Suzanne Kounkel, CMO of Deloitte and Jen Howard, global head of sales and VP of Canva, sat down at Variety Studios presented by Canva at Cannes Lions to discuss AI integration and other tech developments in their marketing.
“Our view really is that AI will not replace the creative process,” said the Canva VP. “That it really is a collaboration tool for the process itself and really kind of giving people a place to start, something to react to, something to build off of, but we don’t believe that it replaces the entire process.”
Kounkel echoed this, saying it tech like AI allows humans to focus on the things that only humans are capable of while moving away from other tasks doable by AI.
“Even all of the technology and enablement will allow for a lot of convergence across industries in ways that is unparalleled,” said Kounkel. “[These technologies] help us be more human at scale, because it actually frees up the human time to be spent in things that only humans can do.”
Kounkel and Howard also discussed ways marketers can interact with their company’s C-suite to amplify their voice, rather than having to lobby. Kounkel said planning for the short-term while being transparent about potential business avenues is always effective.
“We put some of the messiness and the choices on the table with them and have them really engage in helping us with the decisions that we’re making,” she added. “And then that allows us to have really good decisions that we’re making collectively. And that frees us up to spend our time on the creative and the marketing superpowers that they don’t have.”
As digital marketing continues to progress, Howard said it’s important to have money set aside for marketing teams to test the new tech waters. AI has been a driving example as of late.
“Often the most sophisticated marketers always hold a bit of budget to play with new media as it emerges,” said Howard. “So, I think they’re prepared for that as it emerges. But your point’s a good one, in that each of these platforms requires a different format, a different asset, potentially a different creative asset, and so maybe even a different voice.”
As marketing technology grows, so does the marketing team, which means new roles are required to properly integrate any new innovations.
