Integrating Generative AI into Marketing Strategies: A Balanced Approach

Mar 30, 2025

Welcome to this week’s edition of Agentic Marketing—your weekly dose of insights, trends, and real-world applications in AI-powered marketing and beyond automation.

Last week, we saw how Unilever used NVIDIA's digital twin technology (via Omniverse) to transform AI-driven ad creation, speeding up production, cutting costs, and ensuring brand consistency. Now,

H&M tests AI digital twins for fashion marketing

H&M collaborates with real models to create AI-generated digital twins, granting them ownership and usage rights. This approach aims to balance AI efficiency with job protection, though impacts on photographers, stylists, and pay structures remain uncertain. [Business of Fashion]

In the Spotlight

Generative AI (gen AI) is transforming marketing by enabling faster content creation, personalized customer interactions, and data-driven insights. However, businesses face challenges in integrating this technology effectively.

Key Challenges for Marketers

Quality and Accuracy Risks – Gen AI can produce errors or irrelevant content if not properly guided.
Regulatory and Legal Concerns – Using public AI models may lead to compliance issues, as seen in Air Canada’s case where a chatbot’s mistake became legally binding.
Balancing Speed and Control – Fully automated AI may lack nuance, while human oversight slows down processes.

A Strategic Framework for Gen AI Adoption

The HBR article proposes a four-quadrant framework to help marketers decide how to deploy gen AI based on risk and customization needs:

Quadrant 1 (No Custom Input, No Output Review)

Best for low-risk tasks like summarizing product reviews.
Uses standard AI models without extra training.

Quadrant 2 (Custom Input, No Output Review)

Used for specialized tasks (e.g., finance or legal content).
Requires training AI on proprietary data (e.g., BloombergGPT for finance).

Quadrant 3 (No Custom Input, Output Review Needed)

Useful for customer service where accuracy matters.
AI generates responses, but humans verify them.

Quadrant 4 (Custom Input + Output Review)

Highest control and accuracy (e.g., sensitive marketing campaigns).
Combines trained AI with human checks.

Not all marketing tasks require the same AI approach. By categorizing use cases into these four quadrants, businesses can minimize risks while maximizing efficiency. The best strategy depends on balancing cost, speed, and accuracy.

Source: Harvard Business Review, "How Should Gen AI Fit into Your Marketing Strategy?" (2025).

Trends to Watch

Wistia's 2025 State of Video Report reveals 41% of brands now use AI for video creation, doubling from 2024, driven by accessible tools enhancing efficiency and quality. Key applications include captions and dubbing, with short-form/how-to videos outperforming.

Budgets rise despite engagement declines, signaling AI's transformative role in marketing.

AI Reshapes Advertising Amid Adoption Hurdles

The IAB's 2025 report reveals 70% of ad firms lag in AI integration, citing cost and complexity. While agencies lead in segmentation tools, concerns over transparency and data security persist. Standards and strategic roadmaps emerge as critical solutions for industry-wide adoption. [MediaPost]

AI Disrupts Publisher Email Strategies

Google and Apple’s AI-powered inbox features (e.g., summaries, relevance sorting) threaten publishers’ direct audience access, prompting diversification into SMS and proprietary platforms. Experts warn engagement metrics may decline for weaker newsletters. [Adweek]

Marketers retreat from opaque AI ad tools

Advertisers are reducing budgets for Google and Meta's AI-driven ad platforms (e.g., Performance Max, Advantage+) due to transparency gaps, diminishing returns, and brand safety risks. Despite platform claims, skepticism grows over AI's efficiency and control. [Digiday]

Perplexity Comet AI browser may transform search ads

Perplexity's AI browser could shift ad targeting from humans to AI agents. How? [Ad Age]

Comet’s agentic search may prioritize user-set parameters (e.g., price, location) over traditional ad placement.
Advertisers face challenges like potential bot clicks and agent-controlled ad-blocking.

Quotes

AI might democratize creation, but it’s still human craftsmanship, judgment and relentless dedication to fundamentals that will separate enduring successes from forgettable failures—no matter how shiny the AI-driven revolution appears.

Marketing expert Jarie Bolander argues in the era of AI-driven content overload that human expertise and product quality remain decisive, countering the illusion that AI-powered marketing alone ensures success. [Adage]

57%

Boathouse's 2025 CEO-CMO survey shows that 57% of CEOs rate their CMOs as A or B in AI/ML integration. This suggests moderate confidence in their technical skills but highlights the need for better strategic alignment and ROI proof to meet CEO priorities like growth and innovation.

Fresh Finds

Here are this week's updates on marketing tools or services.

1. AI-powered marketing automation by Ortto
Ortto's new AI features simplify audience targeting, journey building, and data enrichment for marketers without technical skills. [Ortto]

2. AI-powered affiliate marketing platform for brands and publishers
Affilza connects advertisers with 15K+ publishers using AI tools for fraud prevention, campaign tracking, and performance optimization. [Yahoo Finance]

3. AI agents slash ad campaign setup time by 65%
Jellyfish's AI automates media buying, reducing weeks-long processes to hours, cutting costs by 22% and boosting performance by 30%, while human oversight remains for strategic decisions. [Adweek]