Digi Society
Digitalisation in marketing
Media is one of the fields where the effects of digitalisation are felt the strongest — from presentation technology to service channels, tools and devices. Even within my relatively young lifetime, the changes have been huge. I studied media between 2006 and 2012, and during those years alone the curriculum for my degree programme was updated three times. The industry was moving rapidly toward more digital solutions, and suddenly our studies included things like multimedia, website coding and digital animation. It wasn’t easy though, and it required a lot of learning. Everything was studied and built by hand. We coded websites from scratch, drew animations frame by frame on the computer, and turned them into moving images one step at a time. In many cases, it was still quicker to sketch things on paper first and then transfer them into the digital world.
Twenty years later, my daily work in marketing looks completely different. I now use generative AI tools, automated data-analysis systems and increasingly customised digital methods to reach the right potential customer in an engaging way.
Data has also taken a completely new role in daily decision-making. In digital marketing, information flows constantly and it’s easy to access performance results in real time. This makes it possible to adjust campaigns quickly and base choices on something more solid than intuition alone. Yet, as Maurice Conti said in his talk The Incredible Inventions of Intuitive AI (2016), AI is actually learning through intuition.
At the same time, data has raised the expectations for marketers: we are expected not only to be creative but also analytical, able to interpret the numbers behind our ideas and be as strategic as we can. I’ve also noticed how automation has quietly woven itself into different parts of the work — from scheduling social media posts to personalising ads — freeing up time for more meaningful planning.
In the media and marketing fields, digitalisation has practically reshaped operational work with entirely new methods, tools and technologies. Keeping up with them in expert roles requires staying up to date almost on a daily basis. The industry is evolving at a staggering pace.
Open digital society
Living in an open digital society has brought many advantages, but it also comes with clear risks that are sometimes easy to forget in everyday life. We share huge amounts of information online without even noticing it, and different services collect data about our habits, purchases and movements. This creates a situation where our personal information can spread very quickly, and if something goes wrong, it is difficult to take it back. Cybercrime, identity theft and data leaks have become part of normal news, which reminds me that the digital world is never completely safe.
The GDPR reform, which came into force in 2016 and started to be applied in 2018, changed the way I think about my own data. In my personal life, it made me more aware of what kind of information I give to companies and why they need it. At work, especially in marketing, GDPR forced a more responsible approach. We have to justify every piece of customer data we collect and make sure people know their rights. In many ways this is positive, because it pushes companies to be more transparent and respectful. Overall, it is still quite a simple arrangement where we make sure the customer’s data is handled safely.
Of course, GDPR also brought challenges. In marketing, some processes became slower and more complicated, and there is always the risk of doing something wrong simply because the rules are quite detailed. Sometimes it feels like creative work must compete with legal requirements, which can be frustrating. Of couse the negative sides are part of a bigger idea: protecting people from misuse of their information.
Overall, I see GDPR and the growing awareness of digital risks as something super necessary in modern society. The more digital our lives become, the more important it is to have laws that protect us and to stay careful as individuals. Even though it adds extra work and responsibility, it also creates a safer foundation for digital services and a healthier relationship between people and technology.
ChatGPT answering to digital marketer’s questions
I asked ChatGPT these two current questions: 1. Do you think AI tools can replace some creative tasks in media production? If yes, which ones? and What are the ethical risks when working with customer data in media and marketing? Here’s who AI responded:
1. Do you think AI tools can replace some creative tasks in media production? If yes, which ones?
AI tools can already handle certain creative tasks in media production, especially those that are repetitive or time-consuming. For example, AI can assist with basic video editing, such as cutting clips, cleaning audio, or suggesting a rough structure for the content. It can also help create simple graphic elements, generate variations of social media posts, or produce quick drafts of scripts or headlines. However, AI still struggles with the deeper creative decisions — the emotional tone, storytelling style, and the cultural context behind the work. So while AI can support and speed up parts of the creative process, the final vision and direction usually still come from a human professional.
2. What are the ethical risks when working with customer data in media and marketing?
The main ethical risk is using customer data in ways people did not clearly agree to or understand. It’s easy to collect more information than is actually needed, and this can lead to problems if the data is misused or shared with the wrong parties. There is also the risk of targeting customers too specifically, which can feel intrusive or manipulative if not handled responsibly. Another concern is data security. If customer data is not stored safely, it could be leaked or hacked, causing harm to individuals. Because of these risks, transparency and careful data management are essential in media and marketing work.
Evaluation of the AI responses
The answers provided by the AI were generally clear and well-structured, and they matched what I already know about the topics. The explanations were logical, and the examples seemed realistic, especially the points about AI assisting with repetitive creative tasks and the importance of ethical data handling. I wonder if I chose too easy questions for this task.
One issue with the responses is that they remain somewhat general. The AI did not refer to specific tools, real-life cases, or personal experiences, which means the answers can sometimes sound theoretical rather than grounded in actual work situations. Another limitation is that AI tends to present information in a balanced, almost neutral way, without strong opinions, which makes the text less personal than a human expert might write. What I also ponder, is that AI is collecting the informationg from multiple sources, that might give a bit miscellaneous contect. Also, the sources it used, are not visible – though if I do another prompt, AI shows where the original piece is found online. That is actually something one should always remember when using AI as a resource of information.
Self evaluation
Working on this assignment made me look at digitalisation from a wider perspective than I usually do in my everyday work. Even though I work in marketing and deal with digital tools constantly, I don’t often stop to reflect on how fast the field has actually changed or how many layers there are behind the systems we use. While searching for information and writing about GDPR, open digital society and AI, I realised how closely all these themes connect to my own profession. It reminded me that digital marketing is not only about creativity and data, but also about responsibility, transparency and understanding the bigger environment in which we work.
I also learned more about the ethical side of AI and big data, especially the risks that come when automation gets more powerful. Reading different sources helped me understand how important it is to question where the data comes from, how it is processed and what kind of decisions are built on top of it. This is something I want to pay more attention to in my future work. At the same time, writing about my own experiences made me appreciate how much digitalisation has enabled in my career – from remote work to more efficient tools and faster decision-making.