Photo & Article: Brand Innovators
Artificial intelligence is now an established part of marketing operations, but the technology is reaching a “Jerry Maguire moment” when it will have to “show me the money,” say brand leaders.
The Brand Innovators Marketing Leadership Summit during the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, had the same focus on AI as this year’s tech showcase. It sent the industry a clear message that AI is not a fad or a passing trend, but a transformation that will reshape values, measurement and strategy. But on the flip side, speakers warned that AI use will require more guardrails, responsibility and discipline from marketers in 2026, as the shiny new object grows older.
Looking ahead at trends for 2026, brand leaders found AI technology running through all operations and affecting interactions with humans too. Communications will continue to speed up, relationships with creators and influencers—an increasingly important channel for most brands—will accelerate automation and metrics facilitated by AI technology, while staffing and operations will keep evolving to adapt to AI tools.
“This is not something we can just take a pass and say, ‘nah, I’m going to sit this one out, this AI trend.’ It has implications across a variety of aspects of the industry,” said Terence Kawaja, Founder and CEO of LUMA Partners. Unlike previous hype cycles for technologies such as virtual reality or the Internet of Things, this disruption is a “perfect hand-in-glove fit” with marketing, Kawaja said. The industry’s reliance in data pools, substantial budgets, and convert-or-not binary outcomes create ideal conditions for AI integration, he explained.
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