Becoming Artificial Intelligence-First Marketers

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved beyond the hype to become a vital part of how we work and live. In marketing, it is rewriting the rules—from adaptive audience segmentation to predictive lead scoring and self-optimising campaigns that learn and improve with every click. Artificial Intelligence empowers brands to move faster, act smarter, and build deeper customer relevance at scale.

Take Trade Me, New Zealand’s largest online auction site. By using AI to anticipate user behaviours like bidding likelihood and purchase intent, they achieved a 20% lift in open rates and a 10% boost in click-throughs. When technology meets the right moment, the results speak for themselves. Automating routine tasks frees marketers to do what really matters: test, learn, and act on high-quality insights with speed and confidence.

But AI’s impact goes beyond efficiency—it is about making connections. When paired with rich data, AI enables marketers to move past shallow personalisation. It is not just about adding a name to an email; itis about truly understanding customers as individuals at scale. Twilio’s research shows 76% of APAC consumers abandon purchases when brands fail to connect personally, while 60% will spend more when engagement is personalised. The message is clear: transactional marketing is out. Relevance, timing, and connection are the way forward.

At Twilio, we’re transitioning our entire marketing organisation to become AI-first. This means embedding it into our daily marketing operations. We use it to route 90% of inbound interest, deflect 75% of support tickets, and cut campaign launch times by the same amount. AI helps us identify segments, generate creative variations, and summarise performance so we can act on insights the very same day. This also means changing our way of thinking. It’s about fundamentally reimagining how we connect with our customers, how quickly we move and iterate, and how we inspire our teams to continuously raise the bar.

We are still figuring out just how far AI can go, there is a lot we do not know yet. But one thing is for certain: AI has levelled the playing field. Marketers need to stay curious and make the most of it. That means embracing what I call a learner’s mindset: Stay humble, ask plenty of questions, share both wins and setbacks, and keep evolving.

The future of marketing is not AI versus human, it is AI plus human. That is where that real magic happens. And that’s how we build campaigns that not only perform, but truly connect.

As we celebrate AI Appreciation Day, let us not just marvel at what AI can do, but focus on what we do best. What sets us apart as humans is our ability to lead with empathy, collaborate across teams, and adapt to what customers need in real time. This is what gives marketing its edge.