Epsilon is a global ad and marketing technology company at the center of Publicis Groupe that uses AI to help their clients take the "next best move" in brand-to-consumer relationships.
They do that by using predictive AI models and generative AI capabilities to help determine which marketing strategies and audiences will yield the best results.
We talked to Kerry Miressi, Senior Director Product Marketing Digital Solutions, and Rachel Cascisa, Vice President Platform Adoption and Analytics, to learn more about how Epsilon helps companies with AI.
In a single sentence or statement, describe Epsilon.
Epsilon is a global advertising and marketing technology company positioned at the center of Publicis Groupe. Its vision is to empower each person to create and control trusted connections with brands that matter most to them.
How does Epsilon use artificial intelligence in its products or services?
Our foundational identity AI helps users see and take the “next best move” to ensure continued strengthening of brand-to-consumer relationships.
What are the primary marketing use cases for your AI-powered solutions?
Our predictive AI models proactively identify audiences such as ‘most likely to buy’ and ‘most valuable,’ which help determine marketing strategies built to yield the strongest engagement and results.
Our generative AI capabilities make it easy for marketers to define target audiences using their first party data and the out-of-the-box Epsilon data without requiring a full working knowledge of the data.
What makes your AI-powered solution smarter than traditional approaches and products?
Traditional approaches to digital marketing would be to message audience segments (demographic, for instance), which does not optimize to individual behavior and wastes advertising dollars by messaging everyone in a given audience, equally.
Predictive AI in our data platforms influences custom experiences at the person level. Indicators that drive the model can guide marketers to act quickly with relevant messages to the right people at the right time in the channel they desire.
Are there any minimum requirements for marketers to get value out of your AI-powered technology? (e.g. data, list size, etc.)
To reap the full benefits of our AI capabilities, brands will need enable both first party tags and data for utilization at Epsilon Digital and with our technology platforms, which are built to create a seamless experience across paid and owned channels.
Who are your ideal customers in terms of company size and industries?
We specialize in Retail, Dining, CPG, and Travel, but can support many others. Our ideal clients are in the mid-market to the enterprise level.
What do you see as the limitations of AI as it exists today?
A shortage of talent with the knowledge and skillsets required to train AI models for business use cases that produce desirable/valuable outcomes.
Availability of quality data at scale is one of the biggest challenges marketers face when investing in AI based solutions, if there is not enough QUALITY data that produces valuable outcomes and enough ROI. Generative AI is trained on data from the open internet, in order to produce business-oriented outcomes, the AI needs to be trained on business data. This presents a problem as marketers do not want their data used by competition for modeling and insights.
What do you see as the future potential of AI in marketing?
Platforms will become more powerful. Ultimately, they will need to deliver the consumer—when AI is applied to the operationalization of ad trafficking, reporting, and other tedious tasks, it will open the aperture for marketers to scale media across more platforms. Agencies can then focus less on the execution of campaigns, and more on improving campaign strategies.
Any other thoughts on AI in marketing, or advice for marketers who are just starting with AI?
Beware of the hype.
If there is no tangible ROI for the AI-based solution you are adopting, it probably doesn't exist. Marketers should have a clear line of sight into how the solution will save time, money, or create efficiency.
Generative AI is a very fast copycat that will increase the value of human creativity. Because of the speed at which iterations of content can be produced with generative AI, marketers who are first to put out creative ideas and concepts will essentially become the source material for generative AI to copy. Marketers who are first with ideas that go broad and deep will reap the benefits of the brand association and subsequent value as that idea is parroted across the landscape.