Will AI give marketers their ROI’s worth this festive season?

In a recent LinkedIn post, CEO Andy Jassy highlighted the transformative power of Amazon Q, the company's Gen AI assistant, in revolutionizing foundational software updates. As is the case in practically every other business, Indian advertisers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize their marketing campaigns and achieve greater efficiency.  

AI-driven platforms can analyze vast datasets of consumer behavior, preferences, and demographics to deliver highly targeted ads. This precision marketing reduces wasted ad spend by ensuring that messages reach the most relevant audience. It also helps brands allocate advertising spends and drive efficiencies better during critical times like the festive period and major sporting events, as previously covered by exchange4media. 

The impact of AI on advertising ROI has been significant, with industry leaders reporting substantial benefits across various aspects of their operations. Sanjeev Jasani, COO of Cheil SWA, emphasizes the transformative effect of AI on their business: “AI-driven campaigns have delivered us better productivity, efficiency, and measurable results over the last 2 years.”  

Jasani notes that their AI journey began with internal process optimization, noting, “We first started using AI for automation within the organisation to streamline workflows and drive efficiencies. We saw a huge impact. Mundane and repetitive tasks were replaced with AI-driven automation and we saw ourselves getting more productive.”  

This focus on efficiency is echoed by Yash Chandiramani, Founder and Chief Strategist at Admatazz, who points out the positive ROI, “given the not-so-steep costs of the software vs the amount of human hours it saves for mundane tasks.”  

Chandiramani provides concrete examples: “For instance, we present ideas with detailed moodboards that used to take hours to source and bring together manually earlier. This has been replaced by AI image searches that take a fraction of the time. Similarly, proofreads, basic data analysis and topic research have all become extremely speedy and thus profitable.” 

The adoption of AI in advertising goes beyond mere efficiency gains. Ankur Dasgupta, Head of Marketing for the India Region at NTT DATA, highlights its creative potential. “In marketing, these technologies are proving to be effective in creating dynamic, highly personalized and interactive campaigns. Data indicates they are effective. Generative AI, in particular, has revolutionized ad creation by automating the generation of text, images, videos, and even music.” 

Krish Ramineni, Co-founder and CEO of Fireflies.ai, expands on this creative aspect, emphasizing AI's role in content generation and personalization. “Marketing loves using AI for personalization because now you can personalize experiences at a great level for every type of customer that comes on to your platform and you can give them a very personalized email, personalized message, even phone calls.” 

Ramineni also envisions a future where AI takes on a more autonomous role in advertising, saying, “An automatic ad creation; like a human won't even have to create the ad. It'll look at examples and then generate some of the advertising for you to run.” 

However, Dasgupta cautions that human oversight remains crucial, observing, “These technologies and tools require human guidance, intervention and review to be truly effective. Simply cutting and pasting the output should be avoided.” 

The ROI of AI investments appears to correlate strongly with adoption levels. Dasgupta cites a recent Boston Consulting Group report, which found that "companies with high maturity in Gen AI are projecting ROI three times higher than those with lower adoption levels.” 

Looking ahead, experts anticipate increased AI spending and adoption. Jasani predicts, “AI spending is only set to rise and our adoption and use of it will also go up significantly. We're seeing growing interest in generative AI and predictive analytics tools, which are pushing boundaries in creativity and strategy.” 

Dasgupta draws parallels with previous technological revolutions, suggesting that AI is following a similar pattern of initial skepticism, followed by disruption and eventual ubiquity. He notes, “Investments in AI almost certainly will increase, and we can expect AI to become further embedded in daily activities.” 

Anish Roy, Director of Analytics, MiQ, also anticipates a continued surge in AI investments in the coming quarters. "The potential of AI is vast and we're only just scratching the surface, and we see several areas poised for significant growth. This includes Conversational AI as chatbots and virtual assistants will become increasingly sophisticated, enabling seamless, personalized interactions with employees/customers across multiple channels; AI-driven personalisation which will move beyond basic segmentation to deliver personalized experiences that truly resonate with brands; and Ethical AI, which ensures equity, transparency, and accountability in AI systems will become paramount as these technologies become more deeply embedded in our lives."

Chandiramani offers an even more nuanced view of future AI spending, opining, “AI spending will increase for those of us building solutions over the current tools for specific company level problems or client needs.” He particularly highlights the potential of video-based AI platforms, saying, “Democratizing Video AI software will definitely contribute to a massive revolution in digital advertising content and will justify in terms of ROI as well.” 

Ramineni corroborates this view, highlighting the potential of AI in video content creation, saying, “I've seen Toys R Us and some other companies create 100% AI generated video ads, so in the film and video creation process AI is going to be able to quickly create tons of video assets and that's a boon for marketing agencies where they can create film level budget-like outputs with low cost.”

As AI continues to evolve, its impact on advertising ROI seems poised to grow. However, as Dasgupta reminds us, “The technology needs responsible human governance to reach its full potential.” This balance between AI capabilities and human guidance will likely shape the future of advertising in the AI era.