AI in Marketing: Disruption or Opportunity? Key Takeaways from BJAN's 13th Annual Conference
At the 13th Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) conference in Lagos, marketing and tech leaders shared a clear message: AI is both a shake-up and a chance to level up-depending on how we use it.
The theme, "AI and Future of Marketing Workflow: Disruption or Opportunity," came to life through candid insights from agency leaders, brand executives, regulators, and engineers.
AI is an enabler-if people and ethics lead
Udeme Ufot, Group Chief Executive Officer of SO&U Limited, was blunt: AI brings both disruption and opportunity. It strains old systems, but it opens up efficiency, deeper insights, faster processes, and more personal communication.
His core point: the question isn't whether AI will change marketing-it's how we respond. Treat it as an enabler, not a threat. Build new skills and hold a strong ethical line.
Regulators: guardrails first
The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), represented by Susan Ngozi Agbo, made the regulator's stance clear. AI is already changing how marketing teams work, but if it's used without checks, the system breaks.
Her advice to practitioners: self-censor before you publish, and ensure your output aligns with advertising standards and consumer protection principles. A practical move here is to adopt an AI risk framework and document decisions. See the NIST AI Risk Management Framework for a useful model.
The human edge still wins
Bethel Obioma, Head of Corporate Communications at Sahara Group, reinforced a simple truth: don't outsource your thinking. Tech can scale what you do, but creativity, taste, and judgment still separate the best from the rest.
His take: use AI to create "multiple expressions," but keep the human edge. That's your differentiator.
The "New Marketing Trinity"
Cherry Eromosele, Executive Vice President/Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications at Interswitch (presentation delivered by Tomi Ogunlesi), noted that roles are converging. Whether you're a journalist, media pro, advertiser, or junior brand manager-the insights now meet in the middle.
Her model is simple and useful: Data is the fuel, Creativity is the spark, and AI is the multiplier. If your team isn't set up for that trio, your outputs will stall.
Jobs will shift-prepare now
Segun Umoru, Senior AI/ML Engineer at Optimus AI Labs, didn't sugarcoat it: AI will replace some jobs. It's already happening elsewhere, especially where agentic tools automate tasks once handled by junior staff.
The opportunity is to move up the value chain-prompt design with intent, QA for AI outputs, model oversight, first-party data fluency, and creative direction that keeps brand voice intact.
How to use AI in marketing without losing the plot
- Write an AI ethics policy and align it to a clear risk framework. Log use cases, approvals, and model choices.
- Keep human review on anything public-facing. Final sign-off lives with a person, not a model.
- Start where ROI is obvious: brief drafts, research synthesis, audience clustering, subject lines, ad variants, content repurposing, chat summarization.
- Build a permissioned "single source of truth." Feed AI with brand guidelines, voice, approved claims, and product facts.
- Create prompt libraries and templates. A/B test everything and measure incremental lift, not vanity metrics.
- Train your team so AI ups their output, not their stress. Consider a focused program like the AI Certification for Marketing Specialists.
- Assign roles: prompt QA, dataset curation, compliance reviewer, and a brand guardian for tone and claims.
- Use agent automations for repetitive work. Test in a safe environment, set escalation rules, and cap permissions.
- Protect brand voice. Maintain live style guides and run periodic audits on AI-generated content.
- Track compliance and attribution. Keep an audit trail of data sources and model-assisted decisions.
Bottom line
AI won't replace marketers who can think, write, and lead. It will replace repetitive tasks and push roles to evolve.
The teams that win will pair data with creativity and let AI multiply their impact-ethically, measurably, and with humans clearly in charge.
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