And consumers are catching on. A 2024 McKinsey & Company reported that brands using AI for successful personalization initiatives experience 20% higher customer satisfaction and 15-20% increased sales conversion rates.This effect is mediated by trust in data usage, with 71% of US consumers expecting personalized interactions and 76% reporting frustration when authenticity is lacking.

This is where CMOs need to step up. The role is not for the faint of heart and I say this with all the empathy in the world. Being a CMO today is one of the great balancing acts. You have to plug into the latest algorithm but not lose your customers’ trust. You need to look innovative but not give away your secret sauce. You’re expected to be brave, but God forbid you’re offensive. And now, on top of all that, you’re asked to deploy AI for speed and efficiency without sacrificing humanity or the connection that made people care about your brand in the first place. That’s the tightrope. The real question is, how do you walk it?

The Connection Imperative

Picture this: you’re shopping for your next pair of Fall boots. Brand A hits your inbox with an AI-generated email. The hyper-generic note is flooded with em dashes, formulaic language, and a string of negative parallels that somehow target “everyone who does anything.” It’s efficient, sure, but it feels like it was written by someone who’s never actually worn shoes.

Brand B takes a different path. They invite you to weigh in. They ask you to react to new designs, give feedback in real time, and you can actually see your voice reflected in the final product. Suddenly, those boots feel less like a commodity and more like your boots.

So, which brand are you buying from?

That’s the fork in the road. The race to adopt AI is creating two classes of brands: those that deploy it indiscriminately and risk alienating their audience, and those that embed it with intention. The latter are winning. When AI is aligned with purpose, brands create experiences that feel personal, not programmed; empathetic, not engineered.

From Technology-First to Value-Driven

Too many companies are chasing AI for AI’s sake. They’re rolling out chatbots, personalization engines, or “content at scale” factories without ever asking the deeper question: Does this reflect who we are as a brand?

Here’s the problem: when tech leads and meaning follows, the customer feels it. That chatbot sounds hollow. The personalization feels creepy, or worse, misses the mark completely. And all the speed in the world can’t fix the fact that the brand voice is missing.

Research backs this up: when AI is deployed in marketing with a strong emphasis on strategic alignment and ethical integration, rather than purely technology-led approaches, US companies can achieve 10-15% higher revenue from personalized marketing campaigns compared to those using traditional or non-strategic AI methods (McKinsey 2024). That’s the difference between your campaign being something people scroll past and something they share.

The lesson is simple but uncomfortable: technology is not the differentiator. Alignment is. In the same way Nike doesn’t sell sneakers, it sells identity; in the same way Patagonia doesn’t sell jackets, it sells a worldview. AI has to be filtered through meaning if it’s going to stick. Otherwise, it’s just more noise in a crowded feed.

Redefining the CMO’s Role

CMOs have always been stewards of brand meaning. What’s changed is that today’s meaning is co-created with algorithms. Leaders who understand this will use AI to amplify the human touch. That means rethinking KPIs beyond clicks and conversions to account for trust, loyalty, and cultural resonance.

We can all agree AI is here to stay, but the way we use it will determine whether it creates distance or deepens relationships. The CMO’s role is to ensure every deployment of AI reflects human values first, brand values second, and business outcomes third. In that order.

Customers do notice speed, but what they’ll remember is how you made them feel. Efficiency might win the first purchase; genuine connection wins the next ten. The real challenge for CMOs is avoiding the trap of dropping dimes to pick up nickels, chasing efficiency at the expense of meaning, and instead using AI to build relationships that grow the bottom line.

The deeper question every CMO should be asking is: Are we using AI to move faster, or are we using it to move closer to the people we serve?