'GenAI is no longer a future consideration' - marketing teams ecstatic about AI as a paltry 7% of CMOs in a research say they don't see an ROI

• Marketing teams embed GenAI into daily workflows despite uncertain sustainability
• AI tools drive measurable personalization, predictive accuracy, and time savings
• Reported ROI from GenAI adoption climbs sharply across global marketing industries

Marketing teams are increasingly deploying GenAI technology as a practical tool rather than a speculative experiment, even though some reports have suggested that almost all GenAI pilots were failing.

According to a new study by SAS and Coleman Parkes, more than eight in ten marketers globally are actively using GenAI, with CMOs and marketing teams reporting a clear ROI of 93% and 83%, respectively.

In the EMEA region, these figures average 85%, suggesting the technology’s value is being recognized across diverse markets.

Expanding use cases beyond traditional roles

How marketers use GenAI has evolved rapidly over the past year, the study found, as chatbots and content generation remain the most common applications.

However, trend analysis and customer journey mapping are rising in prominence.

Emerging use cases such as deploying synthetic data, exploring small language models, and experimenting with digital twins indicate that teams are testing the boundaries of the technology.

Marketers report tangible benefits from GenAI, including improved personalization for 94% of respondents, efficiency in handling large datasets for 91%, and savings in operational time and costs for 90%.

Gains in predictive accuracy, customer loyalty, and sales are reported by nearly nine in ten respondents.

These figures suggest AI writers and other AI tools are contributing to measurable outcomes.

Also, investment in GenAI is rising, with 93% of marketing teams budgeting for the technology through 2026.

“GenAI is no longer a future consideration, it is a present-day imperative,” said Jenn Chase, CMO at SAS.

Teams are embedding the technology into daily workflows and developing infrastructure for more autonomous marketing strategies.

However, AI adoption at work reveals a surprising divide between skeptics fearing risks and realists embracing the tools.

While the enthusiasm is evident, organizations will need to carefully monitor ROI, ethical considerations, and the integration of multiple AI tools.

This is to ensure these strategies remain effective and sustainable over time, because long-term sustainability remains to be fully tested.

Despite the high integration figures, some caution is warranted as surveys can overstate practical integration.

That said, it is also important to interpret these results cautiously, as self-reported improvements may not always translate to uniform performance across all marketing contexts.

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