Will.i.am: Brands will speak with their own personalities.
On the podcast: Futurist Will.i.am imagines how brands might talk to us from the shelves with their own personas. Plus, Mark Penn on why AI will prompt companies redo all their communications.
The sun is out, there’s fresh coffee and Lenotre pastries, and I’m sat outside a chateau in Cannes surrounded by bougainvillea. I’m here listening to Will.i.am expound on the future of AI. “I’ve been in this AI space since early 2010,” he says, “I’ve been passionate when not many folks were in this field. It’s the most creative space to create in,” he tells creative and tech executives convened here by design agency Collins.
Indeed the “Imma Be Rocking That Body,” music video, opens with him explaining how machines will be able to create and sing music on their own. “So you’re saying a machine can do anything an artist can do?” Fergie asks. “Yes,” he replies. (This is more than a decade ago.)
Will.i.am may be one of the most popular partners for brands around the world. He made headlines as Intel’s director of creative innovation 11 years ago. Since then he’s been a creative advisor to NGOs and a host of global corporations from Accenture, Apple and the BBC, to Gucci and GE to name a few.
He’s currently working with Mercedes to front their latest ad campaign and after helping to create Beats headphones, he’s rethinking how messaging apps work for the creative industries.
Frustrated, trying to keep track of all the communications across multiple platforms, he created an end to end encrypted service with Dropbox-type storage and generative AI at its core. He then put a team together to execute his vision.
“You don’t necessarily have to have a human expert to materialize your ideas. You can craft expert conversational agents, experts in finance, law and marketing and strategy. That's where we are now with FYI and AIs,” he says.
If you want to reach him and his team, you have to download the year old FYI.AI app and upload your contacts. The music and tech futurist believes that social media will be replaced by intelligent media and he also explains how brands of the future can create a variety of personas to humanize their products via QR codes that speak with personality and accents of your choosing.
On The Media Mix podcast he talks about the connections that took him deep into the tech investing world to win backing from big names including Solina Chau from Horizon Ventures and Salesforce chief Marc Benioff.
Will has a show on SiriusXM, “Will.i.am Presents the FYI Show,” with an AI generated co-host and has a huge following with five million subscribers to his YouTube channel. His Instagram (@Iamwill) has 1.6 million followers.
Also on this week’s podcast, I joined Stagwell CEO Mark Penn at Sport Beach, the company’s set up in Cannes. Penn talked about why AI will send marketers back to the drawing board to re-imagine their communications.
“I explain to people that the biggest change is that you’re going to have to redo every single website - how people interface with technology. The old way of putting in clipped questions is going to be replaced by being able to talk to technology and expect a human-like response, whether it’s compassionate, or professional or funny is really going to determine what your brand is like. I don’t think marketers fully understand that. They’re looking at how to put a cat on snow instead of how they’re going to create a consumer experience that is driven by technology.”
He also touches on the $12 billion business of political election campaigning. “I was always frustrated that we spent more on hamburgers than elections, now we spend more on elections.” Penn also gives his take on why Elon Musk’s X can make a come back with advertisers.
For all this and more listen to The Media Mix podcast and take the time to share a review. Thanks, as ever, to executive producers Jamie Maglietta and Ray Hernandez. The Media Mix is made possible by Situation Room Studios. Contact them if you want to explore your own podcast.
Email us: TheMediaMixUS@gmail.com. Special thanks to brand agency Collins who kindly let us join their exclusive breakfast with Will.i.am.
Cannes Lions coverage is sponsored by Havas. You can read their report on consumer opinions about generative AI here.