AI is at the front and centre for marketing and insight leaders, yet, as capabilities accelerate, so too do the complexities; from ethical use and regulatory scrutiny to strategic alignment and talent readiness. According to the Cisco AI readiness report, only one in three organisations (32%) have a process to measure the impact of their AI initiatives and according to The Drum’s AI Marketing Pulse, only 16% say the CMO is in charge of AI.
Organisations encounter five major challenges in making the most of AI:
- Strategic Clarity: many marketers still view AI with uncertainty and lack a clear, practical strategy for its use, hindering purposeful adoption.
- Ethics and compliance: concerns persist about misleading AI-generated content and the need for clear guidelines, especially in regulated sectors.
- Data management and human oversight: how to maintain data quality and confidentiality, crucial in preventing misinformation.
- Capability and skills gap: new AI tools require new skills, from effective prompting to AI-enabled decision-making and most teams are still building their expertise.
- Organisational readiness and scalability: many organisations are experimenting with AI in pockets. Common hurdles include lack of clear strategy, weak infrastructure, fragmented implementation, difficulty scaling globally, and cultural resistance to change.
With every new AI skill or use we uncover, we also come across new challenges. That’s why it’s important for leaders to openly discuss what works and what doesn’t, based on their experiences.
It is for this reason that the creation of the I-COM AI Council, sponsored by Kantar, couldn’t be more relevant. The Council convenes a select group of C-Suite level executives and senior practitioners with the mission to empower marketers and the insights community to confidently and responsibly transition from excitement to execution in the realm of applied AI for brand growth.
Alongside Lyndsay Weir, Chief Analytics & Insights at Barilla, I co-chair the Council; representatives from organisations like Haleon, IKEA, Visa and Diageo joined the first session, showing just how needed this forum is.
Our conversations will be practical and rooted in real challenges. We’ll be exploring AI themes through three perspectives: people, principles and process. We will approach each topic from these three angles to shape recommendations that are balanced and responsible. Themes include synthetic data, AI in innovation, inclusive AI for brand growth and redefining media ROI & creative with AI.
Our next meeting in January will focus on how decisions about AI are made in the boardroom. The council is quickly becoming the place for leaders who want to drive change in the industry. For marketing and insight leaders who believe in the power of working together, the I-COM AI Council offers something rare: a seat at the table where best practice in AI for marketing is being shaped and watch this space for an overview of each conversation.
If you would like to contribute to the council or want to chat about how AI can work harder for you, you can find out more and get in touch here.
