驾驭人工智能在营销中的崛起：从炒作到影响力

Marketing hasalways been waves 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 CAMPAIGNS Where previous evolutionstypically added new channels andtechnologies to the marketing playbook, the application of AI and Marketing spend grew steadilythrough the shift from mass mediato digital, for example – and AI-powered innovation may wellhave the same effect, but with a The global marketing industryhas expanded dramatically overthe last thirty years, with each So, how progressed is AI adoptionin marketing, what impact is ithaving, and what might we expect 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, and THE LAST FEW YEARS HAVE SEEN EARLY STEPSTOWARDS AI-AUGMENTED MARKETING. Tools capable of generating content at scale, optimizingmedia spend in real time, and personalizing DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONupendedthis model: the rise of search, social, andprogrammatic advertising enabled a new,performance-driven discipline. Brands were While each era has built on the last to improvemarketing effectiveness, this nascent AI-enabledera heralds the prospect of a deeper and more AI adoption today:real but uneven AI ADOPTION ACROSS BUSINESSES HAS REACHED CRITICAL MASSIN TERMS OF BREADTH, BUT THE NUMBER OF DEPLOYMENTS THAT 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 production Marketing leaders are excited about what AI offersin three areas: •Accelerating content generation•Improving testing, forecasting, and predictiveanalytics Chief Marketing Officers do retain a degree ofcaution, though creativity, brand judgement, andstrategic oversight are not easily replicable; “There were no big creative ideas from AI at Cannes Lions last week,the good ideas are still from people.” AI Adoption in Organizations USE OF GENAI BY BUSINESS FUNCTION (% of respondents) Emerging impactacrossthe value chain ALTHOUGH UNEVEN IN MATURITY, AI ISALREADY RESHAPING THE MARKETING CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF DIGITALASSETS GENERATED USING ADOBE CREATIVE PRODUCTIONis being transformed by generativeAI tools, which compress iteration cycles and multiply thenumber of assets available. At the same time, high-value “I feel super passionately thatthe extraordinary comes fromhumans, and there is no wayAI could replicate what our Creative AI tools are now mainstream– Firefly adoption has exploded,with users generating over 20 billion assets Beauty AI Studio UNILEVER’S BEAUTY AI STUDIO,FOR EXAMPLE, HAS TURNEDWHAT WAS ONCE A CAMPAIGNOF TWENTY ASSETS INTO •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 brands •Beauty AI Studio creates 400 creativeassets per product, where it used to be just •Reportedly, the studio is generatingcontent 65% faster and 55% cheaper– Advertisers are embedding bespokecreative tools;early pilots show uplift MEDIA BUYINGalso continues to evolve along the path ofthe past decade; ad platforms such as Meta and Google areintegrating AI into every stage of the workflow, from planningand placement to optimization. These systems enable closed-loop campaign creation, delivery, and management that can AD PLATFORM INNOVATION •Consolidates all Google inventory(Search, YouTube, Display, Maps,Gmail) into one automated campaign•Uses AI to optimize across creatives,placements, audiences, and bidding Advantage+ •Meta’s end-to-end campaignautomation system•Uses AI to optimize creative,placements, audiences, and biddingin real time•Runs in a near "set-it-and-forget-it"mode once goals and budgets aredefined In digital marketing, AI adoption has focused on improvingtargeting, personalization, and ROI– more thanautomation of full campaign execution / team replacement. “What we buy is judgement and guidance – we don’t want a tool;we want a partner.” Global President, CPG Company “Qualitative market research is an area where you genuinely needhuman intelligence to understand nuances.” CMO, Energy & Utilities RESEARCH, DATA, AND ANALYTICSare being accelerated by AI’s ability to synthesise and code large volumes ofdata, as well as by predictive tools that Here too, though, buyers continue toput a premium on a trusted humaninterpretation layer – partly forstorytelling, and partly given strong “Empathetic humantruth will becomemore important in Agree that “Modernstrategy will requiremore creativity, Agree that “Hearingfrom real customersis more relevant thanever in an AI-driven CONSUMER DATAis being refined,as AI improves