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- And that's why you need people
that know the fundamentals

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of marketing and not simply delegating

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those fundamentals to AI.

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- Fernando, welcome to BCG House.

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Thanks so much for joining us.

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At a time when consumers are

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increasingly finding, evaluating,

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and choosing products through AI, online,

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what are the greatest misconceptions

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that you can see CMOs
having about the role of AI?

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- I think AI is like top of the agenda

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for everyone at the moment, right?

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And I feel that the people that
are doing the best work are

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the ones that, first,

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have a very clear
definition of the problem

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they're trying to solve.

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And then maybe AI is a way, right?

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I mean, to lead them
into a better outcome.

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Maybe it's not. I think that
when people don't do it well,

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it's almost like because
they have so much pressure

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to have an AI roadmap

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or to show work done with AI

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that they don't even think much about

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the problem they're trying to solve

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and just try to sprinkle
AI into the organization.

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- And on that, effectively
all of these companies,

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all these CMOs who are looking
at that problem, have access

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to the same AI tools.

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So how do they build real advantage?

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Is it just by trying to be
faster than the competitors?

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Or is there something else?

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- There is this risk with AI

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that if you're all using the same tools,

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assessing the same data,
which is not always the case,

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but assessing lots of data,
let's put it that way,

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and coming up with the outcome,
we do risk that everything

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will start to look a little bit the same.

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So I see the best use of
AI, at least in marketing,

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as always like a pairing
of AI with people.

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You know what I mean? I see it as a tool.

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So it will never be just
like the blank outcome.

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Going back to your question
about misconceptions,

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I think that one of the biggest dangers

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that we have today is for people

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to rely exclusively on AI in terms

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of creating a certain output,
whatever the output is.

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So even simple things like, hey, I need

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to write an advertising brief, right?

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I start to hear lots of
brand managers saying, "Oh,

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I don't need to write that well,

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because AI will do it for me."

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And that I think is a
problem. You know what I mean?

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Like when we are delegating
a little bit too much

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of the fundamentals, which is where

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we humans can add value,

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and then pair that with AI so
that we can accomplish more

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and do different things
that we'll not be able

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to do by ourselves.

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I think that when we shortcut that

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and just delegate the function to AI,

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that's when it gets a bit problematic.

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- And when you understand that

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consumers are engaging with
these products via AI, as a CMO,

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it's partly about that
making it individual,

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making your own brand stand out.

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But how do you also keep brand integrity

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the same, regardless of the use of AI?

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How do you ensure lasting loyalty?

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- Yeah, so I think that,
in terms of integrity,

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which I think is a really key point

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that you're bringing to the
table, without the human

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to filter, you really risk doing things

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that are completely off-brand.

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You know, things that will be
shiny, look nice as a layout,

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but maybe not that distinctive

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versus what competition is doing.

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And definitely, like, not
necessarily the best outcome.

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I think that's also a reason why you need

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people to filter.

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And that's why you need people
that know the fundamentals

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of marketing and not
simply delegating those

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fundamentals to AI.

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So that's why, again, I'm a very...

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I have a lot of curiosity.

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I always play with the meal. I want

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to be in touch with what's
coming and what's hot,

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but I invest much more
time actually mastering

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the fundamentals,

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and I think that you
really need the combination

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of those two things to come
together for you to leverage AI

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to the best of its potential.

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- Fernando, thanks so much.

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- No, my pleasure. Thank you, guys.

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(bright music)