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“ It’ s not just about understanding customers, but understanding how brands are being searched, selected and purchased by AI agents on their behalf,” Chris says.“ That means optimising not only for human consideration, but for how your brand shows up, is interpreted and is chosen within these emerging decision ecosystems.“ We now need to apply human understanding to this frontier, bringing the same depth of behavioural insight to how these systems decide. It’ s a rapidly evolving space, but one where we already have the tools and human expertise to help our clients navigate and shape what comes next.” Using AI tools can also help marketing leaders get more insights out of unstructured data.“ Unstructured data is a bottomless pit of rich, contextual information,” he says.“ That’ s why any modern CMO should be investing in generative AI to bring that unstructured data to life and transform it into valuable business insights.” While searching for insights through messy data across social media platforms can be a“ laborious task,” for marketing leaders, AI is“ hungry,” for that data, Chris says – with the technology able to conduct tasks like summarising the sentiment of a comment section and giving suggestions for future marketing content.
Brands should be moving at the same pace as their customers and developing targeted programmes that evaluate every interaction
Chris Mellish Managing Director, UK and Ireland Accenture Song
“ Additionally, when combined with structured data, generative AI adds the context needed to enable more humanlike communication,” he explains, with the data containing signals for the tone, personality, look and feel that can drive richer interactions for brands.
Creative thinking in an AI era Despite the impact AI can have on improving customer listening strategies, Chris stresses that the human element is still crucial within marketing strategies.“ We believe AI is a creative amplifier, rather than a human replacement tool” he says.“ While some fear AI will replace human creativity altogether, it should be viewed as an opportunity to elevate the industry by focusing on what humans do best.”
90 October 2026