Amazon and Zeta Global announced an advancement in generative AI (Gen AI) that will help scale applications using Amazon Web Services (AWS) foundation models in the Zeta marketing platform. At A’Maison: The House of Amazon @ Cannes Lions 2024, executives from both companies discussed the power of the combined technologies that will provide easy access to omnichannel marketing capabilities for many businesses.
“Retailers and brands gain a competitive edge by unlocking deep customer insights, enabling them to forecast demand more accurately, optimize their media mix, and create resonant content that aligns with consumer intent. This holistic understanding empowers retailers to craft strategies that drive engagement and boost sales, ultimately leading to a more effective and impactful marketing approach,” explained David A. Steinberg, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Zeta Global.
Super-Smart Marketing AI Assistants
Amazon Bedrock is a fully managed generative AI service from AWS that makes it easier for companies to build generative AI applications in their businesses without the need for great skills or complex infrastructure. “Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Personalize, and Amazon SageMaker help businesses like Zeta Global significantly enhance customer experiences by delivering hyper-personalized marketing and advertising messages that feel like one-on-one human relationships so brands can foster long-lasting customer loyalty,” said Jon Williams, global head of agency business development at AWS.
Zeta Creative AI Agents create insight and image generations within the Zeta Opportunity Engine (ZOE), leading to better marketing platforms. “In simple terms, we’re giving businesses the tools to create super-smart AI Assistants with custom workflows that can handle all their marketing tasks. These assistants can learn what customers like and need, send them the right messages at the right time, and even assist in predicting what customers will want in the future. It’s like having a personal shopper for every customer, ensuring they get exactly what they want when they want it,” said Steinberg.
Improved Shopper Journey
The partnership will revolutionize the ability of retailers and brands to drastically improve the shopper’s journey and overall experience with a company. “By leveraging Amazon Bedrock through Zeta Marketing Platform, the company’s customers can create high-quality creative content at scale, personalize contextually relevant advertising experiences, segment audiences for advertising campaigns, and optimize campaigns for better visibility,” explains Williams. An example would be a company using Zeta’s Creative AI Agents, powered by Bedrock, to analyze consumer data and generate campaign images that are tailored to individual preferences and behavior. “This can lead to higher engagement, click-through rates, and ultimately, improved advertising revenue,” said Williams.
Specific analytics will help provide consumers with relevant information in the shopping moment. “The synergy of LLMs (large language models) and Agents with our Vast Data Cloud revolutionizes the shopper journey by helping marketers target consumers in real-time with tailored content. By leveraging psychographic and behavioral insights, we meet consumers where they are, anticipating their needs before they even realize them,” explains Steinberg. “This dynamic interaction not only enhances the shopping experience but also drives conversions, creating a seamless and intuitive path to purchase.”
Deep Analysis Drives Conversion
Many retailers are debating the proper use cases for Gen AI and are concerned about instances of hallucinations, when an AI model generates incorrect or misleading information that it presents as fact, which will diminish a company’s reputation. While businesses and consumers have shown high interest in the idea of Gen AI, there has not been enough evidence of improved experiences or cost reductions showing the clear advantages of implementing these types of technologies. The partnership between Amazon and Zeta Global is a game-changer and will provide skeptics with a solution that can empower the customer journey, driving both loyalty and conversion.
“Imagine a retailer sending out an email campaign. Our AI Agents can analyze the performance of every brand and product category mentioned in the email. For example, if a particular brand consistently drives more sales, the retailer can feature it more prominently. Conversely, if a category isn’t performing well, the retailer can adjust their strategy,” explains Steinberg. “This deep analysis not only helps in optimizing marketing efforts but also in negotiating better funding from brands, ensuring that every marketing dollar is spent wisely and effectively.”
Automation To Scale Marketing Campaigns
Typically, creating Gen AI applications can be costly and complex for retailers to implement. However, with the partnership between Amazon AWS and Zeta Global, the combined infrastructure would make building and scaling marketing initiatives efficient and effective. A year after ZOE’s launch in early 2023, nearly 500 marketers are utilizing ZOE daily, to power campaigns with the efficiency of AI.“This collaboration enhances and extends our longstanding partnership with AWS to the forefront of the AI revolution,” said Steinberg. “Amazon Bedrock provides a best-in-class foundation for us to accelerate the development and roll-out of our Generative AI Intelligent Agent studio to deliver transformative business improvement to our customers.”
“We are excited about Zeta Global’s innovative use of creative Agents via Amazon Bedrock,” said Williams. “Zeta’s generative AI platform will enable customers with highly customized personalization workflows for use cases across the customer lifecycle, from onboarding to engagement optimization.”
These tools can empower businesses across the marketing spectrum from audience insights to dynamic campaign orchestration to illuminating performance drivers. The Creative AI Agents are now in beta with general availability planned for Q3 2024.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity’s five-day event is the largest gathering of the creative marketing community. Amazon’s Cannes event is a take-off from the highly acclaimed film festival which has been running for over 78 years and is one of the largest fashion events in the world. Steinberg spent the week at Cannes Lions, participating in panels and speaking on topics like AI’s impact on the creative industry, its ever-reaching impact on business, and its role as a tool for creativity. Cannes Lions is renowned as the premier event for the creative marketing community, showcasing top campaigns and activations.
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