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McKinsey's Kelsey Robinson on why AI is creating more anxiety than impact in marketing

At Cannes Lions, management consultant Kelsey Robinson breaks down McKinsey's new research showing a paradox in AI adoption: marketers are widely using AI and excited by it, but many also fear its impact on their roles.

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Transcript
00:22One piece of research where we, with Kellogg and Google, actually went to talk to, I think
00:28it was a thousand different marketers across the world, from CMO all the way down, to understand
00:34what is actually happening with AI and how do you feel about it and what are the barriers to progress.
00:39Okay. And so generally, after doing that sort of straw poll, what was the sentiment that you were
00:44largely picking up on? Positive? Is it fear? Or are people seeing it more as an opportunity?
00:49I think it has a decent amount of anxiety in it. And that is a lot of what we were
00:54trying to unpack
00:54and understand. So I'd say maybe two main insights. One, lots of companies are using AI. 88% of
01:02companies are using AI. When we ask marketers, over 60% of them are saying that they're using it
01:08multiple times a week. But then less than 10% of those companies say they've actually really seen
01:12value capture from it. And so there's this disconnect between usage and the aspiration
01:19and real business impact. The second main insight was there's a lot of anxiety and we need to move
01:25from anxiety to advantage. That's how I like to say it. Okay. So if you go and talk to the
01:30marketing
01:30teams, they are really excited about AI, right? So 86% of them are like, this is great. I'm excited
01:37about using AI within my job in marketing. That could be anyone from a copywriter to the CMO,
01:42to a media optimization analyst. So 86% are excited, but 57% are super anxious. Okay. Well,
01:50what does it mean? And if you talk to the CMOs, 96% of them are excited, 71% are
01:56anxious. And what was
01:58most shocking to me is 80% of them were actually worried about their job. Like the actual implications
02:03for them. What does this mean for me in my role? And what would be your key advice to CMOs
02:08now,
02:08those people who are feeling that fear? So a few things first, you really have to have a narrative
02:14that isn't just about efficiency. And I think we see this in all the companies we talk to is that
02:21AI
02:21came in, not even just to marketing, to technology, to engineering, other functions. And there is a very
02:29big focus on productivity and efficiency, which reads as we are saving money, we are cutting, which I
02:37think is a reality and actually a benefit of AI. I think leading companies realize they can't just
02:42focus the narrative on an AI transformation that leads to cost cutting. You have to have a growth
02:48aspiration. So I think that's one thing. Leaders are focusing on growth, not just efficiency, but both.
02:55I'd say the second thing we see leading organizations doing is they are not waiting for like perfect data.
03:02So a big conversation since last year. I remember last year in Cannes, our data is not good enough.
03:08We really need to shore up the foundation before we can make progress with AI. Sure, but there is
03:13actually value to be captured now. And so I'd say leading organizations are kind of taking two speeds.
03:19So they are figuring out where can I actually show value? Maybe it's in customer support. Maybe it is
03:25some version of personalization. And then how do I continue to make progress on my data foundation
03:31and rewire workflows, which is another key thing that leaders are really doing?
03:35Indeed, indeed. So you've broken down, you've given some indications there of what people should be
03:41doing, but how? How do you implement those things right now, considering there is this climate of fear
03:46and anxiety? Yeah. In the research, we profiled a fintech player, Chime, and I think their story is one of
03:52the best ones out there. Their CMO of an eight is really focused on this is a staged organizational
03:59transformation versus I'm going to go roll out some technology. And I think I've seen this a couple
04:05other companies take the same approach where they say, okay, phase one, we're going to give you guys
04:10the enterprise tools you need to just make your day-to-day lives more effective. So Kelsey, you as a
04:15marketer, here are a bunch of tools. This hopefully makes your day better, lets you save time, lets you be
04:21more
04:21impactful. So stage one is, I think we called it like normalization. They normalized what it means to
04:27use AI. Stage two is actually transforming some of the core jobs. So back to my point around, hey,
04:34where can you see value? Taking something like media optimization or customer support and really
04:42finding out how do I am sweating those specific jobs and see driving value through those. And in the
04:49case of that company, they actually saw real value. So it was, you know, 10 week campaign cycle down
04:54to four, return on ad spend up by almost 20%. And that again, is that is both efficiency and growth.
05:01And
05:01they were able to talk about it as a growth driver. And no longer need to think these things are
05:07all
05:07trade offs. And then the third phase, which I think most companies are not quite there yet, is then how
05:14do you
05:14reimagine whole workflows from like front to end. I think in Chime's case, they call it go to market AI
05:22factories, how do you take agents, humans, and workflows and just reimagine and kind of clean sheet
05:28how all that work should get done. But that last part is an intimidating place to start. And so I
05:32think we're seeing this phase transformational approach be really successful.
05:36I see. Well, thank you very much for your time there today. Thanks for having me. Thank you.
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