2024 PBN Innovative Companies Awards
CREATIVE: Trailblaze Marketing
TRAILBLAZE MARKETING IS SEIZING the potential of artificial intelligence.
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AI, according to Christopher Parisi – the Providence-based marketing firm’s founder and president – gets a “bad rap.” He says AI was something Trailblaze was always interested in, but once it became very accessible and he saw how it was going to greatly transform the whole industry and whole world, it “was something we became passionate about.”
The digital growth agency, which has been in business for six years, started harnessing AI’s power about two years ago to improve client offerings and help clients build their brands, Parisi said.
With AI, Parisi’s team at Trailblaze can collect data and marketing insights from various sources, including Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., and social channels such as Facebook and TikTok, to analyze information and provide insights and recommendations to clients.
With a new AI method called “Project Avatar,” what normally took Trailblaze employees hours to collect and analyze information now takes minutes, Parisi says. He also says they can connect to each channel and centralize data in one place, where data is then analyzed and recommendations are made.
Recommendations can be put immediately into place after Trailblaze’s staff reviews them. Parisi emphasized there is a manual approval process and AI does not have autonomy.
Trailblaze last year transformed every process to become AI-powered, Parisi said. His company has 12 employees, and Parisi sees AI as not a replacement for workers but to enhance what they offer. All of his employees have had specific AI training, he said.
Parisi envisions Rhode Island to be a leader in the AI-driven future. He thinks the marketing industry is going to continue to evolve due to AI.
The internet changed the marketing industry, then social media and mobile devices changed it again. Parisi said AI is the next big change and it will affect every single industry.
“Clients are skeptical, but at the end of the day they don’t really care as long as the results are there and their data is protected. They feel confident to know we are innovative and they have a partner changing with the times,” Parisi said.
