AI is not enough: where and when a human-first approach adds value to your marketing

Despite widespread adoption, most companies aren’t yet seeing bottom-line lift from gen-AI. In a recent New York Times article, McKinsey reports that nearly eight in ten companies now use gen-AI—yet just as many report no significant, enterprise-level EBITDA impact. At the same time, many pilots are stalling out: by late 2024, 42% of companies had abandoned most gen-AI pilots, up from 17% the year prior—often due to human factors like resistance and skills gaps. Gartner also expects AI to dip into a 2025 “trough of disillusionment” before maturing. Spending, however, is still surging. IDC estimates $69.1B in gen-AI spend in 2025 (and over $300B across AI broadly). 

The message for CMOs: efficiency is table stakes; advantage comes from where AI is paired with distinctly human levers that create trust, relevance, and revenue. 

Campaigns need to resonate on a human level – reflecting cultural nuance, creative intuition, and an understanding of customer behavior that goes way beyond what they’re getting more and more used to seeing: AI-generated content. Brands that cultivate an authentic voice, identity, and real connections with consumers will be the ones to thrive in marketing, especially those that know when and where to use AI in a way that won’t compromise on the authenticity factor.  

Where does AI fit into a campaign? 

AI is a powerful tool for efficiency and ideation, but it doesn’t conjure the same feelings of trust and authenticity that comes from the crucially human aspects of each touchpoint on a consumer’s journey. 

AI can instantly generate hundreds of asset variations, seemingly endless lines of quippy copy, even strategize entire campaigns. But what happens when it’s relied on too much? Can consumers really tell the difference between something a human came up with versus a computer? In an age when making something perfect is as simple as pressing a button, it's easier than ever to create high-polish campaigns, but if they're impersonal they’re going to lose their potency amongst increasingly AI-literate audiences. Without a human sense of cultural timing or brand tone, in the worst cases, brands can miss the mark entirely.  

Of course, it doesn’t make sense to flout the idea of using AI altogether. By being intentional and testing where the human aspect of your campaign can best shine through, you can better plan and construct a campaign or consumer journey that has optimal margins and still resonates in a genuine way.  

A prime example of smarter AI use in marketing comes from Unilever’s Crumbl cookie-scented Dove soap, which launched earlier this year. With so many consumers making purchases because of influencers, Unilever saw an opportunity to maximize sales through social media virality and the help of AI-generated assets that influencers could use in their posts across Instagram and TikTok. The AI assets added to the optimization factor of that campaign, while the irreplicable nature of person-to-person influence tipped the scales in the right direction towards trust. Plus, with human-generated content from influencers being the basis of the campaign, AI was still further leveraged by Unilever to distribute and parse out that content without stripping it of its authenticity, repurposing it for use across platforms in different sizes and formats, tailoring it for different audiences across the social media landscape.  

By using AI to amplify rather than replace the human element, Unilever saw over half the purchases of their Dove Crumbl cookie products come from people who’d never bought Dove before, and they accredited the way AI skyrocketed their social impressions. 

Balancing the way you use AI ensures that you’re not just taking shortcuts – you’re using AI as a tool, not as a replacement for connection.  

Where is your brand human? 

Relatability and trust is built on distinctly human capabilities – empathy, nuance, and lived experience are brought into everything we do, whether we mean to or not.

Relatability and trust is built on distinctly human capabilities – empathy, nuance, and lived experience are brought into everything we do, whether we mean to or not. We tend to believe we’re making decisions in response to stimuli generated by other humans, and in today’s increasingly AI-saturated world, consumers are getting better at spotting what’s real and are in turn becoming increasingly vigilant of what brands they can trust. 

This is why good human marketers will tap into the shared experiences, humor, and cultural nuance that occupies the contemporary zeitgeist to create campaigns that feel connected and alive. 

These things aren’t just nice-to-haves, they’re major deciding factors that will mean the difference between your target consumers feeling seen and valued by your brand or indifferent and even uneasy. 

• Empathy: Understanding even the most niche of customer fears, hopes, and desires in a way non-behavioral data can’t fully capture.
• Storytelling: Crafting narratives that evolve beyond SEO-optimized phrases,   keywords and content that panders solely to the algorithm.  
• Cultural intelligence: Recognizing unspoken social dynamics and avoiding tone-deaf messaging that can make or break brand perception. 

The best of both worlds – Where AI and human experience can work together. 

When it comes to the emotional appeal and authenticity of your campaigns, humanity speaks where AI can amplify. The most effective campaigns use AI for data crunching and production speed while letting humans take the wheel strategy, brand voice, and creative direction.  

Where to strike the balance:

• Ideate away: Use AI for early-stage ideation and inspiration for your target audiences. 
• Hire a human: Apply human prompts and reviews to ensure cultural and brand alignment. 
• Don’t risk your brand identity: Test AI-generated content in controlled environments before launch. 

AI is a game-changing tool for marketers. Brands that understand AI’s complimentary nature to human marketing capabilities will win big – combining AI-levels of efficiency with human creativity and empathy creates campaigns that not only save time and money, but also generate lasting impact that equals customer trust, loyalty, engagement, and boosted bottom lines.