Should AI automate marketing, or should human judgment remain central?
AI as default infrastructure
AI is becoming built into advertising and marketing work, with optimization increasingly handled by automated systems.
My 2026 prediction: “Creative” and “targeting” collapse into a single optimization layer.
Jakob NielsenUsability researcher; author of UX Tigers; co-founder of Nielsen Norman GroupUX Tigers, 2026年1月13日問題を報告
Very quickly the implicit and unavoidable use of AI in every facet of marketing will render the acronym redundant. Rather than “AI Advertising” it will just be advertising – indelibly built using AI.
In a world that everything is being commoditized, AI is commoditized in everything. And so actually, it's never been a better time to go back to the classics and learn real marketing.
Should growth prioritize broad reach or the right customer relationships?
Focused customer relationships
Growth depends on finding the right audience, following customer needs and creating work for a specific customer.
it's easy to grow an audience. It's hard to grow the right audience that you can sell them things. And there are very different skill sets. And I think the most valuable skill set is building the right audience.
Growth calls for prolific publishing, broad distribution and content that can keep reaching people over time.
So when people are looking for some posts, they're looking. Your post could show up a year from now if you're doing the like answering a question that people are searching for.
Your posts have a very long tail. Yeah, the first 48 hours may be what matters to you, but you can go and make another comment yourself about some other guide, some other thing you just released.
So what's the point? You know, like it's, it's why, why be so insistent on tracking your post, tracking those clicks when you're going to kill your reach anyway?
Last-click attribution is too narrow; marketers should keep testing and accept risk when results are not immediately measurable.
So the hill that I will die on is you can't just overly track attribution immediately. Last click all that. You got to just take the risk, keep going, keep iterating and believe that it will come together.
So what's the point? You know, like it's, it's why, why be so insistent on tracking your post, tracking those clicks when you're going to kill your reach anyway?
US ad industry executives (companies with $1M+ annual media spend)Do Gen Z and Millennial consumers feel positive about AI-generated ads? (Consumers answered for themselves; executives estimated how consumers feel.)
Think young consumers feel very or somewhat positive82%
US Gen Z (16-27) and Millennial (28-43) consumers who engage with adsDo Gen Z and Millennial consumers feel positive about AI-generated ads? (Consumers answered for themselves; executives estimated how consumers feel.)
Very or somewhat positive45%
US Gen Z (16-27) and Millennial (28-43) consumers who engage with adsFeel very or somewhat negative about AI-generated ads
Gen Z39%
Millennials20%
US ad industry executives (companies with $1M+ annual media spend)Their company has deployed AI in the creative process
Have deployed AI in creative83%
Consumers worldwide (countries not stated)Would be less likely to trust an ad they suspected was made using AI
Less likely to trust the ad73%
B2B and B2C marketers worldwideMarketing team uses AI in at least a few marketing areas
Use AI86.4%
B2B and B2C marketers worldwideSee AI working in conjunction with marketers, assisting them with most of their job duties
AI works alongside marketers73.4%
Marketing leaders at for-profit US companiesCompany uses AI for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to get content to appear in AI-generated search results
Use AI for GEO41.5%
Marketing leaders at for-profit US companiesCompared with last quarter, are you more or less optimistic about the US economy?
Less optimistic50.7%
More optimistic22.2%
Marketing employees who use AI at work, at enterprise companiesBelieve their company would replace them with an AI agent tomorrow if it could
Would be replaced by an agent if the company could43%
US Google searches in mobile and desktop browsers (measured behaviour, not a survey)Share of Google searches that ended without a click
Marketing is moving toward AI becoming routine infrastructure, while differentiation is framed around human judgment, original ideas and customer understanding.
Very quickly the implicit and unavoidable use of AI in every facet of marketing will render the acronym redundant. Rather than “AI Advertising” it will just be advertising – indelibly built using AI.
In a world that everything is being commoditized, AI is commoditized in everything. And so actually, it's never been a better time to go back to the classics and learn real marketing.
But you do not. You, you want to face the cold wind of reality as soon as possible. And so don't delay the customer conversations where you can actually find pull.
More AI in marketing means marketers are handing over the work.
情報源が示すこと
The cited positions distinguish AI as routine assistance from fully automated content; one marketer explicitly rejects automating content end to end.
Very quickly the implicit and unavoidable use of AI in every facet of marketing will render the acronym redundant. Rather than “AI Advertising” it will just be advertising – indelibly built using AI.
Mark RitsonFounder, MiniMBA in Marketing; columnist, The DrumThe Drum, 2026年2月9日問題を報告B2B and B2C marketers worldwideSee AI working in conjunction with marketers, assisting them with most of their job duties
AI works alongside marketers73.4%
よく言われること
Audience growth and customer growth are the same goal.
情報源が示すこと
One position separates building a large audience from building the audience that can become customers.
it's easy to grow an audience. It's hard to grow the right audience that you can sell them things. And there are very different skill sets. And I think the most valuable skill set is building the right audience.
Use employee-generated content and rotate in new pieces when existing content has run its course.
So your goal is to keep creating different content that becomes more A's. But while you're using the A's, being smart enough to notice when they've kind of exhausted and you need a new piece of content to sub in.
Ask why strong content works, then develop a distinctive point of view from those observations.
One way really to develop taste, I think is to just ask yourself some critical thinking questions as you consume content yourself. Like when you're consuming the content from people, brands, whatever that you like, ask yourself why you like it.
Start with customer conversations and sell an early product as a service when that makes the offer easier to test.
But you do not. You, you want to face the cold wind of reality as soon as possible. And so don't delay the customer conversations where you can actually find pull.