What Does Better Marketing Look Like in the Age of AI?
By Deborah Malone, Founder of The Internationalist, Updated April 22, 2026
After reviewing the first wave of AI AWARDS FOR BETTER MARKETING work, I found myself asking a deceptively simple question:
What does “better marketing” really mean in the age of AI?
Today, that question feels even more relevant—and more urgent.
Because AI is no longer a future consideration.
It’s already shaping how brands show up, how decisions are made, and how people experience marketing every day.
But if anything, this shift has made one thing clearer:
It’s not the technology alone that creates better marketing—it’s the choices behind it.
Across categories, countries, and channels, the most compelling work isn’t defined by how advanced the AI is.
It’s defined by what marketers choose to do with it.
Are they using it to simply move faster? Or to connect more meaningfully?
To automate more? Or to understand more deeply?
The most effective examples share a common thread:
AI isn’t replacing creativity—it’s amplifying it.
It allows brands to interpret signals more intelligently, respond more dynamically, and create experiences that feel both personal and relevant at scale.
You can see this shift across a range of work:
- Turning everyday data into personal, joyful storytelling
- Creating moments of connection that simply wouldn’t be possible at scale without AI
- Reframing algorithms to reflect real human values—not just patterns of behavior
From Portugal to Taiwan, Sweden to Australia— we saw AI making a meaningful difference in ways that weren’t feasible before:
- Telstra’s AI Santa Hotline brought joy to over half a million children by using generative AI to simulate magical conversations through public payphones. Could it have been done without AI? Not at this scale, not this personally.
- Continente’s “Recipe of the Year” used loyalty data and machine learning to create 60 million unique, joyful, and highly resonant “recipes of the year” for each shopper. Only AI could have analyzed, personalized, and rendered this kind of storytelling at scale.
- REWE’s Dynamic Print Ads turned a traditionally static medium into a hyper-personalized, real-time retail engine. Without AI? A logistical impossibility.
- Dove’s Real Beauty DNA actually retrained a biased algorithm on Pinterest to reflect inclusive definitions of beauty—proof that AI can be both ethical and empowering.
In every case, the breakthrough isn’t the technology itself.
It’s the combination of AI with human judgment, imagination, and intent.
The best outcomes emerge when technology serves human values—not the other way around.
This Is Just the Beginning…
Of course, the broader conversation around AI in marketing is more complex.
There are real concerns—about jobs, about control, about how roles and responsibilities are shifting.
But as with any transformative technology, the question isn’t whether it will be used.
It’s how.
A Blueprint for Better AI Marketing
From this work, a few principles begin to take shape:
- Use AI to expand what’s possible—not just improve efficiency
- Let technology handle complexity so people can focus on creativity
- Balance precision with empathy—personalization only works when it feels personal
- Build with transparency and ethics from the start
HOW AI IS RESHAPING MARKETING
AI doesn’t define better marketing.
Judgment does.
Better marketing doesn’t just move faster.
It connects more deeply, solves more creatively, and resonates more personally.
And increasingly, AI is making those possibilities real—when it’s guided by people, and grounded in purpose.
