How AI Is Transforming Modern Marketing Communication—and Why Upskilling Is Now Essential
The Amazon Inspo Ad seen around the world in 2025 created by Axelle Malek using Google Veo 3. Reference: Hassid, R. [@ruben-hassid]. (2025, November 26). People are creating ads with AI. [LinkedIn post]. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ruben-hassid_people-are-creating-ads-with-ai-heres-activity-7355462062464000000-opNI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved beyond the experimentation phase and is now revolutionizing the core of modern marketing and communication based professions. Adoption rates continue to climb, with more than 90% of senior business leaders incorporating AI tools into daily workflows and nearly two-thirds expecting AI to significantly influence creative development and media planning in the next few years (Forbes, 2025). The AI market is projected to experience a fourfold increase between 2025 and 2030.
You will find more infographics at StatistaThis shift is already visible across major brands. Coca-Cola captured worldwide attention in 2023 by inviting consumers to co-create digital artwork through the “Create Real Magic” campaign, allowing AI to become part of the brand experience.
Heinz applied generative image technology to explore numerous creative variations of the brand’s ketchup bottle, producing a campaign that sparked cultural conversation and improved brand recall. Zong et al. (2025) showed that big-data-driven AI (BDAI) analytics strengthen a company’s ability to generate customer and market intelligence, enhance digital marketing capabilities, and accelerate value-chain innovation, illustrating why brands like Heinz can successfully use AI to create landmark campaigns that expand global reach and influence.
Brands continue to lean on AI-driven personalization engines to deliver ad experiences that adjust to consumer behavior in real time. Together, these examples illustrate a pivotal transition period in technology and media. AI is empowering marketers to better understand consumer sentiment, refine creative concepts at unprecedented speed, and execute campaigns with precision that was impossible with traditional methods just five years ago. Shi (2025) reviewed the national AI strategies of 50 countries and found that only 13 advanced European economies outlined strategic, actionable plans for preparing an AI-ready workforce. Across these strategies, six central training priorities emerged, including AI literacy, technical skill development, reskilling programs, talent cultivation, interdisciplinary education, and workplace-aligned applied training. Du et al. (2024) propose the global adoption of AI depends on building trust across cultures, highlighting the need for a shared value framework. By comparing perspectives from international experts and AI systems, the researchers show that users place the greatest importance on understanding AI’s value in supporting human decision-making.
To upskill, professionals can enroll in free courses and pursue certifications through Coursera, HubSpot, Harvard University, IBM, and LinkedIn. These credentials equip marketers with the skills needed to evaluate AI-generated data insights, preserve brand authenticity, and integrate AI automation into high-impact communication strategies. As AI becomes a permanent fixture in campaign design and optimization, the marketers who thrive will be those who blend creative human intuition with technological insight.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
As AI becomes central to marketing communication, new skill demands are emerging across the communications professions. Marketing teams are expected to expand skill capabilities in prompt engineering, data analytics, automated workflow design, and ethical AI stewardship. Industry studies reveal that 57% of business leaders now view AI-focused education as a top priority, recognizing that marketing success increasingly depends on a digitally fluent and strategically agile team (Forbes, 2025). Recent reports however, reveal a widening gap between AI investment and workforce upskilling, as 72% of marketers plan to adopt AI in 2026, yet only 45% feel confident using AI to improve operations and 38% have received no training. This pattern is reinforced by Forbes’ research that 93% of business leaders are increasing AI budgets, with only 49% of chief human resource officers (CHRO), budgeting for employee upskilling in AI and data analytics, signaling that many companies are accelerating AI automation without developing the skilled teams required to generate real actualized ROI (Forbes, 2025; Harmon, 2025).
References
Du, R., Li, M., Ai, S., MacSwiney Brugha, C., Reisach, U., & Wang, P. (2024). Artificial intelligence: an opportunity or a threat to good decision-making? Using systems thinking to examine values in an intercultural framework. Journal of Decision Systems, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/12460125.2024.2428175
Forbes. (2025, October 10). Are companies prepared for AI's mass rollout? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m4YbCRIhrs
Gaudiaut, T. (2025, November 25). The AI market is poised for explosive growth. Statista. https://www.statista.com/chart/35510/ai-market-growth-forecasts-by-segment/
Harmon, G. (2025, November 17). AI skills and confidence gaps threaten marketing teams’ performance gains. eMarketer. https://www.emarketer.com/content/ai-skills-confidence-gaps-threatens-marketing-teams-performance-gains
Hassid, R. [@ruben-hassid]. (2025, November 26). People are creating ads with AI. [LinkedIn post]. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ruben-hassid_people-are-creating-ads-with-ai-heres-activity-7355462062464000000-opNI
Kulp, P. (2022, August 1). Heinz taps state-of-the-art AI to design next ad campaign. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/commerce/heinz-taps-ai-design-next-ad-campaign/
Shi, L. (2025). Global Perspectives on AI Competence Development: Analyzing National AI
Strategies in Education and Workforce Policies. Human Resource Development Review, 24(4), 447–476. https://doi.org/10.1177/15344843251332360
The Coca-Cola Company. (2023, November 27). Coca-Cola harnesses power of AI to deliver holiday magic. https://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-center/coca-cola-invites-digital-artists-to-create-real-magic-using-new-ai-platform
Zong, Z., Anwar, M. A., Khan, S., Asmi, F., & Hussain, N. (2025). Big-data AI analytics in value-chain innovation and international marketing strategy: Insights from SMEs in cultural and creative industries. International Marketing Review, 42(4), 556–584. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-02-2024-0049
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