Observed Signal · Sep 8, 2026 · Market Signal · Source: Forrester · Impact: 3.5/5
AI Agents For Marketing Are Here: Are You Ready?
AI agents for marketing are no longer a future state —they have arrived. Eighty-three percent of B2C marketing decision makers report actively implementing agentic AI into their workflows, and 85% agree that it’s delivering meaningful business value in their marketing efforts.
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Agentic AI Reshapes Marketing Workflows, McKinsey Says
A McKinsey & Company analysis finds agentic AI — AI agents that execute multi-step marketing tasks under human supervision — is gaining traction and could support as much as two‑thirds of current marketing activities. The report says agentic systems, built on foundation models, can accelerate campaign processes (10–15x) and speed content cycles (up to 4x), and that organisations piloting integrated agentic workflows have seen potential revenue uplifts of 10–30%. Widespread experimentation has produced fragmented, isolated deployments; the primary barriers to scale are systems interoperability, unified data layers, identity frameworks and API-driven activation rather than model capability. Vendors such as Adobe and HubSpot are embedding AI agents into marketing platforms, but McKinsey notes fewer than 10% of firms have deployed end-to-end workflows that generate measurable value.
Which Marketers Lead in the Age of Agentic AI?
Sumit Virmani, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Infosys, argues that agentic AI and AI agents are fundamentally reshaping marketing. The guest commentary (published on Horizont on 2026-08-19) highlights that AI-driven agents now resolve around seven out of ten customer chat enquiries without human handover, and that software can autonomously create briefings, generate content, and activate campaigns. The piece discusses which marketing functions will be most affected and which roles will gain importance, while emphasising the need for human oversight.
58% of ad execs expect agentic buying to scale within a year
A new IAB Europe survey of 50 ad executives across 44 European markets reveals growing confidence in agentic ad buying. 58% expect it to reach operational use or scale within a year, though definitions vary. Larger companies (86%) are more advanced in human-agent collaboration than smaller ones (48%). Executives differ on speed: 30% expect agents to become a primary buying method in some markets, 28% expect regular use without full scale. Security and privacy are top concerns. Currently, agents are used mainly for reporting, analysis, and programmatic optimization. Most organizations judge AI on efficiency, with 59% increasing AI marketing investment in 2026. Skeptics like Converge Digital's CEO question the real value of agentic buying, noting it automates only parts of the process.
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