The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming every aspect of our lives, and marketing is no exception. At the HUNET CEO Forum "Foresight Korea 2025," LG U+ Executive Director Kim Tae-hoon delivered an insightful presentation on "AI Marketing New Trends 2025," exploring AI's impact on marketing and how businesses should prepare for the future. Let's examine the marketing trends of the AI era and how companies can strategically respond.
AI: Knowing What Customers Want Before They Do
AI and machine learning technologies are revolutionizing personalized marketing. The era of rule-based personalization is over. Advanced AI predictive modeling not only accurately understands customer needs but also predicts and suggests latent desires that customers themselves haven't yet recognized.
"Most customers are unaware of their potential needs," explained Executive Director Kim. AI-based predictive modeling captures these latent desires and transforms them into memorable customer experiences. For instance, when AI predicts a customer's likelihood of purchasing baby formula, targeted advertising reaches them immediately. This capability far surpasses traditional rule-based systems.
The 2022 Salesforce "State of Marketing" report reveals a notable shift: the percentage of marketers using AI surged from 29% in 2018 to 68% in 2022. LG U+'s experimental results are equally impressive, with AI-based predictive modeling boosting ad click-through rates by up to 38%. These results demonstrate AI's profound ability to analyze customer data and develop effective personalized marketing strategies.
Creating $200,000 Ads for One-Third the Cost: How AI is Transforming Production
LG U+'s pioneering use of AI in advertising production is reshaping industry standards. Starting with their first attempts in 2023, they've continued to evolve their AI advertising capabilities in 2024, capturing market attention.
The most striking change is the maximization of production efficiency. After implementing AI, advertising production costs and time have been reduced to just one-third of previous levels. For example, projects that once required $200,000 and three months to complete can now be finished much faster and more economically using AI.
AI isn't just improving efficiency - it's entering creative territories. In fact, LG U+'s AI-powered advertisements garnered 13 million views, generating enthusiastic audience responses. Accenture's 2021 research supports this trend, finding that 84% of companies that adopted AI gained a competitive advantage, largely because AI automation of routine tasks allows creators to focus on higher-value creative activities.
However, human creativity and judgment remain crucial for successful AI implementation. While AI is a powerful tool, industry consensus holds that human expertise and insight are essential for its effective utilization.
Consumers and AI: The New Content Creation Partnership
AI technology is completely transforming the content creation paradigm. The UCC (User Created Content) era is giving way to the UACC (User and AI Co-Created Content) era.
The age of UACC - "User and AI Co-Created Content" - is rapidly approaching. Recently, a viral Volvo car advertisement and GTA-style gaming footage created by an individual using AI demonstrated UACC's unlimited potential.
IDC's 2021 report presents an even more striking forecast, predicting the global AI market will reach $500 billion by 2024. This highlights how rapidly AI technology is permeating across industries.
These changes bring new challenges and opportunities. Companies must now provide platforms and tools that enable customers to create creative content alongside AI. This will expand brand experiences and strengthen customer relationships.
Global Brands That Said No to AI
While AI technology holds revolutionary potential, its implementation requires careful consideration. The cases of Lego and Dove demonstrate the crucial importance of finding harmony between AI technology and brand identity.
Lego completely halted its use of AI after determining that AI-generated images were damaging their brand identity. This decision was accelerated by strong consumer backlash against AI-produced content, with critics arguing that it had lost the quintessential Lego creativity and warmth. This vividly illustrates the potential clash between core corporate values and AI technology. Similarly, Dove boldly rejected AI technology, stating, "We won't use anything unrealistic in depicting beauty."
These cases send a clear message: AI technology shouldn't be adopted indiscriminately just because it's trendy. Companies must carefully examine their brand values and identity when implementing AI technology.
AI adoption goes beyond mere technological application. It's deeply connected to a company's strategy, culture, and human resources. Therefore, when adopting AI technology, companies must comprehensively consider various aspects including brand value, corporate culture, and talent development.
This balanced approach is essential for sustainable growth and maintaining competitiveness in the AI era. Strategic wisdom is more crucial than ever - maximizing AI technology's potential while preserving the company's unique values and identity.
How Can Marketers Survive in the AI Era?
AI technology's advancement is fundamentally changing the role of marketers. Now, marketers must go beyond simply using technology; they need to develop skills that harmoniously blend AI and human creativity.
The key is effectively expressing corporate identity through AI technology while producing superior results. LG U+'s case proves this vividly. During the process of generating and reviewing 200,000 advertising frames using AI, it became clear that human curation and refinement of AI-created content was crucial. Rather than merely relying on AI, human judgment determined the final quality of the output.
Marketers must effectively utilize AI tools while maintaining brand essence and authentic customer communication. Additionally, their role in reviewing and filtering AI-generated content will become increasingly important.
LinkedIn's 2023 "Jobs on the Rise" report highlights interesting changes. AI and machine learning specialists, data scientists, and digital marketing experts are among the fastest-growing job categories. This clearly shows new challenges and opportunities opening up for professionals, including marketers.
Five Recommendations for Successful AI Marketing
Executive Director Kim's presentation provides crucial insights into the future direction of marketing in the AI era.
He presents the following key strategies:
Be cautious of indiscriminate AI adoption; consider the company's actual needs and readiness level
Leaders must improve their understanding of AI technology and make strategic decisions
Accurate predictive modeling and personalization strategies based on customer data are essential
Prepare for the UACC era by providing platforms where customers can create creative content with AI
Maintain harmonious integration between brand identity and AI technology utilization
"AI trends are not absolute."
This single statement encapsulates everything. Only careful AI adoption tailored to a company's situation leads to success. AI is not a magic wand but a powerful tool, and how it's utilized will determine a company's success or failure.
The conclusion is clear. Marketing in the AI era must achieve harmony between technological innovation and human creativity. Companies must effectively utilize AI technology while not losing sight of their brand essence and authentic customer communication. To become a winner in an AI-driven marketing environment, one must find the balance between technology and humanity. This requires strategic wisdom that goes beyond simple technology adoption, weaving together corporate core values and AI's potential into a unified strategy.
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