Artificial Intelligence in the Context of Marketing Communications

While the term 'artificial intelligence' (AI) was only coined by John McCarthy in 1956, the concept of AI has been inspiring researchers since long before then. In 1943, for example, McCulloch and Pitts proposed that neural networks could be computed, thereby paving the way for the development of artificially intelligent machines. Since then, AI has evolved significantly and is now widely used by businesses for various marketing activities. To mention some examples, AI has found applications in the context of data analysis and insights, customer service and support, tailored marketing and recommendations, predictive analytics, process automation, risk assessment and fraud detection, product development and optimization, and natural language processing. The application of AI in such contexts demonstrates its ability to assist marketing specialists in their daily activities, leaving them more time to focus on other tasks.

Despite the increased implementation of AI in various marketing activities, research in this area is still much in its infancy, particularly as concerns the use of AI in marketing communications. Advertising, as part of the marketing communication mix, has several applications for AI: ad targeting and personalization, programmatic advertising, ad creation and optimization, customer journey analysis, forecasting, fraudulent ad detection, ad efficiency measurement, etc. With few exceptions (see, for example, Nesterenko and Olefirenko, 2023) scholarly research into any such applications is still scarce.

Against this background, this Research Topic aims to shed more light on the contributions that AI can (and does) make to the creation, implementation, integration, and assessment of the effectiveness of various marketing communications. Specific themes to be addressed include, but are not limited to, the following:

• the role of AI in marketing communications
• advertising and AI
• public relations and AI
• sales promotion and AI
• personal sales and AI
• integrated marketing communications and AI
• the application of AI in the creative process of marketing communications
• the implementation of AI in marketing communications campaigns
• the evaluation of marketing communications campaigns through AI
• customer data and AI in marketing communications
• the ethics of using AI in marketing communications
• employment in marketing communications and AI.

We welcome the submission of studies of empirical, theoretical, analytical, and behavioral nature.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, marketing communications, advertising, public relations, sales promotion, personal sales, integrated marketing communications, ethics

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.