Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming marketing, but the real question is not how much technology can replace existing activities and processes. The challenge is to understand where it can create new value and where the human contribution should remain central. This was the key message emerging from Marketing Reset: Artificial Intelligence, Growth Strategies, Value and Skills, an opportunity to move beyond the hype and explore the concrete implications of AI for the future of the Marketing function.

From efficiency to value creation

The first panel, moderated by Chiara Piancatelli, Associate Professor of Practice in Marketing, SDA Bocconi School of Management, brought together Marco Castellaneta, Marketing Director, Juventus; Gio Giacobbe, CEO, ACBC; Jacopo Sebastio, Founder & CEO, Velasca; and Davide Zanolini, Executive Vice President Marketing & Communication, Piaggio Group, to discuss how companies are using AI: from a tool to make processes more efficient to a lever for generating new ideas and business opportunities. The experiences shared ranged from content creation and personalization to data analysis supporting growth decisions, product innovation and the transformation of consumer search journeys. One example is the emerging “answer economy”: being found is no longer enough. Increasingly, what matters is being cited and building a coherent digital ecosystem that can also be effectively interpreted by AI.

At the same time, the discussion highlighted the need to preserve what truly differentiates a brand. Authenticity, creativity, relationships and the human touch become even more valuable in a context where technology enables content and analysis to be produced at an unprecedented scale. Moving from experimentation to value creation therefore requires new processes and skills, combined with the ability to interpret data to make more effective choices, without delegating responsibility for decisions to technology.

How value is changing in marketing

The second panel shifted the focus to the ecosystem supporting CMOs: agencies, consulting firms and technology platforms. Antonio Faraldi, Managing Director & Partner, BCG; Catarina Sismeiro, CXM/Data & Tech Practice President, dentsu Italy; Alessandro Diana, Lead for Italy, Central Europe and Greece, Accenture Song; and Giuliano Cini, Group Vertical Director Commerce, Italy & Greece, Global Business Solutions, TikTok, moderated by Valentina Salice, Brand and Communication Fellow, SDA Bocconi School of Management and Chief Growth Officer, dentsu Italy, explored a central question: what happens to value when AI changes not only how we work, but also who can do what?

As production, analysis and optimization become progressively faster and less expensive, what clients and companies are willing to recognize as premium also changes. Value is therefore shifting from simply “doing” to the ability to interpret complexity, integrate creativity, technology and business, orchestrate different capabilities, and generate outcomes that are difficult to replicate. At the same time, AI opens up possibilities that were previously difficult or unimaginable, while requiring organizations to rethink pricing models, processes, architectures, data quality and skills.

This transformation is also reshaping the traditional boundaries of the ecosystem: agencies are integrating technology, consulting firms are increasingly competing in the creative space, while platforms are offering ever more advanced tools to create, optimize, sell and measure. The question is therefore no longer simply how to use AI, but which activities will remain distinctive, which will be brought in-house, and where each player will continue to create value.

The relationship between brands and consumers is evolving as well. Search, discovery, content creation, personalization and commerce are beginning to converge, while new decision journeys can be mediated by algorithms, LLMs and, increasingly, agents. For brands, this means creating experiences and content that are relevant to people, while also designing systems capable of operating in an ecosystem where a growing share of discovery and decision-making will be mediated by technology.

In this scenario, AI is not merely a machine for automation, but also a force redistributing time, skills, margins and power across the value chain. The critical question therefore becomes where each player can continue to create value that others cannot easily replicate. Steve Jobs once described the computer as a “bicycle for the mind”, a tool capable of dramatically amplifying human capabilities. Perhaps today we can think of AI as that same bicycle, but with wings: it allows us to go faster and further, but it is still up to us to decide where we want to go and what value we want to create once we get there.

The Reunion concluded by broadening the discussion beyond marketing. As Fabrizio Zerbini, Marketing Area Director, SDA Bocconi School of Management, highlighted, while AI can act as a complement and accelerator for skills and professional development, understanding where technology will augment people and where it may replace certain activities also raises a question of social responsibility. Continuing to foster dialogue among universities, businesses and institutions will therefore be essential to navigate a transformation that concerns not only tools and processes, but the very way in which people and organizations will create value in the future.