Column 16 · Digital, Data, and Technology · Era 7, Frontier (2020s)
AI in Marketing
Environment and context · Landmark · Cluster VI, Context
Description
Davenport et al. proposed a framework for how artificial intelligence will change marketing strategy and customer behavior, and Huang and Rust developed a three-stage framework of mechanical, thinking, and feeling AI for strategic use across marketing research, strategy, and action.
Managerial Implications
AI will change marketing in stages, from mechanical automation to thinking and feeling tasks, and the right division of labor between AI and humans shifts with the task. Managers should map which marketing tasks are standardized enough to automate, which benefit from AI-supported human judgment, and which depend on empathy. Begin with the first, invest in the second, and protect the third, while governing data and bias from the start.