Peak: bringing the future of retail and Artificial Intelligence to New York
We love milestones at Peak, so it was a proud moment hosting our first ever public event this week, in association with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in New York City. “Artificial Intelligence: Powering the Future of Retail & Media” was a sold-out success!
Over 100 people were in attendance for an evening of networking, cocktails, food and drink and some insightful talks and presentations from some leading figures in their respective industries.
I’m really proud of the progress we’re making as a business, and to sell out our first ever Stateside event is testament to both Peak and the high levels of interest in our space at the moment.
Establishing a presence in the US is something that’s been an ambition of Peak’s for some time now, and this event presented us with an unmissable opportunity to build awareness, cement relationships with the likes of AWS, and put ourselves in front of some exciting brands and businesses.
Here’s a quick recap of who was there, and what was covered…
Our talk
“Businesses using AI grow 30% faster than those who don’t.”
As the event’s host, I kicked the evening off. The presentation introduced the incredible impact that AI and machine learning are having across a number of different industries, particularly retail and media. Unveiling some of our latest proprietary research, I explained how those businesses who are using AI are growing 30% faster than their peers, with 50% higher profit margins. You can read more about our research on all things AI and retail here.
Matt Jeffries — Group Director of Insights, Analytics and CRM, Global Radio
“AI + Humans = better radio. We now have playlists optimised to retain listeners for longer.”
Global is Europe’s largest radio broadcaster and the company behind the likes of Capital FM, Radio X and Classic FM. A current Peak customer, Global’s Matt Jeffries explained the benefits of becoming AI-driven across a number of areas, from creating the perfect playlists for maximum listener engagement to using AI to power Global’s programmatic advertising platform.
Steve Bartlett — CEO, Social Chain
“We’re focusing on leveraging AI for social: from live video that learns adapts & evolves to message bots that increase engagement & conversations.”
Social Chain is the world’s leading social-first marketing agency, and the owner of several well-known social accounts and pages. CEO and co-founder of the agency, Steve Bartlett, delivered an engaging talk about using AI to attract and maintain an audience online. From live video to chatbots and AI-powered customer service, Steve’s talk looked at the ever-increasing role of AI across the social media spectrum.
Kris Skrinak — Machine Learning Lead, AWS
“AWS is the dominant platform for running ML & AI processes — helping businesses achieve incredible things.”
Kris Skrinak explained the continued importance of machine learning and artificial intelligence for businesses and how AWS services can be employed by retail and media companies to help them grow and succeed. He also explained Peak’s ongoing relationship with AWS as an APN Machine Learning Consultancy Partner.
With our event coinciding with the New York AWS Summit, Kris was the ideal candidate to close the evening. I must say I was delighted to hear him have such nice words to say about Peak and the work we’re doing here — our companies share a similar vision, and I’m looking forward to working with AWS more closely over the coming months.
In summary, it was a fantastic night, and one that I’m sure all of our attendees and guests thoroughly enjoyed. We left NYC with some exciting new connections, further opportunities and some very important learnings. We’ve taken away a better understanding of how to pitch to potential US-based customers — we’ve found a stronger, more direct approach works better than it does here in the UK — and knowledge that there’s just as much of an appetite for AI and machine learning in the States as there is here, which is great to know.
I’d like to thank everyone who attended and showed an interest in “Artificial Intelligence: Powering the Future of Retail & Media”, and a huge thank you to all of our incredible speakers.
New York, we’ll be back soon — watch this space!
Download the ‘AI Opportunity for Retail’ guide
Which includes proprietary research from Peak that takes a closer look at that current state of the retail and e-commerce sectors, analysing how AI can improve retailer performance. It covers:
- How AI boosts retailer sales and profits
- A look at some of the UK’s retail growth stars
- An explanation of how retailers can harness AI to drive growth
- A deep-dive into the figures that show the impact of AI for retail
- Case studies of retailers using AI and expert views about it
Download here:
https://offer.peak.ai/ai-opportunity-for-retail
