A manufacturer can spend years developing a piece of equipment, investing in engineering, technology, and technical support. When the time comes to advertise it, the company uses artificial intelligence to create a campaign with impressive visuals. Meanwhile, a business that has made none of those investments can produce advertising that looks just as appealing.
Just look at some of the posts circulating on social media. Tractors in perfectly lit fields, animals with idealized features, farms that look like television drama sets. Remove the logos and try to identify the companies behind those images.
Artificial intelligence has changed the way we work. Today, we can research markets, analyze data, prepare plans, develop campaigns, and complete tasks that once took hours. It is an extraordinary advancement, especially for companies that need to accomplish more with lean teams.
The problem arises when the ease of execution begins to replace independent thinking. A company receives a ready-made marketing plan, approves recommendations similar to those of its competitors, and gradually loses its identity while trying to keep up with the latest trends.
A study published in Science Advances in 2024 revealed an interesting finding. In an experiment involving 293 participants, stories developed with AI assistance received higher creativity ratings but also became more similar to one another. Although the study examined short stories, its findings deserve attention from anyone working with brands.
In livestock production, there is an even greater concern about image accuracy. Photographs and videos help buyers evaluate an animal's conformation, leg structure, and breed characteristics. AI editing can alter precisely the attributes that matter in this assessment, presenting an animal that differs from the one actually being advertised.
The technology offers enormous possibilities. Taking advantage of them requires understanding the product, the buyer, and the reasons why a brand deserves to be chosen.
What can't your competitors copy yet?
Consider an animal nutrition company looking to increase sales.
In just a few minutes, AI can prepare campaigns about productivity, performance, and technology, generate images, and organize a complete social media content calendar. Its competitors could probably achieve similar results.
Now consider the knowledge accumulated within that company. Salespeople know which questions arise during negotiations. The technical team understands the conditions under which the products are used. Sales records reveal which customers continue buying and which begin looking for alternatives.
Suppose one of the main obstacles to selling a particular feed supplement is the lack of clarity about its daily cost per animal. A campaign that presents this calculation, supported by reliable technical information, gives livestock producers a useful argument to consider when making a purchasing decision.
That information may never have appeared in the company's advertising, even though its salespeople explain it to customers every day.
A study published in July 2026 in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science analyzed 280 brand advertising events during the Super Bowl over a ten-year period. The researchers found favorable results in brand recognition and evaluation metrics when advertisements communicated clear differences between competitors.
The study was conducted in the United States, but it reinforces the importance of presenting arguments that help buyers distinguish one company from another.
This is precisely where artificial intelligence can be particularly useful. With proprietary data and reliable information, it can organize sales objections, identify behavioral patterns, and help develop campaigns with more specific arguments.
Some of this knowledge exists in customer conversations, technical reports, and the sales team's experience. It is information that would rarely appear in a generic internet search.
Your competitors can subscribe to the same AI tools. That does not automatically give them access to the knowledge your company has accumulated over years of serving its customers.
Is your team producing more or selling more effectively?
A company that previously published twelve social media posts per month can now produce forty pieces of content with the same team. The report shows a substantial productivity gain, but the business results still need to be examined.
Are the leads more qualified? Have requests for quotations increased? Has the conversion rate improved? Have salespeople noticed any difference in the quality of the inquiries they receive?
These indicators help determine whether increased production capacity is contributing to sales.
An experiment involving 758 Boston Consulting Group professionals, conducted in collaboration with researchers affiliated with Harvard, demonstrated significant gains from using AI. In tasks suited to the technology's capabilities, participants worked 25.1% faster and completed 12.2% more tasks.
However, in a complex managerial task that exceeded those capabilities, participants who used AI were 19% less likely to arrive at the correct solution.
The study, published in Organization Science in 2026, helps explain why the same technology can improve performance in certain activities while undermining it in others.
In marketing, this becomes particularly important when AI begins influencing decisions about brand positioning, customer segmentation, and advertising investments. An analysis that appears well supported can produce incorrect conclusions when based on incomplete information.
Speed is impressive, but results still need to be evaluated.
Those who understand the business make better use of technology
Many people are focused on learning how to write prompts. That is useful, of course. Knowing how to instruct a tool improves its responses and makes work easier.
But understanding the market makes an enormous difference in the quality of the questions asked and the interpretation of the answers.
In livestock production, for example, advertising a breeding animal ranked in the top 0.1% requires an understanding of the genetic index used, the traits evaluated, and the reference population. An AI tool may present the ranking correctly and still produce a misleading commercial interpretation.
Professionals working with animal genetics can recognize this problem. The same applies to someone who understands the technical characteristics of agricultural machinery, the recommended applications of a fertilizer, or the consumption requirements of a feed supplement.
This knowledge also makes it possible to use AI for activities that are far more valuable than simply creating social media posts. Analyzing previous campaigns, studying buyer behavior, identifying sales opportunities, and comparing different strategies are possibilities worth exploring.
And there is one benefit I consider especially important.
If a team is saving hours of work through artificial intelligence, it can use some of that time to accompany salespeople, learn more about the products, and talk to customers.
A technical visit may reveal a sales argument that has never appeared in an advertisement. A conversation with a livestock producer may explain why they prefer a particular supplier. An analysis of a lost sale may uncover an issue the company has yet to resolve.
These are valuable insights that can inform new research, improve planning, and guide campaigns developed with the assistance of AI itself.
I would start by examining how much of the company's technical and commercial knowledge is actually being used in its marketing. There may be important opportunities the team has yet to explore while spending much of its time producing materials similar to those of its competitors.
Artificial intelligence can save many hours of work. I would use some of that time to understand why customers choose that company and what it still needs to do to win over those who are buying from competitors.