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The report covers the latest trends on how marketers are evaluating and implementing AI into their operations; approaching data acquisition, maintenance, and application strategies; and ensuring customer trust and security as vulnerabilities increase.
Key insights from the research include:
Priorities for a new marketing era. Marketers are evolving their practices in a highly competitive landscape. They’re looking to AI — both generative and predictive — to help personalise at scale and boost efficiency.
Marketers shore up their data foundations. Businesses have long struggled to connect disparate data points to create consistent, personalised experiences across customer journeys. Yet as third-party cookies are depreciated and AI proliferates, that quest is only becoming more critical — and challenging.
Marketers embrace AI with an eye on trust. Marketers are intent on successfully applying AI in their operations with the right data, but are concerned about security
Full personalisation remains a work in progress. To meet rising customer expectations around personalisation, marketers are graduating beyond broad audience segmentations, like location or age, to more specific identifiers like individual preferences or past interactions. There’s also a difference between how the highest- and lowest-performing marketing teams adapt.
Marketers seek unified analytics. There is no shortage of data sources, but putting that data to work is a challenge — especially when it demands a holistic or long-term view of data.
Deeper relationships emerge with account-based marketing (ABM) and loyalty programs. Companies are increasingly turning to strategies like ABM and loyalty programs for better acquisition and retention. Yet many of these programs’ information sources remain disjointed, as does the customer experience.
Comments on the news:
“We are in a new era of AI, catalysed by the generative gold rush, and marketers are leading the charge by embracing rapid advancements in the technology to better connect with customers and prospects. A strong data foundation will be critical to AI success for marketers as they work to bring together and unify customer data for real-time activation," concluded Linda Saunders, Salesforce director of solutions engineering, Africa.