The Rise of Agentic AI and How AI Agents Are Transforming Brand Marketing and Business Strategy

Few would be even remotely surprised to learn that the artificial intelligence (AI) services market is set to explode. In fact, estimates have it set to hit $609 billion by 2028, growing at an annual rate of 21.4% over the next five years. This tremendous growth is fueled by advancements in generative AI (GenAI), along with traditional AI technologies being reimagined to enhance predictive analytics and automate/enhance decision-making. 

In particular, Agentic AI – which has been described as “AI systems and models that can act autonomously to achieve goals without the need for constant human guidance…”- is emerging as a key technology trend that business leaders and CMOs are factoring into both their short- and long-term strategies. 

GenAI is evolving from simple prompts to more advanced, autonomous agents. 

Agentic AI marks the fourth wave of artificial intelligence, where systems are given the ability to act on our behalf. These AI agents operate independently within their environment, working toward specific goals or outcomes. Simply put, they’re like chatbots – but with a defined purpose and the ability to take action. 

Agent frameworks are becoming a part of our tech stacks. 

Business and technology leaders need to keep an eye on how AI is being integrated into tech stacks. With products like Salesforce’s AgentForce and Microsoft’s CoPilot Agent already hitting the market, agentic AI is making its way into major enterprise applications – whether we’re ready for it or not. And it’s only going to expand – Gartner predicts that within three years, more than 33% of enterprise software applications will incorporate agentic AI. 

The Growing Impact of Agentic AI on Brand Marketing 

Agentic AI is already making strides in sales and customer service, while GenAI continues to play a key role in marketing. As agentic AI gains traction across organizations, marketing leaders can start preparing by identifying areas where these AI-driven agents could add value. Potential use cases include: 

• Brand creation agents 

• Compliance agents 

• Communication agents 

• Market positioning agents 

• Asset management agents 

• Creative identity monitoring agents 

A great place to start is with roles that involve repeatable tasks requiring verification against clear business rules. For example, this could mean reviewing ad copy to ensure it follows brand guidelines from a PDF or checking text against a list of approved language and phrasing. 

Why Agentic AI Matters for Brand Marketers 

Here are a few key insights on agentic AI that CMOs and brand leaders should keep in mind. 

Autonomous Brand Creation  

AI is set to take the lead in every aspect of branding – from concept development and visual identity to tone of voice and strategic positioning. Traditional research methods like focus groups may soon be replaced by AI-driven insights, where consumer data and interview transcripts are analyzed to identify market opportunities and shape the next big product lines.  

As this shift unfolds, brand marketers will need to rethink their strategies, leveraging agentic AI for innovation while ensuring that its outputs stay true to their brand’s core values. 

Brand Governance and Consistency 

Marketing leaders should explore how agentic AI and LLM agents can help manage their brand portfolios. These tools are well-suited for enforcing brand standards, monitoring compliance, and ensuring consistency with established guidelines. However, this also means that having well-defined creative identity guidelines will be more important than ever. 

In a competitive market, a strong corporate identity (CI) is crucial for standing out. Brand marketers must prioritize their core identity and assess whether their GenAI-driven assets strengthen or dilute brand recognition. 

Agents Collaborating Across the Business 

The future of agentic AI looks like a dynamic, interconnected web – where humans communicate with agents, agents interact with humans, and even agents collaborate with each other. In this ecosystem, a brand agent might work alongside a compliance agent to ensure messaging stays on-brand, while a QA agent checks product features against expectations, cross-referencing road map agents to keep everything aligned with long-term goals. 

At scale, millions of these interconnected agents create a self-monitoring, self-correcting system, allowing marketers to achieve a level of operational efficiency that would be impossible manually. The power of agentic AI isn’t just in individual agents – it’s in their ability to work together seamlessly to drive brand success. 

It Matters – Here’s Why 

IT and business executives are under growing pressure to deliver on the potential of generative AI, with many organizations looking to their marketing teams to lead the way. Yet, despite this urgency, many business leaders remain uncertain about fully integrating AI into their digital marketing strategies. 

However, companies that take a strategic approach to AI tend to see stronger financial performance. In some sectors, like consumer packaged goods (CPG), businesses that have embraced AI have achieved three times the total shareholder returns compared to those that haven’t. 

Near-Term Actions for CMOs and Marketing Leaders 

To build a strong AI strategy, here are a few key steps: 

Build a Brand Agent 

The first step in exploring agentic AI is embracing the technology. Use your existing brand documentation – such as ideal customer profiles and creative identity guidelines – and feed this information into AI. Then, evaluate whether the AI-generated output aligns with the quality and style your team typically delivers. 

Next, define your brand personality as if it were a character in a story. Go beyond just specifying tone of voice – develop a rich backstory that shapes how your brand interacts. Provide examples of how your brand would respond in different scenarios. By leveraging agentic AI, you can create a brand agent that strengthens and elevates your identity. 

Build a Brand Compliance Agent 

Brand agents need guardrails. Clearly define what your brand is not – including tones, messaging, and perspectives that conflict with your values, personality, or guidelines. Having a brand compliance agent review and refine the outputs of your brand agent ensures AI-generated content remains true to your brand. 

Componentize Brand and Web Content 

AI agents are only as good as the content they learn from. IDC predicts that by 2028, 30% of enterprise content will be componentized, powered by GenAI-driven creation, search, recommendations, and management. Marketing leaders can get ahead by building structured content frameworks and revisiting legacy content to break it into reusable components. 

Rethinking Collaboration Models 

Leaders must prepare for a workforce that includes autonomous AI collaborators enhancing decision-making. For marketers, this means determining where AI agents should have agency in driving brand communication. Consider how these AI-powered communicators should function within your organization. 

In this agent-driven future, brands that invest in a well-defined, strategic approach to AI agents will stand out with consistency, authenticity, and adaptability.