Technology has created an ocean of opportunities in the advertising and marketing world as every day, by every minute, there is a new idea, a new innovation happening. Be it the world of artificial intelligence, virtual reality or automation, every day there is something new to be worked with. These tools are even more integral for small-sized businesses and startups who can use them to get the recognition and reach the masses before their competition. But are they using it to their full capacity? We asked a few experts.

Open AI's ChatGPT, Google's Bard, Elon Musk's Twitter threads; all these content generating platforms turned newsmakers are the new wild frontiers of the digital landscape. With billions being poured into developing AI capabilities, all avenues are seemingly open. From local to national governments, multinational corporate titans to small but feisty start-ups, college applicants to stock traders, one and all are diverting their attention and resources towards Artificial Intelligence, and how it can help them perform more efficiently and effectively. And the advertising media industry, always at the forefront of technological revolutions, is far from behind. In the opinion of Heeru Dingra, Chief Business Officer, Dentsu Creative India, with the ongoing advancements in AI technology, its integration into the advertising and marketing sectors will only continue to grow, bringing significant benefits to both businesses and consumers. Some of the key areas, she believes, will be affected include Personalised Advertising, Predictive Advertising, Content Marketing, Conversational Marketing, and Enhanced Creativity.

To understand the new adaptations taken by the PR Industry, e4m PR and Corp Comm has come up with the'PR Outlook for 2022' series, where PR industry stalwarts share their views on the shift the industry is experiencing towards digitalisation and AI, the transition, current trends, future of the PR industry, and more. In this edition, we spoke to, Kunal Kishore, Founder-Director at Value 360 Communications, talks about how the podcast has become an important tool for PR professionals to communicate and how AI is helping in multi-media content distribution. According to you, what are some of the upcoming trends in the PR industry? What are some of the opportunities and challenges you faced so far in 2022? Technological adoption is perhaps the top trend shaping the industry and we have invested heavily in comms tech through ClanConnect.

Brands that adopt and adapt to the challenges brought on by technology and those that understand the role of AI in enhancing customer experiences are the ones that are winning. This was the straightforward message the audience gauged from the session conducted by Jeremy Smart, Head of Alliance, Asia Pacific & Japan, IBM in support of Acoustic. The session titled "Future-proofing your organization and the adoption of AI to enhance customer experience" had the audience listen in rapt attention, as Smart outlined how brands could succeed in a digitally connected world. Speaking in the context of the emerging technologies and multiple consumer touchpoints, Smart said: "We know that today more than ever, it is an incredibly challenging complex time to be a marketer. Never has it been this difficult or this challenging. You're staring in the face of Everest as you try and navigate the journey of building relationships with your customers."

Xaxis, the outcome media company by GroupM and WPP, is opening up a huge space for marketers and advertisers. With a collective approach of advanced technology, machine learning, unique data sets and automation, Xaxis is helping brands to reach their business outcomes in the most efficient and effective ways. In a chat with exchange4media, Arshan Saha, APAC CEO, Xaxis, spoke about the future of AI and data in terms of marketers. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will have a massive effect on the advertising and marketing world, says Saha. "The majority of media channels will be automated in the near future," he said. This will mean consumers will become addressable across different channels as they will be driven by a digital footprint, Saha added.

Digital agencies today are brimming with ideas that can help brands integrate with voice-enabled technology. For Niraj Ruparel, National Head- Mobile, Mindshare India, conversational commerce using voice skill technology in India means serious business. In conversation with exchange4media, he delves into the nuances of voice technology, how brands can ensure that voice interaction for users is a seamless experience and what is working in the favour of Voice as the next big digital trend. The agency's tryst with voice began in January this year, explains Ruparel after global giants Google and Amazon recognised the potential for voice in India. "Voice is pretty big in Tier 2 markets, which is in terms of the penetration or how we reach out to audiences in the rural market. If you talk about the ecosystem per se, we're talking about close to 100 crore active sim cards in India and almost 450 million sim cards are resting on feature phones where the only mode of communication is Voice, so that plays a dominant role there. But now we see those 550 million SIMs which are sitting on 400 million smartphones, 30 per cent of those people have now started querying on Voice Assistants."

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and programmatic advertising can prove to be great tools for FMCG brands in garnering better customer engagement. With the use of programmatic data, brands can generate personalised content for consumers. Unlike before, with programmatic data one can also generate real-time data with respect to a consumer's walks into the store. AI will also instantly allow the brand to understand market trends which lead to better customer personalization. We at exchange4media got in touch with marketing leaders and brands to get their perspective on how the FMCG sector can leverage from AI and programmatic advertising.