Forget the year of mobile: we live in the decade of AI. Artificial intelligence of all types, not just the generative type, has continued to make headlines in marketing over the past 12 months. Therefore, to reflect this trend, I asked AI to provide me with the top ten marketing issues and challenges, ranked from most important to least important, particularly for the Asia Pacific region.
As part of the experiment, I trained the AI with access to my Campaign subscription to ensure a focus on marketing, media and advertising. While the AI results were informative, they generally lacked context and nuance, which I added.
In Asia, many of the issues and challenges that marketing and advertising have faced globally over the past 12 months are equally relevant. However, the specific context and impact may vary between countries and regions. Here are the challenges identified and classified by AI:
1. Confidentiality rules and data protection: As GDPR and CCPA set priorities for consumer privacy, countries like China, India, and others are implementing stricter data protection laws similar to those in Europe and the United States, making compliance a significant challenge for marketers. Take for example the proposed Personal Data Protection Bill in India, which is expected to be implemented in 2025. It will have far-reaching consequences on the way companies collect, process and store consumer data. This, combined with third-party data sources of questionable quality, means marketers are turning to synthetic data as an alternative option.
2. Changes in consumer behavior: Even though the pandemic seems to be behind us, its lingering effects have accelerated changes in consumer behavior in Asia. There has been a notable increase in e-commerce and digital engagement, requiring rapid adaptation from brands. Although the pandemic has disrupted markets globally, the biggest disruption and impact on consumer behavior is economic, with inflation and cost of living topping the list.
3. Digital transformation: Many countries in the region are experiencing rapid digital growth, and brands are being forced to improve their digital capabilities to meet consumer expectations, combined with the need to adapt to new technologies, such as the integration of AI in existing technology platforms, which require significant investment. For example, Tata Motors, one of India’s largest automakers, announced a major investment in digital transformation, including the integration of AI into its production and supply chain processes. The unanswered question remains: does this investment provide the expected return on investment?
4. Advertising fatigue and consumer attention: With the saturation of online content, consumers are increasingly desensitized to advertising, making it harder for brands to capture attention. This proliferation of digital content should inspire marketers to be more courageous and creative in cutting through the clutter.
5. Measurement and attribution: Determining the effectiveness of marketing campaigns across different channels remains a complex challenge, especially with the increasing reliance on multi-channel marketing. Is it any wonder that we are seeing increased investment and interest in applying AI to marketing mix models (MMMs) for attribution and predictive decision-making?
6. Supply chain disruptions: Global supply chain issues have affected product availability and delivery, impacting marketing strategies and customer satisfaction, not only globally but in Asian markets, which has had an impact on marketing strategies. However, supply chain problems have also served as an excuse for rising costs, generating significant profit margins for businesses and fueling the cost of living crisis.
7. Sustainability and ethical marketing: Awareness of sustainability and ethical practices, particularly among younger Asian consumers, is pushing brands to address these concerns. However, as the economic and cost-of-living crisis continues, priorities might be more mundane, like paying the bills and putting food on the table.
8. Talent acquisition and retention: The marketing industry is facing a talent shortage, with difficulty finding qualified professionals in digital marketing and data analytics. However, if more effort were put into making marketing roles more attractive, this problem could be quickly resolved.
9. Rising advertising costs: It’s not just the increased demand for digital advertising space that has led to rising costs and challenging budgets and ROI for many brands. But then again, the price of everything is increasing, including the margins reported by many publicly traded companies.
10. Cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness: Asia is the most culturally diverse region in the world, and brands must continue to carefully manage these complexities to avoid miscommunications and ensure their message resonates in different cultural contexts, ensuring that their message resonates without offending. Although rising nationalism and economic tightening show signs of easing these concerns.
Were these your main marketing challenges in 2024? Did the AI miss something crucial? Or is the ranking wrong? For me, the important lesson of 2024 is this: while AI is an invaluable tool, we are still far from replacing humans in that most human of business disciplines: understanding what motivates, inspires and motivates us . This information is an integral part of successful marketing, and while machines may one day get there, they haven’t yet cracked this code.
Perhaps AI should have ranked “understanding the unpredictable human psyche” as the biggest challenge for marketers in 2024. After all, even the most advanced algorithms struggle to understand the fanciful, irrational nature and often paradoxical of human behavior, the very essence that makes the difference. commercializing both an art and a science. Machines may soon master science, but art will likely elude them for some time.
By Darren Woolley, Founder and Global CEO of Trinity P3, a marketing management consultancy. He is a regular columnist for Campaign Asia, writing the monthly “Woolley on marketing” column.
