SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – The Association for Data-Driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) has released AI, Talent & Trust: A New Blueprint for Marketing Leadership, a landmark report that defines the path forward for marketers to lead confidently in an AI-powered world.
The report outlines how leaders can harness AI effectively, ethically and safely while strengthening the skills, creativity and trust essential for sustainable growth – setting the agenda and defining the frameworks marketers need to lead decisively and shape the future of the industry.
ADMA’s AI in Marketing survey – the most comprehensive study undertaken in Australia completed by over 1,000 marketers – found a widening gap between rapid AI adoption and industry readiness, revealing a clear story: marketers are moving faster than their capabilities. In fact 75% of marketers now use AI weekly, demonstrating bold experimentation and rapid adoption; however, with only 29% having undertaken training, this highlights an important opportunity for upskilling to ensure AI is used with both confidence and trust.
“The future isn’t coming – it’s already here. AI is no longer a curiosity on the side; it’s already in our workflows, campaigns and customer conversations,” says Andrea Martens, CEO of ADMA. “But while AI can generate at scale, it cannot imagine, emphathize or judge. That is why this report goes beyond technology – it is about people, creativity and trust. By providing clear frameworks and ethical guardrails, we want to ensure marketers can lead with confidence and unlock the full potential of an AI-powered future.”
The report is authored by leading AI practitioners Lisa Talia Moretti and Daniel Bluzer-Fry, with insights from a distinguished group of industry leaders, including futurist Tom Goodwin, Deloitte Partner David Phillips, Zip Co’s Senior Director of Marketing Research Sonny Sethi, Archie CEO Steve Brennen, and ADMA regulatory expert Peter Leonard – all members of ADMA’s Advisory Council. It also features contributions from Reejig CEO Siobhan Savage and ADMA Policy Manager Sage Kelly, offering a broad range of perspectives across strategy, technology, workforce, and policy.
It is one of the key initiatives under ADMA’s new National Workforce Intelligence Partnership with workforce intelligence provider Reejig, a pioneering project that maps in real time how AI is reshaping roles, tasks and skills across marketing. It forms a pillar of ADMA’s broader agenda to provide the scaffolding marketers need to navigate an AI-powered future with confidence, going beyond theory to deliver practical support, actionable blueprints and real world solutions.
This broader agenda includes ADMA’s industry-leading Capability Compass, ADMA’s proprietary, future-focused assessment tool that tracks how marketing skills are evolving; the Blueprints, tangible roadmaps that show what to protect, evolve and automate across roles; exclusive workforce intelligence through the partnership with Reejig, powered by 13 million data points across 23 industries; and ADMA’s Regulatory and Advocacy leadership, embedding fairness, accountability, transparency and ethics into everyday practice.
Key takeaways from the report
- AI skills gap: While 75% of marketers use AI weekly, only 29% have formal training, revealing a clear skills imbalance. This gap exposes weaknesses in marketing
technology, data management, and automation that could limit marketers’ ability to fully harness AI’s potential. ADMA’s Capability Compass shows foundational skills like consumer behavior and brand positioning remain strong, but without closing these technical gaps, teams risk falling behind in an AI-driven landscape. - Augmentation, not automation: Marketers are using AI to support, not replace, their work: from content creation and idea generation to refining brand tone. More than 70% of respondents are optimistic about AI’s long-term impact on effectiveness, but the oversaturation of AI-generated content, loss of originality and data privacy concerns remain key risks.
- X-shaped people and multidisciplinary teams: The report highlights the need for “X-shaped” professionals who combine breadth across creativity, strategy and data with depth in specialist expertise. These individuals are essential for guiding AI tools effectively and ensuring multidisciplinary teams work seamlessly across silos.
- The importance of experimentation: The organization that thrive will be those embedding experimentation and continuous learning into their culture. The report outlines practical steps such as creating safe “sandboxes” to test tools, building “AI champions” within teams and encouraging peer-to-peer learning to drive responsible adoption.
- Responsible AI as a brand imperative: Trust is the business model; and responsibility must be built in, not bolted on. Yet only 36% of Australians say they trust AI, highlighting the fragile foundation on which adoption currently sits. The report calls on marketers to lead the way, embedding Fairness, Accountability, Transparency and Ethics (FATE) into AI workflows to protect consumer confidence and position responsible AI as the basis for loyalty and long-term growth.
