In a recent campaign, Virgin Voyages adopts AI to help amplify their partnership with popstar legend Jennifer Lopez.

Aptly named JEN AI, the campaign allows voyagers to create a personalised invitation video from JLo, to then share with friends encouraging them to consider a Virgin Voyage Cruise.

Since receiving its inaugural ship the Scarlet Lady in February 2020 just before the height of the pandemic, Virgin Voyages have gone on to win numerous cruise critic awards for their service, cabins and overall experience.

This latest campaign aims to strengthen its position by targeting new audiences and groups. This utilisation of AI appears to tick quite a few marketing boxes, driving leads for potential new voyagers, and capturing customer data whilst providing a strong element of personalisation.

Click Here, to explore JEN AI

Last month the IPM polled LinkedIn audiences with the following question… “Are you or your business thinking about how AI might become a factor in your promotional marketing campaigns in the future?” with 64% of respondents answering, Yes, actively. Interestingly this still leaves 34% who are not yet considering the impacts and potential utilisation of AI.

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A study launched by Gekko titled ‘Service not Sci-fi’, reveals that UK shoppers would rather deal with real people not robots or artificial intelligence when it comes to shopping.

The study found that 81% of UK shoppers claim the personal touch has disappeared from retail customer service in modern Britain, with almost a third (32 percent) blaming an over reliance on technology for this decline. Half of those polled think that companies in the UK are using technology to save money, rather than improve customer experience.

Despite living in a world driven by technology, most people don’t want technology at the sacrifice of humans’ opinions and experience.  Only 30 percent said they would like to see ‘smart pricing’ initiatives adopted by retailers, where prices change in real time depending on demand, 22 percent smart mirrors that show a 360 view of themselves, 16 percent a virtual reality changing room, 14 percent augmented reality to help visualise products in the home and 9 percent a talking robot assistant.

When it comes to buying online, 43 percent of UK shoppers have had their screen freeze while trying to make a purchase, so when asked what makes a great bricks and mortar shopping experience, 49 percent of those polled said it was down to having good staff on the shop floor, staff that know the products (49 percent) and staff that go the extra mile (47 percent). Coupled with this, 61 percent of the nation would prefer to deal face to face when complaining, 59 percent when enquiring or trying to find out more about a product and 73 percent when getting a refund.
And businesses take heed – a third of Brits say that the personal touch is more likely to make a repeat purchase, and more than a fifth (22 percent) claim they always spend more money in a shop if they are served by a good assistant, incrementally adding to sales. Over a third (34 percent) of shoppers stated that a poor experience has driven them to buy from another retailer.

The research also highlights the impact of the decline of the local shop, with a quarter of Brits saying they miss shopping somewhere where people recognise them, 16 per cent confessing they preferred the days when they could talk through a purchase with a someone in-store, and a quarter saying online shopping is less fun than buying something in a real shop.  The convenience of a store’s location is also stated as important by 43 per cent of respondents which means that as retailers consolidate their estates, many will notice the effects, further emphasising the need to carefully consider the experience being provided in-store and the staff needed to deliver the experience.

According to the research, we waste almost an hour and a half a month – which is 17 hours a year, the equivalent of more than two days at work – interacting with automated technology, only for a human to have to step in and help.

Bug bears include getting someone to rectify a problem with the self-service checkout, and ringing customer services and dealing with a recorded voice, only to repeat the details to the person you end up talking to.

It’s little wonder, then, that 51 percent of Brits have slammed the phone down during an automated call, as the system didn’t recognise what they were saying.  And 47 percent of shoppers have experienced self-service checkout failure that’s had to be rectified by a shop assistant.

In fact, more than three quarters (77 percent) of UK shoppers admit they’d much rather use a checkout with a person on it, rather than taking the self-service option.  More than 4 in ten (43 percent) British shoppers would rather speak to a person than an automated system when making a phone enquiry, with almost a quarter (23 percent) ending up having to complain on social media when their query hasn’t been responded to via the automated service.

Daniel Todaro, MD of Gekko said: “Everyone is talking about technology and innovation within retail, but our research clearly shows that what consumers really want is the human touch.  With traditional retail under more pressure than ever and an astonishing 81% of people feeling that the personal touch has disappeared from shopping, businesses need to focus on the customer experience in these tough trading times to help keep the high street alive.”

By understanding your brand, its target audience and your channel, Gekko Field Marketing are able to create campaigns and strategic teams that actively enhance the shopper journey and increase profitability within crowded categories.

The omni-channel continues to drive change within traditional retail, and through our research and understanding of high ticket, considered purchases, we help brands complete the customer journey from ATL to purchase. Gekko deliver insightful and effective Field Marketing solutions, converting shoppers into customers of your brand.

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From 18th to 23rd September, one of Trafalgar Square’s iconic lion statues was joined by an additional florescent red lion to promote London Design Festival. The interactive installation was created by ES Devlin in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture as part of a year-long project. Exploring the parameters of design and artificial intelligence, the installation incorporates a deep learning algorithm developed by Ross Goodwin, creative technologist at Google.

Following the Festival, the sculpture will be digitised as part of an online exhibition on Google Arts & Culture so people all over the world can experience the groundbreaking artwork. The project is supported by digital commissioning body The Space as part of its work to ensure the broadest access to the arts through digital technologies. Cast in 1867, the four monumental lions in Trafalgar Square have been sitting as silent British icons at the base of Nelson’s Column for the past 150 years.

This new lion was not silent: it ‘roared’ poetry, and the words it ‘roared’ were chosen by the public who were invited to “feed the lion,” words. By daylight, the ever-evolving collective poem was shown on LEDs embedded in the mouth of the lion. By night, the poem was projection-mapped over the lion and onto Nelson’s Column itself: a beacon of streaming text that invited others to join in and add their voice.

Devlin says the idea for the sculpture was prompted by a walk through Trafalgar Square with LDF Chairman Sir John Sorrell during last year’s Festival. “He said: ‘Landseer never wanted those lions to look so passive; he proposed a much more animated stance, but Queen Victoria found it too shocking.’ The thought lodged in my mind. What if we could invest the lion with a diversely crowd-sourced collective poetic voice?”

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