A65 point of view · AI maturity in marketing

From exploring AI to compounding with it.

Every marketing team is somewhere on the same curve. Some are asking AI what their customers think. Some are asking it to make and measure their content. A few have handed it the keys to the media plan. Finding out where you are today and knowing where you like to land tomorrow on the AI Maturity curve is key to driving realistic transformation in marketing.

18%of APAC brands are AI Explorers
65%are AI Adopters
16%are AI Leaders

Source: Google & Accenture study of 375+ APAC marketers

The curve

Value arrives slowly, then all at once.

AI maturity follows an S-shape. Early gains are modest because AI sits beside what you do in marketing. The steep middle begins once AI is inside your everyday workflow and wired to measurement. The top flattens into compounding returns, where agents act across channels and learn from every campaign. Each phase on the roadmap builds the foundations for the next.

A65 AI Maturity Curve An S-curve of marketing value against AI capability, divided into Explorer, Adopter and Leader phases, with A65 product lanes beneath: Population Intelligence from Explorer onward, Creative Intelligence from Adopter onward, Campaign Intelligence at Leader. PHASE 1 Explorer AI to understand the world PHASE 2 Adopter AI to make and measure PHASE 3 Leader AI to decide and act MARKETING VALUE CREATED → Desk researchwith LLM chatbots Paid Search asa first channel Creative Gen AI pilots Sociallistening Paid Social advertising Gen AI principles Multi-touchattribution Pre-flight scoring Media planning agents Autonomous budget& bid optimisation Closed-looplearning AI CAPABILITY · DATA · TALENT · CHANNELS → A65 LOOP OVERLAY Population IntelligenceSI Lab Creative IntelligenceCreativeOS Campaign IntelligenceAgentOS
Maturity curve Best adopted by Explorers, stays in use Deployed from Adopter Designed for Leaders

The three phases

What each phase looks like, what agents do there, and what to build next.

Phase 118% of APAC brands

Explorer

"What is happening out there, and why?"

What it looks like

  • AI used in experiments and for productivity
  • Campaign-based execution on external data
  • AI talent mostly outsourced; few partnerships
  • Limited link between activity and sales

Agentic applications

  • ResearchDesk research with LLM chatbots for trend, category and competitor questions
  • ChannelPaid Search as a first channel, with the platform's automated bidding doing the early optimisation
  • CreateCreative Gen AI pilots with off-the-shelf creative tools, to learn what generative creative can and cannot do
  • ListenSocial listening tools and their built-in AI summaries, the first investment in insights. The data is reactive, not predictive

A65 entry point

Population Intelligence Powered by SI Lab

Explorers are using AI to understand the world, so this is where A65 starts. Social listening shows what people already said. Synthetic audiences calibrated to 93.3% Pew Parity answer the questions a focus group would, in hours instead of weeks, with no media budget at risk.

Foundations that lead to Adopter

  • Generative AI principles are written and followed
  • Content performance measurement is set up
  • A content strategy is laid down

Phase 265% of APAC brands

Adopter

"What should we make, and is it working?"

What it looks like

  • Brand guidelines in place; Gen AI principles still maturing
  • Content performance is measured
  • Owned data feeds single-channel testing
  • An internal AI team is forming

Agentic applications

  • ReachPaid Social advertising to grow brand reach, built on proper brand guidelines that may not yet cover Gen AI ethics and principles
  • GuardrailsGen AI principles written after social feedback exposes poor AI creative execution, setting guardrails and the brand's own approach to deploying Gen AI
  • Pre-flightCreative scoring against synthetic panels before launch
  • AttributeMulti-touch attribution as more channels join the mix, exposing gaps in observed conversions and leading to Conversions APIs for more durable data
  • MeasureFatigue detection and A/B test design tied to content KPIs

A65 layer added

Creative Intelligence Powered by CreativeOS

Generative creative pays off only when there are rules for using it, a way to measure it, and a strategy to serve. Adopters have all three. Creative Intelligence plugs into them, fed by the audience understanding Population Intelligence already built.

Foundations that lead to Leader

  • In-house AI and performance talent is in place
  • Multiple channels are set up and running
  • Proven performance benchmarks exist

Phase 316% of APAC brands

Leader

"Where should every dollar go next?"

What it looks like

  • Dedicated in-house AI talent
  • Multi-channel activation with proven benchmarks
  • Ecosystem partnerships
  • Execution optimised to business outcomes

Agentic applications

  • PlanMedia planning agents that set channel split, phasing and KPI targets
  • OptimiseAutonomous budget and bid pacing across Meta, Google and TikTok
  • PredictPerformance forecasting against benchmark ranges
  • LearnClosed-loop learning where results recalibrate audiences and creative

A65 layer added

Campaign Intelligence Powered by AgentOS

Autonomous agents trained on USD$6B of ad spend plan, activate and optimise campaigns. They need what Leaders already have: people who can direct them, channels to act on, and benchmarks to beat.

What comes next

The full A65 Loop runs. Every campaign makes the next one smarter, and performance compounds.

Why the layers stack

Each phase keeps what it earned.

Moving up the curve adds a layer. Leaders still need to understand the world, and they still need great creative. What changes is that the layers start feeding each other: audience truths shape creative, creative feeds campaigns, and campaign results recalibrate the audience. While the future of performance is agentic, the future of work remains human.

Explorer
Population Intelligence
Adopter
Population IntelligenceCreative Intelligence
Leader
Population IntelligenceCreative IntelligenceCampaign Intelligence

Self-diagnostic

Where does your team sit on the curve?

Six questions. Pick the answer closest to today, not the plan for next quarter.

1. How does your team use AI today?
2. Do you have generative AI principles?
3. How is content performance measured?
4. Where does your AI talent sit?
5. How many paid channels run with clear performance goals?
6. Do you have proven performance benchmarks?
A65 · Performance that compounds.Framework by A65. Phase names and APAC distribution from Google & Accenture, Drive AI marketing maturity. Agentic applications and product mapping are A65's own.
Talk to A65

Know where you sit on the curve? Let's plan the next phase.

Tell us where your team is today and we'll map the A65 layers that fit it, from Population Intelligence to Campaign Intelligence.

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