Generative AI is resetting how Middle East marketers plan, create, and ship campaigns
Marketing teams across the Middle East are moving past pilots and seeing real results from generative AI. The pressure is clear: customers expect more relevance, CFOs want tighter ROI, and CMOs need to do it faster with fewer resources. The response is to bring AI into the core of how work gets done-data, tech, and day-to-day processes.
Retailers are refining segments, producing content faster, and personalizing at scale. Brands running AI-driven targeted campaigns are delivering 10%-25% higher ROAS. Travel platforms like Booking.com have rolled out AI features to simplify trip planning, refine searches, analyze reviews, and help customers book with confidence. Consumer goods leaders apply AI to real-time usage data (for example, smart devices such as the Oral-B iO) to tailor offerings, all while staying aligned with privacy and regulatory standards. Even in financial services, healthcare, and telecom, teams are proving that compliant use is possible and valuable.
Where AI is already paying off
- Speed: Campaign time to market reduced by up to 50%.
- Efficiency: Content creation time down by 30%-50%.
- ROI: Hyper-personalized campaigns lifting CTRs by up to 40%.
What to scale next
- Workflow simplification: Drafting concepts, producing images, translating content, checking brand compliance, and tagging assets-done faster and with fewer handoffs.
- Content + personalization: Automate copy, image and video variants, ad versioning, and creative testing at scale.
- Customer intelligence: Real-time analytics and AI-driven segmentation that predict behavior and sharpen targeting.
- Measurement + optimization: Automate performance analysis and integrate unstructured data to guide next-best actions.
Five moves to get ahead
1) Commit to bold ambitions-and results
Don't chase scattered use cases. Set clear targets that matter to the business and hold teams accountable. Examples: cut time to market by 50% through AI content workflows and stack upgrades; drive personalized marketing that achieves 5-7x higher CTRs. Ambition forces focus and creates momentum.
2) Prioritize big wins over endless experiments
Credibility comes from a few scaled successes, not dozens of proofs of concept. Start with high-impact tasks such as direct marketing copy, social posts, and personalized variants. One consumer bank deployed an AI creative assistant for search and social, cut production time by 75%, and uncovered a 20%-25% opportunity to increase new accounts by scaling what worked.
3) Design for how marketers actually work
Adoption stalls when IT pushes tools that don't fit workflows. Have marketers map how work gets done, spot friction, and co-create solutions with data and tech partners. Recruit internal "super users" to guide product fit, train peers, and champion usage. Aim to rethink whole processes, not just speed up a single task.
4) Keep learning-and keep raising the bar
Licenses alone won't change habits. Build practical training into weekly rituals: prompt writing, creative QA with AI, analytics checks, and peer reviews. Show creatives, media planners, and analysts exactly where AI complements their role. Tools like Gemini or ChatGPT Enterprise help, but only when tied to measurable goals and new workflows.
5) Expand the partner ecosystem (fast)
The vendor field is crowded, and it's shifting. Pilot marketing-focused tools-such as Adobe's generative AI, Jasper, Synthesia, or Typeface-to find fit and scalability. Keep pilots short, document results, and standardize what works. Agencies are evolving too; expect a hybrid model where some work moves to vendors while agencies focus on strategy, orchestration, and creative excellence.
Practical next steps for this quarter
- Pick two workflows to streamline (e.g., ad versioning, product page copy). Set baseline metrics and target lifts.
- Stand up a small cross-functional squad (marketing, data, legal) with two super users to own adoption.
- Run 30-45 day pilots with clear success criteria. Ship weekly, review results, and scale what clears the bar.
- Integrate measurement from day one: automate testing, tagging, and reporting so learnings compound.
Why this matters now
Generative AI is changing how customers discover, compare, and buy. Link-based search is declining, and AI-driven assistants are stepping in. Expect new surfaces to win attention-including marketing to AI agents themselves. Teams that scale today will bank productivity, personalization, and ROI gains while everyone else is still stuck in pilots.
If you want hands-on, role-specific upskilling for your team, explore the AI Certification for Marketing Specialists from Complete AI Training.
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