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#106 The Future-Ready Brand: Mitch Duckler's Blueprint for Tomorrow’s Branding
Episode 10621st May 2024 • Jonny Ross Fractional CMO • Jonny Ross
00:00:00 00:40:39

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Introduction to Future-Ready Branding

Welcome to this enlightening episode of Jonny Ross Fractional CMO, where we dive deep with Mitch Duckler, author and branding expert, into what it takes to build a brand that not only survives but thrives in the future. Discover cutting-edge insights straight from the minds of the world's top CMOs.

What is a Future-Ready Brand?

Learn from Mitch about the essential characteristics that define a future-ready brand. We discuss the importance of integrating purpose with business goals and how this synergy can drive a brand forward amidst rapid technological and societal changes.

Emerging Technologies in Branding

Mitch shares his expert insights on how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, the Metaverse, and augmented reality are transforming the branding landscape. Understand how these technologies can personalize customer experiences and redefine engagement.

Purpose-Driven Branding: Beyond the Buzzword

Hear Mitch debunk the myths of purpose-washing and explain how genuine purpose-driven branding can be implemented effectively. Learn how to align your brand authentically with societal values without falling into the trap of superficial branding tactics.

CMO Insights: Navigating Brand Challenges

Mitch discusses his interactions with 43 CMOs from global giants like McDonald's, PepsiCo, and BMW. Uncover common themes and innovative strategies these leading marketers are employing to tackle today's branding challenges.

AI and Marketing: Risks and Rewards

Explore the dual-edged sword of AI in marketing as Mitch elaborates on both the opportunities and the pitfalls. From enhancing customer segmentation to the risks of data privacy, get a balanced view on how AI is reshaping marketing departments across industries.

Gen Z and the New Market Dynamics

Understand the impact of Gen Z on current marketing strategies. Mitch explains the 'me vs. we' dynamic of Gen Z and how brands can effectively engage with this influential demographic without compromising their core values.

Conclusion and Call to Action

We wrap up with key takeaways from Mitch Duckler on making your brand resilient and adaptable for the future. Mitch also shares where listeners can find more about his work and his latest book, 'The Future-Ready Brand.'

Where to Find Mitch Duckler

Connect with Mitch through his official site at https://fullsurge.com, follow him on LinkedIn, or check out his TEDx talk "Discover Your Differentiator". For deeper insights, pick up a copy of 'The Future-Ready Brand' available at major book retailers.

Engage with Us

Loved this episode? Have thoughts or questions about future-ready branding? Join the conversation on our social media channels or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. We love hearing from you!

Subscribe and Stay Updated

Don’t miss out on our upcoming episodes with more thought leaders like Mitch Duckler. Subscribe to Jonny Ross Fractional CMO on Apple Podcasts and stay at the forefront of marketing and branding innovations.


Topics:


00:12 - 10:07

Future Ready Brand

Purpose in Branding

CMOs Insights

Emerging Technologies

AI in Marketing

Privacy Concerns

Compliance and Legal

10:08 - 20:06

data privacy and regulation

generative AI

content marketing

creativity

emotion

human touch

branding

societal implications

purpose

Gen Z

technology

emerging technologies

marketing

authenticity

transparency

connection

experience

sub brands

portfolio

profit

triple bottom line

people

planet

sustainability

green movement

20:06 - 29:59

Purpose-driven marketing

Hyper-personalization

Online and offline integration

Experiential marketing

Extended reality technologies

Content generation and marketing

29:59 - 39:54

AI-generated content

ChatGPT

systemic biases

data integrity

hallucinations

short form content

long form content

social media

human talent

creativity

emotions

experimenting with emerging technologies

surrendering control to consumers

influencer marketing

brand protection

future ready brand book

contact information

39:54 - 40:36

pre-order

fantastic information

Mitch

Jonny Ross Fractional CMO

watching

listening


Transcripts

Speaker:

Hello and welcome to Jonny Ross

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Fractional CMO. We are live on YouTube

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and we are live on LinkedIn. Welcome to

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Jonny Ross Fractional CMO, your compass

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in the ever evolving landscape of

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marketing and branding. In today's

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special episode, we're thrilled to have

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Mitch Duckler, the visionary behind the

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Future Ready brand, who will be sharing

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cutting edge insights straight from the

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minds of some of the world's top CMOs.

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Get ready to dive into the strategies

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that are defining the next era of

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branding and discover how your brand can

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not only adapt, but thrive in the face of

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change. Let's embark on this journey

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together with Marty Excellence, with

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Mitch Duckler. How are you Mitch?

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I'm doing well, Jonny, how are you?

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Yeah, really good indeed, thank you. Very

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excited to talk about the future ready

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brand. And in fact, I wanted to totally

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dive in because 1 of the things that you

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explore in your book is the critical role

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of purpose in branding. But I'm very

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aware that as more brands claim to be

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purpose driven, there's this growing

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skepticism around purpose washing and how

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companies genuinely integrate purpose

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into their brand without falling into the

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trap of appearing insincere or just

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jumping on the bandwagon. Where is that?

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No, that's a great 0.1 of the things I

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talk about in the book, in that chapter

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on purpose, is to separate a few

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different concepts, right? There's at the

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first level, and this is all good by the

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way, I'm not trying to be critical or

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judgmental, but at the most basic level,

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there's CSR, right? A corporate social

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responsibility platform or campaign that

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I'd say most companies of any size adhere

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to. And that's all well and good. The

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next level up, I would say, would be

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purpose-driven companies. So these are

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companies that not just have a CSR, but

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they live by this ethos. Whatever that

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purpose is, whether it's a cause or a

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competency or what have you, it's in

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their DNA, right? They, everything that

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they do, decisions are being made

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consistent with that purpose. Candidates

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are hired based on their embracing of

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that purpose, etc. And then I think a

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level above that is not only are you

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purpose driven, but you define your

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brand, your corporate brand by that

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purpose. And that's probably the highest

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level of all, but especially in the

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latter, right? When you have a company

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that is purpose driven and your brand is

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defined by that purpose, it is so

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critical that it be genuine, right? And

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that you activate and you bring that

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brand to life in ways that are very

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consistent with your purpose or it will

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be disingenuous, right? It'll be

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perceived as purpose washing.

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Yeah. Yeah. And That's the issue, isn't

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it? And we're going to get onto Gen Z,

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which I guess is where the biggest

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skepticism will come from. But let's just

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talk about the book itself. So you

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interviewed, was it 40, 48 CMOs around

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the world? 43. And I mean, from the likes

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of McDonald's, PepsiCo, Wells Fargo, BMW,

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Salesforce, new balance, young brands. I

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mean, some, some world-class CMOs. I

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mean, you know, that, that, that in

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itself must've been quite an exercise. It

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took you about a year, is that right?

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Yeah, yeah. It's as you might imagine, I

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mean, some of these folks I've known, but

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most I didn't, right? So as you can

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imagine, just even identifying them and

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getting on their radar and getting them

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to commit and then schedule and follow

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through was quite a task.

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What were some of the common threads that

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you saw across some of these very large

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corporations from their CMOs?

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What was really interesting to me,

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Johnny, was in particular, as we got into

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the middle section of the book, it's

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around emerging technology. So what we're

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talking about is artificial intelligence,

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predictive analytics, extended realities,

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so virtual reality, augmented reality,

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metaverse, et cetera. And then Web3,

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blockchain, and so forth. I mean, These

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are all, these are the emerging

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technologies that are kind of on their

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minds. And I was really interested to

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hear or to find that they're all kind of

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in a similar, most of them are in a

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similar place and that they feel that

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they need to be experimenting with these

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technologies. And they don't have the

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luxury of sitting back waiting to see how

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the technology evolves, which platforms

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are the winners and which are not. And

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they're all kind of taking measured steps

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towards experimenting and learning about

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it. AI is certainly further along than

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some of the other technologies I

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mentioned, right? They're actually knee

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deep in that now. But they're really

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embracing it and testing and learning and

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just kind of kicking the tires if you

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will. And I think that that's really very

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smart. Another thing I think that came

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out of this, especially the AI portion of

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technology is the belief that this has

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the ability to elevate the stature of

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marketing within the company, within the

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C-suite in particular. So by that I mean

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if you use AI right, right, And you don't

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necessarily need to be a data scientist,

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but you need to understand the

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capabilities of AI. You need to

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understand what the CIO can do for you,

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that he or she may be your best friend as

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much as the head of sales, right? That if

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you embrace that, you really can start to

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own the growth agenda for your company to

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a much higher level than you may have

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been previously because of all of the

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power that the technology brings.

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So, but then at the same time, I'm

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guessing that some of them could be

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wasting an absolute fortune on

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experimenting with AI, but I assume

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that's just part of the cause and that's

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taken into account for whatever loss they

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may have, as long as they get some big

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wins, it balances.

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Yeah, I think so. And 1 of the things,

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some of the CMOs actually even use this

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verbiage, they said it's crawl, walk,

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run. So the crawling is, let's say we're

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talking about AI, so we'll stay on that

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for a moment. That might just be, you're

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experimenting with generative AI. So it

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could be as simple as using chat GPT or

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an equivalent. But as you start to get

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comfortable with that, as you begin to

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realize its impact, its potential, as

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well as what it does well and what it

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doesn't, then you might wanna start

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thinking about customizing these things,

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right? So it's not just the off the

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shelf, but it's customized chat GPT. And

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then for certain things, especially like

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mission critical functions within your

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company, you might want to bring it in

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house, right? And actually start building

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your own AI, in this case, generative AI

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infrastructure, right? Your own GPT, if

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you will, so that you have it in house

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and as proprietary and so forth. You

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don't necessarily need to go to that

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final, nor would you want to go to that

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final step, you know, right out of the

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gate, right? You kind of work your way up

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to it gradually.

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Did they show any concern around privacy

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and how much they would be sharing with

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the likes of cheap ET. I mean, you're

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talking about some of the world's biggest

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brands.

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Yes. And absolutely. And they are

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certainly the most, in most cases, the

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most risk averse. Right. So, and here

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they were a little bit all over the

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board. I've talked to some of the CMOs

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who are in very, and some of it just is

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because they're in regulated industries

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and they have to be, but others are just

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in very risk averse cultures. And there

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is a lot of concern over a few things. I

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mean, certainly privacy is 1 of them, but

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also just even data integrity. Is the

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data that they're getting, is it

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reliable? Are there biases, systemic

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biases in the data that is being

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generated by ownership rights, right? Who

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owns the intellectual property that's

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actually being created by it? Are you

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violating copyrights? So yeah, there's,

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there's a whole host of legal concerns

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that, that are on their minds and risk

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that they need to be willing to

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undertake.

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And did you get any feeling that

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compliance and legal were suppressing

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some of what marketing could do or Is

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that just that there's ways of dealing

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with that?

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So again, yeah, I think yes, there's

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concern, but also the realization that

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you can't just reject it outright and

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say, you know what, it's not for me, or

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I'm going to wait 10 years until all the

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kinks are out. They're kind of proceeding

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cautiously, right? And almost to a T,

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it's interesting when I talk about the

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topics with the CMOs, like here, there's

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9 topics, right? A chapter on each in the

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book. Which ones would you like to talk

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about? Most of them said, oh, you know,

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we're not really doing much with AI. And

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yet, when I started, you know, probing,

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I'm like, you're doing a lot more than

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you realize a lot more than most, right?

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So, yeah, they kind of get it that you

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need to proceed, but proceed cautiously.

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I would say, yeah, that data privacy and

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regulation, I think is 1 of the big

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concerns. Another, I think, is a concern,

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especially in the area of generative AI

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and content marketing is around just

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losing kind of creativity and losing the

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emotion, right? And the human touch,

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especially as it relates to content. And

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those are all just some of the concerns

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and the watch outs that are on their

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minds, but certainly none of that is

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stopping them from using the technology

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and experimenting with it in a big

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way. So you typically work with large

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organizations, you know, it might be the

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senior directors or VPs of marketing or

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brand or etc. 1 of the things that I'm

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wondering and having written the book,

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what do they, What do you use to define

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exactly what a future ready brand means?

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Well, I think it's really, it kind of

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goes across all 3 sections of the book. I

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think that there are societal

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implications for brands, right? So we

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talked earlier about purpose, right? And

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the role that purpose plays, whether it's

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just as simple as having a CSR platform

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or actually defining your brand by a

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purpose, I think it is something you need

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to think about because it is increasingly

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important to consumers. It's nothing new,

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right? Purpose has been around for a long

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time, purpose branding, But I would argue

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that it's only increasing in importance

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because of the generations that are

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really now dominating the marketplace,

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right, millennials and Gen Z. So I think

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that's really important to kind of figure

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out where you are, like if you, to what

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extent you are purpose driven, to what

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extent should your brand or is your brand

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defined by that purpose and so forth. The

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other thing I think again, being future

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ready in that societal bucket is Gen Z,

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right? And they are kind of, they are the

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dominant, going to be the dominant

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generation from a commercial and

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marketplace perspective for a number of

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years. So really understanding the nature

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of them, what drives them, what motivates

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them. A little bit I talk about in the

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book is this notion that they are a

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little bit schizophrenic in that there's

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really 2 segments of Gen Z. There's the

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me and the we, right? The me is very much

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defined by individuality and

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self-expression. The we, which I think is

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what most people associate with Gen Z, is

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very socially conscious. They're very

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aware of causes such as ESG and DE&I. So

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I think, you know, just understanding

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that and how you need to be able to

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relate to them and to market to them is

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really critical and part of what's making

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your brand future ready. And then the

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other side is the technology, right? And

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just realizing that these emerging

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technologies, which AI I would argue is

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beyond emerging, right? It's almost here,

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right? But even if you look at extended

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reality and Web3 and blockchain and NFTs

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and so forth, These are as disruptive now

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as the internet was 20, 25 years ago. And

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it really is, we are starting to see some

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fairly seismic shifts in marketing and in

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brand building and the relationships that

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marketers have with consumers much like

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we did in the dawn of the digital age.

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You mentioned societal there and I'm

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guessing that the biggest influence in

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from what you're saying in society is Jen

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said then, and you talked about the we

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and the me, the 2 different sides. How do

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organizations market to both different

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sides at the same time? How do they

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navigate that? Because to some extent,

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whilst there's lots of similarities, they

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do have very different desires and wants.

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So I don't know if there's any examples

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you might have or thoughts on how they

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deal with it?

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Yeah, I think there are certainly some

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differences, right? And where there are

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differences, I think again, me, we, I

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mean, those could arguably be polar

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opposites, but there are also some

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commonalities and things that they have

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that they share, right? And I think 1,

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and it goes back to this, the issue we

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just talked about, around purpose, which

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is this, regardless of whether they're

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kind of a me or a we, they have a desire

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for authenticity and transparency,

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whether they're me or we. So, and you're

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seeing that play out in the way brands

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are marketing today, right? This shift

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from influencers to creators, from

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content provided by marketers to user

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generated content, homespun content, if

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you will, and things that aren't

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necessarily polished and perfect, but

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they're just real and authentic. And I

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think that that is something that

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regardless of who you are within Gen Z

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and whether you skew more towards this we

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snapshot or me snapshot, that is

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something that I think is that they

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share. Another is this desire for

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connection and experience. I think Gen Z,

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regardless of whether you're in that me

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or we camp, they really do seek out

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experiences. So, kind of mixing up the

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commerce a little bit, you know, pop-up

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stores, things like that, just making the

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experience, whether it's retail or other,

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more immersive, I think is something that

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definitely appeals to this generation,

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much more so, I think, even than other

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generations before them.

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Is it enough of a reason for producing

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more sub brands within a portfolio or is

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that or is the whole me we that that's

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not that's not a good enough reason to

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have a separate brand?

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The sense I got is no, they're not

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necessarily separate brands. I think it's

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just, and again, because there are a lot

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of commonalities, it's, it's, it's not

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like these are 2 grammatically different

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generations, right? It's just, I think

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it's really more around the, how you

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bring the brand to life, how you express

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it, how you activate it that might be a

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little bit different. It's not that you

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need like a me brand and a wee brand,

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right? They're not that dramatically

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different. So yeah, that's a

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generalization, but that's kind of the

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sense I got from talking to the CMOs

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about Gen Z, as well as just my

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experience working with clients on it.

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We talked about purpose earlier on, but 1

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of the things that is important for most

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organizations is profit. And so I'm just

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wondering how brands can effectively

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balance this with the drive for profit.

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Yeah. So 1 of the things again, in the

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purpose of chapter I talk about is the

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triple bottom line, which you may have

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heard of, right? So it's profit people

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and planet. And they're all important,

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right? It used to just be about profit,

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right? And it's, you know, hey, you're in

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business for 1 reason, and that's to

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increase shareholder value, right? To

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make money. While that certainly is not

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going away, right? That is a real goal,

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objective mission, whatever you want to

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call it, and will be forever, it's no

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longer sufficient, right? There's other

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things that matter. And that's where kind

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of the people and the planet come in, the

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other 2 Ps of that triple bottom line.

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And the really good news though, is that

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a lot of the longitudinal research that

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was done, this isn't my research, right?

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This research I leveraged though as part

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of the chapter in the book, is that

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companies that have a focus on purpose,

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whether it's a cause or competency or

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what have you, or regardless of what that

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purpose is, right, but they tend to do

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better financially, right? Their income,

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right, their profitability over the long

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haul is actually larger than those

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companies that are not considered to be

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purpose-driven. So it doesn't have to be

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1 or the other. In fact, it's not like,

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hey, are we in business to make money?

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Are we in business to promote our

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purpose? It's both and when you do 1 the

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other follows. And again that's what

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research was showing too, right? And so

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that's good news. Another similar point

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is, which I find kind of interesting is,

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you know, when I started out in the world

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of brand, this is back in the early

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1990s, some of these issues, like

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sustainability, and, and, and, you know,

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green, right, the green movement, Those

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were things that were starting to get on

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people's radar, right? And they were

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saying it's important, but when you did

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market research, people would say it's

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important, but they would never pay 1

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penny more for it. Right? Now that's not

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the case. Now what we're starting to see

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is that consumers, and again, whether

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it's green or another purpose, consumers

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are willing to pay in some cases up to

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20, 25% more for an equivalent product if

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they embrace the purpose that that

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company stands for. So again, that kind

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of goes hand in hand with this notion

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that the 2 aren't necessarily separate.

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You can be profitable and purpose driven.

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Yeah, I

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think that's a very, very fair point

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indeed. And there has absolutely been a

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swing from consumers to start paying for

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this without question.

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It's easy to say it's important. It's

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another to say I'll pay more for it.

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Yeah, yeah, totally. If you're listening

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or watching right now, this is the Johnny

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Ross Fractional CMO. We are live on

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Instagram for the first time as well,

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which is great. So if you're joining us

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there, welcome. You may be listening to

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the podcast afterwards. You're just as

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welcome as well. We're with Mitch

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Duckler, the author of The Future Ready

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Brand. We're exploring what brands need

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to do to be future ready, especially from

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the insights of all the CMOs that you've

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spoken to from these worldwide large

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organizations, famous names that we've

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all heard of. What I'm wondering is, as

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you've spoken to the CMOs and you've got

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clearly technology, as you've said, is a

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very large part of this. I'm interested

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in how it's currently impacting marketing

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in general and what you're seeing.

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Yeah, so what I would say, especially

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artificial intelligence, maybe to a

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lesser extent, some of the other emerging

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technologies are driving more

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hyper-personalization. So I think that's

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when you think about AI's capabilities

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and its ability to classify much more

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finely and predict much more accurately,

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It's bringing about this dream of Peppers

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and Rogers back in the early 90s, the

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one-to-one future, which at that point

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was a pipe dream. It's that you could

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actually start crafting your brand and

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your marketing and your offer to each

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individual customer. But that's in a

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sense what AI is allowing you to do. It's

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no longer you have a segmentation schema

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of 6 or 5 or 6 segments, right? And you

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pick 1 or 2. I mean, you start to talk

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about a thousand different segments or

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clusters. And because AI is able to parse

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data out and classify much more finely

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and predict much more accurately, It's

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really dramatically different, right? It

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is almost making this notion of

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one-to-one marketing more of a reality

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than just a pipe dream.

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And how's that integrated into the,

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you've got your online and offline

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worlds. I'm assuming that online, that's

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a lot easier to do than offline. Are you

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seeing anything happening to bring those

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2 closer?

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Yes. So 1 of the CMOs I spoke with, the

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CMO from Sephora was a great example

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where he, they kind of merged online and

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offline. So you think about Sephora,

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they're, cosmetic, right? And they're,

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they have retail. I'm not sure how many

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5,000 stores I want.

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Whatever they are doing, they are doing

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it very well because all I have, all I

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have is my 10 year old daughter

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constantly telling me how I need to take

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it to a Sephora shop. So, yeah. And, and

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you know, she's on Snapchat, she's on

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TikTok. And you know, of course we

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monitor and of course we only allow

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certain times a day and all of that

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stuff, but my God, they are doing their

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job well because that is all I ever hear.

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And unfortunately, I'm going to have to

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give in at some point.

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Yeah, it's, it is, it's a great brand.

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It's a, it's a brand I have a lot of

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respect for and I'm sure he'll love. If I

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get back to him and tell him about your

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daughter, he'll, he'll be, he'll be

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thrilled to hear that. But if you think

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about that business, what they're able to

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do in store is, understand, a sales agent

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can be working with a customer and asking

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a lot of questions, what they're like,

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where are they from, their lifestyle,

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what sort of climate, right, are they

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exposed to, what are their activities,

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what kind of skin tone do they have, do

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they have oily or dry skin, their

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complexion, you know, are they interested

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in SPF or not, all these different, and

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then actually in front of the consumer,

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just putting this into AI and say, okay,

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out of these thousands of products, here

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are 3 or 4 we'd recommend. And like, you

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know, in a nanosecond, right? And it's

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not only fast, but it's probably a lot

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more accurate and predictive because it

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is so analytical and data driven. And

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then, oh, by the way, they're talking

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about how they can use augmented reality.

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You know, if you don't want to try the

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product on, well, we can show you what it

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looks like through AR, right? And, and,

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you know, your face, your exact

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reflection and what it will look like

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with this particular cosmetic. I mean, So

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yeah, it is blending both online and

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offline.

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Which, which is, you know, so important

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to engage Gen Z without question. Yeah.

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And that's another, yeah, going back to

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the earlier point about How immersive and

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how experiential is that interaction?

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Much more so than it has been in the

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past.

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You talked about experimental marketing

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there. How important is that as part of

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the mix?

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Experiential is definitely becoming more

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important. I think a lot of it is because

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for a couple of reasons. It's like I

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said, the some of it is just being driven

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by demand and preferences and trends,

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right? And that's what consumers want.

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But then the emerging technologies that

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we haven't talked as much about, we talk

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a lot about AI, but extended reality and

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virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed

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reality, these are things that especially

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I think augmented reality are having the

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ability to make experiences that might be

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mundane much more immersive. So Even

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though this was 1 of the interesting

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dynamics that during this interview

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process, the last 15 months or so, a

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metaverse took a dive. There was so much

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hype and so much build up around its

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potential. And then it kind of took a

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little bit of a nosedive in terms of,

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maybe we're getting a little bit ahead of

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this, the goggles aren't as great as they

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need to be, the experiences and what. And

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there is some wait and see about

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metaverse, right? And this web 2.5,

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right, where it's the metaverse, but it's

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not, it's not the Oculus metaverse. But

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what is real and, and present today is

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those extended realities, whether it's

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metaverse based or not, especially

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augmented reality in retail environments,

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is really changing the experience and

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making it much more immersive.

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So we've talked about how technologies

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are impacting marketing in general and we

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sort of stepped on this a tiny bit

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earlier in terms of specifically content.

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So let's just talk about how it's

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impacting content and where that's going

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really.

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Yeah, it's impacting content in a lot of

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ways. I think the way that's most evident

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or most familiar to people is in

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generation, content generation. So that's

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ChatGPT and its ability and the like and

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its ability to actually create a long

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form, in some cases, a very long form

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content with decent reliability and

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quality and enlightening fast time,

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right? But 1 of the things that I do

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highlight in the book is that it's really

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impacting content marketing from more

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than just that, right? It's impacting the

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way content is researched, right? So that

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includes like segmenting audiences or

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generating outlines, brainstorming

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topics. That's kind of on the front end

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of content. Then it's doing the actual

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creation in some cases. So that's the

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generative AI and the chat GPTs and so

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forth. It's also helping to personalize

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content. So think about versioning. So

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how do you actually take a piece of

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content and make it much more relevant

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for a particular segment or audience?

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Maybe it's more specific to a vertical or

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an industry or to a geography, or it's

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actually being translated into 7

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different languages. So that's the

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personalization. And then it's also

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helping you to curate and optimize. So go

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out and find content, especially

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user-generated content that is the most

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relevant for your brand. And then

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optimize it, obviously make it so that it

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is suitable for your brand, so it's

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on-brand, etc. So it's not just, again,

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chat GPT and the gen side, the generative

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side of AI, I think it's getting the most

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press if you will, about for AI and

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content, but I really think it's

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impacting much more.

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And what's your perception on how much,

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how much of the content we're seeing from

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some of these large organizations in

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terms of what's AI generated and what's

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human generated? And do you believe that

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there is going to be a continued move to

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AI generated content?

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I think it will. A lot of the issues that

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I brought up earlier are real, some of

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the obstacles, and that can include data

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integrity, systemic biases,

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hallucinations, right? In some cases, the

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AI doesn't know, doesn't have an answer,

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so it makes it up, right? And then you're

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like, oh my gosh, and it sounds real,

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right? So 1 of the things that I've, And

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I think this is fairly standard, but 1 of

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the things that I've heard from a lot of

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the CMOs is they trust it a lot more for

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short form content than they do for long

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form. The longer form content is where

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you start to run into trouble, the

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hallucinations, et cetera, the risk of

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going off brand or biases being

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interjected. So if you're, I want to say

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maybe 500 to 800 word pieces, they're

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feeling reasonably confident as long

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again. You can't just take it and run

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with it, but if you use it to kind of

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hypercharge what you're doing and to

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maybe save an hour to do something in 1

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hour versus 2 or 3 hours, that's huge. So

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yeah, I think that that's the biggest

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use. Social media, I think is it's, I

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think I read somewhere where 70% of posts

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are at least somewhat AI influenced if

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not generated. So again, it's the shorter

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form where I think there's more

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confidence with it. Longer form, I think

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there's a lot of long way to go before

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people are going to start trusting it

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with meaningful thought leadership,

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longer form content pieces.

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Yeah. Well, I mean, if I think of in the

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UK, ASDA, which were part of Walmart, and

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I've seen some of the sponsored Facebook

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ads very recently and Instagram ads. And

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having as a user of AI on a regular

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basis, I'm looking at this ad and I'm

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thinking, there's no question in my mind

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that has been written by AI, by ChatGPT.

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But then I question myself and I wonder,

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have humans learned from that and are

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mimicking it? Or, or, or have they just

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totally gone with whatever chat GPTs come

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up with? But looking at it, I'm looking

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at it, thinking that that has definitely

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originated from chat GPT. And, and, and

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even as a, what I consider to myself to

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be an expert in terms of understanding

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the content, the output from ChatGPT,

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even I am looking at that thinking, I'm

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not sure. Would a large corp just rely

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purely on that? No. And that's

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the... No. And nobody that, at least

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nobody I talked to in these interviews

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was, right? They're saying they're using

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it very... The greatest quote came from

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Jill Kramer, who's the CMO of Accenture.

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She said, AI is an amplifier of human

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talent. And that was spot on. She's

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saying, There are things that AI does

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incredibly well, right? And it can be,

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you know, obviously very analytical. It

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can crunch data. It can process, you

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know, a large amount of information, et

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cetera, et cetera. But what it can't do

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is it can't interject emotion, and it

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can't be creative. And that's what humans

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will always need to do. No matter how

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good AI gets, those 2 things, like

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creativity and emotion, I just think are

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inherently human. And will always be the

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job of the marketer. But her point is, AI

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does a lot of these other things for you

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so well, and so efficiently and

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effectively, that it allows you to do

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what you do well, right? And to focus on

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that. You have more time to be creative.

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You have more time to be strategic, to

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inject emotion, human emotion, because AI

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is taking some of the laborious and

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analytical burden off of you. I think

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that's probably the best way to think

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about it. If you want to turn your

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content marketing effort over to AI, good

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luck with that, right? That's a recipe

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for disaster. But if you use it as a tool

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as an aid to improving that function,

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there's a lot of potential there.

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Mitch, if you're a senior leader in

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branding or marketing in a large

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corporate corp, what would you be

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suggesting that you should be challenging

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yourself with, you know, in the in the

Speaker:

next few days, next week, having listened

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to this, having read the book, of course,

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what would be the things that you need to

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be thinking about and really considering

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to make happen?

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Yeah, there's a couple. 1 of which I

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think we touched on a little bit earlier,

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but it's actually, you need to begin to

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experiment with some of these, if you're

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not already, some of these emerging

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technologies. Take a chance, create a

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pilot, a scrum, if you will, and just

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test it out in a low risk way if

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necessary. But start experimenting with

Speaker:

what AI, what XR, even Web3 or

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blockchain, which we haven't talked about

Speaker:

really as much today. These are things

Speaker:

that I think you can experiment with in a

Speaker:

relatively lower cost way and lower risk

Speaker:

way. So if you're not already doing that,

Speaker:

I think you need to because those are

Speaker:

only going to become more dominant in the

Speaker:

future. I think the other is another

Speaker:

common theme that came out from a lot of

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these interviews was this notion that

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control is increasingly being surrendered

Speaker:

from marketer to consumer, right? And we

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began to see that a lot with the

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emergence of the internet, especially

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with social media. And it's continuing

Speaker:

now with a lot of marketing tactics such

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as influencer marketing, right? And we

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talked a lot about the shift from

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influencers which are a little bit more

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controlled by marketing versus creators

Speaker:

which are much more authentic and real,

Speaker:

if you will. And 1 of the things that

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they all said is, wow, we've come to

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realize that we need to surrender control

Speaker:

to the people who understand, the

Speaker:

consumers themselves and to the people,

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In this case, influencers or creators who

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know their audiences even better than

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they do. And that's a real hard thing for

Speaker:

marketers to do. They tend to be by

Speaker:

nature a little bit more type A and

Speaker:

control oriented. But they said, we've

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noticed the best for us. And these are

Speaker:

some of the Fortune 50 even companies

Speaker:

that we're talking about that are using

Speaker:

influencers saying, you know what, we get

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out of their way. Yes, we have

Speaker:

guidelines, we do manage them. We choose

Speaker:

them very, very, very carefully. That's

Speaker:

critical, right? You gotta make sure you

Speaker:

know who you're aligning with. But once

Speaker:

we do, we need to kind of take off the

Speaker:

guards and let them do what they do well

Speaker:

because they know their followers. They

Speaker:

know their audience better than we do.

Speaker:

And as long as we help them understand

Speaker:

our brand, they can figure out what to do

Speaker:

with them. But that's not typical

Speaker:

marketing, right? And certainly from when

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I was starting out, it's a very different

Speaker:

mindset.

Speaker:

Yeah, because you're too worried about

Speaker:

protecting the brand and following the

Speaker:

brand guidelines, etc, etc. But I mean,

Speaker:

what you've just said there is, it

Speaker:

resonates so well and it's so true. They

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know better than you do.

Speaker:

That's why you're hiring them, right?

Speaker:

And as you said, it's about making sure

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that you choose and select the right

Speaker:

person. So, fantastic. We could talk a

Speaker:

lot more. I did want to get into

Speaker:

influencers, but we've run out of time.

Speaker:

It's brilliant. Listen, if someone wanted

Speaker:

to contact you, Where's the best place to

Speaker:

find you? Where do you hang out?

Speaker:

Obviously, there's the future ready brand

Speaker:

book Where where should we be going to

Speaker:

buy the book?

Speaker:

So the book it will you can pre-order it

Speaker:

now. The book is officially released on

Speaker:

May 14th. It is on Amazon it's also on

Speaker:

our website, So my company is full surge

Speaker:

and my You can email me at m. Duckler MDU

Speaker:

CK LER at full surge comm And you can

Speaker:

also see the book there and more

Speaker:

information about the book and even

Speaker:

pre-order there as well Also, feel free

Speaker:

to follow me or or reach out to me on

Speaker:

linkedin send me an invite. We'd love to

Speaker:

hear from you

Speaker:

I all of the links and contact details

Speaker:

will be in the show notes as well. So if

Speaker:

anyone's listening or watching right now,

Speaker:

please do check the show notes for all of

Speaker:

the contact details. I forgot that it's

Speaker:

pre-order because I've already, you've

Speaker:

very kindly sent me a pre version, so

Speaker:

I've already read it. So, but I've

Speaker:

forgotten that it's still not launched,

Speaker:

so that's brilliant. So yeah, I would

Speaker:

highly advise to get a pre-order in

Speaker:

because it's full of fantastic

Speaker:

information. Mitch, thank you very much

Speaker:

indeed. And if you've been watching or

Speaker:

listening, this has been Jonny Ross

Speaker:

Fractional CMO. Thanks for joining us and

Speaker:

we will look forward to see you all soon.

Speaker:

Take care. Cheers Mitch. Thanks for

Speaker:

watching!

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