Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Chief Marketing Officer Lara Balazs said artificial intelligence (AI) is forcing companies to rethink marketing strategies as AI-powered platforms reshape how consumers discover products and brands.
AI Search Forces Marketers To Rethink Brand Visibility
Inside major corporate marketing organizations, executives are reassessing long-standing strategies as consumers increasingly turn to AI tools for product research instead of traditional search engines, reported Fortune on Monday.
Balazs said CMOs are facing a new challenge as companies move beyond optimizing for Google search rankings and begin focusing on visibility within AI-generated recommendations.
"For years it was always, ‘Spend less with more impact,’" Balazs said. "Now I hear, ‘There’s AI. Do that.’"
She said the shift has expanded the role of marketing leaders, requiring closer collaboration with technology, finance and product teams.
"If you are not talking to your CFO all the time, your CIO, your CTO, any business constituent around that C-suite table, you really are at a disadvantage," Balazs said.
Adobe has been studying how large language models influence customer discovery after seeing changes in traffic patterns tied to traditional search.
The company developed its LLM Optimizer tool to track how often Adobe products appear in AI-generated responses.
Balazs said the company saw a 200% increase in visibility for products including Acrobat and Firefly after deploying the tool.
She described the evolving CMO role as that of a chief marketing orchestrator, where leaders coordinate people, technology, data and AI systems rather than focusing only on campaigns.
"I am not an engineer," Balazs said. "Most marketers aren’t."
AI Reshapes Economy
Earlier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said AI was fueling global growth through higher technology investment, though its latest forecasts did not yet reflect productivity gains from the technology.
The Federal Reserve also said AI contributed to higher core goods inflation in June but noted productivity benefits would take time to emerge.
Separately, Morgan Stanley said AI-driven productivity gains without significant job losses could keep U.S. interest rates higher for longer while supporting stronger economic growth and financial markets.
Investor Kevin O’Leary added that businesses were increasingly replacing consultants with AI for specialized advice, citing lower costs and faster decision-making.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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