Digital
From data to delight: How AI is powering the next wave of customer engagement
Mumbai: Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the marketing landscape, becoming a key tool for brands looking to deliver smarter, faster, and more personalised experiences. For digital marketing agencies and brands, AI is moving beyond hype and becoming an essential part of how they connect with their audience. Whether through automation, personalisation, or predictive insights, AI is driving significant changes in marketing strategies.
Personalisation at scale: A game-changer for marketers
Personalisation has been a core goal for marketers for years, but scaling it has always been challenging. AI allows brands to analyse massive amounts of customer data in real time, providing valuable insights into individual preferences and behaviours. This enables brands to deliver highly personalised content, offers, and recommendations to consumers at scale.
For example, many e-commerce platforms use AI algorithms to recommend products based on a customer’s browsing and purchase history. This type of hyper-personalization has been shown to boost engagement and conversions. According to a 2023 McKinsey report, companies using AI to power personalisation have seen a 10-20 per cent increase in conversion rates. This makes AI an invaluable tool for digital marketing agencies striving to deliver unique, targeted experiences to each customer without the need for excessive manual intervention.
One major advantage of AI is its ability to constantly learn and adapt. As customers interact with a brand, AI-driven systems can fine-tune recommendations, content, and offers to reflect evolving preferences. This dynamic capability allows brands to stay relevant and responsive, offering a level of personalisation that was previously unattainable.
Predictive analytics: Anticipating what customers want
Predictive analytics is another area where AI is making a profound impact. Instead of relying on historical data alone, AI-driven tools are now helping brands predict future customer behaviours and preferences. By analysing past interactions, purchase history, and external factors like trends or seasonality, AI can forecast what products or services a customer may be interested in next.
This proactive approach allows brands to tailor their marketing strategies, accordingly, delivering offers or recommendations before the customer even realises their need. For instance, streaming platforms like Netflix use AI to recommend content based on user viewing patterns, significantly improving customer retention and satisfaction. A 2024 study by Deloitte highlights that companies using AI for predictive analytics are 1.5 times more likely to retain customers compared to those using traditional approaches.
Efficiency through automation: Scaling marketing efforts
While personalisation and predictive analytics are driving enhanced customer experiences, AI’s power in automating routine marketing tasks is equally transformative. AI tools are increasingly being used to automate processes like email marketing, social media management, and even ad buying, allowing brands to operate more efficiently.
One of the biggest benefits of AI-driven automation is that it enables digital marketing agencies to focus on higher-value tasks such as strategy, content creation, and relationship building. For instance, AI can optimise email marketing campaigns by determining the best time to send emails, selecting relevant content, and analysing recipient responses. This kind of automation not only increases engagement but also saves marketers significant time and effort.
AI is also optimizing digital advertising. Through programmatic advertising, AI tools analyze real-time data to adjust bids for ad placements automatically, ensuring that budgets are spent efficiently while reaching the right audiences at the right time. This automated approach to digital marketing can dramatically improve ROI and reduce wasted ad spend.
Conclusion
AI is fundamentally transforming marketing, enabling brands to deliver more personalised, predictive, and efficient customer experiences. As AI continues to evolve, its role in marketing will only grow, making it essential for brands to adopt these technologies to stay competitive. The future of marketing lies in embracing AI-driven strategies that not only enhance customer experiences but also streamline operations, offering a significant advantage in an increasingly complex digital landscape. The future is clear: AI is not just enhancing marketing—it’s revolutionising it.
This article has been authored by VUI Live co-founder and business head Akash Manchanda
Digital
Ethical AI must benefit society, not dominate it, says WFEB chief Sanjay Pradhan at IAA event
At Mumbai event, ethics expert urges businesses and governments to shape AI responsibly
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence may be racing ahead at lightning speed, but its direction must still be guided by human conscience. That was the central message delivered by Sanjay Pradhan, president of the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), during the latest edition of IAA Conversations held in Mumbai.
The session was organised by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Artificial Intelligence Association of India (AIAI) in association with The Free Press Journal at the Free Press House on 7 March. Addressing a packed audience, Pradhan called for stronger ethical leadership to ensure AI remains a tool that benefits humanity rather than one that governs it.
“Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the most powerful technologies humanity has created,” Pradhan said. “It is unlocking breakthroughs in medicine, science and creativity at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.”
But he warned that the same technology carries serious risks. AI, he noted, can amplify disinformation faster than facts can travel, compromise privacy, deepen discrimination and disrupt millions of livelihoods. Referencing concerns raised by AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, Pradhan stressed that the real challenge is not whether AI will shape the world, but whether humans will shape it with ethics and wisdom.
Structuring his talk around four guiding questions, why, what, how and who, Pradhan introduced the audience to WFEB’s emerging AI Ethics Partnership, a global platform aimed at advancing responsible artificial intelligence. He outlined four priority concerns that demand urgent attention: disinformation, bias and discrimination, data privacy and job security.
To make the idea of ethical AI easier to grasp, Pradhan offered a simple metaphor. Ethical AI, he said, is like a three layered cake. The outer layer represents the visible value ethical AI creates for businesses and society. The middle layer is organisational culture that moves ethics from written codes to everyday practice. The innermost layer, however, is the most crucial, the conscience of individual leaders.
Drawing from Indian philosophical thought through WFEB co-founder Ravi Shankar, Pradhan noted that while artificial intelligence can reproduce stored knowledge, true intelligence is boundless and rooted in conscience, creativity and compassion. Practices such as breathwork and meditation, he suggested, can help leaders develop the calm clarity needed for ethical decision making.
The event also featured a discussion with Maninder Adityaraj Singh, chief of staff and head of innovation at Rediffusion Brand Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Yash Johri, lawyer, Supreme Court of India.
Opening the session, IAA India chapter president Abhishek Karnani, highlighted the need for industries to understand and engage with AI responsibly.
“AI has to be befriended and understood,” added Rediffusion managing director and AIAI national convenor Sandeep Goyal. “Its ethical use will determine whether it becomes a friend or a foe.”
As AI continues to reshape industries and societies, Pradhan ended with a simple but powerful call to action. Businesses, governments and individuals must work together to ensure that the algorithms shaping the future reflect human values rather than just cold logic.
