Modern Marketing interviewed Moagi Bodibe, Managing Director Marketing Practice at Accenture Song South Africa, about the opportunities and challenges AI poses for marketers, as well as how marketers need to show up and claim their space in this new AI era. Bodibe will be a featured speaker at the upcoming New Gen Trends Conference on May 23rd at the Venue in Melrose Arch. Modern Marketing is a proud media partner of the event.

Bodibe’s presentation on ‘Marketing in the Age of AI: Transforming Strategies for a Digital-First World,’ promises to offer invaluable insights into how AI is reshaping the marketing landscape. During the presentation, Bodibe will delve into the unprecedented opportunities that AI creates for brands to connect with consumers in more personalised, predictive, and efficient ways. There are still some tickets left for the New Gen Trends Conference. To attend Bodibe’s presentation, and get insights from other thought leaders at the event, book your tickets by Friday, 16 May, by emailing: stephen@newgenawards.co.za.

Q&A with Bodibe:
 
How is AI reshaping the marketing landscape?

AI is disrupting the entire marketing value chain. While the more obvious applications are in content creation – ideation, image generation, visuals, and democratising creativity – we’re also seeing AI playing a role in planning and strategic marketing. It’s become an industrialised tool, meaning organisations can now tap into creativity more strategically and cost-effectively than before. It opens up opportunities for big conceptual thinking, to create those ensuring, engaging campaigns with multiple touchpoints.

What this means for marketers is that they need to redefine what they will do themselves and what they will outsource. So while AI handles the repetitive tasks, humans can focus on dreaming up bold ideas that can find fulfilment in the real world. This shift also empowers marketers to think in terms of connected and tactile experiences, stitching together digital and real-world engagement.

What opportunities are AI creating for brands to connect with consumers?

AI is starting to replace our search engines, and this is a big opportunity for brands. AI allows brands to better understand and respond to what consumers actually want, for instance, by looking at what questions they’re asking, what they’re searching for, and what they’re looking for. It’s about studying that data and providing relevant information, products, or services in the ways that consumers prefer.

Voice-enabled search, for example, has already started replacing traditional search engines. These tools are learning from customer intent daily, which gives brands the opportunity to personalise their offerings in real-time, whether it relates to recipes, shopping behaviours, or community preferences. This opens up entirely new ways to connect with people based on what they really want.

Are marketers using AI to its fullest potential?

Most marketers are not using AI to its fullest potential – largely because there’s still a crisis of confidence. Many feel under-equipped or nervous about this new way of working, especially mid-career to senior marketers from more traditional backgrounds. But being recessive and walking away won’t help. You can’t linger longer. There is now an old way of working and a new way of working.

We like to say marketers need to build ‘new marketing muscle’. It’s not enough to experiment casually. It’s like going to the gym and knowing which machines to use if you are serious about building muscle. Marketers must define what AI means for their personal specialisation, understand which tools to use, and how to ask the right questions of their agencies and internal teams. This requires a deliberate plan: how to crawl, walk and then run. They need to decide what they should start doing or even double down on aspects like human insight, judgement, and strategy. Because humans will remain essential for their insights, quality assurance, ability to select good work, and reasoning.

In using AI, how can brands and marketers strike a balance between automation and human creativity?

It starts with understanding the full value chain – identifying where AI can outperform humans, and where human ingenuity is irreplaceable. Marketers need to identify what they still need to do, and what they no longer need to do, such as the tasks that can be automated, or the tasks where they can’t compete. They need to step back and plan.

Automation is great for efficiency, but we still need human insights for Big Ideas, cross-functional collaboration, and creating human-centred experiences. Don’t be paralysed, be playful. What AI will do is bring in contributors from outside traditional marketing roles. Creativity is no longer just for creatives. People from different parts of the business can now use AI tools to bring insights and ideas to the table. This creates a richer environment for problem-solving, experimentation and even play – but marketers must choose carefully where to focus and where to let go. We have to carve out our space.

Ultimately, human agency, discernment and authenticity will remain critical, especially in a world overwhelmed by synthetic content. People still want to connect with what’s real. Humans can discern where you can create content that truly resonates with consumers, where a campaign might have legs, where a campaign may need to pivot for a next phase, and where campaigns can be localised to make a real offline impact in communities.

What are the challenges marketers face in working with AI, and how can they overcome these?

The first challenge is ethical and responsible use. Organisations must put guardrails in place: understanding where data comes from, how it’s used, and the implications for copyright, privacy and bias. Just because the tools are available doesn’t mean they should be used unchecked. We need to consider the legal ramifications of how we use customer data.

The second challenge is a crisis of confidence. Marketers fear what they don’t fully understand. But hiding from AI won’t help. The solution is to confront those fears, build a roadmap, and keep learning. Marketers need to ask: ‘What if?’ They need to use the opportunity to explore, test ideas, and deliver. Marketers need to start thinking about what is possible.

And finally, as AI grows in capability, the industry must address what this means for talent. What kind of marketers will we need in the future? How will we source those skills? We need to be thoughtful, considered, and decisive, both as individuals and as organisations, about how we show up in this new era.

ACCENTURE SONG
https://www.accenture.com/za-en/