Momentum Worldwide, an experiential agency inside Interpublic Group (IPG), is betting that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help clients deliver more personalized experiences while higher measuring the success of those efforts. The group has recently secured three patents around using ML to administer and activate experiences, Marketing Dive can exclusively share, staking a claim as the primary agency in its category to achieve this. The solutions have already been tested by clients including Coca-Cola and Walmart.
“Having these capabilities means brands can finally connect the dots across experiences for the primary time,” said Elena Klau, chief strategy and product officer at Momentum Worldwide, in an announcement. “We are at a very important inflection point where the technology and data investments we made years ago to secure these patents are finally being actualized for clients.”
The upgrades, that are being implemented across Momentum’s suite of business intelligence products, come as experiential marketing grows more complex and multichannel, forcing marketers to be deliberate of their budgets and planning. Along with mixing in digital and mobile elements which are expected in a smartphone-first world, today’s experiential campaigns are betting more on generative AI, as demonstrated in a recent promotion from Coke. The soft drink brand earlier this summer began running a Coke Studio at music festivals where visitors could create an original track and accompanying album cover and video with assistance from ChatGPT and other AI software.
“You have augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality and you’ve what’s happening within the Web3 space. All of those things should be connected in modern marketing,” said Jason Alan Snyder, global chief technology officer at Momentum Worldwide. “What we would have liked to do was devise a strategy or a tool or a system with a view to give you the chance to do it. What is embodied in these three patents are the apparatuses, the methods and the systems that enable that.”
Snyder said that Momentum is initially focused on bringing a deeper level of personalization and precision to branded events like Coke Studio. Eventually, the patents are also expected to supply a clearer view into how physical experiences affect sales, a long-standing focal point for CMOs who need to prove their splashy creative plays drive concrete results.
“The golden goose, for lack of a greater term, in experiential is the flexibility to say, what is the value of this? If I do these items, what is the ROI?” said Snyder. “It doesn’t necessarily work like traditional media.”
Staying ahead of the curve
Momentum began pondering more seriously concerning the AI and ML applications back in 2016 and made the initial patent filings a 12 months later, well before ChatGPT mania made AI the marketing buzzword du jour. The group previously built out a few of its services with help from IBM’s Watson, an early mover in AI, and is currently developing partnerships with sister agency Acxiom, in addition to third parties like Palantir, Google and Microsoft.
While there are three patents in the combo, they work in unison as a system called Multidimensional Machine Learning Data and User Interface Segment Tagging Engine Apparatuses, Methods, and Systems, or MLIUI. MLIUI is not a standalone product but relatively enhances the solutions Momentum already offers under its Total Brand Experience. The ML investment is complemented by IPG’s recent bets on quantum computing with partner D-Wave to unravel data-intensive problems in a speedier manner.
MLIUI addresses five key areas for experiential marketers: ingesting a high volume of information from different sources; processing that information; recognizing patterns in the information; designing predictive models; and offering real-time adaptation. Snyder compared the method to watching a “multi-layered movie.” Brands should keep track of assorted plots and characters, understanding how they interrelate, with the complete picture representing broader market trends and behaviors.
“[MLIUI] analyzes and understands the interplay between the varied data sources and the features to supply a comprehensive, multi-dimensional view into the market and the patron behavior in order that our clients, our brands can create marketing strategies that are not just reactive to current trends but in addition predictive of future behaviors,” said Snyder.
While Snyder couldn’t share much detail concerning the outcomes of the early experiments with MLIUI, he said that the brand response thus far has been positive. Looking further down the road, the chief has the identical hopes across the technology that many hold for AI: That it’s going to soon more closely emulate the human touch.
“We wanted a machine that might think and reason more like a human analyst that might provide not only data but meaning for answers and insights,” said Snyder. “Not just telling you it’s going to rain, which is data, but why it’s going to rain.”
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