Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

"The camera is already starting to replace the keyboard,” asserts Netra CEO, Richard Lee. The content that will dominate digital information flow will be visual, and for that reason image recognition is becoming a key component of marketing.His company derives insight from visual data, fostering understanding of how consumers engage with brands through engagement with images. 

Netra is a leader in visual intelligence and search that uses machine learning to help marketers make sense of imagery on social media.

Some brands are already using image recognition to connect with and effectively market to their customers.

They include Neiman Marcus. The upscale retailer offers its customers the Snap. Find. Shop  app that enables them to use their phones to snap pictures of styles they like and find similar styles carried by the store.  The app is demonstrated here:...

What are the main ways AI/machine learning will impact marketers and their work in the next year or two? 

While AI has tremendous potential, I believe we are still a few years off from having it solve “real world” operational problems at scale. But in the meantime, marketers are benefitting from the speed and breadth of the insights afforded by AI. Early success examples have focused on creative – we've started to see the optimisation of creative using AI, such as improved digital product experiences (see Olay's skincare app as an example) and of course much better media targeting (such as Demandbase's new AI product). Both B2C and B2B marketing stands to gain from AI.

In summary, what will be the long-term impact of AI/machine learning on marketing? 

AI and machine learning will enable full personalisation of the customer experience, driven by the real-time integration of media, creative and analytics. Marketers will be more efficient, and customers will receive more relevant information in the right place at the right time....

Those using AI use it for range of reasons, the most frequent being to get news or information. Here are the tasks consumers utilize artificial intelligence to help them with most often:

35% -- Information, news, weather, stocks

21% -- Read, write, text, phone call

17% -- Play music

9% -- Set timer or reminder

5% -- Make purchases, shopping lists...