- Akbar welcome.
How do you envision the future of marketing?
- The future of marketing is so bright right now.
These emerging technologies that are coming our way
that we're using, AI now,
metaverse, Web3, these virtual gaming worlds
that have been around for decades.
Brands are really now using them,
leveraging the technology, leveraging the communities.
We have hundreds of millions of gamers
and so the future is really bright for all these brands
because they're realizing that in these gamers
in these communities that are engaging
with these technologies, our brand fans didn't know about.
So for us, we're really excited.
- Tell me about how
these new technologies are changing the relationship
between brands and consumers.
- Yeah, it's a great question
because consumers are now actually having ownership
and say in what brands are doing.
Brands are really speaking directly to consumers
almost segmenting their audiences' bi-cultural moment.
So we're seeing brands really get behind moments
like Diwali or Pride or the Hip Hop 50 anniversary
and leaning into these communities
that really resonate with that core message or core value
and creating experiences specific to them.
So the experiences are open to everyone, they're inclusive
but you're now engaging millions of people
and making them feel seen and heard.
So these emerging technologies are allowing brands
to engage with consumers in a way
like they never have before.
And yes, we've had social media,
but it's never been that direct of a connection.
- I know you are super excited about the future of marketing
but can you pick out any areas that excites you the most?
- I am really excited about where AI is going
just because it's going to speed things up.
So I know there's a lot of people who are scared about,
are we going to lose our jobs in the creative field?
Is it going to take over the world
in this scary dystopian future?
I think the tools that it has to actually.
We were hearing from Alo Yoga here at the BCG space,
they can now for their fashion shoots quickly change
between looks utilizing just one model and one shot
and then just use AI to replace the clothing and the colors.
I mean that's brilliant.
Think about the dollars that can be saved to spend
on other campaigns and influencers and how quickly
as consumers we can get our products and shop.
So it's really, AI is something to watch.
- And I know you're passionate about diversity.
How do you see the intersection there?
Diversity, technology, marketing.
- So this technology is actually allowing brands
to lean into diverse audiences much more.
They're realizing that they don't have
to speak to just one community.
They can really go into different platforms that resonate
with different communities and different audiences
and have different messages,
all leading up to one cohesive message.
But, have different messages that resonate
with different audiences
and there's no longer a one size fits all.
So that's what's really great about the diversity aspect.
- Akbar, thank you so much.
- Thank you.