Artificial intelligence and Virtual Reality may seem light-years in the future, but pain in the necks that feel a need to immediately attach themselves to every new tech trend and innovation so that they can yap about how hip they are and poison every corner of our lives with advertising, are jockeying for position in order to “create practical, measurable consumer-facing applications with technology”. Take this cliché fest from IAB’s “Is Virtual the New Reality” as an example. “For those in publishing, marketing, ad tech, and creative communities, VR opens the door to exciting new opportunities for developing immersive content and brand storytelling.” I just puked in my mouth! So along comes some slick tech and right away marketers have to imbed themselves in it like a tick. BTW what happened to Augmented Reality being the next marketing frontier??
Marketers are always looking for ways to redeploy budgets across the marketing mix because otherwise they would be bored to tears; no more conferences or retreats or summits or PowerPoint presentations or Cucumber Vodka Artisan Cocktails and finger foods and late nights at the ATM. They want and need new ways to talk to consumers because consumers aren’t being pestered and penetrated from every other which way as it is. If I hear one more forward thinking dude talk about using AI for content creation, utter the phrase “machine learning”, or talk about technological innovation, Addressable TV (which is an oxymoron), or “creating value”, I might have to prescribe myself heavy doses of lithium…. After all, I am a Dr.
Why not focus on the here and NOW and let the future take care of itself.
Have you ever seen those old Popular Mechanics magazines? In the 40’s and 50’s, the predictions for our present time have turned out to be good for a laugh. Superfast trains powered by PROPELLORS. Fleets of HOT AIR BALLOONS racing above superhighways. Tubes full of people shot through tunnels that crisscross the INTERIOR of earth (NY to Hong Kong in 20 minutes!). Tanks with wings called FLYING BATTLEWAGONS. The thing is, our imagination is grounded in prior knowledge. Our frame of reference for the future is the present. Technologies and processes that haven’t even been conceived of yet will have our descendants arrive in a world completely alien to the one in which we inhabit today. LETS STRAIGHTEN OUT the current mess first.. get that right, and then worry about the future when it gets here.. OK !?!!?
