The Untold Story of AI in Marketing

As you've already noticed, AI is making advertising creative production way faster and more fun, and many brands are eager adopters:

• 71% of organisations now use generative AI in at least one function (McKinsey, 2025).

• 56% of marketing teams are already using AI to create or optimise content (SurveyMonkey, 2025).

• And 86% of creators use gen-AI tools in their workflows (Adobe, 2025).

Creativity has never moved faster.

But there is still a long sign-off process involving brand, legal, responsible marketing, and other departments.

Manual reviews slow things down. Compliance workflows haven't kept up with the pace of Gen AI.

While creative output has accelerated massively, the average approval cycle still takes 8+ days and often requires multiple review rounds (Filestage, 2025).

At the same time:

• 81% of marketers say compliance is their biggest barrier to scaling content (IntelligenceBank).

• Regulatory scrutiny is rising - the ASA reports 4% of alcohol ads are “very likely non-compliant” (ASA Alcohol Pulse Report).

How long does it take to sign off new packing designs and copy in your organisation?

Many compliance teams still rely on manual, document-based processes.

Put simply, AI has multiplied the speed and volume of creative production - but the workflow designed to protect brands is still operating at human pace.

It’s a growing gap, and every brand is feeling it. Why does it matter, you may ask?

Well, when creative production scales, but compliance capacity doesn’t, three major risks emerge:

1. Rising brand and regulatory exposure - more content, more variations, and more chances for something to slip through.

2. Workflow bottlenecks that slow campaigns - brand managers push for speed, legal pushes for certainty. Neither is wrong, but the friction is real.

3. Fragmentation across markets - different regions interpret rules differently, leading to inconsistent creative and governance gaps.

How long does it take to sign off new packing designs and copy in your organisation? (we're asking again ...)

Without modernised AI-driven compliance, teams end up with:

• More volume than they can safely review

• More global complexity than they can govern manually

• More pressure than their processes can handle

Generative AI isn’t slowing down.  Production is increasing.

And regulatory bodies are watching more closely. Brands are scaling across more markets, more channels, and more formats.

Creative speed and brand safety need to co-exist.

The brands that thrive will be the ones that combine:

• Creative speed

• Legal and brand protection

• Global consistency

• Workflow integration

Marketing is having its AI revolution. Compliance is overdue for its own.

If you’re a global brand trying to reach millions of customers, the real competitive advantage isn’t faster creation - it’s faster, safer approvals. Most organisations have already adopted AI for creativity.

But very few have adopted AI for compliance. That imbalance is the next big challenge in marketing - and also the biggest opportunity.

The teams who solve it will unlock unparalleled speed, confidence, and control.