The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) warns that the extensive adoption of AI in marketing is slowly but surely surpassing professional skills.
The deployment of AI in European marketing has surged over the past year, with a poll of European Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) revealing that 47% of marketers across the continent are actively using AI. Only 12% have yet to deploy AI or machine learning, while 40% are in the planning stages of implementation.
Another report reveals that AI is opening up new growth avenues for digital advertisers. As brands and agencies increasingly adopt AI tools, a survey of over 100 European media professionals by StackAdapt and ExchangeWire records that 87% report positive impacts on campaign efficacy and ROI.
The report highlights the power of AI’s targeting capabilities in reducing advertising waste and explores the barriers and opportunities for widespread adoption in Europe. With 95% of professionals expected to embrace AI programmatic advertising platforms this year, prioritising this revolutionary shift has become imperative for brands and agencies.
Staggering adoption rate
Chris Daly, chief executive of CIM and vice chair of the European Marketing Confederation (EMC) Board, noted the “impressive adoption rate” of AI in the research.
“AI has made phenomenal progress in the last 12 months, as have professional marketers across Europe who understand the profound impact this technology will have on their future success,” he said. “What is clear, however, is that the pace of progress is outstripping professional skills, exposing businesses to a greater degree of risk.”
Marketers are leading the pack in adopting AI, although only 4% of marketers are confident in their ability to implement AI professionally, according to the latest European Marketing Agenda report released on February 14, 2024. Even so, approximately 75.7% of digital marketers now use AI tools for work, with 49.5% using them multiple times per week or more.
Despite this, there are still hurdles to widespread adoption. Lack of knowledge and time are cited as the two biggest reasons against using AI tools, with 67.7% of marketers pointing to these factors.
While marketers’ proficiency in AI may lag behind its adoption rate, the technology is expected to maintain a prominent role in the future, with 44% of respondents selecting it as a top-three agenda item, surpassing digital marketing (40%) and customer experience management (38%).
CIM has responded to the rapid adoption of AI by developing a suite of courses at all experience levels. These courses help marketing professionals feel empowered as well as content producers, copywriters, and business owners by giving them the skills needed to leverage AI.
The courses cover topics ranging from ethical and effective use of AI for copywriting to AI customer journey optimisation to attract, engage, convert and retain customers.
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