How are marketers using AI today?

When I provide AI training for marketers, the experiences can be very different. For some clients, it's the AI wild west, while others are under total AI lockdown. Others are in the middle, with fuzzy and undocumented guidelines, which may explain why more than half of marketers currently do not disclose their AI use.

A new Wharton study looked into a variety of AI topics, including guidelines. It demonstrates that 51% of organizations have few or no restrictions at work, while the remainder use AI with some restrictions. This month, Brookings, McKinsey, and BCG released a few more reports on AI in the workplace which help paint a clearer picture of what’s happening:

• AI Adoption: Weekly Gen AI usage has nearly doubled from 37% in 2023 to 72% in 2024, with marketing experiencing some of the most significant growth.

• Use Cases: The top uses for Gen AI include document and proposal writing/ editing, data analysis, and document/ meeting summarization.

• Role Impact: 30% of all workers could see at least 50% of their occupation’s tasks disrupted by generative AI – the most impacted group is ‘computer and mathematical’. 

• AI Leaders: The organizations that are benefiting most are focusing AI on ‘core business areas’, which generate 62% of their AI value.

• AI Maturity: Marketing executives believe AI is important, but adoption is lagging. 37% of marketing leaders believe that developing an AI strategy is important, but only 7% have implemented one.

• AI Impact: While all departments agree that Gen AI is "impactful," IT is the only one where the majority of people believe it is "highly impactful."

If you’re a marketer on one of the teams that allows AI and are considering which tools to pilot, check out this useful guide from Edelman that evaluates a variety of AI tools based on their relevance to common marketing and communications activities like writing, research, ideation, analysis, synthesis, and design.

AI & Use Cases

I am constantly looking for new ways to incorporate AI into my day-to-day workflow. My latest trick is to have ChatGPT critique any set of recommendations I’m working on. It helps to identify blind spots, and prepare for potential questions or feedback. I love hearing how others are finding creative ways to use AI in their own lives, like this post from an Anthropic exec (choosing frames for art!) Within marketing departments, content-related tasks continue to be the most frequent applications for AI. If you and your marketing team are analyzing different AI use cases, this useful framework can help you evaluate them based on their fluency, accuracy, and risk. I’m a sucker for a good 2X2 table!

Digital & Media Research

• Gaming Report 2024 (Dentsu): Reinforces what most marketers seem to know (time spent on gaming is massive) but still do very little about (media spending is not).

• Global Digital Snapshot (We Are Social / Meltwater): 480 slides on how digital media and technology is being adopted around the world. If you’re looking for an updated digital stat, it’s in here.

• Media Reactions 2024 (Kantar): Research shows that consumers continue to be more receptive to ads, with Amazon and TikTok leading in preference. A helpful refresh for anyone in media planning.

• Next Big Arenas of Competition (McKinsey): Big picture predictions on high-growth areas, including digital advertising (from $520B in 2022 to $2.9T in 2040). One driver is Gen AI reducing content costs, personalizing ads, and enabling more small businesses to advertise.

• The Awareness Advantage (Tracksuit): Fresh research that demonstrates the correlation between brand awareness and conversion rate. Another log for the fire in the ever-present brand vs. performance marketing debate that I’m so over.

Cool Beans

• AI + Sneakers: AI is coming for your sneakers! A new tool can smell your shoes to see if they are counterfeit, and Nike might be integrating AI into its app to help with product fit recommendations.

• Amazon X-Ray Recaps: A new Gen AI feature to summarize episodes and full seasons of TV shows on Amazon. It apparently can recap right up to the point you stopped watching, without any spoilers.

• 10-Minute Art Challenge: The New York Times is asking readers to spend 10 minutes staring at a single piece of art (this week it’s a piece from Edward Hooper). People find the experience “weird and daunting.’ I made it to 30 seconds.

• The Best Inventions of 2024: Very cool collection of 200 innovative products, services, and ideas including TrueLoo– an AI-powered toilet seat that optically scans your stool and urine for concerning changes – Christmas is around the corner, people!