The use of AI in Marketing and Creative Development

In March, our CEO, Elisa Rode, attended the CUNA Marketing, PR, and Development Conference.

A recurring theme across sessions and keynote presentations strongly emphasized the use of real people and storytelling to drive awareness and engagement around the Credit Union Difference. Session after session, speaker after speaker highlighted that Gen Z can easily detect inauthenticity. Instead, the recommendation was to tell real stories using real people.

More recently, there has been widespread excitement around NASA sending astronauts around the backside of the moon. While the mission focuses on testing equipment for future exploration and photographing the moon’s south pole, it also reinforces the importance of human presence. There is work that cannot be accomplished without real people exploring and engaging directly. Images of astronauts and mission control teams have been deeply inspiring and energizing.

The common thread, even from a limited perspective, is a clear preference for authentic, human-centered connections.

Given this, an important question emerges for credit unions and other business to consumer industries: what role should AI play in marketing and creative development?

Among executive leadership, AI is increasingly being used to automate tasks, including elements of creative and content development. However, among practitioners and marketing teams, AI is more commonly viewed as a support tool, assisting with brainstorming, content refinement, trend analysis, and data interpretation. It enhances efficiency but has not fully replaced marketing or creative roles.

There is also a noticeable disconnect when encountering AI-generated visuals on social media. These images often feel unnatural or unsettling and tend to lack emotional resonance. As a result, they fail to meaningfully engage audiences.

For additional perspective, AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude were asked to identify key functions AI serves in marketing today.

ChatGPT identified:

• Audience targeting and segmentation
• Personalization at scale
• Content creation and optimization
• Predictive analytics
• Media buying and optimization
• Customer experience and chatbots
• Marketing automation
• Insights and decision support

Claude identified:

• Personalization and targeting
• Predictive analytics
• Content creation and optimization
• Chatbots and conversational marketing
• Search and SEO
• Ad targeting and programmatic advertising
• Customer segmentation
• Sentiment analysis and social listening
• Email marketing optimization
• Attribution modeling

The shared conclusion is that AI enables marketers to be more precise, efficient, and responsive, turning data into actionable insights faster than traditional methods.

AI clearly plays a significant role in helping teams work more efficiently. However, its role in creative development remains limited.

If AI is not the primary tool for creative execution, the alternative is straightforward: real people and real stories. Videos and images featuring actual members and customers sharing their experiences continue to be highly effective. Authenticity and trust remain central to strong brand equity and meaningful engagement.

With modern smartphones, capturing genuine content is more accessible than ever. There is little justification for relying heavily on AI-generated creativity when authentic storytelling remains one of the most powerful tools in marketing.