Brands expand AI use across marketing

Marketers are expanding AI use beyond content into research, media, strategy and workflow automation, while scaling adoption and developing skills remain significant challenges.

AI has become embedded across marketing operations, with 96 percent of brands now using generative or agentic AI, according to the World Federation of Advertisers’ State of AI in Marketing 2026 report.

The report is based on responses from 54 senior marketing professionals representing 46 of the world’s largest brand owners, with a combined advertising spend of $93 billion. AI adoption has risen sharply from 45 percent in 2023, when brands primarily used the technology for content creation, production and ideation.

AI use expands across marketing functions

Content creation remains the most common application, used by 80 percent of brands. Content ideation and production follows at 74 percent, while 72 percent use AI for research and insights. Media buying and optimisation accounts for 54 percent, with 48 percent using AI for strategy and planning and 46 percent for workflow automation or autonomous agents.

The report also identifies a shift in what brands want to achieve with AI. While efficiency was the main objective for 70 percent of brands two years ago, marketers now place greater emphasis on a combination of efficiency, effectiveness and growth. Thirty-three percent consider all three objectives equally important, while 22 percent prioritise effectiveness, 22 percent efficiency and 18 percent growth.

Governance focuses on practical controls

Brands are also putting more formal controls around AI use. Seventy-five percent require human oversight of AI-generated outputs, while 70 percent maintain approved or prohibited tool lists. Fifty-seven percent require review and approval of AI-generated outputs.

A further 55 percent have a centrally approved list of AI tools supported by governance processes for introducing additional tools, compared with 18 percent in 2023.

Stephan Loerke, CEO, WFA: "Whatever reservations brands may have about AI, they are focused on taking advantage of the technology right across their marketing organisation. The breadth of uses represents an industry that is getting to grips with the opportunity, but the next stage will be to deploy proven use cases at scale around the world."

Scaling adoption and skills remain barriers

For WFA members, scaling AI adoption has emerged as a major priority. Sixty-three percent identify it among their top three priorities, while technology integration and interoperability affects 45 percent. Governance and legal requirements are cited by 43 percent, followed by data quality and access at 37 percent and skills at 35 percent.

Training and upskilling is a top three organisational priority for 55 percent of brands. However, 69 percent still describe their organisations’ AI literacy as moderate, highlighting the gap between expanding adoption and workforce capabilities.

Agency AI use remains difficult to track

Visibility into how agencies use AI has improved only modestly. In 2023, just 3 percent of brands had full visibility into generative AI use across their supply chains. Today, 13 percent report having a great deal of visibility into agency AI use.

Brands are responding by incorporating AI requirements into agency contracts. Fifty-nine percent have introduced contractual clauses covering areas including intellectual property, confidentiality and training data, while 69 percent require agencies to disclose when AI is used.

Brands prepare for AI-driven discoverability

AI-generated search is also changing how brands approach discoverability. In 2025, 96 percent of brands expected AI-generated search to significantly affect brand discoverability, while 65 percent were reviewing their SEO approach.

The 2026 findings show that 73 percent are actively monitoring and measuring AI visibility. Sixty-seven percent are adapting SEO, 58 percent are reviewing content strategies and 51 percent are defining roles and responsibilities. However, only 8 percent have a clear strategy in place.

The WFA collaborated with DEPT on guidance for brands seeking to understand and prepare for changes in consumer discovery through AI search.

Paid advertising in LLMs remains experimental

Paid advertising within large language models remains an emerging area. Only 4 percent of brands rank it among their top priorities, although 20 percent are currently testing it.

Concerns remain widespread. Eighty-five percent of respondents are moderately or very concerned about brand visibility, control and transparency. More than 60 percent also express concerns about consumer trust, regulation, reputation and safety, and measurement.

Stephan Loerke: "AI has moved from nice to have into a competitive advantage. Brands are working hard to ensure the technology can safely become part of their operating system with clear human oversight, but they still need to upskill their teams to maximise the potential gains and that competitive advantage at scale."

The WFA’s AI Community now brings together more than 1,000 senior marketing professionals from more than 150 multinational brands, with a focus on sharing practical knowledge for scaling AI adoption while managing associated risks.

www.wfanet.org

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