Digitas’ media chief Megan Jones on adapting to the speed of AI and social trends

By Antoinette Siu  •  August 9, 2024  •

Jones damaged-down one among doubtlessly the most ubiquitous digital platforms let’s pronounce of that modified customer trip. “Believe the time they spend with Amazon, appropriate?” she stated. “You shop on Amazon, you look boom material on Amazon. Amazon knows every thing about you now. Amazon’s within the pharmacy substitute. … It’s a fluid funnel. It’s of us transferring in every which course at any given 2nd.”

Two innovations are serving to Digitas join the dots and switch more rapid: launching a generative synthetic intelligence suite of tools in April, besides to a original social strategy unit closing December. The latter — known as Part Grand and Trending, or SWAT — is a dedicated team of social natives and strategists that Jones stated makes a speciality of tapping into different platforms and tendencies around them.

“It’s that combination of the two issues happening collectively,” Jones stated. “It’s a team of of us who’re ready to assess what’s happening, name what issues most after which creators who without a doubt can plot the belongings that are cause-constructed for those suppose platforms and publish them.”

In the period in-between, with Digitas AI, the company is attempting out AI merchandise for both within and external client expend cases — like the utilization of AI to synthesize viewers info or creating an “agent” that may maybe well per chance adopt a imprint’s teach, tone and personality.

Jones started her most trendy role at Digitas in January 2023 — after working her formula up the media ranks at the firm for 12 years following stints at MEC, MPG and Arnold. Section of Digitas’ government team now, Jones shared her solutions on AI’s modifications over time, the utilization of information to bridge media and ingenious, and the comprise to switch sooner on cultural tendencies.

This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.

How has your role evolved right here?

I modified into as soon as very deliberate about attempting to advance abet to work for Digitas. After I got right here right here 12 years within the past, I modified into as soon as without a doubt inquisitive about coming to a full-provider company versus working at a media-glorious company. The proposition that Digitas has within the marketplace over the closing couple years when I’ve been on this role is what customers are taking a preserve up for. Participants realize the connectivity between media and ingenious — now not appropriate media and now not appropriate ingenious, but how it all works collectively. We’ve been ready to bag some broad businesses, like Crocs, that entirely values that formula of contemplating. Sephora entirely values that formula of contemplating, which has came about over the course of my time on this role, [and] has been without a doubt bright.

You mentioned the buy funnel being fluid at the 2nd. Why carry out you suspect there may maybe be a false affect about it?

I bring to mind us are searching to be brave and controversial and pronounce the funnel doesn’t exist anymore. From my standpoint, that’s now not the case. It’s appropriate now not as predictive as it damaged-all the kind down to be, and on condition that participants are discovering and taking a watch within the same social expertise — it mild does exist. It’s appropriate it doesn’t repeatedly exist within the linear sort we damaged-all the kind down to chat about. So in marketing, we customarily are searching to comprise, it’s this or it’s that — versus it would be a mix of issues. We customarily stay within the grey, but I don’t think that’s as ravishing within the industry as it is a ways to us.

What does your SWAT team carry out?

It modified into as soon as born out of two issues: our obsession with belief custom, and without a doubt excessive about how we are able to be incredibly perfect about what’s happening in custom. Be taught the formula to be responsive to what’s happening in custom within the applicable tone and teach of a imprint and for the viewers they’re attempting to succeed in. Now it’s essentially based in social, but we’re excessive about easy be taught how to pipe in search, and we’re excessive a pair of total bunch other issues coming in some unspecified time in the future. … It’s in total folk who’re tapped into those platforms. They realize easy be taught how to retain out the social listening, but without a doubt carry out realize the adaptation between capital “T” tendencies, lowercase tendencies and every thing in between — roughly what’s happening culturally and, importantly, what issues to without a doubt react to.

Their team is the utilization of those strategic chops to leer at what’s happening in custom, [and] name what we expect the glorious different may maybe well per chance per chance also be for a imprint. In some cases … we expect Digitas and what makes doubtlessly the most sense for us, after which how the emblem must reply, after which now we comprise creators who’re ready to get boom material that are match for the platform. So what is good on TikTok, and how carry out they carry out it in a formula that is good for TikTok on that vogue, versus what may maybe well per chance per chance plot sense for an Instagram, and hundreds others.?

Your solutions on the suppose of AI?

[In media], we’ve been the utilization of AI in our world for moderately some time, appropriate? Ought to you suspect about our partnership with Google or Amazon, there’s an factor of AI that’s invent of baked into the kind that we’ve been partnering in a whole lot of the biddable channels for years and years. What Digitas AI has been without a doubt centered on is, how carry out we without a doubt bag alternatives for our customers at the moment time to apply AI in a formula that helps plot our teams smarter, our customers smarter?

We launched brokers that we’re ready to craft with a teach and a tone and a personality if truth be told reflective of a clear imprint. Let’s pronounce they were attempting to succeed within the “It woman.” You furthermore mght can in total advise it to think and talk like the “It woman,” after which you would also commence to both acquire counsel on easy be taught how to chat about their interests in line with viewers info, how it would comprise in solutions ingenious or reply to ingenious in line with, all another time, all those info inputs — but in total expend it as a proxy for the varied consumers that we’re attempting to comprise interplay with across the varied client manufacturers that we work with. So I suspect the different for us appropriate now may maybe well per chance per chance be to aid digest reams and reams of without a doubt rich viewers info in a formula that feels applicable for all the varied sorts of client items that now we comprise and user profiles that within the waste they are without a doubt searching to care about.

The without a doubt broad thing I suspect Digitas AI appropriate now may maybe well per chance per chance be the structure of the know-how is all constructed. The formula it takes inputs and the kind it produces outputs is all streamlined. So without a doubt, it’s appropriate a matter of contemplating what mission you comprise to send it on, after which having the applicable plugs by formula of the solutions items and the coaching that we’re giving it to then deploy in whatever formula we expect makes doubtlessly the most sense for the customer. For now, we’ve executed hundreds of issues around viewers and ingenious, but may maybe well per chance there be a likelihood with competitive intelligence?

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