Pádraic Gilligan, chief marketing officer, SITE, tells us why incentive travel professionals should follow Irish farmers by adapting to, and adopting AI.
AI is not at all new in Ireland, at least not in the Hidden Heartlands. Since the 1940s, it has been a thing in rural Ireland where I have deep roots. Purist farmers may still opt for the real thing but, for the majority, AI is now fully integrated into their day to day life there and accusations about it putting anyone out of a job are all bull!
It’s a horse of a different colour, however, when it comes to the business events industry. In the Incentive Travel Index (ITI), SITE and the IRF’s joint annual study of the nature and direction of incentive travel, AI is given short shrift with only a net 7% of respondents agreeing that, “ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence will significantly disrupt incentive travel marketing and communications”.
In fact, the horse has bolted and AI is already busily disrupting incentive travel marcomms. I’m in that 7% who firmly believe that AI will continue to disrupt and, I say, bring it on! Here are just three ways that AI is already disrupting and making the job of the incentive travel professional much easier.
First up, Content Creation and Optimisation. AI-powered tools like ChatGPT and Spark (‘Transforming how event teams work with generative AI’) can generate and optimise content for marketing materials, including website copy, social media posts, email campaigns, and promotional videos. While the content will require editing, that is far easier to accomplish than creating the content yourself from first principles when you’re just not in the flow.
Next, Customer Service Automation. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can provide instant ‘triaging’, answering straightforward queries in real time and providing updates about the qualification process to potential incentive travel qualifiers. This saves time for both the qualifier and the organiser. It is important, of course, to triage effectively, ensuring that the process leads quickly to human intervention when the query is not straightforward.
Next, Performance Tracking and Optimisation. This applies in two ways. First, in relation to the qualifier, AI can provide a real time, personalised running tally against programme goals, ensuring the qualifier knows where they stand at any stage. It works the way a FitBit works for a runner, providing clear data points at crucial times.
For organisers, AI can track key performance metrics, such as conversion rates, engagement levels for marketing campaigns, helping to optimise strategies, allow for iterations and allocate resources more effectively.
Now back to the Irish farmers. A farmer in West Clare had left his wife in charge when the AI man was visiting. “Just make sure he has a bucket of boiling water,” he told his wife, “he’ll sort himself out”. She was ready when the AI man arrived. telling him proudly: “Here’s the bucket of hot water and there’s a nail on the back of the stable door to hang your trousers on”.
AI in rural Ireland, in this case, stands for “artificial insemination”. Arguably it was as radical and transformative in rural Ireland in the 1940s as the other AI is across human society in the 2020s. It just took some getting used to. AI is definitely not bad for business. It’s something we need to exercise our curiosity on and the best way to do that is by using it.
AI won’t put us out of a job, the person using AI will. We just need to resolve to be that person.
