AI presents transformation opportunities for Australian marketing teams, not replacement: ACAM
The Australian Centre for AI in Marketing (ACAM) finds that while Australian marketers are anxious about AI, the technology offers opportunities to transform teams, enhance creativity, and drive growth rather than replace humans.
The announcement:
AI anxiety is burdening Australian marketers but the opportunity for transformation, not replacement, will shape marketing teams of the future, the Australian Centre for AI in Marketing (ACAM) has found.
Identifying widespread concern among marketers about the pace of technological change, shifting roles, and uncertainty around where to start in AI, ACAM’s ‘Marketing Team of the Future’ whitepaper reframes these concerns as an opportunity to return marketing to its true purpose of driving growth, creativity and trust, not just efficiency.
ACAM in partnership with Adobe launched the Marketing Team of the Future at SXSW Sydney, unveiling a blueprint for how marketing teams will transform in the AI era. It was developed using research and direct input from ACAM’s AI Pioneers, which includes senior marketers from some of Australia’s nuggets brands.
Douglas Nicol, ACAM co-founder, said: “AI anxiety is real and understandable, but it’s also the beginning of transformation. The key is not to fear substitution, but to embrace reinvention. The future of marketing belongs to those willing to upskill, experiment and build new human and AI partnerships that enhance creativity and performance.”
Outlining nine guiding principles for building future-ready teams, the paper focuses on the need for marketers to evolve culturally as much as technically, embracing a mindset that prioritises chasing the customer, not the tool; fostering psychological safety and curiosity within teams; redefining roles through genuine human and AI collaboration rather than replication; and establishing data strategy and governance as essential foundations for future-ready marketing.
Nicol added: “Marketing is entering a once-in-a-generation transformation, as AI removes the burden of excessive process and administration, enabling teams to return to their intended centre of gravity, driving growth and lowering the cost of sale. The most successful marketing teams by 2027 will not just use AI, they will orchestrate it.”
According to the United Nations Labour Report 2025, only a small percentage of jobs, about 3.3% globally, are at high risk of having the majority of tasks automated by generative AI, and even in these roles, human involvement remains essential. While marketing may be more impacted than this global average, the paper concludes marketers need to move the AI conversation to transformation not obsolescence.
By 2027, marketing teams will be focusing on new disciplines that include predictive brand strategy, using AI insights to anticipate audience shifts; AI-driven consumer research powered by intelligent agents; transparent and explainable media buying; Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) as a replacement for traditional SEO; and hyper-personalisation alongside real-time engagement at scale.
The paper also outlines the baseline skills, or superpowers, marketers of tomorrow will need including: Marketing fundamentals and commercial smarts – while AI can process vast amounts of data, human commercial thinking, judgement and empathy truly drives growth; AI literacy and orchestration – the marketer of the future will act as an ‘AI conductor’, understanding how AI works and where it doesn’t, and blending it across creative, data, media and operations; and ethical and risk governance – future marketers will be their brand’s ‘trust guardians’, navigating bias, copyright, misinformation and data privacy with transparency and responsibility.
Duncan Egan, VP enterprise marketing, APAC & Japan, Adobe, said: “This moment isn’t about disruption. AI is redefining what’s possible, empowering teams to move faster, think bigger, and connect more deeply with their audiences. By embracing AI, marketers free themselves to lead with storytelling and strategy, unlocking growth opportunities for themselves and their organisation.”
In August ACAM announced a landmark three-year strategic supporter agreement with Adobe, helping ensure its programs reach and support more marketers across Australia with practical, values-driven AI insights and education.
Source: Tag PR
