This post was created in partnership with Kantar
AI is transforming marketing, pushing brands to rethink not just strategy but also how they engage consumers and balance automation with authenticity. As AI evolves from a behind-the-scenes tool to a driver of real-time decisions, marketers face a critical challenge: How do they harness its potential without sacrificing creativity and control?
This challenge was the focus of an ADWEEK House Austin Group Chat, co-hosted with Kantar. Industry leaders explored AI’s growing role in branding, its influence on consumer behavior, and the shifting responsibilities of modern marketers—uncovering key strategies for navigating this new landscape.
A reality check for AI readiness
To kick off the discussion, the panel examined where marketers stand in their AI adoption journey. While many are eager to integrate AI, Kantar’s research suggests marketers still feel unprepared. “We surveyed marketers globally and asked them to rate their AI readiness on a 10-point scale,” Kantar’s chief knowledge officer J. Walker Smith shared. “The average answer was 4.9. When we asked them to rate their agencies, it was 5.3. Not a huge difference, which means the whole industry is trying to catch up.”
But this lag isn’t only a technology problem. “Marketers have used AI for years without realizing it,” said Alison Strandsky, CMO of Samsung Electronics America. “Now that marketers understand its potential, they feel less confident. But AI has already optimized media buying, personalizing content, and improving consumer experiences. The challenge is getting comfortable using it in new ways.”
For brands to bridge this gap, leaders must build AI literacy within their teams. “Understanding AI doesn’t mean just mastering the technology,” Smith added. “It means knowing how to ask the right questions, integrate insights effectively, and ensure AI-driven decisions align with brand values.”
Heather Hildebrand, industry U.S. Lead for Accenture Song echoed the sentiment of not only leadership being onboard, but teams as well, and what efficiencies can come out of that. “Our marketing communications team started with its content supply chain. They went from multiple emails a day to being able to consolidate that to one, reducing their content by 50% giving 20% of the budget back to their budget owner,” Hildebrand shared. “Each team can make their own changes, as well as the enterprise making an enterprise-wide change.”
