The marketing industry is being compelled to combat the rise of the robots, which, through the likes of programmatic advertising, are taking over many aspects of targeting and embrace traditional human insight to deepen engagement and bolster impact.
That is the rallying cry from Amaze One, the St Ives-owned direct marketing agency formed from a link-up of digital agency Amaze and data specialists Occam.
The agency argues that with the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May next year, it is more important than ever for marketers to be engaging with consumers on their terms through communications that add value to them – their attention needs to be earned.
Creating emotional response is key to building trust, retaining the privilege to engage and ultimately what drives brand response and ROI, something that many marketers are forgetting or forgoing by instead becoming lost in a foggy haze of data, Amaze One reckons.
Amaze One is asking brands, organisations and marketers to challenge and question their approach to marcomms – as becoming truly customer centric is no longer optional.
Speaking at an event last week to launch the campaign, Amaze One deputy managing director Janet Snedden (pictured) said: “Crafting communications that are emotionally appealing and connect with the consumer is in itself an art. There is a lot that marketing can learn from the ‘scientific method’ to develop our understanding of how we can design campaigns that deliver longer term success and relationships, not just one off clicks.”
Snedden insisted that with the industry’s reliance on data, more and more is becoming algorithmic with programmatic communications the staple that often lose sight of the individual – how they feel, experience and respond.
She added: “In our 24/7 connected world, direct and digital communication happens in our personal space and we can forget that we are reaching out to people, not robots. This is an area that marketers need to drastically improve on as when GDPR is in effect one wrong move or unwanted communication could see brands circle of reach dropping dramatically as customers switch off and that permission becomes more difficult to earn – we need to listen and understand our customers.”
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