We're at an event horizon. Not some fork in the road, but a world-changing event. AI is rapidly becoming the new operating system of marketing, and unless we're careful, we'll crash the entire system.
If we can be honest, we're in a crisis. Drowning in data, starved for purpose, marketers are gladiators in a coliseum built by the tech elite, fighting for scraps of attention while the Silicon Valley overlords are on the road to oligarchy. Our most meaningful work gets lost in the noise. And AI? It threatens to turn up the volume.
Algorithms are the new cartels, and "engagement" is the marketer’s drug of choice. We're all dealers and addicts, churning out digital dopamine hawked by influencers on every corner. Likes and shares? The junk food of the soul, and we gorge as attention spans atrophy and we lose our grip on a shared reality. The digital revolution promised connection and delivered distraction. Always on, never present. This isn't about technology; it's about the real impact of our work. We need to break the addiction, free ourselves from the tyranny of clicks and impressions, and redefine what creativity means in this next era, or get left behind.
The future isn't about creative departments and creative directors churning out more personalized content and campaigns. It's about democratizing creativity, unleashing the potential that resides in every one of us. It's about shifting our focus from generating content to solving real problems. It's about moving beyond brand vanity and investing our collective intelligence in challenges that actually matter – and that drive real shared and shareholder value.
AI will be a weapon in this fight. It can automate busywork, freeing us to focus on the bigger questions. It can be a powerful partner, amplifying human intuition, insight, experience and storytelling. But AI isn't some magic genie. It's technology. And like any tech, it can be used for value creation or mass destruction. The responsibility lies with us. And right now, we're floundering. We're so busy measuring everything that we've lost track of how to value much of anything.
The real potential of AI isn't in generating more content; it's in helping us create more meaningful experiences. As Rita McGrath writes in HBR, “Discovery-driven growth is about learning, not just executing. ”It's about building stronger connections, tackling complex problems, and creating more equitable playing fields. Imagine AI not as a content farm, but as a facilitator of human progress. Imagine it helping us give voice to the voiceless, improve pediatric healthcare experiences, or even help music lovers explore the roots of the music they love.That's the future potential of our industry: one where technology serves humanity, not the other way around. A future where creativity isn't some gated community, but a public park. But potential is just that – potential. It will require atypical courage and uncomfortable course corrections.
This is not a time to defend or justify the present, but rather to build the future. We can't play the game better; we're in a different game now. Marketers, technologists, creatives, and consumers – we all have skin in this game. And we need to start acting like it. We need to own the human impact of our work and develop ethical standards for creativity alongside our deployment of AI.
We need to ask not just can we do this, but should we? And we need to be painfully honest with ourselves about the answers. The turning point is here. It's a moment of immense opportunity, but also significant risk. AI is a double-edged sword. It can propel us to new heights or speed us down a dystopian path. The choice is ours. And right now, we're standing at a crossroads. We need to be clear-eyed, pragmatic, and focused on building a future where AI empowers us to create work that generates business profit alongside human prosperity. And it's a winning formula; in the history of business, it's been proven time and again that the best way to maximize customer lifetime value is to maximize value to a customer's lifetime. Remember that, and lead, follow, or get out of the way.
