AI is the top influence on senior marketing leaders' confidence, research finds

Senior Australian marketers are more confident in their decisions than a year ago, and AI is a major reason, according to a new report from Bench Media.

But the report finds the checks around AI-assisted decisions haven’t kept pace with the trust marketers place in it.

The Confidence Equation is based on a Bench Lens survey of more than 70 senior client-side marketing leaders across Australia. It found 90% said decision-making has become easier over the past year. At the same time, 59% named the volume of AI and new technology tools as the biggest factor still making decisions more complex.

Jess Torstensson, General Manager, Growth at Bench Media, said: "I went into this research expecting AI to make senior marketers less confident, with them second-guessing their own judgement.

"The data said the opposite. Confidence isn't about trusting AI more, it’s about knowing when to trust it, when to challenge it, and when to trust yourself."

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Nearly half of respondents (48%) said AI has made them more confident in their decisions, and 41% said it is the input they rely on most when deciding whether to take a calculated risk. That reliance grows with the size of the bet. Leaders managing budgets over $20 million are roughly twice as likely to lean on AI for a calculated risk as those managing under $20 million (51% versus 24%).

Governance is lagging. More than a third (38%) accept AI-generated strategic recommendations without human review, rising to 45% for budget recommendations and creative concepts.

Human judgement still wins out when the two conflict. Most leaders (59%) back their own judgement when an AI recommendation disagrees with it. Bench predicts this will become a defining leadership capability.

Torstensson said: "The scarce skill in senior marketing is shifting from prompting AI well to knowing when to override it and being able to defend that call to a Board that increasingly assumes the machine is right.

"Call it veto literacy. It doesn't show up in a job description yet, but it will,” she said.

Respondents also ranked seven influences on their confidence. Weighted across responses, AI ranked first at 23%, followed by data (21%) and experience (20%). Internal leadership and industry conversation each accounted for 11%, agencies 8% and peers 6%. With no single input dominating, Bench argues the advantage will go to organisations that set a clear framework for which input leads on which decision.

Michelle Wee, Hisense General Manager – Marketing, said: "The strongest decisions come from combining technology with a deep understanding of consumers, culture, brands and business objectives. AI should enhance our thinking, not replace it."

Emma Fogarty, Head of Marketing & Category at nudie Foods, said: "There still needs to be a human in the loop. The outputs need to be challenged, validated and considered in context."

Torstensson recommends the next step for marketing leaders is to pair AI output for strategic and budget decisions with fast, targeted primary research. 

“Confidence is useful when you can explain what informed the decision.  That means giving leaders a process for testing AI’s advice, challenging it and standing behind the final decision,” she said.