Artificial intelligence (AI) use in marketing in the UK - statistics & facts

The most powerful voice expressing an opinion about using artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing coming from the United Kingdom is the one of Mark Read, the chief executive of the world’s largest marketing services holding WPP, headquartered in London. In a 2023 interview, Read called AI “fundamental to WPP’s business in the future” and stressed that WPP had been investing in it for several years and that it had a track of helping WPP win new business. The UK marketing industry mirrors this embracing attitude. During an early 2023 survey, well over two-thirds of marketers stated they had already experimented with the technology; another 27 percent expressed their wish to try it out. Judging by the planned 2023 spending, AI companies providing products and services for marketing will have a successful year. Nearly three-quarters of surveyed brand marketers planned to prioritize AI investments, and more than half intended to invest more than 20 percent of their marketing budgets in AI.

Skeptic audience

The public is more reserved towards the application of artificial intelligence in their daily lives. A survey found that only 20 percent of the UK population was willing to trust AI systems; some 14 percentage points more were willing to accept them. Marketers will need to meet certain demands if they want AI work to be trusted: nearly three-quarters of UK adults believe that brands should always disclose their use of AI-generated content and that fully automated AI-driven marketing campaigns should be carefully regulated. Both shares are higher for women than for men and rise with the age of the respondents. Men from Generation Z seem least concerned with the risks of implementing the technology.

AI influencers

Likely the first UK company to marry AI with influencer marketing was Maxwellia – a pharmaceuticals start-up based in East Cheshire. As a rule, pharma marketing is heavily regulated in the UK, and the use of influencer marketing is not allowed. Still, these laws do not seem to apply to virtual personas. Maxwellia created an avatar whose appearance, voice, and content are generated using AI tools. The avatar was named Lovi and can be found on two social platforms widely used for influencer marketing: Instagram and TikTok. The company wants to use Lovi to inform and educate people about its products. Among the benefits of using AI influencers is that they can be shaped to match the brand message and customer expectations. Additionally, their upkeep is cheaper, so marketing budgets can be lowered or moved to other channels. They also provide time savings as they can work round the clock and are able to create content significantly faster than their human counterparts.

This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.

Top marketing trend in Europe: AI

AI marketing company with highest funding in the UK: Partnerize

Share of UK marketers who trailed AI: 69%

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AI use in marketing

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