Merkle’s winning Google Hackathon submission: Marketing Augmentation AI
Businesses require innovative solutions to optimize customer experiences and facilitate business growth. Existing solutions can benefit greatly from the integration of Artificial Intelligence and the forthcoming advancements in capabilities.
As companies contemplate the implementation of an AI strategy, they will face the decision of either developing the solutions internally, procuring them from external sources, or outsourcing the necessary expertise.
Technology solution providers offer invaluable services, such as solution implementation, consulting, and expertise. They possess the knowledge, frameworks, and tools required to develop a comprehensive roadmap, enabling organizations to initiate their AI initiatives on a small scale and gradually expand.
Deciding on where to start and what to do could be challenging as there will be a multitude of tools and capabilities offered by vendors. In such scenarios, it will become crucial to rely on providers who possess domain expertise and valuable data assets to complement enterprise data.
For instance, when brands aim to progress from outdated machine-learning models, it is essential to consider creating a purpose-built solution that will utilize extensive knowledge models (LKMs) and leverage the power of neural networks and large-language models (LLMs).
3 Key Values provided by the purpose-built Solution:
- Leverage Generative AI for Enhanced Customer Experiences
- Maximize the Value of First-Party Data
- Enhance Data Privacy and Compliance
It was stated in the 3 Key Trends for AI and Marketing in 2024 article “Marketing technology providers will also be aggressive in releasing the next wave of native features and capabilities, aiming to enhance the overall user experience for marketers”.
So one of the considerations will be what features to use from existing tech investments and how to integrate them into the overall solution that will make today’s tasks seamless.
Let us share with you an approach that addresses this and won #1 on the google Hackathon contest.
Merkle’s CDP practice (or a cross-functional team led by Jas Singh) won the first prize for their entry “Marketing AI augmentation” solution in a global hackathon sponsored by Google. This solution was an all-encompassing solution from strategy and requirements through data management, model creation, and UI deployment.
This solution solved today’s reality that Marketers face several challenges when promoting the brand to consumers from content creation to who to market to, on the other side, customers experience a different set of challenges when interacting with the brand from irrelevant messaging to lack of personalization.
To enable the MARKETERS OF THE FUTURE to perform their tasks Faster, better, and at scale,
the solution addressed the current challenges by enabling marketers to generate personalization at scale in a more seamless way. The solution showed how a combination of customer own data with Google Vertex AI models can augment for example Adobe’s Experience Platform and Journey optimizer.
This AI approach showed how to utilize brands’ existing technology and augments by AI to solve the classical problem of classic marketer’s problem of who, what, and when — day-to-day marketers’ functions that are time-consuming and inefficient.
This submission showcased some of the key functions in marketers’ overall journey from ideation to deployment. Although AI will provide unprecedented speed and efficiency with automation, it will also require human interaction, oversight & and approvals.
With the win, Merkle’s CDP practice feels they have a good foundation to develop further the AI that will be used with orchestration tools. The team is continuing to work on integrations with CDPs and Merkle’s GenCX. They are ready to help customers deliver Personalization at speed and scale to power the experience economy.