Recently, we witnessed a new record in the technology industry. OpenAI's ChatGPT hit 100 million users in just two months of its launch. The significance can be understood from the fact that TikTok took nine months, and Instagram took over two years to reach the same milestone. The development of large language models like ChatGPT is the most significant milestone in AI in recent times, as they have the ability to simulate human-like responses to a wide variety of prompts, with the potential to be used in different applications, from chatbots to language translation to content creation, etc. 

Generative AI tools have emerged as a formidable tool shaping the engagement dynamics with consumers and are increasingly used to create and support a variety of marketing assets, including images, videos, and text, all of which can be used to reach and engage consumers in new and innovative ways. Let’s first take the obvious example of ChatGPT, a large language model developed by OpenAI which has shown enormous potential for Marketing. 

1. Personalized Marketing: ChatGPT can analyze large amounts of customer data, such as social media interactions, website visits, and email responses and help marketers identify patterns, trends, and insights to improve their marketing strategies, increasing conversion rates and reducing the cost of customer acquisition. 

ChatGPT can suggest different ideas for personalizing banners for each audience segment. Additionally, it can carve out target audience segments and analyze data accordingly, allowing advertisers to run PPC campaigns on laser-sharp keyword management. 

2. Automated Content Creation (perhaps the most telling impact): ChatGPT has the potential to generate high-quality content for marketing purposes, such as social media posts, blogs, product descriptions etc. Marketers can use Chat GPT to automate content creation, save time, and reduce costs. 

Zomato and Swiggy are using AI-generated content to engage consumers better. For instance, Swiggy’s food blog, 'Swiggy Diaries', uses AI to generate content based on trending food topics, customer interests, and local food scenes. BYJU's has employed AI to customize learning paths based on student responses, with content generated by tools similar to ChatGPT. 

3. Targeted advertising: ChatGPT can analyze customer data and generate advertising messages that are more likely to appeal to customers. With ChatGPT's ability to understand natural language, it can help create more relevant and targeted ads that can lead to higher conversion rates and generate numerous alternative slogans for A/B creative testing. 

The Mint Mobile ad created by Ryan Reynolds is a classic example of how a commercial can be created with ChatGPT. Storied, a genealogy website, recently utilized ChatGPT alongside the AI art generator, Midjourney, to design video ads. 

4. Integration with chatbots: This provides a more natural and human-like experience to customers. Chatbots can leverage the power of ChatGPT to provide personalized recommendations, offer support, and help customers complete transactions seamlessly. 

Flipkart has employed ChatGPT-driven chatbots for handling customer queries leading to improved response times, higher customer satisfaction rates, and significant cost savings in customer service. 

Now let us look at a few other Generative AI tools that may not have made a big splash like ChatGPT but are progressively defining the contours of modern marketing by driving customer engagement, hyper-personalization, automated content creation, predictive insights, and effecting big cost savings. 

• DALL-E is an image generator focused on creating images from text descriptions. It is being used by brands to create product images, marketing campaigns, and social media posts. 

HDFC Bank used DALL-E 2 to create a series of images that depicted the bank's products and services in a creative and visually appealing way. 

• Midjourney is another image generator that is similar to DALL-E. It is being used by brands to create high-quality images for a variety of marketing purposes. 

San Francisco Ballet experimented by pairing AI-generated art with live performing art by using Midjourney. 

• Jarvis is a writing assistant that can help you write blog posts, articles, and other marketing content. It is being used by brands to save time and improve the quality of their content.

 Indian IT majors like Infosys, Wipro and TCS are using Jarvis to create and manage their content marketing campaigns and content-led assets. 

• Persado is a tool that can help you create high-performing ad copy. It uses AI to analyze your target audience and create ad copy that is tailored to their interests. 

Reliance Jio is using Persado to create more effective customer journeys by personalizing the content and offerings at each stage of the consumer journey to enhance customer satisfaction and decrease customer churn. 

The potent combination of AI and marketing offers stunningly transformative prospects for businesses. So, the next time you visit your neighbourhood grocery store or call for home delivery, don’t be surprised if the shopkeeper reminds you of your last order, the stocks of which may be running out or details new offers on the same using predictive analytics software (being used by companies like Hindustan Unilever). 

The advent of Generative AI in marketing is exhilarating. Going ahead, to be successful will not be defined by what we know but by what we can do with what we know. AI-led marketing, folks, is a case in point.

You have spent over two decades working with agencies and corporates. Tell us about your journey - the challenges you overcame and the lessons you have learnt along the way.

I started my career with such award-winning international agencies as Leo Burnett and Impact BBDO. I then moved to the client side, bringing agency-level expertise into my work in marketing and corporate communication. Along the way, I gained experience across multiple industries, including energy, manufacturing, automotive, airlines, banking, FMCGs, F&B, construction and retail. This versatile background led me to become a nimble marketer; someone who can quickly assess the status quo and project a vision of an achievable future.

The journey has had its peaks and troughs, with a lot of lessons learnt. The challenge you face in this field is coming to terms with the accelerated change in customer sentiment and behaviour. The COVID pandemic accelerated digital transformation for most industries which meant marketers found themselves in an urgent need to digitise and revisit their entire journey mapping.  

From the media standpoint, India is a progressive market, and our understanding is that the UAE is still a controlled market. What have been your learning and / experiences there?

It’s not a question of progressive versus controlled but rather a question of cultural diversity and differing values. And contrary to what is believed, the UAE is a liberal market when it comes to customer communications. The UAE is home to over 200 nationalities, all which come with their own unique shopping behavior, languages and cultural nuances. Of course, this is in addition to the UAE’s own nationals. We are free to communicate and market to all these groups, provided that our communications are honest, not misleading, and respects all the cultural differences and the overall UAE culture. This ends up with us communicating our campaigns more tactically to the different groups - while ensuring that our message is the same – in order to appeal to the different demographics.

And this approach works. The UAE is currently hosts the most winning agencies in the Middle East – a testament of how we, as marketers, are able to adapt to market subtleties.

What inspired you to write ‘Marketing and Communications on the Job’? 

There are numerous books on marketing in every library and bookstore in the world, and they all have one thing in common – they are filled with theories that sound good on paper but cannot be implemented by everyone. Many of these books are authored by university professors or chief marketing officers of the world's largest and most prestigious brands. They derive insights from best-in-class companies in an admirable manner, but their points may not be applicable to the remaining 90 per cent of businesses, which lack the resources and time to create case studies on award-winning work. This book is not a work of literature; rather, it is a practical guide with tried-and-true frameworks and checklists that can assist any business in conducting marketing on a holistic scale.

Let's acknowledge a universal truth – economies all over the world are driven by SMEs and small businesses, the majority of which lack sophisticated marketing departments and rely heavily on market knowledge to decipher their own disciplines. This book makes marketing and corporate communications accessible to these small business owners, CEOs and other executives transitioning into marketing from sales or another field.

You are an advocate of health and financial literacy. What steps have you taken to support these social causes?

I believe that these are more than social causes; but rather, personal imperatives. The world around us is fluid and quickly changing, and that changing world will not change for us, but rather, we have to adapt for the change. That is why I’ve been a strong proponent of both physical and mental health – something I strongly advocate within my own peer groups – as only through building these strengths can we adapt – and address – real-world dynamism. It is similar with financial literacy. As a single mother, the oneness of taking care of my children has fallen solely on me. With economic uncertainty, is crucial that we take it upon ourselves to understand the markets and wealth-creating opportunities. The average financial literacy rate in the UAE hovers around 30 per cent, according to recent reports; women in the country fall lower. This proved to be a driver for me to understand the financial world – a topic, that again, I advocate within my professional and personal peer groups.

Tell us about your participation at the IPRCCC.

During my participation at the IPRCCC, I had a chance to speak about the indivisible forces that shape the journey of a marketer. For me, it was curiosity and owning your own script. It is high time for marketers to be free to explore all fields on the spectrum of marcomms. I also touched upon the liberty to grow in many disciplines at once, for example, you can excel at the comms game while you build great skills in lead generation. It is okay to experiment with multiple industries and learn new segments. With every new experience, you open up to a collective of possibilities.

Air India has onboarded Partha Ghosh as Global Head of Communications. He had moved on from Samsung last week. He had worked with the company for over eight years wherein he built a strong communications team. He redefined the communication for the company and helped it emerge as one of the most trusted and loved brands in the country.

In 2021, Ghosh was also made the head of CSR at Samsung where he was at the forefront of strategising and planning impactful CSR initiatives for the organisation.

Ghosh was a journalist for over 20 years before joining Samsung. He worked as a senior editor with The Economic Times for 10 years during which time he was the resident editor for the paper in Gujarat and also editor for Sunday ET. He also launched several new editions of the pink paper including ET Gujarati and ET Hindi. Before The Economic Times, Ghosh worked with other business papers including Business Standard and Hindu BusinessLine.

Vidisha Chatterjee has moved on as Communications Director - India from WhatsApp.

She was with WhatsApp for nearly 3 years. Prior to that, Chatterjee was Head of Communications, India, at Colgate-Palmolive. He was also with Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

Chatterjee has also worked with Genesis Burson-Marsteller, India Today, ESPN Star Sports and BBC.

popkorn has been appointed by Nutrabooti to lead its social and digital creative responsibilities, following a competitive pitch process.

This comes off the back of a strong 2023 for the digital creative agency where it has picked up new brands and moved into its new office.

Nutrabooti is an upcoming D2C brand manufacturing nutraceuticals for proactive and preventive healthcare, compromising a perfect blend of power of modern science and and magic of jadibootis.

Ritika Jain, Founder of Nutrabooti, said: “We are thrilled to be working with popkorn to build the Nutrabooti range of nutraceutical products at a time when consumer awareness for well-being and the larger category is higher than ever.”

“Their strategic and creative thinking demonstrated a strong understanding of and passion for the brand and their collaborative way of working aligns perfectly with our values.”

Vishal Mehra, Chief Executive Officer at popkorn, said: “Our team is thrilled with this win, and the prospect of creating a new super-category, within a growing category. We were enamoured by Nutrabooti’s willingness to explore innovative concepts and leveraging usage of different platforms to reach a broader audience. We can’t wait to go live with our ideas.”

Ahead of International Day of Action for Women’s Health (28 May 2023), The Weber Shandwick Collective today announced the launch of its bespoke, cross-market offering committed to shaping healthier futures for all women in Asia Pacific. The Weber Shandwick Collective Women’s Health offer brings together a passionate group of agency experts from across the region, covering health communications, corporate communications, policy and advocacy, employee engagement, digital innovation, and design experience. The offer is fuelled by unparalleled data intelligence and works closely with a curated group of in-culture advisors and external consultants from business, government, academia and society. 

The offer will be led by Rachael Pay, managing director, health, Weber Shandwick EMEA and senior health sponsor for the APAC region, and is designed to drive a change in the definition of women’s health – historically niched around reproductive health and diseases unique to women – to a more holistic view on health, wellness, and wellbeing. Evidence shows women in Asia are at a higher risk of suffering from a multitude of diseases or experience poorer outcomes than men, as is the case with such common conditions including heart disease caused by hypertension, diabetes, auto-immune diseases and Alzheimer’s disease. 

The Women’s Health offer is underpinned by a suite of products and services including the agency’s latest proprietary insights product, The Women’s Health Indicator. Developed by data analysts and behaviour experts, it informs and identifies specific gaps in women’s health by analysing and assessing data points measured across society, media and policy. 

“Research shows that across the Asia Pacific region, women are more prone to experiencing health inequalities brought on by sociocultural influences and conditions and political environments that limit their ability to initiate and access optimal care," said Liz Clark Martinez, Vice President, Health Strategy, Weber Shandwick Hong Kong & Singapore. "To foster change in the field of women's health, we must gain a deep understanding of women and the intersections of culture and modern medicine – only then can we support clients to actively drive progress across all areas of health by developing communications programs that truly resonate and drive action.”

Research recently conducted by The Weber Shandwick Collective reinforces the need for bespoke multi-stakeholder education and awareness campaigns, not only to reach women but to resonate with them to drive meaningful change. 

“Take it in your stride” is a phrase that women in India often hear when they voice health issues. However, healthcare needs to be gender-specific which is often overlooked. Every woman should have access to curated information specific to her concerns without stigma, and it is imperative that this is normalized.” said Ruchika Vyas, EVP- Client Experience and Health Practice Lead, Weber Shandwick Mumbai. 

Findings from media coverage and social media data analysed from April 2022 to March 2023 in multiple Asian markets show a lack of information specific to women about Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), despite the increased risks for women:

• Despite evidence that women in Asia with type 2 diabetes are almost twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease as men with diabetes, ² only 4% of total diabetes coverage in the region mentions women explicitly.
• Despite data in Japan showing almost twice as many new cases of Alzheimer’s disease in women than in men,⁵ less than 1% of Alzheimer’s disease conversation in the region is female-focused.
• Despite evidence that there are at least three times as many women with RA than men with RA in South Korea⁶, only 3.5% of online content in the region is specific to women. 

“At The Weber Shandwick Collective, we’re helping clients rewrite the script for women’s health, widely acknowledged as one of the critical areas of inequity in our region today. Our offer is driven by a force of passionate health experts and specialists from every office across our business, spanning areas like diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI), employee engagement and  Femtech innovation – who are catalysing change in fair treatment, care, and access to truly reflect the experiences, cultures and life stages of women in Asia Pacific today," said Vanessa Ho Nikolovski, Chief Client & Growth Officer, Weber Shandwick, Asia Pacific. “Our unique offer will bridge knowledge gaps and help companies and brands sit at the heart of women’s health through creativity, action, and measurable impact.” 

In addition to the launch of the Women’s Health offer in the Asia Pacific region, Weber Shandwick is proud to be an industry leader in its commitment to supporting women’s health and well-being through its existing and evolving People Programmes and Policies across the region. 

“We are proud to be leading in the development of best-in-class programs focusing on our employees who are women, who make up over 70% of our current workforce,” said Susie Bates, Chief People Officer, Weber Shandwick, Asia Pacific. “In addition to supporting mental well-being talks and resources, our markets are committed to the ongoing development of programmes, including country-relevant menstrual and psychological support to employees, as well as flexible working policies at all levels. We remain completely committed to drive programmes in this space, whilst continuing to be mindful of our culturally nuanced markets and sensitivities around them.” 

Dharampal Satyapal Group (DS Group) has named Jyotsna Dash Nanda as AVP - Corporate Communications. 

Previously, she worked with Prefect Relations as the Branch Director for over nine years.

Nanda has over 25 years of experience in public relations consultancy and marketing communications for clients involving crisis communications, media relations, media training, internal communications, and editorial writing for a wide range of industries including consumer durables, banking and finance, services industry, technology, automotive, healthcare and education verticals. 

Throughout her career, she contributed to India InfoMedia Private Limited, Enterprise Public Relations, Hanmer & Partners, Brodeur India and Candour Communications.