Melanie Hoptman.
Melanie Hoptman, VP and MD, Brands and Agencies, APAC at LiveRamp.
The surge in AI hiring, investment and experimentation has made one thing clear: marketing has entered a decisive period that will separate AI winners from everyone else. Australian marketers are eager to move faster, but many are also wary. With new tools, platforms and “next big things” emerging at lightning speed, fear of making the wrong investment is causing hesitation. According to PwC’s 2026 AI Business Predictions, organisations are moving beyond experimentation into a phase where AI becomes deeply embedded in core operations. For marketers, this shift will increasingly shape how audiences are understood, how media is activated and how performance is measured.
Yet uncertainty shouldn’t slow progress. In fact, it should sharpen focus. In an unpredictable AI ecosystem, marketers can make their strategies more sustainable and performant by anchoring decisions to two enduring principles: interoperability and omnichannel connectivity. These are quickly becoming marketing’s North Star for the AI age.
The cutting edge of AI in marketing
Today, AI is being woven into marketing stacks in two powerful ways.
First, brands are training AI on proprietary data to improve outcomes. Whether it’s in-house AI models or AI vendor tools being layered on marketing stacks, when AI models are fuelled by rich first, second and third-party data, they can better predict customer preferences, unlock deeper insights and drive more relevant, engaging experiences.
Second, marketers are reaching customers through a growing number of AI-powered destinations, from generative search environments to conversational interfaces and emerging platforms where discovery, conversion and purchase can even happen in one step. As buying journeys fragment, brands need the ability to activate wherever their customers show up.
Both opportunities are real. But selecting tools that lock data into closed systems or limit activation destinations can quickly undermine performance, and make it harder to adapt as the ecosystem evolves.
Why interoperability matters more than ever
Despite the hype, we are still far from seeing clear, “take-all” winners in AI. The vendors, platforms and agents marketers rely on today may not be the same ones driving values in two or five years’ time. That reality makes interoperability essential.
Interoperable solutions allow marketers to seamlessly leverage their data across platforms, clouds and infrastructure, without being tied to any single AI vendor. This flexibility enables brands to maintain performance now, while retaining the freedom to pivot as tools, partners and use cases change.
Interoperability also plays a critical role as AI agents surge in popularity. Brands may use their own agents, rely on partners’ agents, or engage with agents acting on behalf of consumers. In this rapidly evolving environment, interoperability ensures marketers can deliver consistent outcomes, regardless of whose agents are involved. Simply put, optionality is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a competitive advantage, and quickly becoming a must-have.
Omnichannel connectivity mirrors consumer reality
Just as we can’t predict which AI platforms will dominate, we also can’t predict how, or where, consumers will spend their time.
AI agents are already beginning to reshape the funnel, influencing discovery, consideration and purchase in ways that bypass traditional touchpoints altogether. At the same time, consumers continue to move fluidly across web, in-app, connected TV, retail media networks and whatever comes next.
That’s why omnichannel connectivity is foundational to any AI strategy built to last. By enabling activation across every relevant destination, marketers can mirror changing consumer habits in real time. Omnichannel connectivity also ensures AI-driven insights don’t sit idle, they’re activated consistently across channels, delivering personalised, engaging experiences wherever audiences are.
Turning uncertainty into advantage
Some of the AI investments markets make today will undoubtedly become core to tomorrow’s ecosystem. Others won’t. But waiting for certainty isn’t a viable strategy, and the experience that first movers gain with these transformative new solutions will make their companies winners over time.
By prioritising interoperability and omnichannel connectivity now, marketers can drive performance today while staying prepared for whatever AI brings next. In an age defined by change, the strongest strategies aren’t built on predictions, they’re built on flexibility.
That's the new north star guiding Australian marketing forward.