Humans, Marketing & Machines – How talent, skills and incentives are being redefined

A joint study from mediasense and WFA explores the quality, availability and future readiness of marketing talent as capability requirements evolve at unprecedented speed.

Based on responses from 166 industry professionals across brands, agencies, platforms and other organisations, the research includes representatives from 65 brands responsible for $80 billion in annual global marketing spend.

The findings reveal that marketing’s talent challenge is less about recruitment and more about transformation. As AI and automation reshape how work gets done, organisations must combine greater technical fluency with the human capabilities that remain hardest to automate, including judgement, prioritisation, creativity and stakeholder influence.

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Key takeaways

• Strategic thinking is marketing’s biggest talent shortage, identified by 72% of respondents
• AI fluency remains underdeveloped, cited by 56%, closely followed by data-driven decision-making at 55%
• 77% expect AI fluency and orchestration to become more important over the next two to three years
• More than half identify an inability to upskill existing talent quickly as one of their two greatest future talent risks
• Current incentive models score just 2.6 out of 5, revealing a disconnect between the capabilities organisations need and the behaviours they reward

The research shows that technology alone will not determine which organisations succeed. Competitive advantage will come from combining AI with human judgement, strong leadership and a culture that supports continuous learning.

However, many organisations are not yet rewarding the behaviours required to make that combination work. Current incentive models often prioritise delivery and short-term output over strategic thinking, adaptability and collaboration.

With incentive structures receiving an average effectiveness score of just 2.6 out of 5, organisations risk asking their people to develop new capabilities while continuing to reward established ways of working.

“This study is a sobering reminder to brands, agencies and platforms that humans must remain firmly ‘in the loop’ on AI to fully realise its impact. The continued challenges around marketing talent point to the over-correction organisations have made on technical skills over the critical and strategic judgement the industry needs to create the differentiation and growth brands are urgently seeking.”

Ryan Kangisser, Chief Strategy Officer at mediasense

Five priorities for future-ready marketing organisations

• Put strategic thinking at the centre: As execution becomes increasingly supported by AI and automation, the ability to exercise judgement, set priorities and connect marketing activity to wider business objectives will become more valuable.
• Build AI fluency across the organisation: AI capability should not sit exclusively within technical or specialist teams. Marketing professionals need the confidence to use, evaluate and orchestrate AI as part of their everyday work.
• Accelerate continuous upskilling: Traditional approaches to recruitment and occasional training will not keep pace with changing capability requirements. Organisations need to make learning a continuous part of how work is structured and careers are developed.
• Protect the human advantage: Creativity, judgement, influence and insight development remain difficult to automate. These capabilities should be developed alongside technical expertise, rather than treated as secondary to it.
• Align incentives with future needs: Performance measures and career pathways should reward strategic contribution, adaptability, collaboration and learning, not simply delivery and short-term output.

Future-ready organisations will be those that can develop these capabilities quickly, embed AI into everyday ways of working and align performance and career development with the skills required for future growth.

Download the full report to benchmark your organisation’s talent readiness and explore the practical steps marketing leaders can take to close critical capability gaps.