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Brands like Duolingo and Liquid Death are aggressively adopting AI for backend tasks like media buying efficiency and content scaling. However, they are deliberately keeping AI away from core brand creative, which they see as a uniquely human craft to be protected.
As more teams use AI, campaign strategies become homogenized because AI suggests traditional plays based on existing data. The key differentiator becomes human oversight, where marketers add unique, creative insights to AI-generated foundations, ensuring campaigns stand out.
The ideal creative workflow balances human strategy with machine execution. Humans should focus on the 'soul'—the core emotional hook and brand story. AI should then handle the 'scale' by generating thousands of variations, running A/B tests, and automating optimization based on performance data.
The primary role of AI in marketing isn't to replace creative work but to automate the complex process of understanding customer behavior. AI systems continuously analyze data to answer critical questions about conversion, value, and budget waste, freeing up humans for strategic tasks.
HubSpot's AI strategy automates the tedious "messy middle" of content production, like video localization with tools like HeyGen. The core creative process—ideation and final judgment—remains human-led. This allows them to scale production efficiently while preserving creative integrity.
AI excels at operational tasks and scaling processes. However, front-facing content should remain human-led. The coming flood of mediocre AI-generated content will make authentic, human-first material stand out and command a premium, as people can easily detect inauthentic content.
The best teams use AI to automate repetitive work, not to fix bad strategy or magically write great copy. This frees them up for high-value strategic and creative tasks, making marketing feel more human.
AI should handle repetitive, automated tasks like setup and orchestration. This frees up marketers to focus on high-value work like strategy and creativity, making marketing feel more human, not less.
AI tools are best used as collaborators for brainstorming or refining ideas. Relying on AI for final output without a "human in the loop" results in obviously robotic content that hurts the brand. A marketer's taste and judgment remain the most critical components.
While many brands use AI for copy and images, Lore's CEO deliberately avoids it for most creative work to support human craft. She reserves generative AI for specific tasks that defy physics or are imprudent in the real world, using it as a specialized tool rather than a replacement for human talent.
While AI is a powerful tool for generating tactical marketing assets like ad copy, it should not replace human collaboration for foundational strategic work. Core brand positioning requires the emotional nuance, debate, and judgment that can only come from a human team.