Partners chief joins call for the return of human touch

Partners Andrews Aldridge chief executive Martin Nieri has added his voice to calls for brands to go back to basics and tap into humans – not robots – in an effort to get closer to their customers.
Nieri has nearly 25 years’ direct marketing experience, including nearly a decade as managing director at CMW (now Stack) and six years as boss of Partners.
Writing exclusively for Decision Marketing, he says: “Personalisation isn’t just about our ability to know the customer. It’s not just about the superficial things – like knowing their names and addresses.
“Truly effective personalisation is about understanding them as human beings. That means knowing their behaviour, their habits – and even, dare we say it, their emotions.”
And as more and more brands embrace new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), they are in danger of missing out, Nieri reckons.
He adds: “Even the most sophisticated databases and journeys still lack the human understanding and sensitivities of the world we live in. It will always be tricky for AI to measure people’s fears, emotional journeys, goals, hopes and dreams. It’s near impossible for it to measure their understanding of subjects.
“That’s why our first step should always be an old fashioned one – have a conversation with customers. Talk to them, ask them what content they want and need. Once this understanding is in place, we can begin to build in the kind of tech that can bring insight to life.”

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