Artificial Intelligence Advertising

When I started RedBalloon in 2001 it cost roughly five cents to find a customer and now, across the board in the businesses I deal with and see, it is costing businesses upwards of $20 to source that same customer — an unsustainable price for small businesses.

In light of the skyrocketing CPA of customers, it can really be overwhelming for business owners who feel like they’re venturing blindly into the black hole that is digital spend when they don’t understand the mechanics and how it works. So much time is manually spent trying to unpick the plethora of endless access points across all aspects of digital advertising. We have seen automation tools come into use, however this is not a holistic view of a customer…

That is why we chose Albert; Albert listen, learns and creates.

Albert who?

Albert is the first-ever artificial intelligence marketing platform for business, driving fully autonomous digital marketing campaigns for some of the world’s leading brands. Albert’s mission is to liberate businesses from the complexities of digital marketing – not just by replicating their existing efforts, but by executing them at a pace and scale not previously possible.

Following the unveiling of the Big Red Group (BRG) last week, we also announced that BRG has the exclusive rights to resell Artificial Intelligence Marketing Platform Albert™ to third-parties in Australia and New Zealand – including but not limited to media companies, across entire supplier chains, as well as to direct-to-consumer retailers.

The introduction of Albert into my own businesses has seen Albert drive down the cost of customer acquisition by a quarter, in a matter of weeks. Imagine the difference this sort of technology could make to businesses across the country?

We will see Albert drive down customer acquisition costs and increase positive commercial outcomes for thousands of Australian and New Zealand businesses. Brands such as Harley Davidson, EVISU, Cosabella, and Made.com credit Albert with significantly increased sales, an accelerated path to revenue, the ability to make more informed investment decisions, and reduced operational costs.

2020 is around the corner

We’re nearing 2020 and living in a time in which 2 million small business owners in Australia are still not being paid on time, if at all. It really makes me wonder how things might change if big corporates were in the same position?

We choose to be in small business because we enjoy the realness of knowing the direct effect and impact we are having on our customers. On the flipside, there is certain financial vulnerability that exists with us wondering if the customers will keep on coming. I meet business owners all the time who are worried that their businesses will be disrupted and wonder how they can stay relevant and up to date…

Ten years ago business was all about offshoring to the cheapest operator those tasks that were not core to your business. But those roles associated with manual and process-driven tasks have largely been replaced by technology now. The next generation is a rising tide of technology that is beginning to replace higher functioning process driven roles.

I tell the business owners I meet that we should not be fearful of technology, as it frees our people up to focus on the higher value tasks like collaboration, strategy and creativity — human and higher functioning skills that at this point cannot be replicated, and certainly not replaced, by AI.

Being a business owner by nature, with scarce resources, is all about being innovative and embracing change.

The future does indeed look bright.

Also published on Medium.