Your future customer won’t read your email. Their AI will. In this new era of digital doubles, are brands still marketing to humans? ...
We’re entering a world where the game of marketing is getting flipped on its head.
For the last 20 years, companies have been fighting to get closer to the customer. CRMs, email sequences, pixel tracking, personalization engines, all trying to create the illusion of “1-on-1” connection at scale.
But the next era? It’s not brands personalizing for the customer, it’s the customer personalizing against the brands. Their AI will be the gatekeeper. Not you. Not your ad. Not your clever subject line.
It’s a digital version of them, a “digital double”, that decides what gets through. Not based on what you think is good, but based on what it thinks they want. And it's trained on their actual behavior, values, and patterns. Not your guesswork.
Now here’s the uncomfortable truth: you won’t be selling to people anymore. You’ll be selling to algorithms that represent people. These AIs will filter, prioritize, and block based on trust signals you probably haven’t even thought about optimizing for. Not just click rates. Not just conversions. But alignment.
That means clean data, clear messaging, and brands that can actually integrate into whatever system this AI is running. If you can't plug into their world, you don't exist in it.
From a CRM and marketing tech standpoint, this shifts the definition of "customer experience." It’s not just how you talk to people, it’s how you talk to the version of them that protects their time and attention. And if that AI double doesn't trust you? You’re done.
Yes, this brings opportunities. Massive ones. Buying will be instant. Service will be tailored. And engagement will feel more human than most humans do.
But the danger? Whoever controls the schema for these doubles, the rules, the filters, the ethics, controls everything. Privacy. Consent. Bias. If my AI is making decisions on my behalf, whose values is it actually following? Mine… or yours?
This is coming fast. It’ll start in industries where speed and personalization already matter , like retail, subscriptions, travel. But the real revolution happens when agents act on our behalf everywhere , across platforms, accounts, and even purchases.
Bottom line?
Marketing is becoming more transparent. But also more technical. And more ethical. The brands that win? They’ll be the ones that learn to build trust , not just with people, but with the algorithms people trust to be them.
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