人工智能在营销领域的崛起：从概念热潮到价值落地

October 2025 Marketing hasalways beendefined bywaves of change IT IS WORTH KEEPING THIS CONTEXT IN MIND,AS WE CONSIDER THE IMPACT, REALIZED ANDSTILL TO COME, OF AI IN MARKETING. EACHNEW WAVE HAS ALTERED THE WAY CONSUMERSENGAGE WITH BRANDS, HOW CAMPAIGNSARE DESIGNED AND MEASURED, AND WHICHPLAYERS ULTIMATELY CAPTURE VALUE. ARTIFICIALINTELLIGENCE POWERS THE LATEST AND MOSTSUBSTANTIAL WAVE. Marketing spend grew steadilythrough the shift from mass mediato digital, for example – and AI-powered innovation may wellhave the same effect, but with akey difference. Instead of merelyadding to the toolkit, AI has thepotential to redefine who controlsdiscovery, how decisions are made,and how campaigns are delivered. Where previous evolutionstypically added new channels andtechnologies to the marketing playbook, the application of AI andmachine learning in marketing hasthe potential to reshape the entireoperating model. The global marketing industryhas expanded dramatically overthe last thirty years, with eachsuccessive innovation growingthe pie as it opened up freshavenues for engagement. So, how progressed is AI adoptionin marketing, what impact is ithaving, and what might we expectgoing forward? Looking back:the story so far MODERN MARKETING CAN BE THOUGHT OF IN THREE BROAD ERAS. IN THE PRE-DIGITAL WORLD, television, print,and out-of-home dominated. Campaigns werebroad in scope, expensive to produce, andmeasured with limited precision. THE LAST FEW YEARS HAVE SEEN EARLY STEPSTOWARDS AI-AUGMENTED MARKETING. Toolscapable of generating content at scale, optimizingmedia spend in real time, and personalizingcustomer interactions are beginning to bedeployed across the industry. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONupended this model: the rise of search, social, andprogrammatic advertising enabled a new,performance-driven discipline. Brands werenewly able to target with far greater accuracy, andattribution shifted towards clicks, conversions, andother measurable actions. While each era has built on the last to improvemarketing effectiveness, this nascent AI-enabledera heralds the prospect of a deeper and morestructural realignment. AI adoption today:real but uneven AI ADOPTION ACROSS BUSINESSES HAS REACHED CRITICAL MASSIN TERMS OF BREADTH, BUT THE NUMBER OF DEPLOYMENTS THATARE SUCCESSFULLY DRIVING ROI ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. Most organizations report deploying AI inat least one function, and in marketing thelevel of experimentation is particularly striking.However, the reality is that only a small fractionof these efforts have scaled to full productionimpact. The technology is promising,but widespread transformation remainsa work in progress. Marketing leaders are excited about what AI offersin three areas: •Accelerating content generation•Improving testing, forecasting, and predictiveanalytics•Enabling personalisation at scale Chief Marketing Officers do retain a degree ofcaution, though creativity, brand judgement, andstrategic oversight are not easily replicable;AI is being embraced more as an accelerant thana substitute. “There were no big creative ideas from AI at Cannes Lions last week,the good ideas are still from people.” CMO, Tech Company AI Adoption in Organizations USE OF GENAI BY BUSINESS FUNCTION (% of respondents) Emerging impactacrossthe value chain ALTHOUGH UNEVEN IN MATURITY, AI ISALREADY RESHAPING THE MARKETINGVALUE CHAIN. CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF DIGITALASSETS GENERATED USING ADOBEFIREFLY, 2023-25 CREATIVE PRODUCTIONis being transformed by generativeAI tools, which compress iteration cycles and multiply thenumber of assets available. At the same time, high-valuecreative remains the preserve of human teams, reflectingthe need for storytelling, brand nuance, and stakeholderalignment. “I feel super passionately thatthe extraordinary comes fromhumans, and there is no wayAI could replicate what ouragency has done for us.” Creative AI tools are now mainstream– Firefly adoption has exploded,with users generating over 20 billion assetsin under 2 years. Creative Director, Tech Company Beauty AI Studio UNILEVER’S BEAUTY AI STUDIO,FOR EXAMPLE, HAS TURNEDWHAT WAS ONCE A CAMPAIGNOF TWENTY ASSETS INTOA PROCESS GENERATINGHUNDREDS OF TAILOREDVARIATIONS AT A FRACTIONOF THE TIME AND COST. •Unilever has built agenerative AI assemblylinefor its digital creative •The studio is used to make assets for paidsocial, programmatic display inventory,and e-commerce usage across brandsincluding Dove, TRESemmé, and Vaseline •Beauty AI Studio creates 400 creativeassets per product, where it used to be just20 assets per campaign •Reportedly, the studio is generatingcontent 65% faster and 55% cheaper–as well as generating an uplift in brandintent and purchase intent Advertisers are embedding bespokecreative tools;early pilots show upliftin cost, speed, and effectiveness. CASE STUDY MEDIA BUYINGalso continues to evolve along the path ofthe past decade; ad platforms such as Meta and Google areintegrating AI into every sta