AI will transform marketing rather than replace it: Marketers on their evolving roles

If you have been paying attention to social media, you have probably already come across the backlash Coca-Cola has been receiving for its 2024 holiday ad campaign, The holiday ad titled, ‘The Holiday Magic is coming’, sought to remake its 1995 'Holidays are Coming' ad. It aimed to evoke a sense of warmth, joy, and togetherness associated with the holiday season and was made with Real Magic AI, its artificial intelligence platform, powered by OpenAI. 

Rather than being praised for its creativity, the ad was criticised for feeling ‘soulless’ and ‘unnatural’. YouTube comments are filled with comments claiming that the ad lacks ‘emotional depth,’ while users note that it feels like a ‘slick commercial, not a heartfelt holiday message.’

Interestingly, this wasn’t Coca-Cola’s first attempt at integrating AI into its marketing. In the past, the brand used AI to generate elements for its ‘Masterpiece’ ad campaign, which was praised for its innovative use of technology while still maintaining emotional resonance. This ad blended AI-generated visuals and music with human narratives and creativity.

In contrast, the 2024 holiday ad relied more heavily on AI for its creative process, and that might be the cause for the disconnect. The ad, while polished, feels emotionally distant, a sentiment that AI still struggles to capture. The key difference lies in how AI was used. 

Talking about the use of AI in marketing and advertising, Nitin Saini, Vice President of Marketing at Mondelez India notes, “When guided by strong human insights, the technology becomes the perfect enhancer rather than the centrepiece. The essence lies in using technology to amplify ideas, not letting it overshadow the meaningful human truths that inspire them.”

The rise of the AI marketer: Challenges of taking over human tasks

AI’s adoption in marketing is growing, driven by its ability to automate tasks, optimise campaigns, and cut costs. The rise of AI tools–ranging from AI-generated content to predictive analytics–has enabled brands to bypass traditional methods, such as cutting the workforce responsible for such roles, and achieving faster turnaround times. AI tools are particularly attractive to businesses looking to reduce operational costs. According to a report by McKinsey, the use of GenAI in marketing and sales could add up to $3.3 trillion in global productivity annually. This includes efficiencies in tasks like content generation, audience targeting, and customer segmentation. 

For example, brands like Mondelez have embraced AI-driven tools for both creative generation and analytics. The company’s well-loved campaigns like Cadbury Celebrations’ ‘Not Just a Cadbury Ad’, ‘My Birthday Song’, and The Silk ‘The Story of Us’ thoughtfully integrated AI. Similarly, companies like Amazon and more are heavily investing in AI. 

Similarly, PepsiCo uses AI to analyse consumer sentiment and data and segment audiences, while Nike utilises AI for personalised ad targeting across digital platforms. These tools allow marketers to refine their strategies in real-time, improving campaign performance with minimal human intervention.

However, AI’s growing presence in marketing has raised questions about its impact on creativity. AI is good at optimising campaigns, but there are certain tasks better left for human marketers. AI tools like ChatGPT can write marketing copy but still lack the ability to tap into the emotions of the audience the way a copywriter would.

Emphasising the same, Pragya Bijalwan, CMO, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, says, “While AI tools can bring efficiency, scale and valuable insights, they cannot displace the human touch required for strategic decision-making, creativity, and storytelling.”

At Crompton, Bijalwan shares that the team is exploring GenAI to enhance consumer engagement and communication by leveraging automation, personalisation, and creativity, including social media creative content and Online Reputation Management (ORM). 

“As a result, we now boast one of the top engagement scores on social platforms. Additionally, we are considering how to refine our media deployment strategy through automation and personalisation.” 

She continues that AI can automate many operational tasks, but the emotional connection and nuanced brand storytelling require a human marketer. However, the AI marketer today doesn’t only refer to the human behind the job role. The term can also refer to automated models that claim to require limited human intervention.

Klarna, a global payments company, shared that it saves $10 million every year by using generative AI. This technology helps them create images and reduces their need for outside marketing agencies. Moreover, Infloso, an Indian martech company introduced ‘Molly’ in September 2024, which is capable of handling end-to-end marketing campaigns independently. 

AI models like Molly are designed to automate entire aspects of a marketing campaign–from content creation to optimisation. Molly aims to reduce the need for human intervention in tasks such as social media management, email marketing, and ad targeting. However, this raises the issue of whether automation might eventually make the human role redundant.

In theory, such AI tools can handle repetitive tasks such as managing content calendars, conducting A/B tests, and personalising ad campaigns. Reports suggest that AI-driven marketing tools reduce marketers' workloads by reducing turnaround times. Brands are increasingly turning to AI for tasks that once required specialised skills or a dedicated team. The layoffs this year by companies are clear indicators of the same. 

But as AI takes over more tasks, human marketers might feel pressure to shift their roles. Gaurav Ramdev, Chief Growth & Marketing Officer at Protean eGov Technologies, has a nuanced take on this. He comments that reliance on AI tools without human overview could result in output lacking emotional depth, bias or lack of originality as we have seen recently. 

He continues, “Humans have a gradual learning curve while AI has a rapid learning curve. It will require marketers to keep up with updates and its capabilities and adapt to AI speeds potentially leading to underutilisation.”

Additionally, he notes that integrating AI marketers with the existing martech stack makes it a whole new equation of challenge. Tools like Molly also bring in concerns for breaching data privacy. 

Ramdev states, “In a regulated business like ours, the risk of compliance is always looming. As the gold standard in compliance in our ecosystem, it comes before anything else.”

This brings us to the crux of the matter. AI may be able to handle the logistics of marketing, but it’s the human marketer who imbibes the campaigns with meaning. A great ad isn’t just about data or clicks (which can be perfected with the help of AI), it’s about connecting with people on a personal level.

Evolving role of the CMO in the age of AI

As AI tools continue to take on more tasks, the role of the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is shifting. In the past, CMOs were responsible for overseeing every aspect of a campaign—from ideation to execution. Today, the CMO’s role is increasingly about guiding AI tools to ensure that campaigns align with the brand’s overall emotional goals.

Nitin Saini of Mondelez India sees the future of marketing as a blend of human creativity and AI optimisation. “AI excels at managing data-intensive tasks such as MIS, data analytics, and other analytical processes, while also enabling cost-effective automation of bottom-funnel creative work.”

However, Saini states that a human co-pilot remains indispensable for interpreting AI-driven insights and steering strategic business and creative decisions.

Nalin Jain, CMO, Godrej Capital shares that marketing in 2024 stands at the confluence of creativity and technology. “AI tools are driving the dynamic evolution of a marketer’s role, improving productivity and empowering teams. AI is enabling marketers to focus on what matters — establishing impactful narratives, crafting creative ideas, and building genuine connections.”

By streamlining operational and analytical tasks, Jain mentions that AI complements human ingenuity by taking over repetitive and time-intensive tasks. 

With this, Jain believes that adopting AI in campaigns should be seen as an opportunity, not a challenge. By harnessing AI’s ability as a partner and not a competitor, he says, “It improves output, enables data-driven decisions, and allows marketers to explore new possibilities more efficiently.”

New skills marketers need

As AI becomes an increasingly integral part of marketing, marketers must adapt by acquiring new skills. According to a report, consumers are increasingly using AI tools to buy products and 63% of brands say that AI is already impacting their marketing strategies. But the biggest challenge lies in understanding how to effectively incorporate AI into the creative process. Marketers must not only learn how to use AI tools but also develop a deeper understanding of the technology’s limitations.

Ramdev suggests a few important skills that the marketer of today needs.

• AI literacy: The ability to read, write, tweak prompts and converse with it to harness its peak potential.

• ⁠Data analysis: Striking a balance by focusing more on the left brain from the present right heavy brain wiring. 

• ⁠More diverse stakeholder management: The traditional stakeholders of creative, media and design agencies, will expand further to include technologists of all kinds - AI engineers, specialists, data scientists, and tool makers.

• ⁠Increased customer and consumer mindset: Even closer to consumers to solve more business problems creatively because execution limitations of time, money, effort, and bandwidth will collapse. 

Coca-Cola’s holiday ad serves as a cautionary tale–AI has the potential to optimise and scale marketing efforts, but it cannot replace the creativity, emotional intelligence, and storytelling that human marketers bring to the table. AI tools, like Molly and others, may help reduce costs and automate repetitive tasks, but they cannot replace the human touch that makes a marketing campaign successful.

As AI continues to evolve, the role of the CMO will shift towards strategic oversight, using AI as a tool to enhance creativity, not as a substitute for it. The future of marketing lies in finding the right balance and leveraging AI’s efficiency and precision while maintaining the human insight and emotional resonance that make campaigns truly connect with audiences.

A Dentsu report notes that 39% of CMOs will prioritise truly understanding the use cases, opportunities, and risks of AI in 2025.