Overcoming branding challenges by adopting gen AI and agentic AI While marketing leaders are embracing this era of interactive branding, many still lack a clear strategy and struggle to execute their ambitions. We found 47 percent of European CMOs cited the need for a clearer brand strategy incorporating these formats, while 41 percent pointed to skill gaps within their organization for designing and launching such initiatives and 40 percent still needed to understand how to measure ROI effectively. To address these challenges, growth leaders are leveraging gen AI to amplify rather than replace human ingenuity. Leading brands focus on the smart, analytical use of gen AI capabilities to optimize media, enhance customer insights, spot trends more quickly, and produce personalized content at scale, while safeguarding consumer privacy. Yet, human talent remains critical for crafting truly creative and resonant content (Exhibit 8). Exhibit 8 Top 3 current gen AI use cases for growth leaders,¹ % of growth leader respondents Irreplaceability of human creativity,² % of respondents who agree with statement 1 Growth leaders defined as players with annual revenue growth >5%. Question: For which of the following marketing use cases is your company already using gen AI? (Multiple selections.) 2 Question: To what extent do you agree with the following statements? (5 = agree; 6 = strongly agree.) Source: State of Marketing Europe Report 2026, McKinsey, n = 500 senior marketing leaders across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom Gen AI raises the creative floor—and the bar. McKinsey & Company We believe that human creative teams are irreplaceable to produce differentiating, high-quality creative concepts and content, even if gen AI becomes an essential part of the creative process Media optimization Market research, customer insights and trend spotting Personalized content creation at scale 50 50 45 62 100 100 21 State of Marketing Europe 2026