Everyone’s talking about AI transforming marketing but are brands truly rethinking how they work?
At the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Masters of Marketing 2026, Suzi Bentley-Tanner, Partner at Gate One, speaks with Ben Harms, Chief Growth Officer, Archrival about why the future of marketing requires more than adopting new technology.
From breaking down silos and building more agile, connected teams to turning insights into action, Suzi and Ben look at how CMOs can navigate complexity, embrace meaningful transformation and unlock AI’s full potential, all without losing the power of human judgment.
Watch the video below for Suzi’s takeaways.
How CMOs can build a more adaptive, AI-enabled marketing function
In this interview at ANA Masters of Marketing, Suzi Bentley Tanner, Partner at Gate One, explores what effective marketing transformation looks like in practice. She discusses how CMOs can embed AI into marketing workflows, simplify complex operating models, strengthen agency partnerships and build adaptive marketing functions that remain focused on customers and human judgement.
Ben: What is marketing transformation?
Suzi Bentley Tanner: Marketing transformation is about redesigning how a marketing function operates so it’s fit for the future and can adapt as customer expectations, technology and business priorities change.
This covers the different layers that make marketing work, including decision rights, organisational structure, ways of working, technology, people and agency relationships. The aim is not simply to introduce new tools. It’s to create an operating model that lets work move effectively across the marketing function and its wider network of partners.
Ben: What are the biggest marketing transformation challenges facing CMOs?
Suzi: One of the biggest challenges is complexity. CMOs are being asked to take on a more strategic role and contribute more clearly to business growth. They also need to demonstrate marketing’s impact to the CFO, respond to rising customer expectations and make sense of growing volumes of data.
At the same time, every CMO is considering where AI should be used across the marketing value chain and just as importantly, where it should not be used. Marketing teams have access to more capabilities than ever, but many are struggling to connect them and establish a clear way forward.
Ben: Where should organisations begin with marketing transformation?
Suzi: A useful starting point is to understand how work currently flows through the marketing organisation. That means looking across the full marketing value chain, from intelligence and brand planning to creative strategy, concept development, content production, activation, measurement and performance. This helps leaders identify unnecessary handovers, areas of duplication and decisions that are slowing work down.
Organisations should also examine which capabilities should sit in-house and which are better delivered through external partners. There’s no single model that works for every organisation. These decisions should be based on the organisation’s needs and strategy, rather than simply following wider industry trends.
Ben: How should CMOs approach AI in marketing?
Suzi: CMOs need to look beyond using AI for isolated tasks. Many organisations are still using AI as a form of task assistance, with individual tools being introduced in separate parts of the marketing process.
The bigger opportunity is to embed AI into end-to-end marketing workflows. This means examining how AI can support work moving from insight and planning through to creative development, production, activation and measurement. Human judgement should remain at the centre, with AI supporting people rather than replacing the decisions that require experience, context and accountability.
Ben: What is holding organisations back from getting greater value from AI?
Suzi: Most organisations are experimenting with point solutions in separate teams or stages of the marketing process. These tools may improve individual tasks, but they don’t necessarily address the underlying complexity of the marketing operating model.
To move beyond task assistance, organisations need to connect AI to their workflows and understand how the full marketing system operates. Without that foundation, individual AI initiatives risk creating additional disconnected capabilities rather than improving the overall flow and effectiveness of marketing.
Ben: How could AI change the structure of marketing teams?
Suzi: AI creates an opportunity to rethink marketing structures that currently depend on linear processes, substantial project management and repeated handovers.
Rather than moving work through a long sequence of separate teams, future marketing models could bring together smaller, more integrated groups. These might combine orchestration, integrated media and creative planning, creative delivery, measurement and performance, supported by agentic workflows.
This would represent a more fundamental change rather than adding AI tools to the existing structure. However, it’s a bold model and we haven’t yet seen an organisation implement it fully.
Ben: What does an effective client-agency relationship look like?
Suzi: Effective agency partnerships need to move beyond an order-taking or transactional relationship. Clients and agencies should operate as “fierce friends”… working collaboratively and with trust, while remaining willing to challenge one another and introduce new ideas.
One practical way to establish this relationship is to create a shared vision at the beginning of an engagement. Both sides can agree on how they want to work together, including the role of honesty, integrity, authenticity and constructive challenge. This creates a stronger foundation for navigating transformation and uncertainty together.
Ben: Why is clear communication important during marketing transformation?
Suzi: Clear communication is essential because transformation already involves significant complexity and uncertainty. If leaders rely on jargon or unclear messages, it becomes harder for employees, agencies and clients to understand what is changing and what’s expected of them.
The principle we discussed at the event was simple, “if you confuse, you lose.” Whether communicating with customers, employees, clients or agency partners, organisations need to express ideas clearly and authentically.
Ben: What are the four behaviours of an adaptive marketing organisation?
Suzi: There are four behaviours that can help organisations build a more adaptive, future-fit marketing function.
- Stay focused on the customer
Marketing teams need to remain customer-led and customer-obsessed. As organisations concentrate on AI and other emerging technologies, there’s a risk that marketing becomes technology-led rather than driven by genuine customer needs.
- Connect the marketing system
Marketing transformation often involves multiple initiatives happening at the same time. Leaders need to bring these activities together and treat marketing as one connected system, rather than a collection of separate projects, teams or technologies.
- Turn insight into action
Marketing teams have access to insight from a growing number of sources. The important step is to interpret that information and feed it back into planning, decision-making and continuous improvement. This creates an ongoing loop between insight, action and performance.
- Keep human judgement at the centre
AI can support decisions and improve workflows but organisations should not outsource their most important judgements to technology. Human experience, context and accountability must remain at the heart of the marketing function.
Ben: What should CMOs prioritise when transforming marketing?
Suzi: CMOs should focus on building a marketing function that is customer-led, connected, insight-driven and supported by human judgement.
Technology and AI are important enablers but they should not determine the transformation on their own. Sustainable marketing transformation comes from understanding how workflows, simplifying the operating model, connecting people and capabilities and designing AI into workflows in a deliberate way.
We work with CMOs and marketing leaders to evaluate your current operating model and co-design the future-fit version you need to drive growth.
If that’s the kind of change you’re ready to make, we’d love to talk.
