Are algorithms ushering Posthuman Marketing?
We have often been told that we are brands. In fact, in today’s competitive landscape, a key to personal success is how well individuals can market themselves. Conversely, marketers often reach out to their target consumers by making their brands seem more human — or at least an entity that can be considered a friend by an actual human. Here, the premise which I am trying to set is, the idea behind good marketing has often, if not mostly, been about humanizing the subject (could be a brand, a product, or even an idea) to a point where the consumer finds a reason to believe in it, relate with it, and ultimately invest in it. And this stems from empathy, thoughtfulness, and authenticity that can only come from a deep, human understanding of the potential relationship between the provider (business) and the receiver (consumer). One argument is that technology cannot conjure such authentic relationships, neither can they nurture them. While it may be true at some level, it would certainly be a romanticized belief that technology, because of the aforementioned notion, does not threaten the current fabric of marketing.
This is where the idea of post-human marketing comes in. The rise of big data, AI, social media, and the Internet has drastically altered the face of marketing. Knowingly or unknowingly, most of us come across many technology-driven marketing gimmicks on a daily basis, that influence what decisions we make and how we make them. The big companies are increasingly automating their marketing functions — or particular aspects of their overall marketing strategy, and they might be much more ahead in time than we believe them to be. The term “post-human brand” was introduced by Tracy Follow in 2015, who characterized it as “tracking, hacking, monitoring, predicting, augmenting, creating, and recording us and our surrounding environment to improve, augment, or enhance our health and well-being.” Now while this term might or might not be alien to us, the examples of such brands most certainly aren’t. Before the pandemic, the crown of the most feared thing in the world was probably worn by ‘surge-pricing’. Yes, the notoriously controversial system of dynamic pricing used by ride-hailing service providers like Uber. Or take the ultra-efficient online retail service of tech-giants Amazon. Whether it’s the sublime operational efficiency of Amazon or the surge-pricing employed by Uber, the common factor here is that all these models are backed by algorithmic logic and decision-making.
The trend of algorithm-backed businesses will usher in the post-human era — sooner rather than later. In 2020, the Internet of Things includes about 30 billion devices worldwide. Already, brands have started communicating with us via automated and algorithmic channels (e.g., most messages from various businesses are communicated to us via algorithms), based on huge amounts of data that they collect about us. Every second site today has chatbots that converse freely with users on the other side. Quite often, the user experience is further augmented by a list of pre-determined responses from among which the user need only select the most appropriate response. The world has not only moved from human-to-human interaction to human-to-machine interaction but is well on its way to machine-to-machine interaction. A host of other services which we enjoy for free or otherwise are served to us via advanced algorithms.
Machine learning algorithms are being used for the continuous development and improvement of marketing campaigns, advertising, promotional activities, etc. Natural language processing can examine vast amounts of texts for their content and emotions among other things, and other insights generating algorithms working in tandem for advanced textual analysis are being used to bring out one’s personality traits, states of mind, and other behavioral patterns and preferences.
Artificial intelligence is not only mainstream but firmly embedded in our lives — often we notice it, but mostly we don’t. It is not in the form of flying cars that AI has seeped into our lives, nor will it be sentient robots — it is the small things where AI has found the most impact. Voice recognition in-home assistants, or restaurant suggestions while ordering dinner — these are representative of how technology has silently made its way into our homes and our minds, and with smart use of technology, so have businesses. You discuss tortoises with your family in the living room, and the next day you will find your phone scattered with automatic popups on everything related to the specie — right from their favorite food to the name of the oldest living tortoise on Earth!
While machine learning and a lot of predictive algorithms and models have been leveraged for some time now, in the fields of digital marketing, etc., things like neural networks and deep learning have the potential to take them to the next level — one where machines can perform better than trained humans when it comes to planning, optimizing, and strategizing in marketing, and business in general.
At the risk of drawing many people’s ire for bringing up this term for what is probably the millionth time this year, we are in fact living in a VUCA world right now. But while the world is volatile and uncertain and all doom-and-gloom, one thing is for sure, and that is that we are entering a post-human world. One where businesses, and specifically marketing, is going to be backed by and infused with technology. Algorithmic models will take over large parts of existing models, but what would remain to be seen is whether machines will entirely surpass humans even in human-centric areas like marketing, or will consumer demand still inspire the need for more human-to-human models of communication.
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Author: Arnab Saha
Editorial and Digital Marketing Team, NjM
Class of 2022, NMIMS Mumbai
