London, UK – 23 July 2025 – There’s growing evidence that AI investments are paying off as 61% of marketers report they have already seen revenue grow as a result. This is according to a survey of 300 senior level marketers in Europe (UK, France and Germany) by Epsilon, a global leader in technology, data and services.
The AI in Marketing: Leadership and Impact in Europe study provides insights from marketing leaders in CPG and retail to assess AI adoption, levels of investment and measurable impact, exploring how AI tools are reshaping key functions, as well as the technical challenges and internal barriers that brands face.
The AI adoption scale
While AI is transformative, it is clear that organisations are at very different stages in their AI journey. Only 16% of marketers using AI see themselves as ‘Leading’, whereby they are developing their own in-house models, building proprietary tools or using agentic AI for full campaign management. Across Europe, France is just ahead with 19% of marketers at this more advanced stage, followed by Germany at 17%, and the UK at 13%.
Marketers report their organisations are most commonly in the ‘Scaling’ phase (36%) where AI is being integrated across multiple channels to support media buying and personalised content. At the more tentative end of the spectrum, 21% are still in the 'Exploring' phase, testing tools like ChatGPT and AI-powered assistants for basic tasks. The UK (27%) is more likely to be experimenting, compared to France (22%) and Germany (15%).
Those in the Exploring phase tend to have lower expectations in terms of the benefits of AI than marketers further along in their journey. Just half in this phase expect to see revenue growth from adoption – 10% lower than other, experienced respondents. Their expectations about reducing media ad waste are also slightly lower than those organisations in the other phases – 31% compared to 34%.
“What stands out is how expectations evolve once AI tools are actually deployed,” Esme Robinson, Director, Platform Solutions at Epsilon comments. “They deliver on topline metrics like revenue and acquisition, but gaps emerge when it comes to deeper performance indicators like conversion or ROAS.
“That’s where identity becomes essential. Without a connected view of the customer across channels, AI doesn’t know what it’s optimising for — you lose precision, and with it, efficiency. The marketers seeing the strongest returns are the ones anchoring AI in rich, first-party data and a clear customer identity.”
Other key findings:
Methodology
The ‘AI in Marketing’ study was conducted by Censuswide for Epsilon in May 2025, surveying 300 senior level marketers in the UK, France and Germany (100 in each market) across the CPG and Retail sectors. All respondents are currently on an AI adoption journey, either Exploring, Implementing, Scaling or Leading.
About Epsilon
Epsilon is a global technology, data and services company that the world’s leading brands use to harmonize consumer engagement across their paid, owned and earned channels. The Epsilon PeopleCloud platform includes capabilities such as data, identity resolution, customer data platforms, clean rooms, digital media, retail media, site personalization, direct mail, loyalty, email marketing and measurement. By applying artificial intelligence against privacy-centric identity resolution–embedded in data-enriched analytic, marketing and media solutions and services—Epsilon allows marketers to bridge the divide between marketing and advertising technology, engaging consumers with 1 View, 1 Vision and 1 Voice. 1 View of their universe of potential buyers. 1 Vision for engaging each individual. 1 Voice to harmonize engagement across paid, owned and earned channels.
For more information, visit www.epsilon.com.
