The most powerful voice expressing an opinion about using artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing coming from the United Kingdom is the one of Mark Read, the chief executive of the world’s largest marketing services holding
, headquartered in London. In a 2023 interview, Read called AI “fundamental to WPP’s business in the future” and stressed that WPP had been investing in it for several years and that it had a track of helping WPP win new business. The UK marketing industry mirrors this embracing attitude. During an early 2023 survey, one in three marketers stated they had
; another 24 percent were testing it. A different survey carried out shortly before Google’s July 2024 announcement that it would not be deprecating third-party cookies after all, revealed that the
was improved targeting and content personalization. With cookies not going anywhere, this might fall lower on the priority list. However, other applications, such as content generation and help with testing, will be unaffected.
Skeptic audience
The public is more reserved towards the application of artificial intelligence in their daily lives. Only 16 percent of UK population believed there were more
benefits of using AI than there were risks. Nearly a half thought were equally many benefits and risks and one in four were of the opinion that risks outweighed the benefits. Marketers will need to meet certain demands if they want AI work to be trusted: nearly three-quarters of UK adults believe that brands should always
disclose their use of AI-generated content and that fully automated
AI-driven marketing campaigns should be carefully regulated. Both shares are higher for women than for men and rise with the age of the respondents. Men from Generation Z seem least concerned with the
risks of implementing the technology.
AI influencers
Likely the first UK company to marry AI with influencer marketing was Maxwellia – a pharmaceuticals start-up based in East Cheshire. As a rule, pharma marketing is heavily regulated in the UK, and the use of
influencer marketing is not allowed. Still, these laws do not seem to apply to virtual personas. Maxwellia created an avatar whose appearance, voice, and content are generated using AI tools. The avatar was named Lovi and can be found on two
social platforms widely used for influencer marketing: Instagram and TikTok. The company wants to use Lovi to inform and educate people about its products. Among the benefits of using AI influencers is that they can be shaped to match the brand message and customer expectations. Additionally, their upkeep is cheaper, so marketing budgets can be lowered or moved to other channels. They also provide time savings as they can work round the clock and are able to create content significantly faster than their human counterparts.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no
liability for the information given being complete or correct.
Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date
data than referenced in the text.
