Marketers More Excited Than Threatened by AI Says WFA

The world of work is changing as highly skilled jobs, including the role of the marketer, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) set to impact 40% of all jobs and 60% of those within advanced economies. However, the chief executive of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), Stephan Loerke, says that marketers are excited by the technology and its impact on their roles rather than fearing it.

Analysis from the International Monetary Fund has claimed that AI integration will support roughly half of roles to improve productivity, while the other half may take over functions previously carried out by humans. This, in turn, would likely lessen labor demand, leading to lower hiring numbers, lower wages and some roles disappearing entirely, it has suggested.

Speaking to the BBC about the report, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said that the focus must be on helping lower-income countries to adopt the technology and the opportunities it can bring.

“Embrace it, it is coming. Set aside the fear of this significant change and concentrate on how you can best tap into the opportunity,” Georgieva advised.

Those sentiments echo the thoughts of 4A’s president and CEO, Marla Kaplowitz, following the release of the agency association’s annual report, which advised agencies not to ignore AI.

“This is one of those adapt or become irrelevant moments, and so there will be a lot of bumps in the road,” she said.

Meanwhile, another survey conducted ahead of the World Economic Forum polled more than 60 chief economists has revealed their belief that the majority (94%) believe AI will boost productivity within high-income economies in the coming years.

However, AI is not expected to be as successful for poorer nations, said just over half (54%.) as they will not be as ready to utilize the technology’s ability to boost living standards or improve trust.

The uses of AI for marketers

In September, the WFA released a guide for marketers on adopting gen AI. Within that report, much of the burgeoning landscape for using technology within marketing was revealed by the 68 respondents from 55 member companies spending $118 billion in marketing spend globally.

One insight was that three-in-four respondents were already using gen AI tools in their job and rated their enthusiasm as an average of seven-out-of-10 saying that they were “cautiously optimistic” about its role in helping them to drive growth.

In contrast, legal professionals answering the same question ranked their enthusiasm as four-and-a-half-out-of-10, marketing a lower expectation in the potential disruption expected within that professional sector.

Chief executive Stephan Loerke felt that marketers were using gen AI more to handle the “less exciting” elements of their role through automation, with the survey although nearly three quarters (74%) said they used it for content creation tasks.

“There’s definitely more excitement than there is anxiety, but it clearly requires a longer term perspective than it has today,” he explained, looking beyond the early hype that has been built around AI.

When members were asked what their main concerns were about the technology, they did not offer a fear for the future of their jobs, instead citing brand issues such as IP protection and copyright, brand safety and diversity and inclusion.

“We are seeing not necessarily seeing the sort of anxiety that is sometimes published in the press from our marketing colleagues,” stated Loerke.

Further research released near the end of last year, Serviceplan’s fifth annual CMO Barometer, which questioned 767 marketing decision-makers across 11 countries, discovered that the use of AI would be the priority for most marketers as they look to use the tools to benefit their output.

The use of AI, machine learning and marketing automation was ahead of other priorities for chief marketers, including content creation (82%), emotional branding (82%), sustainability (78%), and omnichannel marketing (77%).

“AI can become a marketer’s best strategist and thinking companion,” Mailchimp’s CMO, Michelle Taite, told Adweek. “If used correctly, AI can help brainstorm quickly to get rough edits and concepts out.”