With the explosion of data and AI as potentially the most transformative technology since the Internet, leaders in a variety of fields have been tasked with leveraging it for everything from improving productivity and identifying new business opportunities to automating reporting and customer service.
Marketing has been an early adapter of Analytics in Campaigns/Communications, Competitive Intelligence & Research as well as in Customer Data Management and Media Planning. With the emergence of Natural Language and Image Processing, and Generative AI broadly, marketing applications of AI have both accelerated and become more prolific. Indeed, a recent Gartner survey found that 63% of marketing leaders are planning to invest in Generative AI in the next two years, while a McKinsey report found that, of companies already using these tools, marketing, and sales teams were the most likely to be doing so regularly.
With that in mind, Carpe Diem spoke to 69 marketing leaders (essentially CMOs) about their function’s usage of “true AI” through July 2023–the vast majority of whom work in multinational CPG-related businesses with revenues of $5B or greater.
The key themes and takeaways from those conversations are summarized below:
Using AI to Enhance Consumer Understanding
A major focus area for AI adoption is gaining a deeper understanding of the consumer. As one executive shared,
Others are using AI to analyze ratings, reviews, and digital interactions to uncover consumer pain points and product opportunities. As one marketer put it, AI helps “answer the question ‘what will drive enterprise growth’ for us.” A key set of use cases here come from using generative AI to collate & curate internal and external knowledge bases from disparate sources very quickly.
Automating and Improving Core Marketing Processes
AI is making marketing processes like forecasting, media planning, and creative production more efficient. As an example, one executive went from taking weeks to forecast sales volumes manually to having AI systems provide weekly forecasts by SKU. Others shared how AI is being used to optimize media planning, improve website content, and even write initial drafts of copy that are then reviewed by humans. The key benefit is freeing up marketing teams from repetitive, manual tasks. Here, the common theme is the combination of traditional forecasting and inventory planning techniques with natural language and text processing.
Monitoring Outputs to Ensure Quality
Leaders emphasized the importance of governance, oversight, and human review of AI outputs, especially for consumer-facing assets. As one executive said, “content generated by AI would be reviewed by humans first for quality and then have compliance review it before anything is published.” This concern for balancing productivity with quality and brand safety is top of mind.
Getting Comfortable with Experimentation
While progress is being made, AI adoption across the marketing function overall seems to be in an experimental phase. One leader said they are “outlining governance with employees and assessing security risks and compliance” as they start piloting projects. Others discussed using agile sprints, isolating use cases, and iterating based on results–a compartmentalized approach to exploring the tools’ abilities while AI models continue to improve.
Key Takeaways
Carpe Diem’s research among marketing leaders indicates that AI is making inroads across the branded marketing landscape, from consumer insights to customer activation, personalization, media planning, content creation, and product development. Leaders are pragmatically leveraging AI to enhance processes while maintaining compliance, customer privacy, and quality control through human review. As one executive aptly concluded, AI is “an unlocked tool for productivity” that marketers are thoughtfully incorporating into their technology stacks and processes, in order to accelerate speed-to-market and profitable growth. With the rapid evolution and proliferation of marketing AI capabilities, this function will transform product relevance and customer experience.
