天美棋牌

sencka膽
EDITION
Global
USA
UK
AUNZ
CANADA
IRELAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
ASIA
EUROPE
LATAM
MEA
in association with
Group745

Why Mars Wants to Power Human Storytelling with Tech

26/06/2024
311
Share
Global chief brand officer for Mars Snacking, Rankin Carroll, reflects on the more nuanced conversation around AI at Cannes Lions 2024 and the return of entertaining, authentic storytelling, writes 天美棋牌鈥檚 Alex Reeves
We thought Cannes Lions 2024 was going to be even more dominated by AI than 2023. And in some ways it was. AI worked its way into the cracks of almost every conversation along the Croisette. But the tech prophets and doomsayers held less sway, because people testing AI鈥檚 potential and feeding back on specific use cases were everywhere you turned. 鈥淟ast year was kind of lurching towards AI,鈥 reflects global chief brand officer at Mars Snacking, Rankin Carroll. He remembers the feeling of the industry. 鈥淲hat does it mean? What's it going to do? There was apprehension. And I think we weren't quite sure what to do with it.鈥

This year, the mention of AI provoked a more nuanced tone of response. 鈥淲e're still pretty much at the front end, but I think we're starting to run use cases, starting to try things, starting to actually see some results and output. I think that's been interesting, going from apprehension to application.鈥

Rankin is responsible for stewarding communication strategies for brands including M&M鈥橲, Snickers, Extra/Orbit, Skittles, Twix and Dove/Galaxy, and technology has been allowing those brands to progress on several fronts.

Driving more personalised experiences is one core focus for Mars, powered by the data insights that AI can put in the hands of brands. 鈥淢ost in the industry are either talking about or starting to take action on using the data that is growing, and its availability to us for personalisation of experiences at scale,鈥 he says. It鈥檚 also a key to 鈥渦nlocking pathways into a dialogue, two way relationships,鈥 he adds, as well as connected experiences 鈥 a flowing relationship between a brand and consumer, rather than unconnected interactions here and there. 鈥淭he data is flowing through and the experience is cumulative, one after the other. We're starting to prototype and actually build that out.鈥

The question that much of Rankin鈥檚 days are dominated by is, 鈥楬ow does technology enable that for good?鈥. 

But marketing is the business of storytelling, and Rankin reflects another strong current in the chat from the Festival of Creativity this week, that embracing AI should not come at the expense of humanity and the value that generations of this industry has built around understanding people.

Rankin is fascinated by attention, and has been trying to 鈥渞econcile AI-powered enablement and amplification of creativity, against what I'm hearing from every creator and every gen z, which is 'I want authenticity. And not only do I not want to be advertised at, I want you to take the time to understand me, understand my community, and I'll have a look at whether or not your brands do make the connection'.鈥 Cool. But at the same time, AI is coming into that engagement. And that doesn't seem very authentic. It's a super artificial, synthetic piece coming against the need for authenticity.鈥

It鈥檚 clear to Rankin which of those sides should be in service of the other, and Cannes felt to be focused on the right half to him. 鈥淚 think the energy around story got put in the back seat. This year (thank God), story is coming back to the fore. Stories are marketing fundamentals. What's the proposition? What's the value creation for the consumer? Is it clear? Because we can dress it up and personalise it all we like, but if it's not a fundamentally appealing proposition that people perceive as valuable, none of that matters.鈥

That's the beauty of a real-life event where humans gather in a town on the Cote d鈥橝zur. 鈥淚t's almost a reaction that at the heart of this industry is humanity and human stories. Stories that resonate emotionally, which people can connect to, retell and share because they're connected. I'm loving that. And that's been really energising and invigorating.

Whether by correlation or causation, the year that the festival introduced its comedy category, humour in the winning work felt like it was 鈥渇ully back,鈥 asserts Rankin. 鈥淭here's some wonderful work that makes me feel like I did a few years ago, before we went down a few roads.

鈥淲e're trying to find our way through as an industry, and now integrating systems and technology into it. We've integrated enough that the stories can re-emerge 鈥 the celebration of humanity and what appeals to your right brain, so we're not so governed by the left.鈥

This is good for marketing鈥檚 role in business in general, he suggests. 鈥淭hat's part of why I think marketing is starting to re-emerge as a leader of growth. Because at the front end of this is the consumer and I think more and more companies understand that 鈥榳hy鈥. This revolution is [based on] more data about the consumer. And we can talk about that openly and freely in demonstrating the value it creates.鈥

Of course Mars is looking into ways that AI can be deployed to create experiences for consumers. 鈥淭he bad version of that, it strikes me, is multiplication of assets, almost untethered, in service of I'm not sure what, except more stuff, more messages, and lack of clarity about where to apply it.鈥 

The uses which hold more credence for him are in service of 鈥減recision, productivity, amplification of creativity, where AI will take away low-value, mundane aspects of production or asset management. [...] I think we need to figure out for ourselves and with our partners, who's ready to do that in the right way, and go all in with them. Because as an industry, just because we can doesn't mean we should just explode the amount of content in the world.鈥

That said, Mars鈥 snack brands have a vast galaxy of content around them already. People talk about snacks naturally. So opening up to co-creation with fans and communities is something Rankin and his team have been focused on recently. When we meet in the Cannes sunshine he鈥檚 just come out of a meeting with a comedy TikTok creator that he found invigorating.

One part of that which Rankin鈥檚 thinking about is building processes to make the right choices for co-creation. 鈥淓very creator is not for every brand and vice versa. I think that's one insight this year. Right creator, right themes within their community or their audiences, and the right fit as a brand from a value standpoint - what you stand for, what's your meaning, what do you mean to the community as a brand?鈥

The other aspect is allowing autonomy. 鈥淟etting them take it and run with it, because it's gonna happen,鈥 says Rankin. 鈥淪tarting to let go, finding trusted partners, and saying, 'bring it to your community, have a go and see where that takes you鈥. Because by the way, you're doing it already anyway, so don鈥檛 try to control it.鈥 

After a week of more nuanced discussions in Cannes, putting AI鈥檚 power behind that real humanity is where Rankin wants to take Mars鈥 storytelling across its brands. 鈥淲e've been working hard on the system. The energy of a marketing and brand-building department has been around systems. And it's not just digital technology folks, it's everybody in the team trying to work through how we listen more effectively, how we get insight out of what we're listening to, and then how we transform that into an output that remains authentic and adds value for the consumer.鈥
Credits
SUBSCRIBE TO 天美棋牌鈥橲 newsletter
FOLLOW US
天美棋牌鈥檚 Global Sponsor
Language:
English
漏 2005-2023 天美棋牌Privacy and Cookie PolicyTerms and Conditions
v10.0.0