September 29, 2026
The AI Strategy Gap: What It Is + How to Start Closing It
Catherine Toms
AI Expert | Educator | Consultant
AI is making marketing faster. Content, insights, planning and production can all happen at a pace we simply haven’t had before.
But speed only helps if the strategic thinking underneath it is solid.
Otherwise, as the late advertising legend David Abbott famously put it, “Shit that arrives at the speed of light is still shit.”
And this is exposing a bigger problem marketing has been wrestling with for years: just how strategic are we really?
For a long time, so much of the job has been dominated by tactics and execution. And plenty of marketers have risen through the ranks without ever being formally trained in the discipline of marketing itself.
AI didn’t create those gaps. But it’s certainly amplifying the consequences.
The Strategy Gap
For years marketers have been asked to do more with less. More channels, more content, more reporting, and growing pressure to prove results quickly.
Binet and Field have been banging on about the consequences of this short-termism since 2013. And Ritson’s “Tactics without strategy is dumbing down our discipline” rant turned 10 this year. So this certainly isn’t anything new.
AI now makes it possible to accelerate tactics and outputs more than ever. Teams can produce more content, analyse more data and embed AI into more workflows.
But that can create a dangerous illusion of progress. More activity, delivered faster, doesn’t necessarily translate into stronger brands, better customer outcomes or sustained commercial returns.
For CMOs, the question isn’t simply how much AI the team is using, it’s how effectively they’re using it to improve the quality and impact of the marketing.
The Capability Gap
Only around a third of marketers have ever had formal marketing training. And in a 2026 Ipsos study, only 35% met a basic benchmark of foundational marketing knowledge.
For years, we’ve largely got away without formal training in the discipline of marketing itself. People learnt on the job: creating content, managing channels, reporting, optimising campaigns. You could build a career being very good at one part of marketing and pick up a lot of the broader craft along the way.
AI changes that in two ways
1. The bottom rung gets smaller:
It’s replacing a lot of the executional work junior marketers traditionally cut their teeth on. If that first rung disappears, what happens to entry-level hiring, career progression and the learning that came from doing the work?
2. Everyone else needs to move up.
At the same time, AI is pushing marketers towards higher-value work. AI can take on more of the “busy-work” which frees up time for strategy, judgement, creativity and commercial thinking.
Incredibly valuable, but also way more cognitively demanding and needs deeper skills, stronger foundations and better judgement.
For CMOs, the challenge is twofold: how do you replace the learning that used to happen on the lower rungs, while helping the people already in the business move further up the strategic ladder?
That means investing in training that doesn’t just teach AI skills, but helps marketers rethink how the work gets done *and* strengthens the strategic thinking underneath it.
The Judgement Gap
If people don’t have strong foundations in the discipline, how are they meant to judge the work AI is helping them create?
AI can already research, draft, analyse, plan and produce at incredible speed. That’s brilliant when the person directing it knows their craft, and hugely problematic when they don’t.
And we’re already seeing the consequence: polished, plausible-looking work that on the surface looks “good enough”. Without domain expertise it’s hard to spot when the research is weak, the creative is flimsy or the recommendations don’t make solid commercial sense.
For CMOs, that makes judgement and taste critical capabilities to build. The better AI gets at producing the work, the more important it becomes to have people who can direct and discern what’s actually good.
Which brings us nicely onto the next gap…
The Knowledge Transfer (WFH) Gap
Formal training was only ever part of how marketers learnt.
A huge amount of my own growth happened by osmosis. Being around smart, creative brains, listening to senior people question briefs and rip campaigns apart. Chats in the lift, the back of black cabs or a pitch post-mortem over beers in the pub.
You picked up a tonne just by being present and listening in. WFH has removed a lot of that. There are plenty of upsides, but you simply don’t get exposed to all those moments and nuances through a Slack channel or scheduled Teams calls.
So we need to be far more deliberate about how that knowledge gets passed on.
More deliberate connection days in the office. More time sitting around a table pulling campaigns apart, arguing about the work and going through the thinking together.
And more disciplined about mentoring and critiquing; senior people explaining the thinking behind a decision, not just correcting the finished work.
For CMOs, that means treating knowledge transfer as part of capability development, with deliberate time for mentoring, shared thinking and feedback.
Three areas for CMOs to close the gaps
1. Close the strategy gap = Focus on effectiveness
Don’t measure AI success by adoption, usage, speed or output. Measure whether it’s improving the quality of the marketing and the commercial impact.
2. Close the capability gap = Build marketing + AI capability together
Don’t train AI as a standalone skill. Build it alongside the strategic, commercial and creative capability marketers need to move into higher-value work.
3. Close the knowledge transfer gap = Design for connected working
Get off the laptops and come together for strategy sessions, brief critiques, creative showcases and time with experienced marketers so people can learn how good work gets made.
FAQs
What gaps is AI exposing in marketing teams?
AI is exposing long-standing gaps in strategic marketing capability. As more executional work gets faster or automated, weaknesses in strategy, customer understanding, positioning, judgement and creative thinking are becoming more obvious.
What skills do marketers need to succeed with AI?
Marketers need both AI capability and strong marketing fundamentals. That includes strategy, customer insight, positioning, creativity, commercial thinking, judgement and taste.
Why does marketing discipline knowledge matter more with AI?
Because AI can produce polished work very quickly. Without strong foundations in the discipline, it becomes much harder to judge whether the research, strategy, positioning or creative thinking underneath it is actually any good.
Is AI replacing marketers?
AI is changing the work marketers do, particularly at the executional end. But we still need entry roles, learning opportunities and deliberate knowledge transfer so marketers can build the judgement and strategic capability needed to progress.
How should marketing teams approach AI training?
AI training works best when it is grounded in real marketing work, not taught as a standalone technical skill. Teams need to build AI capability alongside stronger strategic thinking, creative judgement and domain expertise.
How is AI changing the role of marketers?
AI is taking on more executional work, shifting the value marketers bring towards strategy, judgement, creativity, customer understanding and commercial thinking. The opportunity is to use the capacity AI creates to spend more time on higher-value work.
How can CMOs prepare their marketing teams for AI?
Start by looking beyond tool adoption. Identify where AI is changing the work, where capability gaps exist and which human skills will become more important. Then build AI skills and marketing capability together, with opportunities for people to apply both to real work.
Explore the other guides in our AI at Work series, covering the people, strategy and operating changes needed to scale AI across organisations.
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