A quick-and-dirty search of topics on the agenda for this year’s Gartner Digital Marketing Conference would indicate that artificial intelligence marketing was arguably the shiniest object in San Diego in May.

At least a dozen conference sessions included AI in their titles or keywords. Nonetheless, a show of hands at the Resulticks session, “AI, Blockchain & Brand Relevance: The Future is Now,” would indicate that blockchain outshone AI in the eyes of attendees.

All but a handful of the standing-room-only crowd indicated that blockchain was the primary reason they chose to attend the session. With such overwhelming interest among attendees, it’s ironic that the Resulticks session was apparently the only one on the conference agenda that focused on blockchain for marketing.

Although both AI and blockchain are emergent marketing technologies, referring to them as shiny objects does both a disservice. The second part of the Resulticks’ session sets the record straight. “The Future is Now,” and through real-life demonstrations and examples, Resulticks effectively separated the hype from reality.

Acknowledging that the full potential for AI has hardly been tapped, Resulticks gave a live demonstration of how AI can enable real-time interaction using the voice assistant, Alexa, as the point of entry for a highly individualized, multichannel, multi-device sales transaction. Incidentally, Resulticks was the first marketing automation platform to demonstrate digital assistants as a marketing channel at last year’s Gartner DMC.

While blockchain for marketing has to date focused primarily on the adtech space, the Resulticks session included a real-life case study from the financial services industry that proved beyond a doubt that blockchain is primed to play a much more expansive role across the entire marketing ecosystem. A new white paper from Resulticks, “Marketing Data Blockchain: The Next Big Leap,” shows how that can happen.

One huge take-away from this year’s Gartner DMC: All shiny objects are not just hype. When it comes to AI and blockchain for marketing, there’s real substance underneath that shiny surface. And, Resulticks is bringing front and center.