Scaling AI, Empowering Brands
Mastering the AI-Driven Transformation Without Losing the Human Touch
Times have certainly been easier for marketing managers: tight budgets, an ever-increasing complexity of media, channels, and touchpoints, and the pressure to prove the brand-building or sales-boosting impact of advertising measures with ever-greater accuracy. The new possibilities offered by artificial intelligence add yet another challenge: the transformation of one's own marketing organization and its processes.
"Artificial intelligence is no longer a theory; it has long been a reality. The big challenge for CMOs is how to scale AI without losing sight of the brand core and the people," said Karin Immenroth, Global Chief Data Officer of the Mediaplus Group, at the Innovation Day. In her view, there are five key factors that determine whether CMOs can successfully shape the transformation of marketing within their company: creativity, data, media, technology, and the people tasked with driving that transformation.
The use of AI almost inevitably brings about changes in organizations, structures, and processes. Silos and isolated solutions no longer have a future in organizations that need a complete picture to operate at a higher speed. Data is increasingly becoming the backbone of marketing, but it must be of high quality for machines to analyze it correctly. This is because high-quality data is the central foundation for faster decisions, shorter go-to-market cycles, better targeting, and more efficient media spending.
"For me, the transformation of marketing rests on four central pillars: a scalable data platform, clear rules for the collaboration between people and machines, newly assembled AI super teams, a suitable framework and ethical standards, as well as the right KPIs to measure development and growth," says Karin Immenroth. It is crucial that AI assumes the role of a co-pilot in daily work, while humans remain in the driver's seat.
Mediaplus has also restructured its internal organization, creating so-called "AI Superteams." Traditional roles like Creative Director, Media Planner, and Campaign Optimizer are now joined by Data Experts and AI Strategists.
It is vital for the team—both internal teams and joint teams of clients and their agencies—that the rules and conditions for using AI are transparent to everyone. Equally crucial is a shared understanding of the results to enable continuous optimization. And because true AI experts are currently scarce, agencies, in particular, are called upon to train and continuously educate their employees. After all, the technology itself is evolving at an exponential pace.
For media and marketing planning and implementation, Mediaplus has developed two key solutions to support CMOs and brands: an AI-powered Global Data Platform, which stores market research and target audience data, CRM data, competitor analyses, and media usage and campaign data. Through a "data mesh" solution, additional data from various markets and advertisers can be directly connected. This Global Data Platform then serves as the foundation for the advanced Growth Planning System, which uses this data to calculate the most effective media and marketing mixes for individual clients and campaigns.
Enzo Ricciulli, Global Lead AI & Innovation at the Mediaplus Group, explained: "The old equation, 'more work equals more output,' has been rendered obsolete by AI. Instead, with the help of AI, a process, a structure, or a platform is built in smaller steps, which then enables exponential growth." According to Ricciulli, 70-80 percent of Mediaplus clients are already using at least one AI application from the media agency. And this number is expected to and will continue to grow. Enzo Ricciulli is convinced: "The future CMO is AI-powered. AI is not the end of creativity, it’s a multiplier."
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