Managing communications: When bits and bytes drowned tone

It seems we are heading for a situation where instinct cannot be distinguished from decision-making

I find that many people are reading loads on futuristic-type subjects and, on based on their gleanings, building on it and writing their own death knells — of mainstream media, of advertising, of traditional marketing, etc. So, I am attempting this first-hand. It’s what I have caught people, or myself, doing. And over this I will attempt what I think are possible scenarios.

Face-reading: At Triton where I juniored an aeon ago, there were these babas who would turn up. They were face readers as opposed to palm readers, and back then, they looked technologically advanced to parrot fortune-tellers. But face reading is only one step away from face recognition. If you’re using your face as a password to unlock your devices, tech has already learnt to “see” you. Mapping what you feel based on your facial expressions is probably right around the corner. Is that a hungry face I see there or is it a sex-starved face, is only one of a million probabilities that some AI will decode and interpret and send you commercial messages, as a result, right?

Voice commands: The equivalent of the “Mughal Taali” that we have seen in cinematic epics, today’s kanees is Alexa, at the command of the contemporary-throned boss man. Alexa and her ilk make typing seem like labour. Getting up and checking if there is yogurt left in the refrig to make a tahini becomes Herculean, right, when you can ask Alexa to do it? Here again the voice can become the Richterian indicator of emotions, and a sailaab of offerings can be calibrated to cater to the inner you that is showing through your voice.

Decisional spontaneity: There used to be “consideration”, that thing between getting to know of something and buying it. In fact, consideration was so germane to the process that the fee for purchasing something came to be known as consideration (or so I think). It seems we are heading for a situation where instinct is indistinguishable from decision-making. Something about the process of e-comming makes it so different from shop-aisling for consumers that there is no room for consideration. You find it you buy it, no in-between lag. This will develop further, I have a feeling.

This brings me to my favourite topic: tech versus tone Even if you are a Tesla, the foregone finality of tech is that it will lead to a momentary advance but long-term parity. You have no hope unless you craft your brand, and that is tone, and tone will always require artistry. Of course, you will need to keep pace with consumer tech, media tech, data tech, but if you think about it, tech is replicable, that is the nature of the beast. It is the way you communicate, the choices you make to say or show what you need about your brand that will dictate the appeal of your offering or brand.

When spontaneity reaches its ultimate point, it will again be tone that will make the difference, that split-second choice that you make will be guided by the tone of that brand more than anything else. I know that some of you will react to my thoughts with “what’s the deal, it is not something new you’re saying”. Tech and tone have always existed and always will. I hear you, it’s just that the uproar of tech is so high and omnipresent that it is drowning out tone. And frankly not many of us are putting out an amazing defence.

Amer Jaleel is chairman and chief creative officer, Mullen Lintas