AI, like the Internet/World Wide Web, social media and mobile before it, is a key member of the Digital Quad: the four transformational technologies that impact consumers' work and play lives, for better or worse. Image credit: Treecha, Shutterstock
How we co-opt AI in our lives – professionally and personally – will mark the difference between success and failure in the second half of this decade for luxury marketers, retailers and professionals.
Set aside the disdain for the hype over AI company stocks. The market will eventually rationalize. But the horse is out the stable door. AI, like the Internet/World Wide Web, social media and mobile before it, is a key member of what I call the Digital Quad: the four transformational technologies that impact our work and play lives, for better or worse.
As a professional operating in the luxury space, my job is to balance the human element – maintaining warm, meaningful and sincere relationships – with what technology does best: accentuate my strongest skills, eliminate friction in work processes and step in where I stumble.
Luxury is about emotion. So, when you’re in that business, every move, every word, every decision, has to lead to positive emotions and outcomes for your customers and prospects. They want you to help them feel good, to help them belong to a brand tribe that shares similar values. They seek quality and uniqueness. At the same time, the younger generations – Gens millennial, Z and, soon, Alpha – are largely digital-first in their thinking and lifestyle. That’s where AI can be a source of strength for luxury marketers, retailers and professionals.
Here's where we should be focusing on: how are brands using AI in context and utility, what are the distinct advantages of the myriad platforms, engines and apps, and how to deploy AI in marketing for mundane-to-complex tasks? What are the legal dos and don’ts with the use of AI? Are you aware that it’s hard to copyright or trademark anything that is mostly a result of open-sourced AI?
Equally important, how do you build trusted, personalized and private AI experiences that elevate your brand value? Agentic AI – is that the future of intelligence? What about AI’s critical role in reputation management – where do you think the vast majority of searches and prompts will be conducted in the years ahead? You guessed it: AI engines, with Google, OpenAI, Meta and Microsoft leading the fray. Are you optimized for AI? Try searching your name, brand or product in an AI engine and see what pops up – and don't be surprised at how AI views you.
The Internet diminished the revenue potential of print and analog, giving birth to new industries and tasks. Social media created a new ecosystem, making media giants out of savvy consumers by cutting out the traditional gatekeepers. Mobile untethered the consumer from desk and location, yielding the ultimate freedom in lifestyle and work. And AI will either supercharge brands and people – or cast them aside as the world goes flat digitally.
