Junaid Kleinschmidt, Intelligence Lead (Data and AI) at Accenture Song, South Africa, says that unlike common AI tools that assist with one task at a time, or human teams that take months to create and run brand campaigns, Agentic AI can build, launch, deploy and iteratively adapt entire campaigns virtually flawlessly, very quickly.
We are at the forefront of this transformation to help brands integrate ethical Agentic AI to gain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving digital economy. But to harness this power, businesses must first fully embrace digital transformation and build a digital core. By integrating the work of the data, IT, legal, C-suite, operational, marketing and sales teams, brands have a solid foundation from which they can deploy meaningful AI to get to their market faster, with better solutions, to create better customer experiences.
What Is Agentic AI And Why Does It Matter?
Agentic AI is a network of ‘AI agents’ that work together much like a hive of bees – each virtual ‘agent’ being tasked with specific roles and responsibilities, while communicating and learning from one another to coordinate complex marketing jobs with minimal human intervention. What is quite remarkable is that Agentic AI has human-like reasoning capabilities, meaning it can break down complex problems into smaller
steps, iterate and learn as it goes.
This hive of agents – what we call The AI RefineryÔ in our world – can execute entire workflows with utility agents (worker bees) at the bottom doing the detailed work, super agents in the middle who align strategy, and master agents on top who finally coordinate and ship the work. Within the refinery, brands can conduct deep consumer insights analysis, deploys their corporate identity, language and imagery to craft personalised content at scale, hone their Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), and automate media buying in alignment with their strategy and insights. While the campaign is live, it can also continuously refine and pivot consumer engagement strategies based on real-time data. No more spray-and-pray – targeting is where it is at. Powered by lightning-fast Nvidia chips, brands can spin up their hive quickly and scale their AI efforts by tenfold.
But remember, keep humans in the loop.
While technology can do amazing things, AI-enabled marketing departments should always have humans in the loop as well. 2025 should be the year in which Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) leverage Agentic AI to augment and boost their teams, not replace them. If the power of AI is wielded with care by thoughtful and skilled human marketers, brands can unlock profound levels of efficiency, quality control, and even bolder creativity than they’ve ever been capable of before, without compromising on ethics and human sensitivity. For South African brands and marketers, this presents an enormous opportunity to revolutionise how marketing campaigns are developed, executed, and optimised in record time – while always keeping their customer’s interests at heart.
How South African Marketers Can Prepare For Agentic AI
Global brands are already using Agentic AI to enhance marketing effectiveness. Accenture’s AI-driven campaigns around the world have reduced content production by 50% while increasing brand value by 25%. In South Africa, adoption is still in its infancy, but a handful of forward-thinking brands are already claiming their first-mover advantage.
To successfully integrate Agentic AI, brands must undertake a total digital reinvention. This involves rethinking how marketing is structured, moving away from manual, siloed processes towards AI-enabled collaboration and automation of the most laborious, error-prone tasks, to free up the humans on the team to do their best strategic and creative thinking.
To give marketers advice on how to get started, I recommend five important steps:
Step 1: Lead With Value
Before we take our brands on the AI journey, we need to look at how and where we can reinvent the marketing value-chain from a process and capability perspective. It’s helpful to workshop an organisation’s ambitions for reinvention and the critical must-do’s to unlock the most value for the brand. Brands must get clear on their unique positioning, opportunities, and the value they want to unlock for their customers, people and business, before launching any campaigns with or without AI.
Step 2: Establish A Digital Core
Before implementing Agentic AI, organisations need to build a strong digital core. Hopefully, by 2025, most leading companies in South Africa will have this down pat. It means companies are able to integrate customer and product or service data, have fully cloud-based and digital operations, and cyber security is in place. Without this basis, AI adoption will be difficult.
Step 3: Upskill Marketing Teams
While Agentic AI automates many tasks, it doesn’t replace human creativity – it enables and enhances it. It also can’t be deployed without prompts, frameworks and insights from real marketers. To wield it to its full potential, however, marketers must develop new skills to work with AI, focusing on strategic oversight, creative direction, and Responsible AI. Enrolling your people in workshops and academies can be
very helpful.
Step 4: Leverage Solutions For Scalable AI Deployment
Solutions like Accenture’s AI Refinery enables brands to deploy Agentic AI effectively, transforming raw AI capabilities into enterprise-level solutions. This ensures seamless AI integration across marketing functions, driving efficiency and ROI. Brands that use this approach are 35-55% faster to market with their new campaigns.
Step 5: Pilot AI-Driven Campaigns
Start small and build from there. We’re all still learning. Rather than going full-tilt overnight, brands should start with pilot projects, where they can play, learn and experiment, for instance with AI-powered content creation, tight budgets, and automated media buying. Doing it this way can deliver quick wins, while building the team’s confidence and honing new ways of working before full adoption.
It’s Not A Solo Exercise
Agentic AI is new for everyone. This is why brand teams can benefit from learning from the early adopters who understand Agentic AI before embarking on this transformation themselves. Get advice from others who have done it before, look to the international marketing community for inspiration and guidance, be curious and open to learning, and try out the tools that can do the job. Whether you’re still exploring AI’s potential as a rookie, or you’re fully digital and ready to transition to the future of marketing, automated workflows are now within your reach.
The brands that will master it to their competitive advantage over the next few years will be the ones that start experimenting and learning in 2025. From there, they can ensure a smooth transition and scale to reach their fully addressable market with their new, nimble campaigns. If you’re a marketer or brand leader looking to unlock AI-driven growth, 2025 is the year to look beyond just Gen AI and start exploring the full potential of Agentic AI. It’s time for a new marketing operating model.
ACCENTURE SONG
https://www.accenture.com/za-en/
