Title: Today’s AI Stories and Takeaways for Marketers
Date: 24 April 2025
As artificial intelligence continues to transform every corner of marketing and advertising, today’s updates highlight major developments in ad production, campaign scalability, and creative innovation. From AI-generated visuals to smarter PPC tools and hands-free content creation, marketers are being equipped with new ways to drive performance and engagement.
This digest explores how leading organisations and emerging technologies are shaping the future of marketing—and what marketers need to do to adapt quickly.
Key Developments in AI and Digital Advertising
AI Reshapes Marketing Strategy and Operations
AI is increasingly central to crafting modern marketing strategy. A recent viewpoint from Palo Alto Networks underscores how AI tools have gone beyond automation and insight generation to actively drive personalisation, customer engagement, and campaign innovation. To stay competitive, marketers must adapt to new technologies continuously and cultivate on-the-job AI literacy. The message is clear: those who fail to disrupt themselves risk being disrupted.
AI-Powered Creative Production Levels the Playing Field
Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University have introduced iGenAI, a novel method that enables marketers to generate high-quality ad visuals quickly and affordably. The RAISE framework lets teams build AI-generated stimuli without any code, using off-the-shelf tools. This powerful combination of speed, cost savings, and accessibility is particularly meaningful for startups and SMEs looking to compete with larger players through targeted creative content.
Scaling Marketing Teams with AI
G2’s new report, “The Marketing Mind,” highlights how AI is helping marketing functions scale by aligning scientific performance analysis with creative applications. Organisations like Salesforce are leveraging AI to deepen customer engagement and streamline campaign workflows—from automation to insight generation. The upshot: AI is becoming foundational to marketing operations across channels and team sizes.
Innovation in PPC through Intelligence and Automation
A suite of new AI tools is simplifying and optimising PPC campaign management. These platforms use machine learning to automate keywords, budgets, targeting, and creative testing—enhancing ROI while reducing manual labour. For growth marketers managing multi-channel budgets, these tools offer both increased control and reduced complexity.
Creative Intelligence: Yieldmo’s Next-Gen Ad Formats
Yieldmo has greatly expanded its patent portfolio, adding innovative ad formats across mobile, desktop, and CTV. Breakthroughs include scroll-to-control video playback and adaptive visual behaviour aligned with user engagement. These formats promise a more intuitive ad experience, helping brands boost viewability and interaction rates on premium inventory.
Recognising Startup-led Innovation
Smartify Media was named Startup of the Year by The Advertising Club of New York, a strong signal of the industry’s enthusiasm for innovation from newcomers. Their solutions—while not detailed here—highlight how agile players continue to challenge incumbents with new performance-driven technologies across media and retail landscapes.
What This Means for Marketers
– Upskill your team: AI proficiency is now a requirement, not a differentiator. Invest in practical training to stay ahead.
– Reimagine creative workflows: AI image and video tools are now affordable and code-free. Consider piloting these for quick-turn campaigns.
– Use AI to scale, not just optimise: Implement AI tools not just to automate tasks, but to enable more sophisticated and personalised strategies.
– Explore new ad formats early: Yieldmo’s patent-backed formats suggest a coming shift in creative standards. Test interactive options to futureproof your customer experience.
– Level the playing field: If you’re a smaller brand or agency, these AI-driven production tools offer real potential to close creative and targeting gaps with larger competitors.
The marketing playbook is rapidly evolving—those who modernise first will see the biggest gains.
