For years, personalization has been a key competitive advantage for larger brands and agencies, giving them the ability to connect with consumers personally. These efforts drive stronger brand affinity, repeat engagement and lasting loyalty. But true personalization has always come with real barriers: time, budget and technical resources.
As a result, brands and agencies with fewer resources have relied more on broad segmentation, using predefined targeting parameters to simulate personalization without true individualization. In reality, only the largest organizations have had the resources to move beyond segmentation and deliver on the promise of full-scale personalization.
As AI tools become more accessible, the competitive edge once held by large brands and agencies is losing its sharpness. These tools enable smaller brands and agencies to quickly and efficiently produce personalized creative assets. Planning and strategy teams can now access vast datasets in real time and analyze them faster than ever before. In fact, 49% of marketers worldwide now use AI daily for image and video generation, according to January 2025 data from Canva and Morning Consult. This widespread adoption and increased access shows just how quickly the creative development process is changing. Now, standing out in a crowded marketplace depends less on resources and more on how well personalization is executed across the consumer journey.
But greater access doesn’t automatically lead to greater relevance. According to DISQO’s 2025 State of Advertising Report, only 23% of consumers say the ads they see align with their interests. This highlights a clear disconnect between what advertisers believe they’re personalizing versus how personal it actually is to consumers. Continued adoption of AI tools for personalization has the potential to close that gap, helping align creative more closely with consumer needs, behaviors and context. The question is no longer whether you can personalize but how well you orchestrate it across teams, channels and the entire customer journey.
So, where do brands and agencies go from here? The answer lies in three core areas: strategy, execution and measurement.
Strategy
AI can reveal what’s happening, but it doesn’t always explain why it matters. This is where human insight becomes essential.
While AI provides real-time signals and endless data points, those inputs still need strategic interpretation. Brands and agencies must define smart audience frameworks, align messaging with the customer journey, and ensure everything connects back to broader brand and business goals. In a privacy-conscious environment, they also need to set ethical boundaries around how personalization is implemented.
The bottom line is that AI does not replace strategy. Instead, it improves its chance of success.
Takeaway: Embed strategic thinking at every stage. That includes defining audiences, aligning creative to the customer journey, and ensuring every decision ladders up to greater objectives.
Execution
AI can simplify production, but execution in this new era is about building systems that support adaptability at scale.
That includes intentionally mapping the customer journey, developing creative that adapts to platform and context, and breaking down silos between teams. Creative, media and analytics need to work together. Personalization works best when every channel is aligned, and the customer experience feels cohesive – not fragmented. Think of execution not just as automation but as orchestration.
Takeaway: Remove internal silos to deliver cohesive experiences across channels. Personalization works best when creative, media and analytics are fully aligned.
Measurement
As personalization scales, so does the complexity of measuring success. Impressions and clicks tell part of the story, but they are not enough in a world where every user may see a different version of a campaign.
Brands and agencies need to define the right outcomes, whether that’s incremental lift, deeper engagement or downstream sales. Measurement frameworks must evolve to support cross-channel attribution and creative testing, giving clients a clearer picture of what is driving results. Knowing what works and why is where real value is delivered.
Takeaway: Establish outcome-based frameworks that go deeper than impressions or clicks. This enables real-time optimization and provides insights that inform smarter future campaigns.
AI tools have given brands and agencies new ways to elevate personalization efforts. But when everyone uses the same platforms powered by similar data, the risk of sameness grows and results begin to blur.
To break through this sea of sameness, brands and agencies must go beyond the tools themselves. Because personalization isn’t just what you say. It’s how effectively you connect strategy, execution and measurement to deliver relevance, performance and long-term brand growth.
