AI fatigue is really fatigue with 'AI theatre' – The buzzwordy panels and co-pilot analogies have run their course, but that doesn't mean interest in AI itself is waning. The real shift is from vague excitement to targeted, operational questions: how do these tools actually connect, and what does using them well look like day to day.
Readiness matters more than ROI – Before any tool can prove its value, organisations need clean data, clear standards, and defined roles and responsibilities. Skip that step and AI doesn't create efficiency, it scales ambiguity faster than ever. Strategy has to come before the tech, not the other way round.
Marketing is moving from campaign-based to evergreen, always-on ways of working – This is a bigger shift than most organisations are ready for, and it changes what's asked of people too. Human judgement and empathy aren't a final approval step bolted onto AI output, they need to be built into the process from the start, grounded in a real understanding of the customer.