There were so many great points and insights, between the panel discussion and the many conversations we had throughout the evening. But, we have done our best to compile our key takeaways to consider when looking forward into the new year.

First, let’s reflect on 2018…

There was a consensus amongst the panellists that customer-centric marketing has come a long way over the past 12 months and a lot of brands have been doing this really well. However, where marketers have struggled and fallen short is in consolidating their data and getting on top of data privacy, which leads nicely into our first key takeout from the evening…

#1 Marketers need to learn ethics and sort out their data

In our Something Digital Highlights, we recalled Caroline Sinders’ point about how “to design with machine learning, we have to come first from an ethical place and a transparent place”. Nigel Dalton reiterated the importance of ethics and transparency for modern marketers. He highlighted that Australian’s are interested in time, trust and transparency, and this is how REA have structured their strategy to support innovation for the Australian consumer. In fact, Nigel’s main point for the night was that all marketers need to learn about and understand ethics. “Trust comes in like a tortoise and goes out like a racehorse”, therefore businesses need to be taking an ethical approach to data management and marketing, or they just won’t survive.

We need to be building AI on an understanding of the humans we are engaging with… How else can we deliver a rewarding experience?
????Let’s tall dialogue flow; conversational architecture; user intent…????@JB_Cosgrove is speaking our language!#nxbris

— Sahlia Painter (@Sahlia) November 27, 2018

Part of being ethical means getting on top of ethical data management, security and privacy, but as Jenny Williams highlighted, you can’t solve privacy and security unless you get your data sorted out! Jenny discussed how getting privacy right is not just about the technical side of things, but also understanding your customers’ attitudes towards privacy. Some people think advertising tailored to their behaviours is useful, others find it creepy, and the ‘creepy grey line that marketers shouldn’t cross’ is different for different people – so tailor your approach and segment your database accordingly!

#2 Australia used to be 7 years behind the UK…

… But John Cosgrove states that we have now reduced that gap to 2 years! But, we are now at the beginning of the next industrial revolution and the untouchables are becoming touchable in Australia (think, the property market, Big 4, etc). But what did we learn from the last industrial revolution? It took 60 years for mass adoption of the new manufacturing technologies and looking back, we can see that the tipping point of innovation is when the manufacturer refuses to create the ‘old’ technology and only services/produces the ‘new’ technology. However, no matter the developments in new technology, the core marketing principles are still the same:

1. Understanding your customers
2. Understanding your customers’ purchase/ decision journey
3. Know what your customers need to hear and when the right time is to tell them this

1. Who is your market
2. What do they need to hear?
3. How do you say it to them when they need to hear it?
Get these basics right before chasing shiny new technology. Tech is just a tool. Get your strategy right. #NXBris

— Luke Chapman (@DigitalPeddler) November 27, 2018

#3 A great brand asset is only valuable if…

…it’s telling a story that helps customers understand what your brand does. Jenny Williams discussed how well known and loved the Compare the Market Meerkats are, yet so many people still don’t understand what the company really does. The challenge that Jenny has been helping address since joining the Compare the Market team is revising their approach to how they use those brand assets to tell a better story that helps people understand what they do. What does this look like? The Meerkats are emigrating to Aus and have moved to Melbourne!

We need to be building AI on an understanding of the humans we are engaging with… How else can we deliver a rewarding experience?
????Let’s tall dialogue flow; conversational architecture; user intent…????@JB_Cosgrove is speaking our language!#nxbris

— Sahlia Painter (@Sahlia) November 27, 2018

#4 Conversational AI is the future!

Chat and audio interfaces are trends that customers do and will expect when they interact with brands and businesses (think around-the-clock, instant access). To deliver on these expectations, brands need to build their AI on an understanding of what their customers want and expect, and how conversational AI can add value to them, in order to deliver a truly rewarding experience. John Cosgrove discussed how this requires understanding their persona and intents and crafting a conversational architecture with dialogue and content, that lends itself to the chat interface and/or audio (which has no interface at all). Ultimately, the only way businesses can feasibly deliver on customers’ expectations for instant 24/7 access, is by integrating conversational AI technology. If you’re looking to better understand Conversational AI, you can check out our page on the topic here.

We need to be building AI on an understanding of the humans we are engaging with… How else can we deliver a rewarding experience?
????Let’s tall dialogue flow; conversational architecture; user intent…????@JB_Cosgrove is speaking our language!#nxbris

— Sahlia Painter (@Sahlia) November 27, 2018

My personal note on this topic: AI isn’t coming, it’s already here! The tech is already available and accessible, and conversational AI is something that any size business can implement to varying extents. However, it seems that too many businesses are waiting for someone else to make a move!

A big thank you to Networx Brisbane for a great lineup of events this year! 2018 has been a big one and looking back on all the success it has brought, we can’t help but be excited for all there is to look forward to in 2019. Here’s to becoming even more customer-centric, educating ourselves on the critical matters of ethics, embracing AI and conversational interfaces, and becoming smarter with technologies that will make our work bigger, faster, stronger and better!

The post Networx Highlights – Strategy & Innovation for 2019 appeared first on Reload Consulting.

Day 1 – Keynotes, Local Speakers, and Plenty of Coffee!

Takeaway #1: Brisbane is truly leading in digital!

Our team were truly inspired by the incredible speakers and topics presented. It was a non-stop, action-packed day that really highlighted the strength and calibre of Brisbane’s thriving digital community. It was encouraging to not only witness how well Brisbane is doing in the digital space, but also have that confirmed by the international keynotes.

.@justinhendrix knows how to win over an Aussie audience – tell us how great we’re doing ????????????#SomethingDigital #AussieRules pic.twitter.com/X3z6kr8Rey

— Sahlia Painter (@Sahlia) November 1, 2018

Takeaway #2: Business intelligence MUST come before Artificial Intelligence.

The event kicked off with a talk from Adam Bonnifield of Airbus, who highlighted how AI has been completely reinvented in the past decade and that we’re now at a point where new technology is not just a way of catching up, but a way of driving new possibilities for the future.

But first, you need to build business intelligence and unify your data ecosystem. ???? Then look at AI. ???? #SomethingDigital @adamsfallen @SD_BNE pic.twitter.com/ahUX3zRShI

— Sahlia Painter (@Sahlia) October 31, 2018

However, in order to be very purpose-driven about extending the benefits of AI to everyone, we must focus on the stuff that makes a difference.

Takeaway #3: Technology is a double-edged sword. It can be used for good, as much as it can be used for evil.

While a lot of the speakers were truly inspiring, we got literal goosebumps hearing from Mariana Dahan of World Identity Network (WIN). Mariana addressed how technology can be used to fundamentally solve many of the world’s biggest challenges. Her work with WIN is as a shining example of this.

Such inspiring work that @marianadahan is doing with WIN!
A good reminder that tech is a double edged sword – can be used for good as much as evil.
Don’t get too comfortable!#SomethingDigital @SD_BNE pic.twitter.com/dEard31DDU

— Sahlia Painter (@Sahlia) November 1, 2018

The World Identity Network uses blockchain technology to help give the ~ 1 billion individuals who don’t have a formal way of proving their identity, a data-backed way of doing just that! This, in turn, is alleviating the number of people lured into modern slavery circles and down sex trafficking paths. Blockchain – as a technological solution integrated into systems and processes – can genuinely make a difference to curb the identity challenge. As Cat Matson neatly exclaimed, “the core of being a digital city is to use digital to make peoples’ lives better”.

Takeaway #4: We need to capitalise on innovation, let it work for good, capture data, and understand all the journeys involved. If we don’t, we’ll be left behind.

Deon Liebenberg from Optus Business presented an enthralling talk that highlighted that our future is “a connected one” and that we need to be reflecting on how this will genuinely affect us and our organisations. He discussed how executives recognise the disruption around us with the uptake of digital innovation and emerging technologies. It’s not hard to see the rise of this digital world when our personal lives (let alone our working environments) are becoming littered with technological integration and intuitive connections.

90% of data out there was created in the last 2 years alone, shares Deon Liebenberg from @optusbusiness. ????

How does this affect you? Our world is rapidly changing at warp speed, and so must our organisations. ????@SD_BNE #somethingdigital pic.twitter.com/7By4EYYAgH

— Hayley Vale (@hayleyvale1) November 1, 2018

However, so many of these executives who recognise the disruption are not capitalising on it, putting everything at risk!

Takeaway #5: Humanizing a brand is something that just has to be done, but we must deliver consistently on every single channel.

The talk by Vanessa Brennan from Michael Hill was a good reminder of how we can all benefit by spending time planning out and understanding who our customers are; understanding the journey these individuals and groups experience; and realising what right we have as brands and marketers to connect with those customers at different stages of their journeys.

Marketing IRL at #SomethingDigital
Humanizing a brand is something that just has to be done.
But, you must deliver consistently on every. single. channel.????@michaelhill @reloada @SD_BNE pic.twitter.com/ifv4Q0193u

— Sahlia Painter (@Sahlia) November 1, 2018

Let’s reflect: are we using xyz channels the ways which customers would appreciate and even like? How can we make the customer journey more focused on what customers want and need, not just on what we as brands assume they’d want and need?

Takeaway #6: Trust is a byproduct of transparency.

Caroline Sinders from Convocation Design+Research addressed the incredibly important topic of approaching machine learning from an ethical place, and a transparent place.

A great talk from @carolinesinders delving into the need for transparency with data, and the need for a conversation about the diversity of data sets. ????????????@SD_BNE #SomethingDigital #brisbane pic.twitter.com/VErxRaCsTC

— Sahlia Painter (@Sahlia) November 1, 2018

Using recent examples of both intentional and unintentional adversarial algorithms, Caroline emphasised the need to have a conversation about the diversity of data sets. While algorithms activate the data, the data itself is human outputs. Trust can be gained, but a key to this is how that trust is communicated – both explicitly (i.e. showing and describing how data is used) and implicitly (i.e. not stated, but implied). To do this, there is a level of transparency needed – to be transparently opaque and give enough information to try to build implicit trust.

Takeaway #7: The future has some knowns in tech, but also many unknowns, and we need to be conscious about how we create, adopt, and apply new digital technologies.

The event was capped off nicely with a talk by Justin Hendrix of NYC Media Lab, addressing the 2030 vision and what the decade ahead has in store. This left a sense of excitement, with a touch of fear and apprehension. He talked about how the entire world’s population is set to be online by 2030 and posed the uncertainty of what that ‘information explosion’ will look like. Justin talked about a number of advancing technologies, including but not limited to:

• Media becoming environmental
• AI-generated characters (and the difficulty in distinguishing whether they are real)
• The AR cloud that ties data and information to a location
• Robots learning to see
• Contact lenses that will bring digital information onto our retinas.

He also talked about synthetic media such as full-head reenactment, and how this creates an increased ability to publish fake news.

Day 2 – Open Studios, Breakfasts, Beers, and Digital Conversations

Day two of the Something Digital Festival saw industry leaders across Brisbane open their doors to the public, to share their expertise through workshops and presentations.

We headed over to Orange Digital in the morning, to participate in a conversation they hosted around building a powerful company culture. It was wonderful to see others in the industry taking such a proactive approach to culture – it’s something we focus very strongly on ourselves at Reload!

Reload was then proud to open our doors in the afternoon when we hosted a casual discussion on Behavioural Marketing across Digital. With beers on offer, it was a great opportunity for many to conclude the two-day event and head into the weekend.

Our own Hayley Vale co-presented with Emily Forrest of Reload Media, the discussion focused on how digital marketing works best when businesses focus on marketing to their customers’ behaviours, rather than building it around channels.

Hayley kicked things off by explaining the importance of understanding your customer and your own business, and how they both interact online. Through the use of pixels, tracking, and data capture, we can better interpret the way that customers are interacting with our brand. By mapping out the customer journey and understanding the questions and pain points raised at each stage, businesses are able to make more informed decisions when it comes creating and implementing a digital strategy.

Emily carried on from this point and gave insight into some of the tactics that implemented once a business has a greater understanding of their customer journey. While there are countless tactics that can be considered, Emily chose to focus on five in particular:

1. Email Marketing
2. Remarketing
3. Social Media Marketing
4. Programmatic Advertising
5. Geo-Fencing

For more in-depth look at what Hayley and Emily discussed, you can access the slide deck from the presentation below.

And that’s a wrap!

It’s fair to say Something Digital was a massive success and we could have added a lot more takeaways to this list! We would like to give a massive thank you to the Bright Conferences team for hosting such an incredible event.

We can’t wait until next year! In the meantime, you can follow @ReloadConsult and @Reload_Media on Twitter, for all your digital updates and news.

The post Something Digital 2018 Highlights appeared first on Reload Consulting.

https://www.reloadconsulting.com/media/the-australian-april-24-2009.pdf

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