Marketing To The Machines: Why Algorithms Are Our Destiny

#VividIdeas • @eskimon & @suzsha • 1
MARKETING TO
THE MACHINESWHY ALGORITHMS WILL DEFINE THE FUTURE OF ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHI...

SIMON KEMP
@eskimon
SUZIE SHAW
@suzsha

IN THIS PRESENTATION…
1. KITTENS
2. SEX
3. MARKETING
4. THE END OF THE WORLD?
5. A GL...

THANKS TO CONTAGIOUS FOR ALLOWING US
TO USE THEIR CONTENT IN THIS PRESENTATION

CONTEXT

7
TOTAL
POPULATION
INTERNET
USERS
ACTIVE SOCIAL
MEDIA USERS
UNIQUE
MOBILE USERS
ACTIVE MOBILE
SOCIAL USERS
BILLION BILLION...

HALF THE WORLD IS ALREADY ONLINE, AND
1 MILLION NEW USERS CONNECT EVERY DAY

CONNECTED TECH IS ALREADY A CENTRAL
PART OF MOST OF OUR DAILY LIVES, TOO

TOP APP CATEGORIES AROUND THE WORLD
COMMS CONTENT GAMES TRAVEL SHOPPING
FOOD FITNESS...

ALMOST ALL OF THIS CONNECTED TECH IS
POWERED BY SOME SORT OF ALGORITHM

AS OUR DIGITAL DEPENDENCE INCREASES,
SO ALGORITHMS’ INFLUENCE INCREASES

ALGORITHMS ALREADY SHAPE THE MOST
CRITICAL ASPECTS OF OUR DAILY LIVES…

IT SEEMS FLIPPANT, BUT BUZZFEED IS A GREAT
EXAMPLE OF THE UBIQUITY OF ALGORITHMS

BUZZFEED’S ENTIRE MODEL IS BUILT ON
ALGORITHMS AND MACHINE LEARNING

BuzzFeed is powered by an algorithm that
monitors the behaviour of hundreds of milli...

BUZZFEED’S ALGORITHM NOW ACCURATELY
PREDICTS WHAT CONTENT PEOPLE WILL SHARE

AS A RESULT, ALGORITHMS INFORM & INSPIRE
ALL THE CONTENT THAT BUZZFEED PUBLISHES

BUT THE INFLUENCE OF ALGORITHMS ON DAILY
LIFE EXTENDS WELL BEYOND CURATED KITTENS

ALGORITHMS ALREADY INFLUENCE:
ALGORITHMS IN SOCIAL
MEDIA SELECT WHOSE
POSTS WE SEE, ...

Algorithms are already
influencing the entire future
gene pool of humanity.

IRONICALLY, INSTEAD OF KILLING US OFF,
THE ROBOTS ARE HELPING US PROPAGATE

BUT WHAT EXACTLY ARE THESE ‘ALGORITHMS’
THAT ARE DEFINING THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY?

An algorithm is a finite set
of unambiguous instructions,
performed in a prescribed
...

ALGORITHMS SIT SOMEWHERE BETWEEN
MATHS FORMULAE AND COMPUTER PROGRAMS

FOR MOST PEOPLE, EITHER OF THOSE THINGS
IS ENOUGH TO GIVE US THE HEEBIE JEEBIES
😰

SO WHY ARE WE ALLOWING ALGORITHMS TO
CONTROL SO MANY ASPECTS OF OUR LIVES?

FITTINGLY, THE ANSWER MAY LIE IN
ONE OF THOSE MATHS FORMULAE…

SCIENTISTS HAVE ACTUALLY CRACKED THE
FORMULA FOR ETERNAL HUMAN HAPPINESS

READY?

Happiness(t) = w0 + w1 ∑ 𝛾t–jCRj + w2
j=1
t
∑
j=1
t
𝛾t–jEVj + w3∑
j=1
t
𝛾t–jRPEj

ESSENTIAL
CONCLUSION

HAPPINESS IS SO INSANELY COMPLEX THAT WE
MIGHT AS WELL ABDICATE IT TO ALGORITHMS

BUT SERIOUSLY…

HOW ALGORITHMS ADD VALUE TO OUR LIVES
WE CAN’T EVALUATE
SO MANY OPTIONS;
ALGORITHMS ...

HOWEVER, THIS RELIANCE ON ALGORITHMS
ISN’T JUST SHAPING SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES

IT’S ALSO GOING TO CHANGE THE
WAY THAT OUR BRAINS WORK

UBIQUITOUS ACCESS TO THE INTERNET HAS
ALREADY CHANGED HOW WE FORM MEMORIES

Studies show that when we’re faced with
difficult questions, our first reaction is t...

ALGORITHMS WILL LIKELY HAVE A SIMILAR
IMPACT ON THE WAY WE MAKE DECISIONS

THE EVOLUTION OF DECISION INFLUENCES
FOR THE MAJORITY OF HUMAN
EXISTENCE, THE PEOPLE...

OUR INCREASING RELIANCE ON ALGORITHMS
HAS MASSIVE IMPLICATIONS FOR MARKETING

“MASSIVE”?

FUTURE BUSINESS SUCCESS WILL DEPEND ON
HOW WELL WE CAN INFLUENCE ALGORITHMS

MARKETING
TO THE
MACHINES

THIS HAS ALREADY STARTED, BUT IT’S ABOUT
TO TAKE OFF IN A MUCH BIGGER WAY

VOICE-POWERED DEVICES WILL ACCELERATE
THE TRANSITION TO ALGORITHMIC MARKETING

WHY?

THINK ABOUT HOW YOU TALK TO FRIENDS AND
FAMILY ABOUT THE GROCERIES YOU NEED…

YOU’RE MORE LIKELY TO TALK ABOUT ‘BEER,
CHIPS & ICE CREAM’ THAN SPECIFIC BRANDS

MOST PEOPLE THINK – AND SHOP – IN TERMS
OF NEEDS AND CATEGORIES, NOT BRANDS

THAT’S MOST LIKELY HOW THEY’LL ORDER ON
VOICE-CONTROLLED SHOPPING DEVICES, TOO

!

WHO WILL DECIDE ON THE BRAND WHEN THE
SHOPPER DOESN’T SPECIFY ONE DIRECTLY?

THE VOICE CHALLENGE: CHOOSING BRANDS
THE DEVICE’S SHOPPING
‘ASSISTANT’ WILL ASK US
T...

THE ALGORITHMS CAN DECIDE FOR US
THE DEVICE’S SHOPPING
‘ASSISTANT’ WILL ASK US
TO SP...

BUT WHAT MIGHT THAT ‘VARIETY OF
ALGORITHMIC INPUTS’ INCLUDE?

The best – and worst – thing about
Google Home is that it plugs into
the Google brai...

‘EVERYTHING’

GOOGLE REALLY DOES KNOW EVERYTHING
SEARCH GMAIL CALENDAR YOUTUBE DOCS
AD NETWORKS CH...

LET’S PUT THIS INTO CONTEXT…

“THE FOUR HORSEMEN”
EVERYTHING WE BUY,
WHAT WE’LL LIKELY BUY
NEXT, AND THE CONTENT
W...

AMAZON ALREADY HAS ENOUGH DATA TO
KNOW WHAT I’LL BUY, BEFORE I KNOW MYSELF

BUT AMAZON’S DATA IS STILL PRIMARILY
ROOTED IN COMMERCE AND CONTENT

FACEBOOK TAKES THINGS A SIGNIFICANT STEP
FURTHER BY FOLLOWING US ACROSS THE WEB

UBIQUITOUS ‘LIKE’ BUTTONS GIVE FACEBOOK
EXCEPTIONALLY RICH INSIGHTS INTO OUR LIVES

By analysing just 68 of our Facebook ‘likes’,
researchers can predict our skin colou...

BUT IF FACEBOOK ONLY NEEDS A FEW ‘LIKES’ TO
KNOW US AS WELL AS WE KNOW OURSELVES…

GOOGLE’S REACH GOES FAR BEYOND ‘LIKES’
SEARCH GMAIL CALENDAR YOUTUBE DOCS
AD NETWORK...

EVEN IF WE FOCUS SOLELY ON ITS ANDROID
PLATFORM, GOOGLE KNOWS FAR, FAR MORE

GOOGLE KNOWS MORE THAN SANTA CLAUS
ALL THE CONTENT WE
CONSUME, AND WHAT
WE WRITE ABO...

Even when you’re not using your
phone, its motion sensor captures
how quickly you mo...

😱

ANDROID CURRENTLY POWERS MORE THAN
3 BILLION SMARTPHONES AROUND THE WORLD
• SOURCES:...

GOOGLE KNOWS EVERYTHING
ABOUT EVERYBODY, EVERYWHERE...

HOWEVER, EVEN GOOGLE’S EXPERTS HAVE
STRUGGLED TO MAKE SENSE OF ALL THIS DATA

#FIRSTWORLDPROBLEMS

GOOGLE’S ANSWER – OBVIOUSLY – IS TO USE
ALGORITHMS TO ADDRESS THEIR CHALLENGE

THIS IS WHERE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AND MACHINE LEARNING COME INTO FRAME

Artificially intelligent systems
are agents that can receive
percepts from the envir...

TYPES OF MACHINE ‘INTELLIGENCE’
SYSTEMS THAT AMPLIFY THE
VALUE OF EXISTING RULE-BASE...

GOOGLE IS USING THESE TECHNOLOGIES TO
ADDRESS OUR MOST EXISTENTIAL CRISES…

BUT, AS WITH BUZZFEED’S KITTENS, THIS A.I.
APPLICATION IS NOT AS FLIPPANT AS IT SEEMS

If a computer defeats a human
Go champion, it will be a sign
that artificial intelli...

BUT WHY ‘GO’?

2.082 x 10170

2.082 x 10170
(MORE THAN DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF ATOMS IN THE UNIVERSE)

It may be 100 years before
a computer beats humans
at Go – maybe even longer.
Piet H...

( AHEM )

HOW?!

[Google’s team] programmed
AlphaGo to be able to teach
itself, and not just carry ou...

THE ALPHAGO ALGORITHM REPLICATED ITSELF
MILLIONS OF TIMES IN ORDER TO LEARN FASTER

ALGORITHMS CAN NOW WRITE THEIR OWN
ALGORITHMS WITHOUT HUMAN INTERVENTION

WHAT’S MORE, THESE ALGORITHMS AREN’T
JUST OUTPERFORMING US AT BOARD GAMES

There isn’t a human alive today
who knows how to program a driverless
car; these sys...

REASSURINGLY, WE REALLY ARE USING A.I. TO
SOLVE HUMANITY’S MOST SERIOUS PROBLEMS

[IBM] Watson’s successful
diagnosis rate for lung cancer is
90%, compared to a succ...

VERY SOON, WE’LL RELY ON A.I. FOR ALL OF
THE MOST CRITICAL THINGS IN OUR LIVES

YOU’RE NOT ALONE IF THAT WORRIES YOU;
MANY PEOPLE ARE FEARFUL OF A.I.’S PROGRESS

EVEN THE WORLD’S BEST MINDS ARE WARNING
THAT A.I. MAY TRIGGER HUMANITY’S DOWNFALL

Artificial intelligence is our
greatest existential threat.“ Elon Musk

Success in creating A.I. would
be the biggest event in human
history. Unfortunately...

BUT WE MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO CONFLATE
A.I. WITH HUMAN BIOLOGICAL IMPERATIVES

ALGORITHMS DO NOT COMPETE FOR THE
SAME RESOURCES OR MATES AS HUMANS

MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHILST EARTH IS IDEAL
FOR HUMANS, IT’S NOT IDEAL FOR A.I. SYSTEMS

A.I.’S ‘HIERARCHY OF NEEDS’
A.I. MACHINES WILL SOON
WORK OUT HOW TO POWER
THEMSELVE...

RATHER THAN KILL US, A.I. WILL MORE LIKELY
ABANDON US LIKE A RECALCITRANT TEENAGER

THE REAL A.I. THREAT TO HUMANITY COMES
FROM HUMANITY MISUSING AND ABUSING A.I.

THE ‘WEAPONISATION’ OF A.I.
IS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN

A.I. warfare is inevitable.
U.S. Department of Defence report“

SO, HOW CAN WE MITIGATE THIS
TRULY TERRIFYING PROSPECT?

THE ANSWER MAY LIE IN SOMETHING MOST OF
US WOULD NEVER ASSOCIATE WITH MACHINES

EMPATHY

PEOPLE OFTEN THINK OF EMPATHY AS A
UNIQUELY HUMAN TRAIT, DEFINED BY EMOTION

OUR BLEAKEST VISIONS OF THE FUTURE OFTEN
FOCUS ON MACHINES THAT LACK EMPATHY

HOWEVER, EMPATHY IS MORE THAN JUST AN
INNATE EMOTION OR BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE

The ability to feel and understand
what another person is feeling,
and to interact ...

CRUCIALLY, A LARGE PART OF EMPATHY IS
LEARNED – SO IT CAN ALSO BE ENCODED

ARTIFICIAL
EMPATHY

‘A.E.’ ISN’T JUST HYPOTHETICAL, EITHER; A
NUMBER OF PROTOTYPES ALREADY EXIST

BUT THE ‘VALUE’ OF A.E. WILL DEPEND ON HOW,
AND HOW WELL, EMPATHY HAS BEEN ENCODED

THE CHALLENGE WITH EMPATHY IS THAT IT IS
INDIVIDUALLY AND CULTURALLY SUBJECTIVE

THE SUBJECTIVE BIASES OF HUMAN CODERS
WILL LIKELY END UP SHAPING A.E. SYSTEMS

BUT, JUST AS A.I. IS ALREADY WRITING NEW
A.I., THESE SYSTEMS WILL WRITE NEW A.E. TOO

BUT WILL A.E. SYSTEMS BUILT BY A.I. SYSTEMS
EMPATHISE WITH HUMANS IN THE LONG-TERM?

🤔

AS WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, THERE WILL
BE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ARTIFICIAL EMPAT...

LEVELS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
SYSTEMS THAT CAN DETECT THE
EMOTIONS EXHIBITED BY...

IT WILL LIKELY BE A FEW YEARS BEFORE ANY
OF THESE SYSTEMS BECOMES WIDESPREAD

HOWEVER

AS WE SAW EARLIER, OUR SMARTPHONES
CAN ALREADY INFER OUR EMOTIONAL STATE

SO, IT MIGHT NOT TAKE AS LONG AS WE THINK
BEFORE A.E. INTERFACES ARE EVERYWHERE

😮 Seems like you
had a crazy day!
You totally deserve
an ice-cold beer.

BUT THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF A.E. ISN’T
ABOUT DEVICE-TO-HUMAN INTERACTIONS

THE BIG QUESTION IS, HOW WILL EMPATHETIC
A.I. SYSTEMS INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER?

A.I. warfare is inevitable.
U.S. Department of Defence report“

A strange game. The
only winning move
is not to play at all.
Joshua, the A.I. syste...

INTERACTING A.E. SYSTEMS SHOULD QUICKLY
CONCLUDE THAT ALL WARFARE IS POINTLESS

SO, WHILE A.E. CRACKS WORLD PEACE, WE
CAN RETURN TO MORE FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES

MARKETING

IN ALL SERIOUSNESS THOUGH, ALL OF THIS IS
COMING, SO WE NEED TO START PREPARING

SO, WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW AND DO
TO EFFECTIVELY MARKET TO THE MACHINES?

3 TIPS

#1UNDERSTAND
WHERE YOU STAND

“THE FOUR HORSEMEN”
EVERYTHING WE BUY,
WHAT WE’LL LIKELY BUY
NEXT, AND SOON,
EVERYT...

IN ALMOST ALL CASES, BRANDS SHOULD BE
APPROACHING THESE GIANTS AS PARTNERS

THEIR DATA AND INSIGHTS SHOULD HELP US
IMPROVE OUR OFFERINGS AND OUR RESULTS

!

PRIVACY

THE LIKELY SOLUTION WILL BE THE RETURN
OF DATA OWNERSHIP TO INDIVIDUALS

MIT is developing a blockchain that
lets privacy-conscious individuals
securely sto...

FINANCE
HEALTHCARE
GOVERNMENT
EDUCATION
DATING
BRANDS

THIS IS FASCINATING, BUT IT’S A RABBIT HOLE,
SO LET’S PARK THAT TOPIC FOR ANOTHER D...

#2UNDERSTAND
YOUR AUDIENCE

MOST MARKETERS WE’VE SPOKEN TO ABOUT
MARKETING TO ALGORITHMS ARE TERRIFIED

BUT ALGORITHMS ARE FAR MORE PREDICTABLE
THAN IRRATIONAL ‘CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR’

IF WE TREAT ALGORITHMS AS JUST ANOTHER
AUDIENCE, WE’RE ALREADY HALFWAY THERE

FUNCTIONAL
EMOTIONAL
TECHNICAL
&
&

GOOD NEWS: YOU DO NOT NEED TO
BECOME AN EXPERT IN ALGORITHMS

…YOU JUST NEED TO BECOME AN EXPERT
IN IDENTIFYING AND SELECTING THE EXPERTS

#3GET STARTED
TODAY

Machine learning has created
the biggest business opportunity in
history. But this ...

WHAT?!

ALGORITHMS WRITING ALGORITHMS WRITING
ALGORITHMS WRITING ALGORITHMS WRITING
ALGORIT...

1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024...

UNASSAILABLE
ADVANTAGE

“YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE” – DON’T END UP A
VICTIM OF THOSE UNASSAILABLE ADVANTAGES

EXPLORE HOW YOU CAN START MOVING
UP THAT CURVE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE

THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU MUST CREATE YOUR
OWN ‘BRAND ALGORITHMS’ STRAIGHT AWAY

BUT IT DOES MEAN YOU NEED TO START
DEVELOPING YOUR BRAND’S PLAN TODAY

WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE WILL BE
SPECIFIC TO EACH BUSINESS…

...BUT IF YOU’D LIKE SOME HELP GETTING
STARTED, FEEL FREE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH US:

SIMON KEMP
@eskimon
SUZIE SHAW
@suzsha

SIMON KEMP
@ESKIMON
SIMON.KEMP@WEARESOCIAL.COM
+65 9146 5356
WEARESOCIAL.COM

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Marketing To The Machines: Why Algorithms Are Our Destiny

Marketing To The Machines: Why Algorithms Are Our Destiny