Generative AI in Marketing

Hardly any other technological innovation has caused as much of a stir in the past years as generative artificial intelligence (AI). Its disruptive potential lies in its ability to generate new content such as text, images, videos, and even code. The impact of generative AI applications is far-reaching as they can be used not only to automate repetitive or highly standardized tasks but also to support creative processes. One of the best-known examples of a generative AI application is ChatGPT from OpenAI, which has attracted worldwide attention from the media, companies, and consumers alike and has set records as one of the fastest-growing IT applications.

The field of marketing offers particularly great potential for the use of generative AI tools—personalizing the customer approach, creating texts and images for marketing communication, or finding ideas for campaign planning. However, apart from the prevailing hype around generative AI, critical questions arise. What is the reality beyond the hype? How is generative AI actually being used in marketing, and what are the implications and challenges for marketers and organizations?

The project aims to provide insights into the current status quo of generative AI use in marketing by looking beyond the hype. The main objective is to provide concrete insights for marketing decision-makers to make the most of the opportunities of generative AI by highlighting which tasks offer higher value creation potential, which knowledge and skill gaps need to be closed, and which organizational factors could promote the effective use of generative AI tools by marketing professionals.

Our study gathered insights from 600 B2C marketing professionals using computer-assisted telephone interviews with web screensharing in three key markets: Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Small (100–249 employees), medium (250–499 employees), and large (500+ employees) companies were represented in roughly equal shares while covering a wide range of marketing roles and age cohorts.

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In a corresponding project with the Department of Digital Industrial Service Systems of Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, we focus on investigating specific factors influencing the engaged system use of ChatGPT in marketing.