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New Marketing Words for New Technologies

June 20, 2018

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As companies continue to develop new promising technologies and deliver them at low costs to end users, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with all their effects. Words like “new,” “amazing,” or “incredible” used to be considered powerful tools in marketing, but they might come with new strings attached in the future, just like the rising technologies they define.

Amazon faces pressures from its own shareholders as they side with privacy and civil rights advocates in asking the giant to stop selling its facial analysis program to law enforcement. The investors have recently sent a letter to the company’s CEO Jeff Bezos, voicing their concern on the subject and requesting Amazon’s exit from the surveillance business. A group of 19 investment managing companies, including Harrington Investments and Walden Asset Management, signed the letter. The investors suggest that the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal should be a cautionary tale.

Amazon sold its facial analysis program, called Rekognition, to law enforcement agencies. The system soon made headlines, as the Orlando Police Department became the first American police station to use it. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) expressed its concern and claimed that the use of the system is paving the way for privacy abuse. “We believe it is the wrong approach to impose a ban on promising new technologies because they might be used by bad actors for nefarious purposes in the future,” Matt Wood, a general manager of artificial intelligence at Amazon Web Services, stated. But as the new technology might pose privacy threats to the public, Amazon shareholders say it raises substantial risks for the company. Willpower words share a similar fate?

A Brave New World

If products are among the most powerful tools for a business, words are just as powerful in marketing. They enable marketers to connect with audiences and prompt people to take action. The importance of using the words that have the ability to motivate cannot be overstated. Different words are used for different target audiences or purposes, but marketers agree that some words perform no matter what the context is. One of these words is “new,” an attention-grabbing term that marketers frequently use in emails and social media posts. “New” has the ability to make people take notice because everyone is intrigued by a new gadget, product, or offer.

But what happens when a power word becomes associated with something bad, dangerous or insecure? Do words share the same fate as new technologies? Will some of them lose their power as people lose their trust in the things they define? While people like words and products that spark their curiosity, they also tend to be more receptive to the phrases that help them form a clear and accurate image of the product they stand for. To put it simply, it’s not easy for a marketer to choose the right words. And it might become even harder in the future.

When it all comes down to trust

“The implications of Amazon Rekognition and all new facial recognition technologies is nothing less than a rebalancing of power between citizens and the police,” University of District Columbia law professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, told CNN Money. But as companies are picking sides, so does the public. A recent study has shown most people consider that tech companies have an obligation to speak out against policies that may hurt customers. If the companies should fail to meet these expectations, they might face new financial risks because their clients will lose trust in the brand, just as Amazon shareholders fear in this particular case.

Words like “new,” “amazing,” or “incredible” might be safe for now, but marketers need to think about the future. Just like a new product or technology can be a make-or-break call for a business, words can either add power to a message and thus increase chances of success or contribute to its downfall. Facial recognition systems have already shown their benefits, but their fate remains uncertain within certain businesses, as they might pose privacy threats to the public and induce anxiety among customers. As people expect companies to become more transparent and accountable for their actions, marketers may need to think more about the words they use. “Proven,” “safe and effective”, and “guaranteed” might turn out to be better choices, as they remind customers that the product, service or business in question is tested, safe and true.