“AI is changing the game. But marketing still plays by old rules.”
In the News
“AI is changing the game. But marketing still plays by old rules.”
How Orchestration Can Fix the Coordination Problem at the Heart of Marketing
Modern marketing is a complex web of platforms, data streams and specialized teams. Yet, despite the promise of digital transformation, it remains a patchwork of disconnected systems, with decisions made in silos rather than as a coordinated whole. This lack of integration can slow down decision-making and hinder growth.
Can AI pull everything together? “Of course, but not if you only focus on automating individual tasks,” explains David Billings, Chief Strategy Officer at Empathy Lab by EPAM. “It’s up to the CMO to decide if AI will hollow out the marketing function or elevate it into the enterprise’s growth engine. It’s about choosing orchestration over automation, ensuring every decision across brand, media, pricing, loyalty and commerce works together.”
David paints a familiar picture of what happens when marketing decisions are made in silos rather than as part of a coordinated whole. “Brand, pricing, media, loyalty and commerce all optimize their own functions, platforms and KPIs. They rarely talk to one another. And when there is any sudden shift, things tend to break down between teams.”
How to Turn AI into an Engine for Growth
For CMOs, the challenge is how to operationalize AI beyond pockets of experimentation and turn it into a coherent, repeatable engine for growth. “Innovation is never easy. It takes the right operating system to build a growth engine where humans and AI work in rhythm. At Empathy Lab, we’ve built our Growth OS to help CMOs on this journey: a system designed to coordinate demand creation, commerce and loyalty as one connected whole.”
This way of working has already successfully played out for many Empathy Lab clients, including Mars, Nectar360 and Reckitt. “The leaders who succeed will not be those chasing every new interface,” says David. “They will be the ones who fix the coordination problem at the heart of marketing. Coordinated decision-making can strengthen brand connection, adaptability and long-term performance as demand creation continues to evolve.”
Read the full article here.
Discover first-hand how the CMO can become a growth orchestrator, using an award-winning innovation model from EPAM’s Empathy Lab, Albert Heijn and Microsoft.
By combining EPAM’s engineering DNA with data science, advanced AI and creative strategy, Empathy Lab helps marketing leaders shift from reactive marketing to proactive customer orchestration, delivering the right message at the right time with precision and empathy: www.empathylab.com
