AI in marketing, just hype or ROI driver?

That's what we debated yesterday at RTB House Day Berlin.

I had a great conversation with Stefan Bubolz and Ruppert Bodmeier, moderated by Katharina Jäger.

As always, truth is somewhere in the middle.

AI in marketing is a genuine revolution.

But the space is drowning in buzzwords and hype. Being able to separate real ROI from noise is what matters now.

Here's what we agreed on:

AI for creative and design is already delivering strong ROI.
Same for vibe-coding internal tools; real time and cost savings, today.

Performance marketing has been using AI for at least a decade, long before anyone called it "AI." Bid optimisation, audience modelling, dynamic creative, none of this is new. Just because the label changed doesn't mean it's a breakthrough. It's a natural evolution of foundations laid in the 2010s.

Where it gets murkier: AI agents and assistants in online commerce.

Amazon and Walmart are seeing impressive results from their AI shopping assistants. But let's be honest, they're the exception, not the norm. Not every retailer is a multi-billion dollar company with near-unlimited tech budgets. 💵

That last point resonated particularly well with the audience. 😅

If anyone wants to discuss AI in marketing further, my DMs are open :)

Until next time, Berlin!

Photo credits: Alexander Kuczminski