SAS Marketing Insights Editor Jeff Alford interviews Solis in a piece called “AI Marketing: What does the future hold? Its subtitle captures the subject’s view that “artificial intelligence will bring personalized experiences to life.”

Alford says of Solis: “He is widely viewed as a futurist and business strategist who has helped companies create new media strategies and frameworks.”

Some key excerpts from Solis:

“AI marketing is the next big thing. It will shift brands away from marketing automation toward personalized experiences (finally!). But there’s a great irony here in that artificial intelligence is needed to humanize marketing. Thanks to mobile, social, real-time tech, consumers are always on. With the prevalence of on-demand apps and services and the influence of social media in how people connect, share and communicate, consumers are also becoming more demanding and (accidentally) narcissistic. They want things now. They’re increasingly impatient. They want engagement personalized. And they want new and exceptional experiences.”

“Even though every new technology trend offers marketers new and powerful capabilities, marketing is largely still operating from the same old playbook. If anything, over the years, disruptive technology has made marketers more risk-averse. Marketers have sacrificed personalization for martech and marketing automation. Essentially, new technology perpetuates legacy-based mindsets and approaches rather than inspiring groundbreaking means of reaching, guiding and nurturing customer decision making and overall brand relationships. The difference though is now, AI and data is now readily available to change the game.”

“Marketing strategies are broadcast to the masses across every possible channel. We talk at people without taking the time to understand who they are, what and who they value and love, their goals and aspirations, what they disdain and more importantly, how, where and why they make decisions.”

“Customers are in complete control of their journey from discovery to consideration to decision making to sharing experiences. The devices they use, how and when, are also reshaping how they go in and out of their journey. Connected consumers expect personalized experiences, real-time engagement, utility and simplicity.”

“Marketers must learn how customers are evolving and behaving and how AI marketing can help. This means that marketers need more than creativity. They also need more than data. Marketers must be ready to disrupt what they know and how they measure success. They need open and curious minds to challenge conventions and assumptions to perform against evolving standards.”

Read the entire article here.