As the AI and marketing landscape continues to evolve rapidly, today’s news highlights the mixed success of AI investments in retail CX, growing emphasis on insight-driven strategies, and the reinvention of adtech via personalisation, emotion-led creatives and ethical AI. With the advertising sector embracing new tools and emerging technologies, marketers must navigate both the promise and the pressure of delivering results in a cookieless, performance-driven era.
AI’s Mixed Results in Customer Experience
Despite averaging hefty AI investments of $400,000, US e-commerce companies are reportedly seeing only moderate gains in customer experience. The issue appears to lie not in the technology itself but in how it’s integrated, many firms focus on deployment over strategic transformation.
That said, progress is evident. Tools are evolving from mere automation vehicles to intelligent systems enabling personalisation in channels like email, turning static campaigns into responsive, lifestyle-aware experiences. With AI increasingly orchestrating interactions and decision panels, marketers are moving from tool optimisation to a data-powered reinvention mindset.
Strategic Takeaway: Success with AI isn’t guaranteed by capital outlay, it requires clarity on how AI changes the marketer’s role, from analyst to orchestrator of connected experiences.
AI-Driven Marketing Insights Over Tools
A noticeable industry shift is taking place: instead of layering on more tools, marketers are prioritising outcome-oriented platforms offering “done-for-you” insights. This approach reflects a demand for clarity, not complexity.
Additionally, OpenAI forecasts exponential revenue growth by decade’s end, anticipating platform dominance akin to major tech players, yet investors remain cautiously optimistic. Notably, both AI leaders and marketers are aligning more closely on consumer privacy principles. The days of blind data capture are fading; ethical, contextual signals are in.
Strategic Takeaway: Insights, not interfaces, win the game. Marketers should favour platforms that bridge the gap between raw data and actionable recommendations, while still honouring consumer trust.
Adtech Evolves: Ethical, Personalised, and Productive
AI is transforming digital advertising by levelling the creative playing field. Tools now generate production-quality content for small brands, enabling them to compete with enterprise-level players.
Ben Heath argues that AI-driven personalisation and better tracking (within the bounds of regulation) will increase ROI, justifying ad spend. This premise is backed by the 2025 AppFlyer Creative Report, which underscores the growing impact of emotions in performance creatives—particularly in mobile gaming where success hinges on storytelling, visual appeal, and retention.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman is pushing for more ethical advertising practices, advocating for responsible AI marketing, a sentiment marketers can tap into as consumers grow wary of invasive tactics.
Strategic Takeaway: The creative bar is rising, but so is accessibility. Prioritise emotionally resonant content and platforms that support ethical targeting.
Creative Saturation and Diversification
This year’s AppFlyer data reveals a creative arms race, with non-gaming apps increasing creative iterations by 18% per quarter. Storytelling and emotional cues are consistently outperforming mechanical ad formats. Emotional appeal directly boosts installs and long-term user engagement, especially in mobile-first environments.
More creatives now account for a larger share of ad performance, but successful marketers are diversifying strategies to fend off fatigue. The key: test often, segment smartly, and don’t over-rely on past winners.
Strategic Takeaway: Creative relevance fades fast. Build systems for rapid iteration and diversify emotional hooks to sustain campaign effectiveness.
Emerging Tech in Digital Advertising
Emerging adtech trends are pivoting around cookieless tracking, streaming, and influencer-led experiences—creating fertile ground for startups. Programmatic remains dominant, but user-level tracking is making way for probabilistic modelling and first-party signals.
Big Data and mobile behaviours continue to drive campaign intelligence, but the lens is shifting towards contextual over behavioural targeting. Investors are backing innovations that fix systemic issues: attribution, personalisation, and post-cookie measurement.
Strategic Takeaway: Get ahead of the curve by piloting cookieless approaches now. If you’re still dependent on cookie-based attribution, you’re planning for a sunset market.
What This Means for Marketers
– Stop chasing tools—start demanding outcomes. Prioritise platforms that turn data into clear strategic insights.
– Don’t let creative automation dilute your brand equity. Use AI to enhance human creativity, not replace it.
– Experiment with emotional storytelling—it’s proving more effective across mobile and gaming than purely rational pitches.
– Prepare for a cookieless future. Build campaigns around first-party data, contextual targeting, and privacy-safe analytics.
– Champion ethical AI use in advertising. It’s not just good practice—it’s becoming consumer expectation.
