I recently attended two very different conferences – one a Gambling summit bringing together regulators from across Africa; the other the LeaderX CMO Summit. And the word that came up in conversations across these diverse events was “trust”.
Trust and marketing
When you work in advertising regulation, the word “trust” is not a new one. It is the underpinning of everything that we do. So it is not surprising that I often read, speak, and think about the role of trust in marketing.
In advertising self-regulation, trust is important because it is the very underpinning of why we do what we do. The argument is that if you want the claims that you make to fall on receptive minds, those minds have to trust that the claims are true. And the only way that they can trust that the claims are true is if the consumer knows that there is somewhere that they can go when they feel aggrieved, and that will react efficiently and effectively.
That argument has become more compelling in an age of AI. Because suddenly, we can’t trust the evidence of our own eyes. That feeling where you are watching a cute video about a dolphin who is best friends with a kitten, and suddenly, the penny drops and you realise that it’s obviously AI-generated. I cannot be the only person who feels violated when I have that realisation. I do not want to be sending my warm fuzzy feelings to a completely imaginary dolphin.
The dolphin, at least, is not dangerous. We also live in a world of deepfakes, and nebulous facts, and certain world leaders who have only the most tenuous grasp of reality (dammit, there goes my next US visa). The proliferation of illegal players in spaces like online gambling. The growth of clever AI-generated scams. All these things ARE dangerous. And they are dangerous to the marketer, who is now communicating to consumers who are more sceptical, more doubtful, and more likely to feel violated by what they perceive to be a lie.
Around me, I see marketers and advertising creatives embracing AI with excitement – and golly, it is amazing! At the ARB we’ve just launched a chatbot that will search and interpret our rulings for you – I mean, that’s completely incredible.
But as we embrace this new world – as we must – we must also recognise that it is bringing one old-fashioned value sharply into focus: TRUST.
Marketer of the future
The World Federation of Advertisers recently launched its guidance notes on when AI labelling is necessary. CEO Stephan Loerke said, “Generative AI is already transforming how marketing content is produced, but with this new capability comes a responsibility to ensure advertising remains transparent and trustworthy.”
The marketer of the future is going to need to think about how they will instil trust in their consumers, because it is the most trusted marketer who will win the real prize – the spend of the consumer. And what this is going to mean for the marketer is, ironically, a return to old-fashioned values and ethics. A return to genuine, thoughtful engagement. A return to supporting industry bodies that support marketing and advertising ethics in all its forms. A return to putting creativity, imagination and most of all, ethics, first.
I have to say that, don’t I? But the fact is, I really do believe it.
