From CD-ROMs to AI: Vivek Bhargava's digital marketing odyssey

Digital marketing is a dominant force right now, but few can claim to have witnessed and shaped its growth quite like Vivek Bhargava. From his early days creating CD-ROMs for corporations to his current role at the helm of a cutting-edge AI-driven consumer intelligence platform, Bhargava's journey mirrors the transformation of the digital landscape itself.

Bhargava's entrepreneurial spirit was kindled at the tender age of 10, thanks to a pivotal conversation with his father. "He explained that in a job, to be happy, you need to spend less than what you earn. But in business, you need to earn more than you want to spend," Bhargava recalls. This simple yet profound insight laid the foundation for his future endeavours.

His first taste of business came through the family's musical instrument export venture, which operated in 40 countries. However, it was in 1997 that Bhargava took his first significant step into the digital realm by founding Communicate2.

The dawn of digital marketing

In the late '90s, digital marketing was in its infancy. "Digital marketing was new, and we were making CD-ROMs for large corporates, which at the time was considered digital transformation," Bhargava explains.

As the internet gained traction, Communicate2 evolved, eventually growing into one of India's largest performance agencies. This success caught the eye of industry giants, leading to its acquisition by iProspect, a part of Dentsu, in 2012.

Post-acquisition, Bhargava's role expanded significantly. He found himself at the helm of Dentsu's performance group as its CEO, orchestrating further acquisitions and building a formidable team of around 1,500 people. This period saw Bhargava at the forefront of digital marketing's rapid evolution, as it transformed from a minor consideration to a dominant force in the advertising world.

"When I started out 20 years ago, digital marketing was a minor consideration," Bhargava reminisces. "In a client's 100-slide presentation, there would be a single slide on digital, and the CMO would step out for a break exactly when that slide came up. Today, digital marketing leads the conversation."

The pandemic pivot

The year 2020 brought unprecedented challenges, but for Bhargava, it also presented an opportunity for reinvention. "In July 2020, during COVID-19, I realised I was stagnating and decided to follow my passion," he shares. This realisation led to consumr.ai’s birth, the consumer intelligence platform that Bhargava co-founded with two other peers- Gautam Mehra, who was the CEO of Dentsu Programmatic, and Aman Khanna, who was the client partner at Visual IQ, a martech platform that was later acquired by Nielsen. 

With an initial investment of $3 million, Bhargava and his team launched a platform focused on providing insights from consumer data to brands through official APIs. The venture has shown promising results, tripling its revenue since its launch in November 2022 and achieving profitability.

At the heart of consumr.ai's offering is the concept of an "AI twin" - a digital persona built from behavioural data collected from various social media platforms. This innovative technology leverages official API access from major platforms such as Google, Meta, Amazon, TikTok, and Reddit, among others.

"Our core technology revolves around official API access from these platforms," Bhargava explains. "These platforms provide basic APIs to their advertising partners to improve consumer insights. We are one of those partners, and we ensure compliance with GDPR and CCPA regulations."

The APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) serve as secure gateways, allowing consumr.ai to access aggregated, anonymised data from these platforms. This data is then processed and analysed using advanced AI algorithms to create comprehensive consumer profiles.

The AI twin technology allows brands to gain deeper insights into consumer segments, providing valuable information about demographics, preferences, and even tastes in different product categories. "For example, for a whiskey brand, we can unpack insights such as the demographic and geographic preferences of consumers, the other brands they like, and even their tastes in different beverages," Bhargava elaborates.

What sets consumr.ai apart is its global reach and multi-platform approach. The company operates across 140 countries and multiple languages, providing consumer insights from numerous platforms. This expansive coverage has attracted the attention of many Fortune 100 companies.

"Our clients are typically large companies with a vast customer base and global operations," Bhargava notes. "What sets us apart is our ability to operate across 140 countries and multiple languages while providing consumer insights from numerous platforms. This level of consumer unpacking is rare and incredibly valuable to our clients."

The future of digital marketing

Looking ahead, Bhargava sees AI as the next big disruptor in digital marketing. "AI is transforming digital marketing by improving creative processes, media efficiency, and personalisation at scale," he says, predicting that "it will reset the world and exponentially improve digital marketing as we know it."

He envisions a future where personalisation reaches unprecedented levels, with AI enabling marketers to target every individual consumer with tailored messages. Moreover, Bhargava believes that the integration of AI into human workflows will become the norm, creating "centaurs"—teams of humans and AI working in tandem across various industries. "The best chess players today are neither humans nor AI; they are centaurs—teams of humans and AI working together," he explains. "This collaboration, or 'co-intelligence,' will become the norm across industries."

In the context of digital marketing, this could mean AI systems that can generate initial creative concepts, with human marketers then refining and applying the strategic and emotional intelligence that machines still lack. Or it could manifest as AI-powered analytics tools that can process vast amounts of data and suggest optimisation strategies, which human marketers can then evaluate and implement based on their understanding of brand values and market nuances.

Bhargava also believes that the impact of AI will extend far beyond just marketing, affecting nearly every aspect of business and society. "AI's exponential growth will affect more than just marketing," he notes. "For example, driverless cars could disrupt real estate by making commuting more convenient, reducing the need for city-center living. AI will touch every facet of life in ways we can't even predict right now."

Challenges and opportunities

Despite the exciting prospects, Bhargava warns of potential pitfalls in the adoption of AI and other emerging technologies. He identifies several bad practices that companies should be wary of as they navigate the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

One major issue Bhargava highlights is the outdated approach to budgeting for new technologies. "Companies still increase their digital or AI budgets incrementally, year by year, while the industry is growing exponentially," he explains. "You can't approach exponential growth with linear budgeting."

This mismatch between the pace of technological advancement and traditional budgeting practices can leave companies ill-equipped to capitalise on new opportunities. Bhargava argues that organisations need to adopt more flexible, responsive budgeting strategies that can keep pace with the rapid changes in the digital marketing sphere.

Another significant problem Bhargava identifies is the siloed approach to media budgets and technology investments. "Companies often don't combine media budgets with technology investments," he notes. "For example, spending 5% of a media budget on AI tools could yield a 10% improvement in media efficiency, but these decisions are often blocked due to rigid budgeting processes."

This disconnect between media spending and technology investment can result in missed opportunities for efficiency gains and improved performance. Bhargava advocates for a more integrated approach, where technology investments are seen as integral to media strategy rather than as separate line items.

Perhaps most importantly, Bhargava emphasises the need for continuous learning and adaptation in the face of rapid technological change. "The real challenge will be staying digitally fit," he says, "as organisations that leverage AI more effectively will outperform those that don't."