Want to give me $300K to invest? No? Didn’t think so - unless, of course, you’re exceptionally and randomly generous. The issue, you see, is about trust.
You wouldn’t give me your hard-earned money because you don’t know me or the financial credentials I have, if any. As such, you can’t trust me with it. Trust is one of the fundamental underpinnings of society. Yet trust in this day and age is a challenge. With AI turbocharging scams and deception at unparalleled scale, how do we maintain trust rather than default to doubt? This was one of the many thought-provoking points raised during The Marketing Society’s excellent Changemakers Conference in Singapore. This year’s theme was Challenge.
Trust but Verify
The $300K example was shared by Tracy Hall. Tracy took us through the jaw-dropping tale of how one man spent 18 months acting as the ideal boyfriend, all the while conning her out of her life savings. For Tracy, that was the terrible price of her trust. Yet, Tracy isn’t the only one to fall prey to a con: it’s estimated $1 trillion is lost to scams a year. That’s $2.74bn a day. A day. As Tracy pointed out, scammers don’t hack systems, they hack humans. Trust is our most valuable asset. Companies must embed trust and safety by design - creating ‘smart friction’ was one idea.
As Prophet’s Peter Dixon noted, the essential quality of a brand is trust. We must trust but verify.
Train for Challenge & Change
Gita de Beer of beer company Heineken cautioned that marketing’s challenge is not necessarily about the speed but the direction. Is your marketing headed in the right direction? Gita encouraged us to build the muscle for challenge and train it.
Airwallex’s Jon Stona introduced us to the 5th industrial revolution - the human-machine stage. The pace and scale of change in this new era is breeding a level of fear, uncertainty and doubt (aka, FUD). Change is a challenge but, Stona said, now is the time to embrace it. Challenge pushes you beyond your comfort zone. If we want to create the kind of change we want, we must seek out discomfort and have uncomfortable conversations. Jon’s point tied in nicely with Gita’s quote from modern Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew: “The future is what we make of it.” Never was a truer word said.
Evolve to Endure
Jaguar Land Rover’s Tom Child told us that we must have a clear vision of what that future looks like. Jaguar can trace its origins to 1922 - over 100 years ago. Heritage, Child said, is the ability to endure and it should give you the confidence to change. If companies don’t evolve and change, the other option is to stand still as the world changes around them. Alas, more of the same doesn’t lead to growth. Of course, change also needs profitability. A shift in mindset is needed - create a testing ground, prove something works, scale it. Oh, and be a broken record in communicating the new direction consistently and with clarity. Believe in it. Evangelise it. Give your team the confidence in it. If that doesn’t sound normal then it depends on your perspective. Child gave us a great quote from the Addams family: “What’s normal for the spider is chaos for the fly”.
It’s the Culture
When a company pushes ahead with AI one thing becomes clear: it’s not about the number of engineers or technologists involved, it’s the culture. AI Singapore’s Laurence Liew told us that using AI is about clarity of purpose. It needs to be looked at from a cultural perspective and ROI, and every colleague needs to be AI aware. And we don’t all need to be engineers from the get-go. The lead AI engineer for EM2Ai Group (provider of AI-based tech solutions for dental care) was once in HR. The key driver, Liew said, is passion.
The numbers from AI Singapore (Singapore's national programme to harness AI) speak for themselves: 300+ projects; 99% satisfaction; 66% deployment. If there’s a government agency out there doing similar numbers, let me know.
Don’t Be Boring: The Test Tickles
Didn’t it just? The Covid test, that is. Esteemed TV Producer, Maz Farrelly, hit us with her terrific Ten Com-Maz-ments for influencing behaviour.
Maz's 10 Com-Maz-ments for influencing behaviour
a few favourites
You can’t bore me into buying
There are many boring ads floating about but the King Price Insurance ad, ‘The test tickles,’ is not one of them. In fact, it was one of the most watched ads on YouTube in 2021.
De-dull you
In TV, the first 30 seconds needs to get you to watch the next 30 seconds. Episode 1 needs to get you to watch Episode 2. And so on - you get the point.
Have one clear message
e.g, MAGA.
Be sticky like Rick Astley
Can the client remember what you said after you’ve left the room?
Make some noise
How does a client or customer know you exist? What’s memorable? Use repetition. Use repetition.
The Tasty Takeaways
from the Conference
Trust but verify
Embed trust and safety by design with radical transparency and predictable, consistent comms.
Build the muscle
For challenge and train it.
Change is a challenge
Now is the time to embrace it and get out of your comfort zone.
Successfully embedding AI
Is all about clarity of purpose and looking at it from a cultural perspective.
Don’t be boring
Above all else.
While the event was for marketers, it was about so much more than marketing - covering cultural, psychological and societal frameworks.
Fascinating stuff.
