AI adoption soars as top marketers drive transformation

Over nine out of ten marketers are now using AI tools – up from 73% last year – but unlike previous tech transformations, AI integration is being led by executive leadership rather than tech-savvy younger professionals.

So says a new report by creator-focused AI start-up Lightricks, in association with the AMA, which quizzed more than 1,000 marketing professionals and found that three-fifths (61%) of top marketers use AI every week, compared to 42% of entry-level workers.

The study suggests that the greater experience and the wider strategic perspective of senior executives are the factors that are driving their enthusiasm for AI.

Throughout their careers, older executives have already witnessed the impact of new technologies, like cloud computing and big data, and they may have even been among the pioneers of those technologies back in the day. Their experience helps them to understand the positive impact that newer tech like AI will also have on the way people work.

Meanwhile, it seems C-suite executives are getting more from the technology, with 37% of incorporating AI into their design processes, 35% using it to enhance collaboration and 32% applying the tech to audience targeting.

This, the report insists, shows that CMOs use AI more strategically, to enhance various aspects of marketing operations.

In contrast, lower-level workers are mainly using AI to enhance their productivity, adopting it for more predictable tasks like content creation, writing emails, and editing.

Lightricks says the fact executives are going beyond these relatively simple tasks fosters more appreciation of AI’s potential. They can see how it not only boosts productivity, but also creativity and efficiency.

In fact, executive-level marketers display a higher confidence in AI’s creative potential, with 55% “very confident” of the tech compared to 33% of entry-level counterparts.

However, it seems that when it comes to ethical considerations, entry-level marketers are taking centre stage, with 43% expressing concerns about the quality of content and a similar proportion (39%) worrying about bias and copyright infringement.

Meanwhile, CMOs are primarily concerned about whether AI generated work will be acceptable to clients (46%) and worry that it might diminish human creativity (38%).

The report maintains that this divergence in priorities creates a powerful framework for responsible AI adoption with entry-level marketers’ ethical focus serving as a crucial counterbalance to CMOs’ priorities.

It concludes: “When experience meets innovation, and executive confidence combines with entry-level ethical awareness, the result will be a more robust and responsible approach to AI adoption in marketing.

“This inversed dynamic – where leadership and fresh perspective each bring distinct critical elements – suggest a future where successful marketing organisations will be built on collaborative innovation rather than top-down implementation.”