Introducing agentic AI: your marketing assistant on steroids

Agentic AI is the next big thing in marketing and CMOs are positioned to be the architects, writes Accenture Song’s Rajan Kumar.

Rajan Kumar is managing director of marketing engagement and technology at Accenture Song

The clock is ticking for chief marketing officers. The explosion of data and its importance has fallen into their laps and the pressure is on.

While historically data has been used to measure return on investment, and technology like artificial intelligence has been viewed as a tool for cost reduction, its greater value lies in empowering marketing teams, boosting their capacity, capability and confidence to drive growth.

If the explosion of generative AI has changed how we work with content, agentic AI – the smarter sibling of gen AI – is designed to be more of a team member than a tool.

Agentic AI team members can make decisions, learn from interactions, and autonomously achieve both simple and complex goals. It leverages the natural language understanding of large language models and seamlessly integrates with databases, software, applications and cloud environments to execute tasks and optimise the workflows that used to be driven by countless manpower hours, based on real-time information.

It mimics human interactions to conquer complex processes, and can even work in teams, forming multi-agent collaborations that follow specific roles and objectives.

What does this mean? It means that CMOs become the architects of AI-driven strategies that combine technology with human creativity, all while adhering to brand guidelines and connecting the dots on their behalf.

While AI can handle data and personalisation, it’s empathy and insight that will make brands stand out. Consumers still want to feel heard and understood – something AI alone can’t provide. By using AI to handle repetitive tasks, marketing teams can focus on what they do best: building strategies, connecting with customers and solving problems.

Many organisations are already gearing up to test, experiment and pilot agentic AI solutions, investing in training their teams to harness its capabilities.

It’s time for the C-suite to step up, invest and use the technology to drive innovation and closer engagement with customers.

To participate in this brave new world, CMOs should rethink their data strategy and data readiness. That data conversation we’ve been having for the last five, 10, 15 years ... now is the time.

Think of it as your marketing foundation: data needs to be centralised, updated in real time (milliseconds, not minutes), and easily accessible for AI agents to engage with. This isn’t just for the future – it will boost your team’s efficiency right now, powering up customer experiences and paid campaigns with faster insights and more responsive strategies.

If you’re struggling with how to prepare for and with AI, start small – create an AI roadmap. Use tactical solutions like chatbots, customer service agents, marketing assistants. Some might be plug-and-play, others need a bit of TLC to fit into your existing systems.

Then, think bigger – could you productise team expertise using agentic AI to create new revenue streams?

To work for and alongside humans, these agents need to embrace your brand values and the ethical concerns that your customers care about such as fairness, trust, equality and privacy. They need training – they need to know your products, your brand’s persona, and how to engage with customers in a way that feels authentic. Pre-trained agents are a great starting point, but customisation and ongoing refinement are key. Think of it like coaching a team – agents need oversight to stay sharp, adapt to new products, and keep up with shifts in language and culture.

Mistakes will happen, and your job is to ensure they’re caught early, optimised, and aligned with your company’s evolving needs.

The genie is out of the bottle, and waiting to see what your competitors do might be too late. Agentic AI is not just one long interlude, it’s here to stay. By automating data analysis, personalising customer experiences, and optimising campaigns in real time, it delivers powerful returns on investment, driving engagement, efficiency and revenue while reducing costs. It is effectively your marketing assistant on steroids, helping to create a digital workforce that supplements each and every team.

If brands don’t step up and harness the full potential of agentic AI, they’ll find themselves playing catch-up in a world where consumers are calling the shots.

Rajan Kumar is managing director of marketing engagement and technology at Accenture Song.