The narrative that some people will have you believe is that that AI will make marketing so efficient and cost-effective that brands will stop spending altogether. But history, economics, and common sense tell a different story. Far from reducing marketing budgets, AI is, I believe, going to grow them.
When the invention of the television arrived, many believed it would end the need for print and radio advertising. Instead, it created entirely new formats, creative opportunities, and commercial opportunities. Digital marketing brought the same disruption when search, social and programmatic came along. And coming right up to date, influencer marketing has not replaced that ‘old media.’ All these innovations have multiplied the ways brands could connect with people. Each new bit of technology has led to a broader, more complex marketing ecosystem, not a smaller
one.
I am currently reading the brilliant book ‘Can’t We Just Print More Money? Economics in Ten Simple Questions’ and it made me realise that economics offers a clear explanation of what is going to happen. When marketing becomes more efficient, the cost of reaching an audience decreases. But when something becomes cheaper and more effective, demand for it rises. The result is what economists call the ‘Jevons Paradox’: greater efficiency drives higher overall consumption. In other words, as AI improves marketing performance by automating repetitive tasks, refining targeting, and predicting audience behaviour, for example, brands will invest more, not less, because every pound spent will deliver a greater return.
AI can analyse audience sentiment in real time, generate hundreds of versions of an ad for testing, and uncover patterns that even seasoned strategists might miss. This does not eliminate the need for human marketers; far from it, it magnifies the need for them.
Creative direction, ethical judgement, emotional storytelling, and brand vision remain firmly human domains. AI simply gives marketers some tools with which to help them to work faster, test more, and learn continuously.
What will change is the shape of marketing teams and budgets. Some routine production will be handled by machines, freeing people to focus on strategy, creativity, and brand differentiation. Media planning will become increasingly data-driven, with AI optimising placements minute by minute. Campaigns will adapt dynamically, adjusting tone of voice, imagery, and spend in response to live feedback loops. That does not sound like the end of marketing to me. It sounds like it's evolution.
For agencies and advertisers, the challenge is not survival but adaptation. Those who view AI as a cost-cutting tool will race to the bottom. Those who see it as an amplifier of imagination and efficiency will thrive. The best agencies will combine human intuition with AI to forecast attention, tweak messaging, and measure effectiveness beyond vanity metrics (that is one for another article!).
AI will not shrink marketing. Smaller brands will gain access to insights and tools once reserved for global advertisers, fuelling competition and creativity across the board. And as more voices enter the market, the need for smart, strategic, emotional campaigns will only grow.
