When AI Makes Bad Marketing Worse
Why Brands Are Using Advanced Technology to Perfect Outdated Strategies
Theodore Levitt's famous 1960 question—"What business are you really in?"—has never been more urgent. As AI transforms marketing at breakneck speed, brands are making the same fatal mistakes that killed Kodak, Blockbuster, and Toys"R"Us. But this time, the "invisible shadow of obsolescence" moves at machine speed.
While 90% of content marketers plan to use AI to support content marketing efforts in 2025 (Siege Media + Wynter, 2025) and 43% actively use AI for content creation (Zebracat, 2025), most brands are deploying artificial intelligence to perfect strategies that no longer work — optimizing for engagement in an attention economy that has fundamentally collapsed.
The modern marketing mistake isn't about missing customer needs. It's about using AI to become incredibly efficient at activities that matter less each day.
The Content Factory Delusion
AI has made content creation incredibly easy. Nearly 80% of businesses report better content quality, and long-form posts can be written in under an hour (Zebracat, 2025).
But there's a massive disconnect happening. While brands pump out more content than ever, people are tuning out. Instagram engagement has collapsed to just 0.50%, and most consumers now experience marketing fatigue (Social Insider, 2025; Optimove Insights, 2024).
The core problem? Most marketing teams think they're in the "content creation" business when they're actually in the "attention acquisition" business. This creates a dangerous loop where brands get incredibly efficient at activities that audiences actively avoid.
Meanwhile, the platforms themselves are changing the rules. TikTok now cares more about how long people watch than how many likes you get. Instagram pushed real conversations into private messages. Facebook barely shows your posts to anyone anymore.
Here's the problem: AI tools are still optimizing for the old way things worked. It's like training really hard for a sport where they changed all the rules — you're getting better at a game that no longer exists.
When AI Makes Bad Marketing Worse
How Brands Are Using Tomorrow's Technology to Perfect Yesterday's Strategies
Theodore Levitt's famous 1960 question—"What business are you really in?"—has never been more urgent. As AI transforms marketing at breakneck speed, brands are making the same fatal mistakes that killed Kodak, Blockbuster, and Toys"R"Us. But this time, the "invisible shadow of obsolescence" moves at machine speed.
While 90% of content marketers plan to use AI to support content marketing efforts in 2025 (Siege Media + Wynter, 2025) and 43% actively use AI for content creation (Zebracat, 2025), most brands are deploying artificial intelligence to perfect strategies that no longer work—optimizing for engagement in an attention economy that has fundamentally collapsed.
The modern marketing mistake isn't about missing customer needs. It's about using AI to become incredibly efficient at activities that matter less each day.
The Content Factory Delusion
AI has made content creation incredibly easy. Nearly 80% of businesses report better content quality, and marketers can now write long-form posts in under an hour (Zebracat, 2025).
But there's a massive disconnect happening. While brands pump out more content than ever, people are tuning out. Instagram engagement has collapsed to just 0.50%, and most consumers now experience marketing fatigue (Social Insider, 2025; Optimove Insights, 2024).
The core problem? Most marketing teams think they're in the "content creation" business when they're actually in the "attention acquisition" business. This creates a dangerous loop where brands get incredibly efficient at activities that audiences actively avoid.
Meanwhile, the platforms themselves are changing the rules. TikTok now cares more about how long people watch than how many likes you get. Instagram pushed real conversations into private messages. Facebook barely shows your posts to anyone anymore.
Here's the problem: AI tools are still optimizing for the old way things worked. It's like training really hard for a sport where they changed all the rules—you're getting better at a game that no longer exists.
Real Companies Making Real Mistakes
Cars: Spending Big While Sales Tank
Stellantis spent $184 million advertising Ram trucks in just nine months of 2024 (MediaRadar data via Mopar Insiders, 2024). The result? Revenue dropped 17% to €156.9 billion (Stellantis, 2025).
The problem isn't their ads—it's what business they think they're in. Stellantis keeps perfecting car advertising while transportation is becoming a service. Tesla figured this out years ago. They don't sell "electric cars"—they position themselves as accelerating "the world's transition to sustainable energy" (Tesla, 2025). That's why Tesla thrives while traditional automakers struggle.
Fashion: Chasing Yesterday's Influencers
Most fashion brands use AI to find the "perfect" influencers. But they're optimizing for the wrong thing. While these brands chase big follower counts, smart companies have moved on. Nearly half of all brands now prefer nano-influencers with tiny but engaged audiences (Sprout Social, 2025).
Burberry gets it right. They don't just sell "luxury fashion"—they've built their entire brand around "British cultural identity" and heritage (Brand Vision, 2025). Meanwhile, other fashion brands let AI pick influencers based on outdated engagement metrics while real connection happens in smaller, more authentic communities.
The Technology Trap: When Tools Become Crutches
A quarter of marketers say AI-generated content works better than human-created content (CoSchedule, 2025). But "works better" at what, exactly?
AI is great at improving the old metrics — more clicks, higher open rates, better conversion numbers. The problem is these measurements worked when people had endless attention and social media algorithms were simple. Now consumers are getting smarter about ignoring marketing, and platforms keep changing how they decide what people see.
Think of it this way: You can have the most accurate GPS in the world, but if you're driving to the wrong destination, perfect directions won't help. Many brands are using AI to get incredibly precise at reaching customers who no longer want to be reached in those ways.
The Consumer Evolution Marketing Missed
Today's average person encounters 6,000-10,000 ads daily (versus 500 in the 1970s) (TechJury, 2024), creating cognitive defense mechanisms that traditional marketing measurement can't detect. AI-powered personalization often triggers these defense mechanisms more strongly than generic messaging, as consumers recognize when algorithms attempt to influence their behavior.
The brands succeeding in 2025 focus on utility and genuine value creation rather than persuasion optimization.
Privacy laws are changing how marketing works, but many brands are still thinking about it wrong. AI tools are getting incredibly good at creating personalized, one-to-one marketing messages. The problem? Consumers are getting tired of feeling like they're being watched and marketed to individually.
It's like becoming a master at writing personal letters to strangers—technically impressive, but it creeps people out. The better AI gets at personalization, the more people notice they're being targeted, and the more they resist it.
How to Escape the AI Trap
Before you deploy another AI tool, ask yourself: "What business are we really in?" Most companies discover they've been solving for the wrong thing entirely.
Step 1: Figure Out Your Real Business
Tesla doesn't sell cars — they accelerate sustainable energy. Burberry doesn't sell clothes — they sell British cultural identity. What's your real business?
Common revelations:
Energy company (not car manufacturer)
Community builder (not audience targeter)
Problem solver (not content creator)
Cultural curator (not fashion retailer)
Step 2: Let AI Be Your Assistant, Not Your Boss
The best approach? Let AI handle the research and optimization while humans control strategy and relationships.
AI handles: Finding opportunities, testing ideas, measuring performance Humans handle: Brand strategy, final decisions, building real connections
Step 3: Stop Interrupting, Start Inviting
Instead of using AI to get better at interrupting people, use it to create things people actually want:
Content that solves real problems
Tools that make life easier
Communities around shared interests
Experiences worth talking about
The Real Choice
You can use AI to become incredibly efficient at marketing that doesn't work anymore. Or you can use it to better understand what people actually need and deliver genuine value.
The companies that survive won't be the ones with the best AI tools — they'll be the ones who know what business they're really in and use technology to serve that purpose.
As Levitt said in 1960, the fundamental question hasn't changed: Will you use tomorrow's tools to solve tomorrow's problems, or to perfect yesterday's mistakes?