Marketing To Robots: Why CMOs Need To Start Thinking About Business To Robot To Consumer (B2R2C)
By: Cathy Hackl
Tags: Consumer Electronics, Robotics, Marketing

Will you be selling and marketing to robots in the future? Most people would laugh at the idea, but with global spending on robots expected to reach $241.4 billion by 2023, per IDC, and major tech players investing heavily in voice, AR & VR, the possibility might not be too far off in the future.

Traditional marketing is all about the consumer. Marketers spend endless hours creating engaging storytelling and elaborate campaign activations in order to connect with the consumer. Marketers don’t just want to sell a brand; they want the brand and customer to have a relationship. Brand loyalty is the ultimate goal.

But, this traditional method of marketing is about to change, and marketers will need to add Business to Robot to Consumer (B2R2C) to their list of duties.

Defining B2R2C and why it’s an important trend

Marketing is changing as voice assistants, Artificial Intelligence (AI), drones, and digital avatars become the gatekeepers between brands and consumers. In this new age of technology, CMOs will have to rethink their strategies for creating winning brands. To prepare for the future, marketers and CMOs need to think how to market not just to people but to the robots who make decisions for them.

When robots deliver our food, cook our food, and take care of us, will brands need to reach the consumer via those robots?

According to Kim Bates, Chief Futurist at Faith Popcorn’s Brain Reserve, “The customer journey of the future will begin to emerge as Business to Robot to Consumer (B2R2C).” This will all begin within the comfort of our homes.

Bates says, “Our robot intermediaries will have greater control over the meals we eat, our nutrition, and healthcare regimens. They will influence our immersive and entertainment experiences and the products we bring into the home.”

Bates continues, “This goes way beyond smart speakers, smart watches, screens, and mobile phones serving up ads and recommendations. We will have in-home “carebots” and “carebutlers” who mirror our consciousness and psychological needs. There will be robotic chefs who buy and make our meals, holographic doctors and tour guides that visit on command. We will consume ingestible sensors that tell our doctors what is needed and when. Shoppable closets and personal avatar twins will go out and shop for us in the metaverse.”

Humans become overloaded by too many choices. But with the Internet, seemingly limitless options are all we have. People spend more time scrolling through Netflix trying to select a movie than it takes to actually watch one. Digital carebots and carebutlers take the stress out of these decisions allowing people to optimize their time and live their lives. That is why marketers should strategically incorporate a B2R2C model.

For instance, people already outsource their grocery shopping to personal shoppers via services like InstaCart. If the personal shopper needs to make a replacement for an item, how do they know what to choose? It’s whatever most closely resembles the item needing to be replaced; however, it’s also the habit ingrained into them through the marketing and branding they’ve consumed (consciously or otherwise).

How many times did you knowingly and unknowingly engage with a robot today?

Today, robots are already engaging with customers on a personal level. Bots can qualify leads, personalize user experiences to create custom ads, simplify the purchase process, and even help customers shop and style themselves. For instance, H&M uses a messaging chatbot that helps customers find clothes and outfits using conversation, as if the customer was shopping with a friend. These examples are just a few as to how people already engage with robots.

As talking to and relying on robots become more mainstream, it only makes sense that robots are marketed to so that they know what to offer and suggest to people based on their personalized preferences. Therefore, when considering B2R2C, there are two important implications CMOs should consider. One is crafting partnerships with key influencers. The other is harnessing social media, the most powerful vehicle of communication in the B2C space.

Tamara McCleary, Futurist & CEO of Thulium, explains that the B2R2C relationship is more than crafting strategic partnerships with platforms. It’s also about establishing relationships with key influencers to reach a target market. As futuristic or far-fetched as it sounds, those key influencers include a growing number of robots and virtual beings. Lil Miquela is one such virtual being with over 2.3 million followers on Instagram.

Digital gatekeepers don’t have to be in a one-to-one relationship with consumers. They can be bots on social media where it just takes one comment to influence a number of actions. These digital social media influencers can help companies harness social media to reach their target audiences and offer them accurate and influential information.

McCleary asks, “Are you actively conducting social listening to understand your target, their pain points, and their conversations? Who are they talking about? How are your competitors performing in the same space? What are you posting? How often are you posting? Are you reaching your targets, KPIs, etc.?” Digital social media influencers empowered by AI can utilize data to drive campaigns and prove their social media campaigns are generating an effective ROI.

McCleary says, “Social media is THE most powerful marketing tool of 2020 but if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

Virtual Assistants will own the relationship with the consumer

Millions of users across the globe use digital assistants like Alexa, Google, and Siri on a daily basis. These devices already use Artificial Intelligence to try to predict what we’re going to type, what we may ask, or what we might need. For instance, these voice command services can predict if we’re coming down with a cold from the sound of our voice. These systems will only become stronger and more adept as the technology improves and our confidence in their advice and capabilities becomes more mainstream. Our voice assistant will know when we need something before we need it. That means for CMOs, now’s the time to create a strategy for marketing to robots.

McCleary describes the relationship between digital gatekeepers and consumers, “The multiple layers of AI involved in unraveling to keep pace with the sovereigns like Google, Apple, and Microsoft, are exquisite. Marketing in the future is an entire paradigm shift where it’s no longer the brand owning the relationship with the customer but rather the personal digital assistant, (and the platform it is run on), owning the relationship.”

McCleary continues, “I heard or read somewhere a while back where someone had referred to this dawning of a new marketing and technology game as a Game of Thrones for virtual assistants. Think about it. A market positioned between a future landscape of competing factions and unlikely allies paired with surprising turnarounds and yes, even enemies. Strategic alliances and partnerships between key players will be mission critical in making sure products and services are offered to target markets.”

What comes next?

Kim Bates says, “For CMOs, brand strategy may remain, but brand activation will forever change. There will be a new set of customers to persuade to consider a product or service. Those new customers are the gatekeepers that lead us to the human end-users.”

She continues, “Even a step further, all surface area in our homes (and autonomous vehicles) will generate a new ecosystem of augmented, shoppable ads and experiences to craft and measure. When the world becomes a billboard, ads are freed from the screen, and this has massive implications for marketing, advertising, PR, and communications professionals. We will see a shift from the social screen economy to the social conversational economy that is emerging right now inside immersive worlds,”

“Search, lead generation, e-commerce, and programmatic buying will all morph into new sophisticated platforms and systems. A brand’s human connection becomes more magical and relevant as technology helps make people’s lives smarter, healthier, more personal, and meaningful through all these precise and seamless experiences.”

As we journey into the synthetic years, a brand’s consumers will evolve and will not only include humans, but also robots, virtual beings, and even augmented humans. In some ways, this shift in who owns the relationship and how marketers can capitalize on innovation will impact consumer communications into a new Wild Wild West or a WestWorld of Marketing. Brands should explore and adopt the ever-evolving technology to differentiate themselves from their competition and think outside the “bot.”