Last week at the Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas, a buzz surrounded the topic of artificial intelligence. The event was alive with discussions about AI’s potential, with attendees eager to shift focus from the abstract to concrete, practical applications.

Peter Blacker, EVP at NBCUniversal, reflected on the AI-centric discussions. “We often get lost in the AI buzz. I imagine a future where we look back and wonder at our fixation with the term ‘AI’. The key lies in using it more intelligently and efficiently.”

Advertising

With Google phasing out third-party tracking cookies in Chrome, a pivotal moment has arrived for the ad-supported internet. This transition poses a critical question for marketers: In a world without cookies, how can they effectively utilize AI?

Brian Danzis, U.S. Managing Director at Seedtag, believes that AI will streamline and automate business practices, much like the evolution of programmatic advertising. Meanwhile, Benjamin Arnold, President of Adludio, notes a growing openness among marketers to adopt AI and other new technologies, a significant change from just a few years ago. Shruti Tiwari of Ogilvy sums it up, “The groundwork was always there; now, we’re able to do more and do it faster.”

In the absence of third-party cookies, the importance of first-party data, gathered directly from users, escalates.

Marketers will likely lean more on this personal data to effectively reach their audience. Arnold emphasizes AI’s transformative power in capturing, analyzing, and understanding vast amounts of data to enhance customer relationships. Yeonhee DeLorenzo of Ogilvy highlights the critical role of speed, pointing out that AI can process data much faster than humans, though human oversight remains crucial.

Big Data, Predictive Analytics, Personalization

Once data is analyzed, AI assists marketers in predicting trends based on user behavior, enabling more tailored and timely campaigns. As DeLorenzo notes, amidst the flood of available content, personalized advertising is key to breaking through the noise.

AI’s influence extends beyond first-party data, notably enhancing contextual advertising. This technique involves analyzing webpage content to serve relevant ads. Arnold speaks of “hyper-contextual relevance” in a post-cookie landscape, where AI’s ability to analyze content and digital ecosystems enables dynamic ad matching and real-time brand messaging customization.

Contextual Advertising

Danzis describes contextual advertising’s resurgence due to AI, aligning user interests based on their current consumption and offering a future-proof method to engage audiences without privacy concerns. In this privacy-focused era, transparency about personal data usage becomes paramount. DeLorenzo suggests that for consumers, convenience and personalization may outweigh privacy concerns, especially with AI-driven innovations.

Arnold also observes a shift towards independent ad tech firms, highlighting their adaptability, brand preference alignment, and transparency, contrasting them with larger, more opaque tech companies.

This shift signals an exciting era of smart innovation and privacy-conscious solutions in the industry, with loads of opportunities for those with a beam in their eye.