The future of marketing will be driven by machines – we'll just need to nudge them in the right direction, says Volvo's chief futurologist Aric Dromi.

It's about shifting mindsets, Dromi says, away from computers as vehicles for serving up data needed to perform analysis, and towards embracing technology as a powerful tool to free up our time for "more human" pursuits of empathy and creativity.

"I think one of the greatest lacks in the industry right now is imagination," he says.

"We have all these great tools that enable us to collect information, but don't have the right people to actually convert that information into creative, crazy ideas that can create engagement with users, customers and consumers."

There's a new social contract emerging between users and digital engagement, Dromi says, where privacy is a commodity we happily exchange for value.

"We need to stop thinking about privacy when we're looking at these things, and more about the value exchange that we get because we are willing to expose ourselves if we get the right value.

"It's as simple as that."

Join hosts Mark Jones and JV Douglas as they discuss the coming decades of marketing automation, the true value of Snapchat, and how blockchain is actually a philosophical model for digital engagement on this forward thinking episode of The CMO Show.