AI put to the test
Managing Director
2025: artificial intelligence is everywhere – in keynote speeches, strategic plans and marketing roadmaps. Agencies and advertisers are equally enthusiastic: AI promises to revolutionise marketing. Budgets are following suit, as are the promises.
A year later, the picture is more nuanced. According to McKinsey, whilst 88% of organisations say they use AI in at least one function, only around a third have undertaken a genuine, large-scale roll-out. The gap between intention and reality remains considerable, not because of the technology, but because of misplaced priorities.
AI reveals what we’d rather ignore
Artificial intelligence doesn’t simply plug into a fragile organization and suddenly make it high-performing. On the contrary, it acts as a ruthless exposer of pre-existing weaknesses: poorly structured data, vague objectives, and siloed organizations.
Only 39% of executives today report seeing a measurable impact of AI on their operating results. And when there is an impact, it is most often limited, amounting to less than 5% of EBIT. In practice, this translates to proof-of-concepts that never make it into production, failing to demonstrate a tangible ROI.
I often cite the case of a client who was thrilled to have deployed a landing page in 15 languages in three days thanks to AI, even though the bulk of their system existed in only three languages. The project is impressive, but it mainly generates noise and misdirected budgets.
What 2025 has made clear is that the value of AI depends less on its sophistication than on the strength of the foundation upon which it is built. And that foundation has a name: strategy.
Before deploying AI, you must first ask yourself why you’re doing it. What are your business objectives? What kind of customer experience do you want to create? What roadmap aligns with the company’s priorities?
These questions aren’t new. But the current technological frenzy makes them even more critical today. A solid marketing strategy isn’t an 80-slide document. It’s a clear, shared vision, translated into concrete priorities. It’s a deep understanding of audiences, their journeys, and their pain points. And it’s the ability to make tough decisions: choosing the right initiatives, at the right time, with the right success metrics.
AI then naturally finds its place and becomes what it should be: a performance multiplier for organizations that know where they’re going. Without a pilot in the cockpit, even the most advanced technology stays grounded.
2026: strategic realism
Before launching any initiative, it is essential to conduct a strategic audit of the ecosystem: positioning, customer journey, organization, and markets. This “big-picture” view must then be tested against the reality of data and on-the-ground conditions (performance metrics, actual usage patterns, and insights from social listening) in order to formulate a clear and actionable strategy.
Only then can we work with the client to build a prioritized, organizational roadmap aligned with their maturity and environment. AI is never a starting point, but rather an execution lever that enables coherent orchestration between strategy, marketing, platforms, and international deployment.
It’s not too late to take back control. Returning to the fundamentals is not an admission of weakness; it’s the prerequisite for fully leveraging the technologies available to us. What will make the difference isn’t the speed of adopting new tools, but the ability to lay clear foundations before accelerating.
Only then will AI be able to realize its full potential. Without rushing. Without illusions. With method. That is what staying the course means: serving as a compass for our clients in a constantly changing digital environment. Because a compass, unlike a rocket, doesn’t tell you to go faster. It tells you where to go.