From Automation to Collaboration: Building AI Competencies for the Next Marketing Era
The third NAWA-DIGIT report, “AI Collaboration Competencies in Marketing” (November 2025), examines how marketing professionals can work with artificial intelligence — not just use it.
As AI reshapes the marketing profession, technical proficiency alone is no longer enough.
Marketers must develop new hybrid competencies that connect data literacy, ethics, creativity, and strategic thinking.
🔍 What the research shows
A survey of 178 marketing managers from the US and UK revealed that:
- 70.2% of respondents prioritize risk assessment and data protection in AI-supported marketing,
- 69.7% need to improve their AI-based analytical and forecasting skills,
- 66.9% want to enhance AI-supported understanding of customer emotions and behaviours.
These findings show that the true challenge lies not in mastering tools but in developing human-AI collaboration — the ability to interpret, supervise, and ethically apply algorithmic insights.
🧭 Introducing the AI-Driven Marketing Competency Framework
The report presents a new framework developed by researchers from the Poznań University of Economics and Business and industry experts.
It defines 13 core competencies across five domains — Data & Research, Strategy, Branding, Customer Experience, and Management.
Key areas include:
- AI-based customer insights and content creation
- Sales intelligence and AI-driven communication
- Responsibility for AI-generated content and decisions
- Digital safety, ethics, and teamwork with AI
These competencies form a practical roadmap for agencies and organizations to plan training, recruitment, and ethical AI adoption in marketing.
💬 Key takeaway
“Collaboration with AI should mirror collaboration within business networks — iterative, context-sensitive, and grounded in mutual learning.”
— Prof. Andrea Perna, Marche Politechnic University, Italy
The future of marketing belongs to teams that can combine algorithmic efficiency with human judgment and creativity.
📖 Read the full report: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/6NC3B
Learn more about the project “People and Algorithms in Organisations: Competences to Work in the Digital Environment”, funded by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA).
Check out more about the “People and Algorithms in Organisations: Competences to Work in the Digital Environment” (DIGIT_People and algorithms) project, funded the NAWA – Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej (Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange)