All through December 2024, Manifest is running its year-ender series in which advertising, marketing and media leaders will be sharing their thoughts on the biggest development of the year along with a manifestation for 2025.

We continue our series with Jacob Joseph, vice president - data science, CleverTap.

The biggest development in the advertising, media and marketing space according to you in 2024 was...

Brands have always wanted to be ever present in their customers’ lives. One of the most common ways to do this in the past would be to bombard them with various ads/campaigns that may or may not be personalised, leading to a lower number of quality conversions. Today, however, customers are spoilt with multiple options and to stand out, companies need to work harder by enhancing their capabilities including round-the-clock availability, and multi-lingual support. A two-way communication channel is now strategically important –whether during onboarding new consumers or for reducing friction on the path to purchase. This is where conversational marketing has emerged as a game-changer – bridging this divide and, making it one of the biggest developments in the marketing landscape this year. 

Once limited to basic chatbots, conversational marketing (now powered by AI) has evolved into more sophisticated systems, including AI-powered voice and virtual assistants, acting as new-age customer support and consultants. In fostering repeat purchases, conversational marketing has shifted from a transactional approach to creating relationship-based experiences. Real-time communication across channels like WhatsApp, RCS (or SMS), and in-app messaging helps build trust and engagement, ensuring customers feel valued even post-purchase. 

While AI has been in conversation since late 2022, it undoubtedly took centre stage this year as we saw the mass adoption of its various avatars across industries. Amidst fierce competition, brands were forced to step up and redefine how they operate and engage with their customers. Our AI Edge report from earlier this year found that brands missed out on 4x higher conversions and improved business value due to inefficient AI adoption. At platforms like ours, the focus was on building tools to empower clients with hyper-personalisation. The rapid expansion – be it text or audio formats across industries – was one of the most transformative developments in the marketing space this year. With AI/ML capabilities getting stronger and more human-like, it would be exciting to see how conversational marking abilities evolve in 2025.

What is one thing you're manifesting for yourself and the industry in 2025?

As a data scientist in the martech space, my biggest manifestation for 2025 is a deeper integration of ethical AI practices within all marketing activities.

I believe AI models used in marketing should not operate as black boxes. We need to understand how these models arrive at their decisions, especially when they impact critical areas like customer segmentation, targeting, and personalisation. This transparency is crucial for building trust and ensuring fairness. Additionally, by demonstrating transparency, fairness, and respect for customer privacy, brands can build stronger, more meaningful relationships with their audience.

With a stronger emphasis on robust data governance practices, we must ensure that customer data is collected, used, and shared responsibly and ethically. Alongside this, it’s clear that AI models can inadvertently perpetuate existing biases in data. I manifest a greater focus on identifying and mitigating these biases to ensure marketing campaigns are inclusive and do not discriminate against any particular group.

For the industry as a whole, I envision the adoption of industry-wide principles and best practices for the ethical development and deployment of AI in marketing along with increased collaboration between data scientists, ethicists, and marketers, as well as continuous learning and innovation to develop tools and techniques that address emerging challenges.

By prioritising ethical AI practices, we can unlock the full potential of this transformative technology while ensuring it delivers value to both businesses and consumers.