From the use of AI and digital twin technology to zero-party data, brands need a new approach to drive differentiated experiences

By Oscar Carlsson, Jishi 

Part art, part science, for too long marketing has required stitching together disparate data sources in an attempt to fill infinite gaps and build a so-called 360-degree view of the consumer.

The early promise of ‘Big Data’ was a deep and fluid understanding of audiences and customers. Yet the reality, so far, has involved many finding themselves in a veritable cobweb of data rights and formats; grappling to get the tech stack set up and working harmoniously despite significant investment. Much potential has not yet been realized.

What’s more, is a consumer ever static, in any case? Aren’t attempts to pin down human behavior, to force dynamic and evolving situations into something fixed, doomed to fail?

Fortunately, the advent of Gen AI, which can fill gaps with high accuracy whilst reducing reliance on external data sources and walled gardens, heralds a new, more tailored approach – and deeper understanding at last.

Herein lies one of the great promises of new technologies. A tmodern-day combination of machine learning, AI, psychometrics and behavioral data can uncover patterns and detect anomalies. It can enable us to differentiate between the real and the fake, and to reward loyalty, at scale, with high accuracy rates; with hypotheses becoming more granular over time.

For too long, when it comes to building an accurate view of their customers, brands have been searching in all the wrong places. Stitching together first, second and third-party data, across departmental silos, can feel like an uphill battle, while inaccurate third-party data often lacks reliability, accuracy and completeness. Then there are the monopolies from the likes of Meta and Google, with the constant threat of cookie deprecation complicating things further.

To make matters worse, doing business in a digital world requires an understanding of the consumer in real time. By the time a research study has been fielded and completed and the results analyzed, in many instances, the consumer has moved on.

A new approach to consumer understanding

Here’s where new technologies combined with zero-party data come in. Thus far significantly underutilized, zero-party data – consisting of information that a consumer proactively shares – can generate trust, and hyper-personalization, whilst also being significantly more cost-effective and reliable than purchasing third-party data. What’s more, it does not require a reliance on other organizations.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there has been a growing interest in both first-party and zero-party data – the information consumers willingly and directly share with companies in exchange for specific benefits or values, such as personalized offers and services.
The reality is that allowing individuals to willingly and conveniently share their data in exchange for better experiences can be a win-win.

Exploring the power of digital twins for consumers

But this isn’t the only weapon that is thus far underutilized by many marketers. Digital twin technologies can also revolutionize our ability to cater to customer needs, especially when combined with the likes of psychometric and behavioral data. Already common in manufacturing, they can drive revenue, engagement and loyalty, increasing efficiency while also feeding insights into new product and service development. Building on the work that CX teams do when applying machine learning technologies to behavioral data, a digital twin can help businesses to improve the consumer experience and drive loyalty while also identifying friction points.

A digital twin of a customer can help to predict the best consumer experience; using both online and physical interactions to simulate the experience and provide context and predictions of future behaviors. It remains in sync, through every interaction, with algorithms constantly updating based on new learnings. In this way, it’s dynamic; constantly updating as new information comes in and recognizing that ‘personas’ shift over time.

Indeed McKinsey predicts digital twin investments of more than $48 billion by 2026. After all, just as a digital twin of an engine can be used for predictive maintenance, a digital twin of a customer can be used by CX teams to simulate and anticipate behavior.

Take Coca-Cola: The brand recently formed a $1.1 billion partnership with Microsoft to integrate cloud and AI platforms so it can experiment and innovate with AI use cases across multiple business functions. As part of this, it is scaling GenAI marketing campaigns with digital twins to personalize across markets with hyperlocal relevance and speed.

For those businesses seeking to move away from reliance on the walled gardens such as Google and Meta and to bring knowledge of their customers in house, data democratization is more urgent than ever, whilst businesses need transformational business intelligence to thrive. Leveraging the likes of zero-party data, AI and digital twin technologies can herald in a new era of data independence, deeper insights, cost savings and growth – thanks to this type of precision and personalization.

The future of marketing: Precision and personalization

We’ve been chasing our tails for too long. And whilst many are looking to AI to automate the most mundane processes, we must not forget that it can do so much more. Harnessing its potential requires thinking far beyond the confines of what has so far been deemed possible. Indeed, by leveraging the latest technologies, a full profile can be built with the help of just a few data points; developed over time in a system which constantly iterates to develop a full picture of the consumer, fully permissioned and full of deep insights and surprising learnings. This places the control back in the hands of businesses, with detailed profiling available at your fingertips, driven by an engine which optimizes and predicts, and gets better over time.

Consumers want to be understood. They demand relevance and more granular data provides brands with a broad spectrum of knowledge that was previously inaccessible. In this way, technology can enable us to see our consumers for who they really are – treat them as individuals. It can provide the human touch; identifying consumer behavioral patterns which were otherwise unseen and unknown, replacing incomplete or outdated data with privacy compliant, transformative learnings and providing an ever-growing knowledge base.

While there may never be a single, fixed ‘truth’ when it comes to understanding human behavior, it is possible to remove much of the guesswork and serve customers with confidence.

About the Author

Oscar Carlsson serves as Strategy Advisor at Jishi, where he leverages over 20 years of experience in scaling tech startups and leading product strategy. Previously serving as Cint’s Chief Innovation Officer during the company’s journey from startup to IPO, Oscar most recently founded Milo Advisory. In this role, he applies his deep understanding of aligning technology with business value – driving innovation at all stages of growth. His expertise in product-market fit, international expansion, and commercial leadership is helping to shape Jishi’s strategic direction.