How Marketing Leaders Can Be Agents of Change in an AI-Driven World

The era of enterprise AI is here. The pace of change has never been faster, and there has never been a more exciting time to be a marketer. 

The speed and accessibility of AI is truly transformative, especially when it comes to democratization. The hype phase is over and the conversation has shifted from if marketers should use AI to how we leverage it for real business impact. 

To help leaders navigate the shifting landscape, we’ve just released the latest edition of “The Modern Marketing Data Stack.” The report traces critical shifts in technology and strategy, examines insights from marketing experts and takes a data-driven look at the latest technologies, trends and recommendations for staying ahead. 

Last week, we launched the new report with a fantastic virtual event featuring marketing leaders from Snowflake and our partners and customers. To kick it off, our VP of AI, Baris Gultekin, and I discussed how AI has permeated every aspect of marketing and what’s next on the horizon. 

3 elemental forces transforming marketing

A trio of powerful forces continues to reshape the marketing landscape: AI, privacy and data gravity. As marketers, we must adapt to a world in which AI is ubiquitous, privacy is the foundation of customer trust and data centralization is paramount. 

1. The ROI of AI and the agentic future

In our keynote kickoff, Baris spoke about how organizations are finding new ways to apply AI across the entire data and campaign lifecycle. AI can help marketers speed up every step in the marketing data workflow — from automating the ingestion and cleansing of data, to developing creative content, to decisioning and measurement. 

For years, we marketers have understood the power of data but were often dependent on analysts or technical teams to access and analyze it for us. Today, using natural language as an interface to our data is a total game changer. It puts the power of all that intelligence directly into our hands. We can "talk" to our data and get answers in seconds, accelerating both insight and impact. 

So what’s the next chapter? Agentic AI. Imagine a world where you no longer need to ask for insights to trigger a campaign — where you can simply give your agent a business goal and it will build, test and execute the steps to achieve it for you. We are still in the very early days, but the infrastructure is being built now. 

In fact, Snowflake partners and customers are already leveraging AI agents for marketing. Fundrise, a leading real estate investment platform, is using Snowflake partner Hightouch’s AI decisioning solution to move beyond marketing automation to achieve true one-to-one personalization, all powered by Snowflake. And as Fundrise’s CMO, Jon Carden, said in his event session, the results have truly changed the business, increasing revenue and improving productivity by 9x. 

For other leaders exploring this evolution, I’d say two things: First, start small but intentionally. Look for repeatable processes or specific tasks that AI can begin to own. Second, prioritize trust and transparency, because even autonomous agents need clear guardrails. 

2. Privacy and the value of trust 

Data privacy has always been paramount, and it’s a growing concern among consumers. Yet the landscape of privacy keeps shifting. As marketing leaders, we need to make sure our strategies are built on consumer relationships rooted in trust. 

Last year, we saw a pivot toward maximizing the impact of first-party data. This year, we’re paying close attention to the ways AI is underscoring the value of first-party data, and exciting new trends around unstructured first-party data in particular. 

We have unprecedented precision when it comes to what we know about our customers. With this comes enormous responsibility as well as opportunity. We must allow privacy to guide how we use that knowledge to deliver the right message, at exactly the right time — while growing and maintaining trust-based relationships with customers. This means committing to a thoughtful approach to handling data that fosters relationships and builds brands through well-targeted, high-value communications. 

In an era of increasing scrutiny, trust is one of the most valuable assets a brand can build — and the hardest to rebuild once broken.

3. Data gravity and staying agile

Data gravity continues to exert a strong pull, making it even more important that organizations centralize their data and bring their tools to the data, not the other way around, especially as companies increase AI adoption. 

All of these forces and their implications are interconnected. AI both benefits from and reinforces the power of data gravity. AI that isn't built on a strong, complete data foundation is going to be unreliable and ineffective. And that centralized data provides opportunities to deeply know your audience, making data privacy even more important.

Here are two final crucial pieces of advice I’d offer to marketing leaders navigating these exciting and rapidly changing times:

First and foremost, there is no AI strategy without a data strategy. Build a well-rounded data foundation before turning to AI readiness. Create a single, unified platform governed by a comprehensive security and privacy framework. With a strong data strategy in place, you can experiment with AI effectively and scale with confidence.

Second, embrace flexible thinking. Look for marketing and AI solutions that can be easily integrated. Focus on solutions that work with your data where it lives, without creating new data silos. This approach gives you the flexibility needed to stay agile in the midst of change. 

Remember that flexibility is not just about responding to change. It’s about the power of a fast and agile imagination — one of a marketer’s most essential qualities. 

Inside the Modern Marketing Data Stack 2026

For more insights from marketing leaders and experts, and to discover this year’s modern marketing data stack’s leaders and ones to watch, I encourage you to read the full report.

It includes the latest technologies and practical recommendations for leaders based on a data-driven assessment of what our customers are actually doing on the Snowflake platform, and how they’re doing it.

And, in case you missed it, the virtual event is now available on demand. Tune in for deep insights into the latest trends and evolution in martech and for actionable advice for driving business success with a modern data and AI foundation.