Where Agencies & Marketers Disagree On AI … And The Promise That Suggests

Depending on where you stand on the in-house marketing or agency divide, you may have differing opinions of what AI’s growth will mean for marketing.

In fact, according to the “Agency Acceleration” report from Funnel, after surveying those in agencies and in-house about AI and its marketing future, one “wonders if they’re talking about the same industry.”

Almost half (43%) of in-house marketers think AI will make them less dependent on agencies, which is “roughly 6x the rate of those who say they will be more dependent on agencies due to AI.” Three-quarters say outsourcing will fall or remain flat over the next year.

“Despite these negative signals from in-house marketers, agencies do not yet appear to be alarmed,” the report says. “In fact, most are predicting rising fortunes. Financial condition, they say, is on the upswing.”

66%, in fact, expect financial improvement over the next year, with only 23% saying that in-housing is a “major or extreme threat” and most believing it to have a net positive impact on business.

“If nothing else,” the report says, “this gulf between marketers and agencies points to a tremendous amount of optimism about how AI will wind its way through the stages of the customer journey and the connected parts of marketing operations.”

(Source: Funnel)

As for practical AI benefits, the report found that only 31% of marketing teams are using AI and machine learning for data analysis and predictions as part of their post-cookie plans. Other top steps being taken include first-party data leveraging (80%), server-side analytics (48%), a focus on privacy technology (43%), and strategy diversification (35%).

“Of those surveyed, 69% say they have no clear, documented roadmap to adapt to the deprecation of third-party cookies,” the report says, highlighting the specialized expertise that agencies often bring to the table. “Marketers … admit they are uncertain about how to act on ‘black box’ findings — meaning they know both the data inputs and outputs, but they don’t understand how the model arrives at its conclusions and recommendations.”

Hopefully, as AI technology becomes more prevalent and software improves hand-in-hand alongside it, more marketers will be enabled and feel empowered to both better interpret their own data as well as launch corresponding campaigns.

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