, people don’t trust it. What we have done is that we have integrated it from a customer service angle. When it comes to investments, people really don’t understand when and where to invest, and there is a lot of barrier in terms of people telling me their incomes and liabilities and aspirations. They feel that this data will be used somewhere. However, we have created a tool called ‘SARTHI’.”

According to him, having AI capabilities in space has enabled their customers to trust them even more. 

“What it does is (SARTHI) that it basically asks you a set of ten questions and based on those answers and the prevailing market conditions, we recommend certain funds and then if someone has questions they can always click a button and ask a human expert from our team.”

One advantage that this has got in the system is that there is a lot more trust. When people are asked to disclose their income to an actual person, they may be uncomfortable in doing so. However, with SARTHI we have seen that people actually experiment a lot with their answers and choose what’s right for them. This is how secrecy and privacy is made, explains Gurnani.

Collectively, these insights claim that as businesses navigate the complexities of AI integration, embracing innovation, transparency, and talent development emerges as essential pillars for success in the AI-driven marketing landscape.

afaqs! was the media partner for MMA Impact India, April 2024.