Artificial Intelligence for Marketing

CHAPTER 1Welcome to the Future

The shovel is a tool, and so is a bulldozer. Neither works on its own, “automating” the task of digging. But both tools augment our ability to dig.

Dr. Douglas Engelbart, “Improving Our Ability to Improve”¹

Marketing is about to get weird. We've become used to an ever‐increasing rate of change. But occasionally, we have to catch our breath, take a new sighting, and reset our course.

Between the time my grandfather was born in 1899 and his seventh birthday:

• Theodore Roosevelt took over as president from William McKinley.
• Dr. Henry A. Rowland of Johns Hopkins University announced a theory about the cause of the Earth's magnetism.
• L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in Chicago.
• The first zeppelin flight was carried out over Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
• Karl Landsteiner developed a system of blood typing.
• The Ford Motor Company produced its first car—the Ford Model A.
• Thomas Edison invented the nickel‐alkaline storage battery.
• The first electric typewriter was invented by George Canfield Blickensderfer of Erie, Pennsylvania.
• The first radio that successfully received a radio transmission was developed by Guglielmo Marconi.
• The Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk.
• The Panama Canal was under construction.
• Benjamin Holt invented one of the first practical continuous tracks for use in tractors and tanks.
• The Victor Talking Machine Company released the Victrola.
• The Autochrome Lumière, patented in 1903, became ...