Marketing Roles Rethought: Brands Incorporate AI for Enhanced Capabilities

As the breathless excitement around how brands can theoretically use generative AI morphs into marketers finding actual use cases for the technology, like elevating consumer experience through chatbots, some brands, in addition to making C-suite investments in AI titles, have begun adding more effective roles at the vp and director level, while bolstering their teams in product, data and engineering. Previously, brands such as UnitedHealth Group and Dell Technologies hired a chief AI officer (CAIO). To that, there are 201 CAIOs, mostly within technology consulting firms, as seen on LinkedIn by Simon Lusty, CMO at recruiting firm Aquent. Meanwhile, CPG brand Coca-Cola was an early mover and appointed Pratik Thakar as its global head of generative AI last year. The growing significance of gen AI for brands presents opportunities for cost-saving content production. However, AI’s soaring cost, and legal and privacy concerns make it risky for brands to rely solely on one executive for strategy development and management. “The cascading down and building up the teams is what we’re starting to see,” said Lusty. “With that comes the need for director, vp and above level roles necessary for driving AI forward. We are seeing the job title of chief AI officer on the rise, but certainly not widespread.” Three examples of roles For example, Wells Fargo is hiring a generative AI director with "8+ years of quantitative analytical experience" to "identify their highest priority gen AI use cases and deliver on these priorities." The job posting lists the role's salary range as $207,900 - $431,900. Interactivity and Proprietary Data: Marketers Welcome Ads in Chatbots Meanwhile, NBC Universal is seeking a director of product, generative AI and search, and global streaming with a minimum of "6 years of product strategy/management experience within the media or consumer technology space." This role, reporting to the vp of personalization and search, aims to enhance engagement metrics such as watch time per user and viewing frequency. The salary range for this position is $160,000 to $210,000. Elsewhere, Citi Bank is seeking an Ops generative AI software engineer to join its operations engineering and architecture group. This role involves taking a "product-focused approach and build solutions that are robust, scalable, and easy to use" per the job description to "develop foundational components and mature technology capabilities in AI and LLMs." The salary range for this position is $142,320 - $213,480. Shifting budgets to AI Brands are in an arms race, already integrating gen AI to enhance customer experiences via chatbots. Global brands such as Mondelēz International have plans to invest up to $180 million in AI over the next three years, with roughly 13% of its investment earmarked for hiring new roles, ADWEEK has learned. Meanwhile, business leaders on average plan to allocate 5.4% to 7.1% of their functions’ budget to gen AI in 2024, including 6.7% of marketing budgets per Gartner. Brands have made ambitious promises to their board members regarding gen AI strategy, but some are grappling to operationalize these investments, sources said. Regardless, the replacement of human jobs with AI looms on the horizon. “[Brands] don’t have the level of granularity around what [new talent] and how many [new hires] they need,” and industry executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity told ADWEEK. Mondelēz is in the early stages of exploring opportunities within AI, the company told ADWEEK, but didn't disclose the investment specifics. Organizational restructure Gen AI entails a new layer of complexity for brands, prompting people within both brands and agencies to grasp the benefits of technology, such as Sora, while assessing its risks and ethical implications. Navigating this balance could give rise to various new roles within the next year, including ethicists, conversational marketing specialists with expertise in sophisticated chatbots, and data-informed strategists on the brand side, according to Jason Snyder, CTO of IPG agency Momentum Worldwide. Additionally, Snyder anticipates the emergence of an agency integration specialist role within brands at the corporate level. “If you're running a big brand marketing program, you need someone who's responsible for integrating AI into all aspects of the marketing program,” said Snyder. “[Now] I see this role in in bits and pieces all over the place. [Eventually], whoever owns the budget for the work that's being done will be closely aligned with that agency integration specialist.” Shift in labor force, eliminating manual tasks Brands are pushing the envelope to hire splashy AI leadership roles to bring in skill sets within the organization and prove to the market that brands are serious about AI, said Mark Wagman, managing director of management consultancy firm MediaLink. Meanwhile, the use of AI varies within each industry. For example, the financial service sector is using AI for fraud detection, risk management, and product development. Whereas, the retail sector is leveraging AI for personalizing customer experiences, optimizing inventory management, and streamlining logistics, according to Lusty. "The roles within brands are a mix of both internal and external hires," he said. Concurrently, brands, especially in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, are culturally pitted against big tech and nascent AI startups. This dynamic is driving a shift in the labor force, warranting a reduction in jobs focused on manual tasks like content review and copy iteration, according to the exec. However, “I don't think brands have figured out how they're actually going to acquire the technical talent they need to support these processes at scale,” the exec said.

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Trishla Ostwal

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Trishla Ostwal