#ai-in-marketing

#ai-in-marketing

There is an enormous disconnect between marketers' perceptions of AI's impact on customer experience and how consumers actually experience it. According to Invoca's " B2C AI Marketing Impact" report, 86% of marketers believe AI is enhancing the customer journey, only 35% of consumers agree. This gap in perception represents more than just a difference of opinion-it risks eroding trust and diminishing the very experience AI is meant to improve.

Our industry is rushing headlong toward an AI-powered future. The promise is captivating: intelligent systems that can predict market shifts, personalize customer experiences and drive unprecedented growth. Yet in that race, many organizations are short-changing or even skipping a critical first step. They are building sophisticated engines but trying to run them on unrefined fuel. The result is a quiet crisis of confidence, where powerful technology underwhelms because the marketers don't trust the data it relies on.

Throughout the past few years, I've observed that many people in the marketing world have moved past their initial worries about AI. A common theme I'm hearing these days? It isn't that AI will take over, but rather that we're moving toward incorporation. I see AI as a fast, intuitive tool. But as marketers, how should we use it?

We're combining the incredible data ingestion and A.I. capabilities of Palantir with our engineering team out of the Coating Theory network and centrally that really has the marketing knowhow. And together we're aiming to create what I call the Holy Grail of marketing. That's where you sit. You sit back when you're in a big company and you say, Give me all those people who might need back to school.

Every week, I read at least three to five new articles confidently announcing that marketing as a profession is on the verge of extinction, soon to be replaced by artificial intelligence. I could read hundreds more if I wanted to. The argument is almost always the same: AI writes better copy, analyzes data faster, automates campaigns and even predicts customer intent. So, what's left for the humans?

As automation and artificial intelligence processes accelerate, many brands are convincing themselves that A.I. can replace the strategic and creative work of social media professionals. It's a decision often driven by budget cuts and misconceptions on what social media managers actually do, the skills they have and what truly makes social media marketing effective. A recent survey revealed that 39 percent of CMOs and brand marketing executives plan to reduce labor costs as they adopt A.I. and other automation tools.

The study of more than 800 marketers across eight countries reveals that investment in affiliate marketing is increasing, with 74% of brands saying they have increased affiliate investment in the past year due to other marketing channels becoming more expensive. 30% of brands allocate between 10 and 20% of their marketing budget to affiliate marketing, while 38% allocate between 21 and 30%.

Marketing agencies are in a period of transformation, thanks in part to AI, and they're using the opportunity to think about purposeful reinvention, according to a survey of agency leaders. The report, " AI's Effect On The Marketing Industry" (registration required), from Sunup found AI is already responsible for changes in the hiring practices of many agencies. Agencies are fundamentally rethinking what they offer clients, how they structure their teams and what skills the marketer of 2030 will need to succeed, according to the report.

There were three big themes that stood out,

Marketers' confidence in measurement has plateaued at a time when it should be rising, according to new research from TransUnion and eMarketer. The research, "The True Cost of Trust in Marketing Measurement," found 62% of the marketers surveyed have some confidence in their performance metrics, but 54% reported no change in confidence year over year, while 14% said it has actually declined.

"AI won't change the fact that audiences reward consistency, transparency and real commitment," she says. "What it will change is the signal-to-noise ratio. Purpose-driven communication that is truly lived out by a company will stand out even more because people will crave rare authenticity amidst a flood of optimized narratives."

We have come a long way since then-from simple websites to dynamic social and digital marketing ad campaigns powered by artificial intelligence. Aside from being just a new kid on the block (at least, in the mainstream), AI has become a prominent piece of our digital marketing landscape. Now, you might want to know, as many of our clients do, how you can leverage AI for your digital marketing efforts.

"AI can definitely help brands work more efficiently, for example by scaling moderation and keeping content safe," she says. "It can also support content creation, though that is trickier to navigate. To truly stand out, brands need to listen to their communities and understand what matters to them. That personal connection comes from genuine human insight, something AI can support but never fully replace."

"I think the biggest change is the lack of rigidity, which I think is a good thing in that sort of classic funnel marketers always like to talk about. What we're seeing, or have seen over the last few years, is that channels can play any role. And that's brilliant from a planning point of view, because it gives us creativity. It gives us flexibility to kind of do more interesting things, rather than the sort of classic broadcast-to-narrowcast targeting that we used to do."

That's a loaded question

UK marketers are proving that AI success isn't about chasing hype, it's about embedding the right tools into existing workflows to deliver meaningful value. What we're seeing in this data is a shift from experimentation to purposeful adoption,

Storytelling has always been at the core of brand marketing. Now, with AI becoming more deeply embedded in creative workflows, marketers are finding new ways to scale emotional, multimodal narratives that connect with audiences across channels. According to a recent study conducted by DMEXCO and Kantar, emotional advertising increases brand demand by more than 60%. In a dynamic and crowded landscape, emotional narratives - especially those that can be personalized, scaled and optimized in real-time - can drive greater impact.

AMP acts as a centralised "marketing brain," blending human expertise with AI-powered insights to deliver faster decision-making, scaled campaign execution and measurable outcomes linked directly to business performance.

Deema has an impressive background, spanning Xbox, Microsoft, YouTube, Google, Flipboard, Unity, Scribd and Figma. She joins us to share her experiences and insights on the fast-paced changes in marketing and tech, primarily driven by AI advancements. Our discussion covers the resurgence of brand marketing, the evolution of advertising and how AI is transforming creative and performance marketing. Deema also reflects on her involvement with nonprofits and the potential of AI to revolutionize this sector.

AI is reshaping email marketing, starting right in the inbox. Clicks are becoming optional - sometimes unnecessary. That's convenient for subscribers but potentially disastrous for marketers. Zero-click marketing is emerging as the response: content that delivers value instantly, whether through snippets, previews or summaries, without requiring a click. Instead of spelling the end of email, these changes could make it more valuable - if you adapt in time.

Every industry has a story. But telling that story effectively is another story. This is especially true of niche industries, which typically cater to very specialized audiences. Growing that audience is a natural goal for every brand, but doing so while still maintaining that niche appeal can be a challenge. Fortunately, with a smarter approach to storytelling, niche brands can grow their following without losing the same brand identity that helped them appeal to their original audience.

The digital marketing landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. As third-party cookies disappear or deteriorate and consumer privacy takes center stage, marketers face a pivotal choice: adapt or become irrelevant. Success in this new era means moving beyond mere compliance to build strategies rooted in trust. The terrain is complex. Regulations such as GDPR and CCPA are a net positive for consumer rights, but can create issues for marketers.

Tools solve tasks. Systems drive transformation.

Agencies are using generative AI tools like Midjourney and ElevenLabs to mock up visuals and voiceovers in pitches and campaigns. They can turn around complex concepts in weeks instead of months, winning bigger campaigns in the process.

Most in-housing conversations center on AI for cost savings or data synthesis. That's just hygiene. True differentiation comes when AI agents are woven into the very DNA of a go-to-market engine.

AI is embedded in marketing strategies, supporting campaign performance, optimizing spend, and automating decision-making, with advanced teams integrating AI across data, media, and creative workflows.

Nearly 60% of Google searches now end without a single click to any website, indicating a fundamental shift in how buyers discover and evaluate solutions.

Social media never sleeps. While you were scheduling your next brand post, entire trends popped off, platforms rebranded and Gen Z decided the algorithm was a vibe or a villain depending on the day.

Micro-moments are brief, seconds-long situations in which people turn to their mobile devices to find an answer or solution, like when searching for a restaurant's menu or an in-the-moment tutorial.

Over 66% of marketers now use AI to optimize ad creatives, with 75% updating them at least every other week, indicating a shift towards rapid creative cycles.

Events generate valuable content, yet that content often remains underutilized without a repurposing strategy. Coordinating follow-up and ownership is critical for maximizing lifespan.