Integrating AI and the Human Touch to Rethink the Marketing of the Future

Artificial Intelligence today opens up unprecedented scenarios and possibilities. In marketing, as in other business functions, the real challenge is not choosing between technology and creativity but making them coexist synergistically to build winning strategies.

With this spirit, the Reunion of the Marketing, Digital Innovation & AI Knowledge Area took place under the title Marketing Transformation | AI, Data & Customer Experience. Introduced by Emanuela Prandelli, Associate Dean for Open Programs at SDA Bocconi, the event brought together former participants, practitioners, and faculty for an afternoon of dialogue, inspiration, and exchange.

How Artificial Intelligence is Shaping the Future of Marketing

The first panel, moderated by Chiara Piancatelli, SDA Bocconi, featured contributions from Paola Maffezzoni (Marketing & Comms Director, WPP and WPP Media Italia | Fortune 40under40 | Forbes Top100 CMOs), Marco Pelà (Head of Customer Experience & Digital, Ogilvy Italy), and Andrea Grondona (Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube).

The speakers underlined how AI applied to marketing strategies can help companies and managers turn data into insights and more effective decisions, fostering creativity, personalizing customer journeys, and improving customer acquisition and retention.

Risks were also discussed — from content bubbles, which reduce the variety of perspectives, to multiple-choice systems that can generate inaccurate outputs and hallucinations. A shared awareness emerged: AI must act as a partner, not a substitute for humans. Only the combination of technology and human intuition can optimize processes and decisions, creating a genuine long-term competitive advantage.

Customer Experience Reloaded: Who Leads in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?

The second panel, moderated by Valentina Salice e Walter Susini, SDA Bocconi, featured Niccolò Rigo (Group Chief Strategy Officer, Dentsu Italy), Luca Mandelli (Marketing Director, Nespresso Italy), and Ester Gazzano (Head of Consumer Marketing Europe, Spotify).

The discussion focused on the impact of data and new technologies on customer experience, highlighting that AI is not only a tool to improve efficiency and performance but also an enabler of authentic and engaging experiences.

The panel emphasized the need to rethink KPIs and to value the critical and soft skills essential for integrating technological innovation with customer empathy. Human contribution remains central: balancing advanced tools with creativity, critical thinking, and sensitivity enables the creation of authentic experiences and competitive value.

Looking ahead, marketers will need to keep developing critical thinking, stimulating creativity, and staying up to date to work effectively with AI. There is no universal formula — only the human element can provide the added value that distinguishes a strategy and makes it successful.

Future Perspectives

In closing, Fabrizio Zerbini, Director of the Marketing Area at SDA Bocconi, emphasized that it will take time to fully understand the correct use of AI and that a cultural shift will be necessary to strike the right balance between technology and the human factor — paving the way for a new curve of efficiency for companies and society.

The Reunion confirmed the value of the SDA Bocconi community, offering a unique opportunity for discussion, networking, and inspiration — a space to share experiences and chart new directions for the future of marketing.

SDA Bocconi School of Management

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