TLDR;
In this interview, Jennifer Kattula, Microsoft’s GM and CMO, shares her insights on how generative AI (GenAI) is transforming the marketing landscape and at Microsoft Advertising, the focus on AI is around three key areas: productivity, insights, and creativity. Here are the key takeaways from her insights:
- Productivity: AI automates routine tasks, freeing up time for creative and strategic work.
- Insights: AI accelerates data analysis, making it easier for marketers to derive valuable insights quickly.
- Creativity: While AI supports the creative process, the core ideas and innovation still come from human marketers.
- Human-Centric Approach: AI should be seen as a tool to enhance, not replace, human creativity and skills.
- Adapting to Change: Marketers are encouraged to experiment with AI now to navigate a fast-evolving landscape and maintain brand authenticity to meet the expectations of AI-fluent audiences.
A little under a year ago, Microsoft’s General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer of Advertising, Jennifer Kattula, was awakened to the power and potential of generative AI in marketing. Kattula found herself deep in the Midjourney Discord, “it just gave me the sense of empowerment that I could create and imagine. That was the start for me.”
From the depths of Chat GPT and the /imagine /prompt in Midjourney, Kattula joined Microsoft in late 2023 to lead marketing across its Advertising product suite. It’s in her role at Microsoft Advertising, and the tech giant’s AI tools and capabilities with Copilot, that Kattula is seeing (and leading) first-hand the profound transformation that marketing is undergoing at the hands of generative AI.
At Microsoft Advertising, the focus on AI is around three key areas: productivity, insights, and creativity.
Jennifer Kattulla, General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft – Interviewed June 2024
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Productivity: enhancing productivity by automating routine tasks, such as summarizing meeting notes, which frees up time to focus on creative and strategic work
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Insights: accelerating the process of gathering and synthesizing data, making it easier to derive insights from large datasets. Tools like Insights Navigator democratize data by enabling non-technical users to extract valuable information quickly and easily
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Creativity: compliment creativity through the quick generation of ideas, videos, and images to help create better briefs and accelerate the development of asset creation
Jennifer Kattulla, General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft – Interviewed June 2024
On the point of creativity, Kattula acknowledges one of the most common concerns she hears about AI in the industry and more broadly, is whether it’s going to take away our creativity. She explains, “AI is not creative, you are.” Whilst AI accelerates the creation process, Kattula emphasizes that the kernel of the idea – what goes in to build the prompt – begins with the human.
Jennifer Kattulla, General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft – Interviewed June 2024
“The impact of generative AI on the fundamentals of marketing is something I don’t know if we as an industry have really started to unpack,” says Kattula. “When you think about the way (we) learned marketing, it was the four P’s and the three C’s. A lot of these fundamentals still hold true, but the question I have is how might the process of marketing change?”
This new and rapid shift to AI, AI-fluent audiences will demand that marketers adapt quickly in order to maintain and master brand authenticity. “This is the time to play and practice,” Kattula advises, urging marketers to experiment with AI now to understand how it can transform their strategies, decrease time spent on tasks, and boost creativity.
In her role at Microsoft Advertising, Kattula is witnessing firsthand the transformative impact of generative AI on marketing, driving advances in productivity, insights, and creativity. While AI tools streamline routine tasks, speed up data analysis, and support creative development, Kattula insists that human creativity must remain at the center. The true power of AI lies in its ability to enhance, not replace, the original ideas and unique skills that marketers bring to the table.
As AI technology continues to evolve, marketers need to navigate a rapidly changing landscape where AI-fluent audiences demand both brand authenticity and innovation. By thoughtfully integrating AI into their strategies, marketers can preserve their brand’s unique identity while harnessing AI’s capabilities to fuel growth and deepen engagement.
