By Jane Ostler, EVP Global Thought Leadership at Kantar
The announcement of Stargate, a $500 billion AI investment project in the US, should not overshadow the UK’s £14 billion AI investment plan, nor should it steal Starmer’s thunder. The UK’s plan is a serious initiative and significant injection of cash into the UK’s public sector – it has the potential to inspire and transform private sectors too.
Not only is marketing and advertising becoming increasingly driven by data and tech, but the ripple effects could be game-changing. With projections estimating the global marketing industry is heading towards $1 trillion in revenue by 2025, GenAI is becoming a valuable instrument for brands looking for new and creative ways to work smarter and connect with audiences.
For example, analysing consumer behaviour data helps brands to spot trends and preferences in more depth, leading to sharper, more targeted campaigns that audiences can immediately resonate with. Furthermore, GenAI can also create personalised content, from visuals to copy, tailored to specific audience needs.
Tapping into GenAI’s potential
There’s been so much noise around GenAI over the past two years, but its uptake in marketing has been relatively slow. Over half of marketers still aren’t using it yet, despite its clear potential to deliver campaigns that more people engage with and to help marketers make smart use of budget.
CMOs are under increasing pressure to prove their return on investment and GenAI could boost effectiveness by 5-15%; that’s worth over $460 billion to the sector. So, what’s the hold-up?
For a start, there’s a lack of role-specific training, worries about implementation costs and a gap in organisational readiness. GenAI is hailed as a game-changer, yet many marketers admit they’re not ready for full-scale implementation.
This isn’t an off-the-shelf technology – significant planning and thoughtful consideration is paramount. And people work in different ways, so they’ll learn to use this in different ways too. It needs cross-company teamwork and proactive knowledge-sharing, and upskilling teams to use GenAI confidently and responsibly. It’s about putting employees front and centre, giving them the time to learn and the freedom to experiment to find the best use of the technology for them. That’s how we unlock GenAI’s true power.
Transforming creativity and content creation
GenAI offers brands a chance to optimise content creation at scale, shaping long-term strategies by analysing consumer behaviour and market trends. Over time, and used correctly, it’ll help brands become more meaningful, distinctive and reinforce their position in the minds of consumers.
There are three main ways GenAI is already helping brands in this space:
- Market research and consumer insights
GenAI lets brands crack open huge datasets on consumer behaviour, market trends and competitor activity in a way that simply wasn’t possible before. The savviest organisations know how to use GenAI prompts and tools to uncover hidden patterns and inform data-driven decisions, keeping them ahead of the curve. Think Coca-Cola’s Y3000 flavour, co-created using GenAI, that blended consumer insights with predictive analytics.
- Advanced ad testing and creating campaigns
Traditional ad testing and effectiveness measurement methods are being shaken up by GenAI, which offers unmatched capabilities. And things are changing fast – we’ll soon see GenAI used in end-to-end creative development and effectiveness.
Already, whether you’re testing digital or social content – or a combination – advanced AI-powered tools let marketers optimise creative development at an unprecedented scale. They identify what works – is the music hooking people in? And they can reveal what doesn’t – are people switching off your ad before they even know what it’s for?
Brands can predict effectiveness and consumer responses across different audiences, refining their messaging in real-time. Attention, persuasion, emotion – GenAI can analyse and predict it all, modelled on data from real people. This precision and scale empowers marketers to test more, faster, and have more confidence in the results, boosting campaign performance and engagement.
- Hyper-personalised consumer engagement is here
Virtual assistants have been offering consumers a glimpse into the futuristic vision of AI-powered interactions for years now. Many forget that Alexa has been in our bedrooms for years and Siri has lived in our pockets since 2010. For marketers, the good news is that virtual assistants don’t require holograms or emotional entanglements to deliver immense value. This type of tailored AI-driven interaction can elevate user experiences, creating deeper connections with both consumers and brands.
The future is now – get going
We’ve been given a golden opportunity to rethink how we work. Implemented correctly, GenAI will help brands work smarter, have the evidence to bring more meaning to their work and create a more authentic, dynamic connection with their audience.
But it doesn’t happen overnight. Focus on building the skills and processes to integrate AI effectively. Start small, tackle roadblocks thoughtfully as they come, and prioritise people and ethical practices so that you can thrive in this new era. Success in the future hinges on empowering people to use AI to make better decisions and build deeper relationships with consumers.
