Artificial intelligence (AI) pervades nearly every aspect of the marketer’s work—understanding consumers, communicating with them, delivering solutions to them, and collaborating with others in the process. As use of the technology has dramatically increased over the last two to three years, AI tools and capabilities have been injected into workflows and process redesigns. This has altered traditional roles and created new ones as AI augments existing skills. Increasingly, entire workflows are being retooled based on what AI tools can speed up and augment.
While nearly 65 percent of marketers use AI today, many struggle to reach a point of inflection where they can scale AI’s impact. Most companies aim to evolve from piloting AI for individual tasks to transforming workflows holistically to drive growth at scale or investment in the bottom line. According to Loreal Lynch, chief marketing officer (CMO) at Jasper, an AI platform for marketing1, “AI-powered workflows and figuring out what those processes are end to end, not just the piecemeal individual components, are what really starts to turbocharge impact in an enterprise.”
Eli Stein, a McKinsey partner and leader in AI-enabled marketing, sat down with Lynch to share learnings about how to enable purpose-built AI workflows. Following is an edited version of highlights from their discussion.
Make AI an executive priority
AI adoption cannot be just a CMO-level priority; it needs to be a CEO one as well—even reaching the board level. For transformation to happen at scale, executives need to articulate specifics on the expected impact, which ideally should be big enough to be visible to the board.
Developing an AI council is one emerging best practice across companies and has galvanized executives to prioritize AI within their organizations.
Two critical components of an AI council
- Spurring cross-functional collaboration with stakeholders across departments. If the council is exclusively led by marketers, there will be a lack of skills needed to make the right decisions. The council should include other relevant departments such as IT, legal, marketing, and HR.
- Strategizing where to invest in AI capabilities. Doing the analysis on where value is to be gained either in growth or efficiency is crucially important, or there is risk in leading an organization without a real road map.
AI-powered workflows and figuring out what those processes are end to end, not just the piecemeal individual components, are what really starts to turbocharge impact in an enterprise.
Loreal Lynch, CMO, Jasper
Build for scale
It is important to strike a middle ground between avoiding a pilot built out of bubble gum and duct tape while also not spending loads of time building something that, once finally launched, leaves you lagging.
When building a minimum viable product (MVP), think about the data foundation, the analytical foundation, the technology foundation, and making sure you are not, for instance, introducing new inefficient manual steps, as opposed to building an application programming interface (API). Build for scale even if the first instance is an MVP that will be used in a pilot.
The successful councils have declared one to two board-level priorities, put a stake in the ground on developing an MVP in the next three to six months, depending on how complex the area is. They then build and launch it, as opposed to spending significant time managing numerous pilots that are never going to see scale.
Manage the human side
Too often, companies forget the change management aspect of adopting new technologies. With AI comes massive change for humans—in their roles, their skills, and in many cases, their mindsets.
It is critical to hardwire cross-functional collaboration, especially between the individual contributors—those living the workflows every day—and senior executives, who have a greater sense of what will materially impact the company. Unlike prior transformations in marketing, scaling AI cannot be done without the chief information officer (CIO) and someone who knows data very well.
Two important learnings
- Offer technical training relevant to the role. Building technical skills means different things to different people, depending on their role, so adaptation and customization are key. A brand leader taking on new creative tasks will require a different level of technical expertise than a traditional creative who is using new tools to augment their existing design capabilities.
- Be clear with colleagues about how their roles will change. Quantify how much time they are freeing up from, for example, project management and administrative tasks, in order to focus more on what marketers do best— understanding the human condition, inspiring customers, and imagining how we can communicate differently with different groups of customers. Offer specific guidance for what they can do now with this newfound time. Getting very tactical with how they can structure their time can be hugely empowering.
Loreal Lynch is the chief marketing officer of Jasper. Eli Stein is a partner in McKinsey’s Bay Area office.
Comments and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement.
1 “The AI your marketing deserves,” Jasper, accessed Dec 24, 2025.