2026 benchmark study: Marketing’s AI inflection point

Artificial intelligence has moved from a buzzword to a boardroom mandate over the past couple of years. Adoption is no longer the story—we found 100% of marketers surveyed are using AI. What matters now is value, not usage.

Are marketers are seeing real returns? Do they have the right foundation built
to push their organization ahead as AI evolves? Unsurprisingly, the answer isn’t as straightforward as it seems.

This study, conducted with 250+ marketing decision-makers across five industries including retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), financial services, travel and restaurants, finds marketers at an inflection point—one where early enthusiasm has been validated, but where confidence is beginning to outpace the foundations beneath it.

In the research, we explore:

• Why marketers are using AI today and how they’re measuring success
• How brands are approaching the next wave of the technology like consumer agents and agentic AI
• Why leadership’s view of AI differs from the rest of the organization
• What challenges (and opportunities) marketers are facing with AI today—and where to go from here

What the data tells us about the state of AI in marketing in 2026

This research explores the friction marketers are experiencing with AI today:

Marketers say they find these tools extremely valuable, but their primary AI uses don’t match how they’re proving its value for their organization.

91% of marketers said AI is “extremely” or “very” valuable to their organization, which continues to paint the picture that marketers are fully investing their time, effort and budgets into AI—but they’re prioritizing certain outcomes over others. The majority (71%) noted they are primarily using AI for “productivity and efficiency” gains, (i.e., it’s helping them do their job faster) while only 9% said they are using AI for revenue generation.

Here’s the kicker: When asked how marketers are primarily measuring the performance of their AI tools, 46% said they’re looking at revenue gains. There’s quite a discrepancy in what most marketers say they’re using it for and how they’re actually measuring success.

They say their organizations are “extremely mature” when it comes to AI but cite data quality—the quintessential foundation of all AI tools—as their top challenge.

Confidence in AI is extremely high in the industry right now. Half of marketers rated their organization as “extremely mature” in using AI, and almost no one said they were “not at all mature.” This represents a pretty significant shift in how marketers view their AI skills:
In 2025, only 35% of marketers said they were “extremely mature” in using AI. Additionally, 91% of marketers said AI is “extremely” or “very” valuable to their organization, which continues to paint the picture that marketers are fully investing their time, effort and budgets into AI.

However, 45% of marketers cite data quality—incomplete, inconsistent or unreliable data feeding their AI models—as their top challenge. Despite half of marketers feeling their organization is “extremely mature” when it comes to AI, the most popular technical challenge they’re facing is data quality or incomplete data feeding the AI models.

Having quality data is the single most important thing when it comes to making the most out of your AI tools. A model can only be as good as the data behind it, so a “mature” AI program built on shaky data might not be so mature. It really is a matter of garbage in, garbage out.

There’s also a significant gap between leadership’s perception of how AI is used and its impact compared to the rest of the organization.

When you slice the data by job designation (C-level, VP, director, senior director, senior manager) an interesting trend occurs: Leadership is far more bullish on AI than the rest of their organization. 67% of C-level marketers say their organization is “extremely mature” when it comes to AI use, compared to only 33% of senior managers. In terms of AI tools and their value, 73% of leadership think the AI tools they’ve implemented are “extremely valuable” while only 25% of senior managers feel the same.

There are a couple of viable reasons for this perception gap, but one thing is certain: Organizations that aren’t aligned on why they use AI and how they’re assessing its value will struggle to then prove that value.

Why it’s important to have this conversation now

This all becomes even more important as agentic AI takes the throne as the “next big thing” in the industry, and the questions of human oversight, investment and results become even more pressing. If marketing organizations can’t align on why they’re using AI and how to accurately convey value, how can they keep up and continue to evolve? There’s also a real argument to be made that if marketing organizations are struggling with the data feeding their AI models, they may not be getting what they need out of the tech.

As we move forward into the next era of AI in marketing, this research can help you understand the importance of using AI as a growth engine and show you how to set your organization up for success.