• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, October 25, 2023

AI is rapidly integrating into many aspects of our lives on a daily basis. But did you know it can create a series of new media channels, in addition to being a boon for productivity?

Way back in 2017, I embarked on a journey with some colleagues as we built an AI assistant that took notes for you in meetings.  The product was EVA, which stood for Electronic Virtual Assistant, and it was great!  I used the software in all my meetings because it would provide a searchable transcription and extract the action items from the meeting as notes for follow-up.

We sold the company to Cisco for use in Webex. Now fast-forward to 2023, and the technology has accelerated dramatically because of the advancements made with the various large language models offered in the Generative AI space.  

There are a few stand-alone companies in the space, but I recently noticed Zoom launched its own integrated version, which most people likely have access to with their subscriptions.  The Zoom transcriptions perform very well and are highly accurate, but what I find most interesting is how the AI creates summaries of the sections.  For example, I had a meeting last week and the summary sent to me was “Puppies, Mergers and Colonoscopies,” which is extremely comical -- and also somehow quite accurate. The summary of the conversation included the five minutes I was waiting for the other attendee, and was chatting with my wife in the other room.  I never thought to go on mute because I had not yet remembered the AI was listening to the conversation.

This new format of meeting notes also creates a new opportunity for media buyers.  Those who refer to meeting notes are a highly engaged audience. So these notes are potentially a great way to get a B2B message out to the right target audience.  Meeting notes have lots of space for a visual ad, and these notes get forwarded, so there is a viral element to them as well.  Other B2B platforms like file download services, free WiFi at airports and even some creative tools offer an environment where a message is tolerated or accepted.  So meeting notes and summaries present a new opportunity that gets delivered directly into inboxes in a way that captures attention.

The only challenge I can foresee to this being a viable new B2B medium would be the contextual, and possibly even somewhat sensitive, nature of the content itself.  Business meetings tend to be filled with confidential corporate information. So brands need to be sensitive to that fact.

B2B advertisers are always looking for new ways to reach their target audience.  In fact, I would argue B2B advertisers are among some of the most progressive  and innovative advertisers because they are open to anything that delivers the people they are looking to reach.  These formats do offer a B2C opportunity as well, since every B2B buyer is also a general consumer.

AI is transforming so many things, but the media landscape is most certainly one of them.  New placements, new opportunities and new formats will abound as AI changes our behaviors and creates new touchpoints in our daily lives.