Neuromarketing and the Future of A.I. Driven Behavior Design | Prince Ghuman | TEDxHultLondon

Summary

In this insightful talk, Prince Cumin unravels the complex relationship between marketing, AI, and consumer data. He starts with Target's AI-driven pregnancy prediction and moves to the present, where AI and neuroscience are used for hyper-personalized marketing. Cumin discusses the power of OCEAN personality analysis and its impact on political campaigns. He also explores the future of marketing with deepfakes and the cocktail party effect, urging consumers to demand fair trade apps and take control of their data privacy.

Takeaways

• 🧠 The power of AI and data analytics: Target's prediction of a customer's pregnancy using AI and data analytics showcases the depth to which companies can analyze consumer behavior.
• 🔮 Predicting future behavior: Modern marketing combines AI with neuroscience to not only predict but also model future consumer actions, using methods like ocean analysis.
• 🌐 The OCEAN model: A personality assessment framework representing Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism, used to predict a wide range of outcomes including relationship success and attitudes.
• 🎯 Personalized marketing: The use of personal data to create highly targeted and persuasive advertisements, as seen in political campaigns like Brexit and the Trump election.
• 🤖 Deepfakes in marketing: The rise of deepfake technology, which has already been used to create convincing virtual models for brands, raises questions about authenticity and trust in advertising.
• 🎉 The cocktail party effect: A psychological phenomenon where people instinctively pay attention to their own name or face, which marketers could exploit in personalized advertising.
• 💼 Ethical considerations: The speaker's personal experience with the 'face app' highlights the ethical dilemmas surrounding data privacy and the use of personal information in marketing.
• 💰 The currency of data: In the digital world, data has become a new form of currency, with consumers often unknowingly trading their personal information for 'free' services.
• 🛡️ Demanding transparency: Consumers should demand 'Fairtrade apps' that respect privacy and offer alternatives to data-driven services, similar to the organic food movement.
• 🤝 Bridging the gap: The speaker advocates for a balanced relationship between consumers and marketers, where both parties understand and respect each other's needs and boundaries.
• 💡 Consumer empowerment: Emphasizes the power of consumers to shape the market by demanding and paying for services that respect their privacy and data.

Q & A

What is the main theme of Prince Cumin's speech?

The main theme of Prince Cumin's speech is the deep connection between data, AI, and marketing, and how these technologies are used to predict and model consumer behavior.

What was the controversial Target story about?

The controversial Target story was about how Target used AI to predict a teenager's pregnancy by analyzing her shopping patterns, which upset her father who was unaware of her pregnancy.

How did Target predict the teenager's pregnancy without her browsing pregnancy-related items?

Target predicted the pregnancy primarily using offline credit card data and the Target discount card, indicating that the prediction was based on broader shopping patterns rather than specific pregnancy-related purchases.

What is OCEAN analysis and how is it used in marketing?

OCEAN analysis is a personality assessment based on five key traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. It is used in marketing to predict and model consumer behavior and create highly personalized ads.

What role did Cambridge Analytica play in the Brexit and the US presidential election?

Cambridge Analytica created unique OCEAN profiles for individuals using data from Facebook surveys and then used these profiles to create hyper-personalized ads, which influenced voters' decisions during Brexit and the US presidential election.

What is the 'cocktail party effect' and how does it relate to marketing?

The 'cocktail party effect' is a psychological phenomenon where people can focus on a single voice in a crowd by hearing their name. In marketing, it relates to the idea that personalized ads, such as those using a consumer's face or name, can capture attention more effectively.

What are deep fakes and how could they be used in marketing?

Deep fakes are AI-generated images or videos that convincingly replace a person's likeness with another's. They could be used in marketing to create convincing advertisements featuring fake endorsers or models.

How does Prince Cumin suggest consumers can have a healthier relationship with marketing?

Prince Cumin suggests that consumers should demand and be willing to pay for 'Fairtrade apps' that are free from tracking and data exploitation, thus promoting a healthier relationship with marketing.

What is the 'prenup' Prince Cumin refers to in the context of using apps?

The 'prenup' refers to the terms and conditions that users agree to when using apps, which often include permissions for the app to access and use personal data.

What does Prince Cumin mean by 'money is an outdated form of payment in the digital world'?

Prince Cumin means that in the digital world, consumers often 'pay' for services with their personal data rather than with money, and this data can be extracted through various interactions, such as using discount cards or participating in quizzes.

What is the 'visual cocktail party effect' and how could it be exploited in advertising?

The 'visual cocktail party effect' is the ability of people to notice and focus on their own face in a crowd. It could be exploited in advertising by using deep fakes or personalized images to grab consumers' attention more effectively.

What are the three takeaways Prince Cumin suggests for a healthy relationship with consumerism?

The three takeaways are: 1) Recognize that money is an outdated form of payment in the digital world and that consumers pay with their data; 2) Demand and pay for 'Fairtrade apps' that respect privacy; 3) Be proactive like Beyonce and take action to improve the relationship with marketing rather than passively accepting the status quo.

Outlines

00:00

🔮 Predictive Marketing & AI's Impact

This paragraph introduces the concept of predictive marketing and the power of AI in understanding consumer behavior. It starts with the intriguing story of a father who was upset with Target for sending his daughter coupons related to baby products, only to find out that Target's AI had predicted her pregnancy before she had shared the news. The story illustrates the depth to which data analysis can predict personal life events. The speaker then transitions to the present, discussing how brands use AI combined with neuroscience to model and predict consumer behavior more accurately than ever before. The use of OCEAN analysis, a personality assessment, is highlighted as a method to predict a wide range of outcomes, from relationship success to potential biases. The paragraph concludes with a hypothetical scenario where personalized marketing is taken to an extreme, with individuals seeing their own faces in advertisements, leveraging the cocktail party effect to capture attention.

05:02

🤖 The Ethical Dilemma of Personalization and Deepfakes

The second paragraph delves into the ethical implications and potential misuse of personal data in marketing. It discusses the rise of deepfake technology, which has already created virtual supermodels for major brands, and raises the question of how this technology could be used to impersonate real people. The speaker uses the cocktail party effect to explain how our brains are naturally drawn to our own faces, which could be exploited in advertising. The paragraph also touches on the potential for face-swapping technology in videos to create highly personalized and persuasive ads. The speaker shares their personal experience with the face-aging app 'FaceApp', which raised privacy concerns due to its data collection practices, and calls for a more transparent and ethical approach to consumer data usage in marketing.

10:03

💰 Rethinking Value Exchange in the Digital Age

In the final paragraph, the speaker challenges the traditional notion of money as the sole form of transactional value in the digital world. They argue that data has become the new currency, with consumers often unknowingly giving up their personal information in exchange for 'free' services. The speaker calls for a shift in consumer behavior, suggesting that if people are willing to pay for apps that respect their privacy, developers will create such alternatives. The paragraph ends with a call to action for consumers to demand 'Fairtrade apps' and for marketers to respect consumer power. The speaker presents two options for consumers regarding their relationship with marketing: to be passive and upset, like Adele, or to take proactive steps, like Beyonce, to ensure a healthier relationship with marketing practices.

Keywords

💡AI (Artificial Intelligence)

AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. In the video, AI is used by Target to predict a customer's pregnancy based on her shopping patterns, showcasing how AI can analyze consumer behavior and make predictions about future actions.

💡Neural Marketing

Neural marketing is the application of neuroscience to marketing strategies, aiming to understand consumer behavior at a deeper, often subconscious, level. The video discusses how this approach can be combined with AI to model future consumer behavior, suggesting a highly personalized marketing strategy based on understanding the brain's responses.

💡OCEAN Analysis

OCEAN is an acronym for the five major dimensions of personality traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. The video explains that OCEAN analysis can predict a wide range of outcomes, from relationship success to racism, and is used to tailor marketing messages to individuals' personality profiles.

💡Personalization

Personalization in marketing refers to the customization of products, services, or advertising to meet the specific needs or preferences of an individual consumer. The video highlights how AI and OCEAN analysis can create hyper-personalized ads, using the example of Cambridge Analytica's targeted political ads during the Brexit and the US presidential election.

💡Deepfakes

Deepfakes are synthetic media in which a person's likeness is superimposed onto someone else's body with the help of AI. The video mentions the use of deepfakes in the fashion industry with fake supermodels and raises concerns about the potential misuse of this technology for personalized advertising or misinformation.

💡Cocktail Party Effect

The cocktail party effect is a psychological phenomenon where a person can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room while filtering out irrelevant background sounds. The video extends this concept to visual stimuli, suggesting that our brains are particularly attuned to our own faces, which could be exploited in advertising to capture attention.

💡Data Privacy

Data privacy concerns the appropriate handling and protection of personal information. The video raises concerns about apps that collect user data, such as the 'face app' mentioned, which has amassed the digital faces of millions of people, highlighting the need for consumers to be aware of how their data is being used.

💡Consumer Power

Consumer power refers to the influence that consumers have over the market and the ability to effect change through their choices and demands. The video encourages consumers to leverage this power to demand better privacy practices and fair trade apps that respect their data privacy.

💡Personalized Advertising

Personalized advertising is a marketing strategy that tailors ads to individual consumers based on their preferences, behaviors, and other data. The video discusses the implications of using AI and deep learning to create highly persuasive, personalized ads that can be disturbingly effective.

💡Fairtrade Apps

The concept of 'Fairtrade Apps' in the video refers to applications that respect user privacy and do not engage in intrusive data tracking. The speaker suggests that consumers should demand and be willing to pay for such apps, drawing a parallel to the consumer-driven demand for fair trade and organic products.

Highlights

The speaker, Prince Cumin, discusses the deep connection between data, AI, and neural marketing, emphasizing the predictive capabilities of AI in consumer behavior.

A true story about an angry father and Target's use of AI to predict his daughter's pregnancy, showcasing the power of data analysis in marketing.

Target's prediction was based on offline credit card data and the Target discount card, highlighting the importance of diverse data sources.

The story took place 10 years ago, emphasizing the long-standing impact and evolution of AI in marketing.

The use of OCEAN analysis, a personality theory, to predict consumer behavior and preferences, demonstrating the intersection of psychology and marketing.

OCEAN stands for Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism, which are key traits used in personality analysis.

The accuracy of OCEAN analysis in predicting future behavior, including relationship success and even racism, showcasing its broad applications.

The political application of OCEAN analysis in Brexit and the US presidential election, illustrating its real-world impact.

Cambridge Analytica's use of Facebook surveys to gather data on users and their friends, raising privacy concerns.

The creation of unique OCEAN profiles for individuals to tailor hyper-personalized ads, demonstrating the power of personalized marketing.

The future of marketing with deepfakes, discussing the ethical implications and potential uses in brand advertising.

The cocktail party effect and its application in marketing, showing how brands can capture consumer attention.

The potential for face-based ads on social media and the ethical considerations of using one's likeness in advertising.

The concept of 'Fairtrade apps' as an alternative to data-harvesting apps, proposing a new model for consumer data privacy.

The speaker's personal experience with the face app and the broader implications of data privacy in consumer apps.

A call to action for consumers to demand and pay for privacy-respecting apps, encouraging a shift in consumer behavior.

The final message encouraging consumers to be like Beyoncé, taking action to shape their relationship with marketing.

Transcripts

[Applause]

and the wise words of Adele hello my

name is Prince cumin and I'm here to

reveal the unknown person you will all

marry for the rest of your life talking

about marketing to show you just how

deep this relationship goes I will

connect the dots between data AI a

neural marketing which is the

application of neuroscience to marketing

and I want to start by telling you a

true story about a father

not just any father an angry father this

father showed up at his local Target

store demanding to speak to the store

manager he was upset about the

inappropriate coupons target was sending

his teen daughter they all had a very

particular theme baby diapers bottles

baby clothes I can see why he was upset

his next conversation with the manager

though was deeply apologetic turns out

target knew what the father did not his

daughter was pregnant

how did target know know the store

manager was not the baby's daddy target

knew because of artificial intelligence

and there are three things that are

really crazy about this case one the

daughter had not browsed any pregnancy

related items at all to target predicted

a pregnancy primarily using two sources

of data offline credit cards and the

target discount card three this took

place 10 years ago just put that in

perspective for you the most popular TV

show at that time was Jersey Shore

that's when Snooki answer our vocabulary

and we're all words for it target story

is the past let's talk about the present

today brands cannot just predict future

behavior but they can also model it by

combining AI with neuroscience one of

the ways to do this is by using ocean

analysis when it comes to psychology

based personality theories ocean

analysis is number one max is number two

the acronym ocean represents five

different key core personality traits

openness conscientiousness extraversion

agreeableness and neuroticism your ocean

profile is your score on each of these

traits our ocean analysis can predict

the range of outcomes from relationship

success which is high agreeableness to

racism which is low openness today it is

the most valid form of personality

analysis available and is freakishly

accurate at predicting and modeling your

future behavior here's a free hashtag

life hack instead of reading your

horoscopes go take an ocean test you'll

learn a lot more about yourself imagine

a world where people walked around with

their oceans Gorge on their forehead how

persuasive would marketing be then

that's exactly what happened it took

place in the political arena I'm talking

about brexit and the US presidential

election of Donald Trump so Cambridge

created simple Facebook surveys that

270,000 people took surveys were a bit

like this which Beatles band member are

you or which Harry Potter house you

belong to I took that one shout out to

hufflepuffs the actual the actual

questions the surveys were trivial

because taking the survey provided

cambridge access to all of your facebook

data so all the participants facebook

data was in the hands of cambridge but

also their friends as well at the end of

the day cambridge walked away with data

from 87 million people and technically

this is what's scary they did so without

breaking the law next they use this data

to create unique ocean profiles for each

person then they use this profile to

create hyper personal ads for example

people who are rated high on neuroticism

and conscientiousness and are therefore

paranoid were shown a pro Trump ad that

showed an armed break-in by burglar the

ad read and this was verbatim

the Second Amendment isn't just a right

it's an insurance policy defend the

right to bear arms but for Donald Trump

so combining ocean analysis with a I get

helped create highly persuasive messages

which can be perfectly and I mean

perfectly tailored to your personality

welcome to the world of psyche I our new

reality the target case was the past

caring is the present what about

the future

meet shoe do and coffee gram

what does shoot oh and coffee have in

common one the supermodels to have a

shot with neither of them because three

they're fake they are deep fakes the

generally generated supermodels who have

convinced consumers of their actual

existence and they have contracts from

the likes of Gucci Fendi and Tom Ford if

the technology to create convincing deep

fakes of supermodels exists what's to

stop someone from creating a deep fake

of me let's be honest that's like asking

a Ferrari engineer to make a Hyundai yes

they can do it yes they will do it

because of something called the cocktail

party effect imagine the scenario we got

a private party having a couple drinks

catching up with the close friend you're

sucked into your conversation completely

oblivious to the chatter of voices all

around you then all of a sudden you hear

your name their name ten seconds ago you

had no idea the person who said it even

existed but now your attention is

completely focused in that direction

that's the cocktail party effect this is

something that psychologists have known

about since the 1950s if it even works

when you're asleep a part of your brain

stays awake listening and paying

attention for your name recent research

has revealed that we have a special kind

of attention not just for our names

before our faces as well in other words

there was a thing called the visual

cocktail party effect

it's not a matter of if our faces will

be used by brands but when and how and

here are two very easy ways one social

media imagine scrolling mindlessly to

your newsfeed and maybe you're the one

person who claims to never click any of

the ads you see but how could you not

when the person modeling those fancy new

Sony's is you you don't even have to

consciously see that it's your face the

face doesn't even have to look exactly

like you just close enough to draw your

attention

we should accomplish for the ad second

face one they swap videos imagine

placing your face on another person's

body in a digital video there's a piece

of tech called Zhao that allows you to

insert yourself as a character in a

famous movie the ad that introduced the

app showed scenes from inception with a

completely different human being playing

the role of Leonardo DiCaprio crazy

right on about you but I'm kind of

excited about this on paper this text

sounds pretty pretty great I can finally

live up my dream I'm not just singing

like Adele but being Adele hello it's be

not imagine face wops technology being

used to advertise something serious like

insurance

what would hit you harder than seeing a

video of paramedics pulling your dead

body out of a car crash call AIG now for

your insurance quotes the exact form of

this new way of personalized face ads

remains to be seen one thing is for sure

the tech behind face based ads is

already being worked on the culture of

hyperbole personalization already exists

along with it going to be massive

opportunities for brands fresh headaches

for regulators which by the way their

understanding of AI go as far as

spelling it especially in the States and

new puzzles for philosophers where do we

go from here before I answer that I want

to take a minute to tell you why I'm

here

only a lunatic would ever sign a

prenuptial agreement written in a

foreign language that is exactly what I

did when I agreed to the terms and

conditions of a little app called face

out

you may remember it the app went viral

but letting people upload photos of

themselves and their friends and seeing

what you might look like 40 years older

or as an infant or as the opposite

gender all good fun but it raised a lot

of eyebrows regarding data safety and

privacy Forbes estimates that face app

now owns the digital faces of over 150

million people I'm one of them you are

too it may not be face app it may be the

app you use to track your period the

track your nutrition your calories your

workouts you sign this prenup too as a

marketer I felt gross and guilty as a

consumer I felt used and this is weird

cognitive dissonance because I played

both sides of the field as a marketer

all I want to do is create amazing

experiences and just epic epic products

for you all to fall in love with without

creeping you out as a consumer I want to

be with a nod I want to be charmed and

flirted with my brands I want to fall in

love with products just don't creep me

out man that's why I'm here I'm here to

bridge that gap between marketing and

consumers and in order to achieve that

to have a healthy relationship with

consumerism

here are my three takeaways these apply

both to consumers and marketers one

money is an outdated form of payment in

the digital world you still think

transactions happen only when you pay

that mindset is outdated think about it

what is money money is a transfer value

in the digital world money does not need

to change hands for someone to extract

value from you every time you use

discount cards take a quiz share a photo

a new type of value has been extracted

from you you're paying with the new

international currency your data

to break the addiction of free break the

addiction of free it's too easy to point

a finger on Facebook and say you're

abusing data but you got to look at the

three pointing back at you you you spend

more money on avocado toast and do on

your own privacy every year companies

like Facebook are not nonprofits to run

a digital country of two and a half

billion people it's not free since

you're not willing to pay for those apps

that entire platform companies are going

to find other ways to extract value from

you on behalf but monetizing your data

look we had a good run we got really

drunk off of free content I've got super

high on social media okay it's time to

wake up from this bender as the old

saying goes there's no free lunch in the

digital world there's no free app three

demand Fairtrade apps if you're willing

to pay for ADD free apps why not

tracking free apps that's what I mean

about Fairtrade apps it's ironic that we

know more about where the coffee at

Starbucks comes from and less about

where our data goes when you connect to

the Wi-Fi it's easy to forget that not

too long ago organic food was not a

thing it was not until consumers you

started to demand it and were willing to

pay for it that it became it paid

private alternate versions of apps are

not an option right now because you're

not demanding them and you're certainly

not ready to pay for them time to change

that my name is Prince guman and I'm a

newer marketer more importantly I'm a

believer I'm a believer in consumer

power in your power if you decide to

demand it and pay for it they will build

it

if you want a healthier relationship

with marketing you have two options

option a like Adele you can sit there

and cry about it

option B like Beyonce you can do

something about it

when it comes to your inescapable

marriage with marketing be like Beyonce

that is an idea worth spreading

thank you

[Applause]