AI-powered personalisation: The future is here, but are brands ready? 

As the holy grail of the customer experience, marketers will jump at any opportunity to make personalisation more… well, personalised. After all, the modern customer is empowered like never before: they expect brands to understand their needs, anticipate their desires and deliver seamless, tailored interactions at every touchpoint.

The good news? AI is making this more possible than ever. Better still, when AI is paired with marketing and creativity, brands can deliver the kind of smart, emotionally resonant experiences that customers remember – and come back for.

The bad news though: many brands are still struggling to turn AI ambition into action.

Research from the Adobe 2025 AI and Digital Trends report uncovers a growing gap between businesses’ AI aspirations and their ability to execute. AI adoption is soaring, but fragmented data, operational silos and evolving customer expectations are keeping brands from delivering the kind of experiences that truly ‘surprise and delight’.

The AI promise versus reality: A growing disconnect

The appetite for AI-driven personalisation is undeniable. According to our research, AI and predictive analytics are top growth priorities for 65% of senior executives heading into 2025. But here’s the catch: only 15% of brands are actually delivering digital experiences that genuinely delight customers.

That’s because they expect better: a staggering 71% of customers want brands to anticipate their needs and provide personalised offers, yet just 34% of businesses are doing this effectively. That’s a significant shortfall. And with nearly half (48%) of brands citing data fragmentation as a key barrier, it’s clear that technical challenges are holding businesses back.

The reality most marketers recognise: AI is only as effective as the data that fuels it. If brands want to turn personalisation into a competitive advantage, they need to solve the problem of disconnected systems and inconsistent customer insights. They also need to move beyond isolated AI use cases and embrace a unified approach where creativity, marketing and AI come together – delivering personalised, commercially safe and brand-aligned experiences at scale.

B2B brands: Falling behind and losing ground

AI-powered personalisation has already transformed the B2C customer experience. From Netflix recommendations to Amazon’s ‘you might also like’ suggestions, consumers expect a level of tailored engagement that makes their digital interactions feel effortless.

In contrast, our research shows some B2B brands are drifting off course. Many are hesitant to embrace automation and real-time engagement, and as a result, risk falling behind more forward-thinking competitors. Only 39% of B2B marketers personalise their website experiences, often due to disconnected data and legacy systems that aren’t equipped for AI-driven decision-making.

Breakthrough customer experiences – those penny-drop moments that usher prospects along their journey effortlessly – are now table stakes. Creativity is what makes those moments matter. Marketing makes them scalable. And AI makes them fast.

For those B2B brands getting it right, the benefits are clear: those with established AI strategies report 64% higher productivity and 61% better customer engagement. For B2B brands still on the fence, the message is crystal – it’s time to catch up, or risk being left behind.

Content creation is at breaking point

AI isn’t just about personalisation, it can also make marketing teams more efficient. Right now, the pressure to create content at faster speeds and with greater relevance is higher than ever before and traditional marketing and content generation methods just can’t keep pace.

Over three-quarters (78%) of senior marketing executives say they’re expected to drive business growth using AI-powered insights. However, AI workflows are still in their infancy, making execution a constant challenge. Meanwhile, 43% of marketers predict an increased demand for content production in 2025, yet only 31% can update offers in real time based on customer behaviour.

In short, brands are facing a content crisis. But with the right approach – one that combines creative storytelling, marketing execution and AI acceleration – marketing teams can deliver brand-safe, emotionally engaging content at scale.

Breaking down silos: The key to AI success

One of the biggest roadblocks to AI-driven personalisation is lack of accountability. While marketers see CX teams as the ones responsible for personalisation, tech teams believe they should be in the driving seat. This lack of clarity over responsibility leads to confusion, inefficiencies and, ultimately, missed opportunities.

The result? Despite AI’s sweeping potential, only 12% of organisations have working AI solutions that deliver clear ROI. If brands want to make AI personalisation work at scale, they need to stop working in silos and start fostering cross-functional collaboration.

Encouragingly, 55% of executives say data integration and real-time insights will shape their tech investments over the next two years. But to make these investments count, businesses need to break down barriers and align their teams behind a unified AI strategy.

The future: AI-powered engagement with trust at its core

As AI advances, agentic AI will let brands automate complex workflows and orchestrate connected customer journeys, making every touchpoint feel effortless and intuitive for the customer while decreasing the complexity for brands and eliminating the burden of mundane tasks.

However, with great power comes great responsibility. Trust remains a critical factor, with 88% of consumers expecting brands to handle their data responsibly – yet only 49% believe this expectation is currently being met. Marketers need AI that is responsible, secure and enterprise-ready. Trust, transparency and brand safety must be non-negotiable in any AI-driven strategy.

That’s why it’s so important to invest in AI that’s embedded by design – not bolted on – and governed by enterprise-grade compliance and commercial safety. When combined with creativity and marketing, these tools create more than just personalised experiences. They create emotional connections.

Smarter personalisation, real results

This isn’t a futuristic concept we’re talking about anymore – commercial AI is happening right here, right now. Brands that embrace AI-powered personalisation and tackle the challenges of data fragmentation, content scalability and cross-functional collaboration will be the ones that thrive. Those that don’t risk being left behind.

To succeed in the era of AI, brands must unlock the full value of creativity + marketing + AI – a combination that turns insight into impact, and content into connection. It’s how leading organisations are scaling breakthrough customer experiences, building emotional brand affinity and driving experience-led growth.

Claire-Louise Green is vice-president of EMEA marketing at Adobe.