How AI-native marketers are driving long-term growth in the Gulf

Dubai / Gulf Time

Saria Hayek, Regional Manager – Dubai, Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM): The rise of AI has created both opportunities and anxiety for marketers operating across the GCC. Not only are there worries about the technology both hallucinating and reducing the distinctiveness of brands, but concerns persist regarding its long-term impact on the region’s marketing talent pool.

Global research from the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s (CIM) 2026 ‘Marketing Leadership in the Age of AI Report’ reveals that just 8% of marketers believe their organisation will try to secure a return on their AI investment through headcount reductions. This provides a compelling message for business leaders in the Gulf: AI should be leveraged to empower regional marketing talent, not replace it.

How AI can enhance marketers’ performance
CIM’s research demonstrates how marketers plan to use AI to deliver results for their organisations, from predicting future sales and customer demand, to optimised pricing structures, competitor analysis, and budget allocation.

This provides marketers with greater visibility into market trends and enables faster, data-driven decision-making, while allowing resources to be directed towards high-value strategic initiatives.

Many marketers have also found AI useful for predicting customer lifetime value, segmenting audiences with greater precision, and mapping hyper-personalised customer journeys. This enables businesses to better understand changing customer needs, tailor their marketing strategies, and ultimately drive revenue while providing a first-class experience to consumers and clients across diverse regional demographics.

Personally, I feel that the value of AI is not simply in automating existing marketing tasks. Used effectively, AI augments human expertise rather than replacing it, giving marketers more bandwidth to focus on strategy, creativity and the campaign narrative that ultimately differentiates brands.

While AI accelerates operational efficiency, its potential extends far beyond operational gains. In fact, upskilling teams to effectively use AI directly aligns with transformative national agendas such as the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 and Saudi Vision 2030, prioritising building a competitive, high-tech, knowledge-based economy. By empowering talent with AI capabilities, marketers can drive sustainable, long-term growth across resilient GCC economies that are primed for continued expansion.

Why investing in human talent remains critical
With AI’s capabilities in mind, some C-Suite decision makers may view the rise of the technology as an opportunity to restructure and reduce headcount. This is a dangerous path to go down.

Without adequate human oversight, AI can produce inaccurate and misleading information, and reinforce bias and stereotypes. It can also generate generic content that fails to resonate with local cultural nuances or align with a brand’s unique voice. This erodes hard-earned brand equity – a critical concern given that consumer trust drops significantly when audiences encounter unverified, purely automated content.

All this reinforces the need for organisations to not only keep their marketing teams intact, but also to invest in capability building both individually and at a team level. This is where CIM supports regional businesses through tailored team training and professional qualifications.

Investment in AI across the GCC is rising sharply. With CIM’s research revealing that 47% of surveyed marketers believe their organisation doesn’t have a formal AI skills strategy in place, the true competitive advantage for GCC businesses will belong to those whose teams are equipped harness AI effectively, ethically, and responsibly.

Working in tandem, human creativity and AI-powered capabilities will help shape the GCC’s economic future – provided leaders equip their workforce with the skills needed to lead that transformation.