Brands Must Step Outside Of Algorithms To Reconnect With People
The man whose name is synonymous with halting the inexorable march of technology never existed. Over 200 years ago, Ned Ludd was "fake news," his invented name a signature on threatening letters sent to factory owners intent on replacing workers with machines.
As modern marketers, advertisers and brand professionals, we cannot be opposed to new ways of working. Yet technology—for all its wonderful gifts—strips us of a unique asset that makes us indispensable: our humanness.
A shift is already happening as people push back against tech's overreach, reclaiming what it means to be human. Governments are restricting minors' use of social media, and consumers are rejecting surveillance and manipulation. Concerns about AI's factual errors, copyright issues, environmental impact and mental health effects are growing. One new study revealed that volunteers who used ChatGPT to write essays saw a reduction in brain activity.
The Human Disconnect In An AI-Driven World
Brands sit in the middle of this uncertainty. While technology enables them to be with consumers 24/7, many of them are becoming disconnected from audiences' cultural realities.
When news emerged that Duolingo was making the switch to become an 'AI-first' company, replacing contractors with generative AI, public perception of the brand soured. Meanwhile, Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, recently informed the world that AI "does not love, does not feel loss, does not suffer. And because of that, it is incapable of expressing true compassion or understanding human connection. We do. And that is our superpower."
It's a sentiment we at Human8 share. Our superpower is in making those connections, but we see that brands' enthusiasm for AI is weakening their connection to people's realities. We've lost something in the declining status of planners and creatives.
Thirty years ago, we marveled at the first clickable ad. Today, analytics optimize targeting, content and bidding in real time. Emerging immersive and automated technology will further enhance brand reach and shopping experiences. Meanwhile, short-form TikTok and Instagram videos and micro-influencers are driving more authentic brand engagement.
But do these algorithmic gifts really build more connection? We gain much from frictionless brand experiences, but what are we losing? Should we mirror the doubts of a society that wants to escape algorithms?
Why Human Connection Still Matters
Organizations are building huge data lakes and assets to capture first-party data through machine learning, with a hyper-rationalist desire to build more data points to improve targeting. I believe that's crowding out our innate abilities to understand the customer on emotive, intuitive and visceral levels—understanding that comes from constant exposure to people and their cultures.
For senior brand leaders, that understanding comes from walking the floor, having conversations with customers, responding to verbal and nonverbal cues, and embracing the messiness of reality, not from data or instant AI summaries.
A project with one of our clients, a major beauty brand, perfectly encapsulates this desire for increased humanness. We're enabling more experiences that provide leaders with serendipitous insights that can only come from the frictional "messiness" of true engagement.
Through a program we created, we've onboarded and trained over 3,000 people, connecting staff with consumers and professionals (salons and the like). The brand can keep its finger on the pulse of how customers are thinking and feeling in highly dynamic categories, as well as sensing and developing empathy with its customers to blend with data.
Action Steps For Reclaiming Connection In The Age Of AI
So, what can brands do to surf the technological wave while remaining grounded in the humanness that is our superpower?
• Rebalance your decision making. The left side of our brains is target-driven, analytical, detailed and logical. The right side sees the whole picture, the contours and complexity. It's the home of empathy and intuition, and it should guide decision making, but many of us put too much stock in left-brain thinking. We must engineer a rebalance because that interconnectedness gets us closer. Apple didn't develop intuitive technologies purely in a lab. Cofounder Steve Jobs believed in getting "closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves."
• Focus on cultures. Whether it's shop-a-longs, video conversations or one-to-ones, senior marketers need to reconnect with their customers by getting back on the shop floor, listening, observing, feeling, empathizing and measuring. Qualitative and quantitative should be in harmony. Cultures are incredibly complex, and they have constantly shifting patterns and networks that can't be mapped by data alone. Understanding those cultures is crucial if brands want to be more influential and persuasive.
• Embrace messiness. There's discomfort in these engagements, but that's where serendipity happens. We've become too comfortable with the clean lines of AI-engineered data collection and dissemination, and we need to pursue a systematically messier approach to extract truly impactful insights. It's a mindset shift that many marketers say they want. But if this is so, why aren't they doing so already? By avoiding uncomfortable situations, we miss the realities of people's lives that they don't always articulate—their frustrations, anger and joyfulness.
• Invest in people. Don't just hire them; invest in them. Bring their human skills of creativity, critical thinking and storytelling to the forefront. If an algorithm intermediates everything, human dignity suffers. Many in the industry believe that we as humans are organic algorithms, taking stimuli and processing it the same way machines do. I don't buy that. Humans want greater control over their destinies, and we should help them.
The greatest risk for brands is losing human connection. This isn't a rejection of technology, but a call to refocus on our humanity. We must reclaim our marketing strengths, regain control and reconnect with consumers and each other.
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