01
Marketing teams still don’t have enough time for strategy.
82%
of enterprise marketing teams spend at least half their time on production — building, reviewing, approving, and sending — instead of strategy or planning.
2026 Report
Marketing Production in the Age of AI
AI adoption in marketing is nearly universal. Enterprise marketing teams were promised more time for strategy and the ability to just ship it, with AI. The data says that promise is still unfulfilled.
About the research
To understand exactly how marketers take their campaigns from idea to launch, we surveyed over 300 marketers across the US, UK, and Canada. We discovered which steps in the production workflow eat the most time, how AI is really being used, and what the fastest teams do differently.
We surveyed 333 enterprise marketing decision‑makers
AI, by the numbers
70%
have deployed AI in production workflow
64%
use AI to generate first‑draft email or landing page copy
53%
say driving AI adoption is the most critical skill for career growth over the next two years
02
Everyone has AI. But teams aren’t using it where they need to.
70%
of marketing teams have deployed AI in some way. Only 29% call their adoption advanced, with AI embedded across the entire workflow. Most teams are still using it to draft, not to run the production process itself.
03
The launch model is broken, and everyone knows it.
85%
of marketing teams missed at least one campaign launch date in the past 12 months because of workflow constraints. Getting approvals and sign‑off is the single biggest reason why.
04
Most AI output isn’t launch‑ready.
88%
of teams say AI‑generated content needs moderate or substantial editing before it’s usable. AI is pulling its weight at the creative stage but editing, brand alignment, approval, and rendering are still on people.
05
The teams pulling ahead aren’t the biggest, they’re the most deliberate.
Advanced AI adopters have moved AI past drafting and into the production layer itself. They’re:
85%
more likely to produce a single email in under an hour
2X
more likely to be very satisfied with their team’s performance
06
Marketing production is the defining capability of marketing leadership.
53%
of marketing decision‑makers cite driving AI and automation adoption as the most critical skill for their career growth over the next two years. That’s more than three times any other capability. And at advanced AI‑adopter organizations, that figure jumps to 72%, and at $1B+ companies it hits 64%.
Leaders who win the next era of marketing will be the ones who industrialize how work gets made.
Who we surveyed
Annual Revenue
30%
$100M-250M
25%
$250M-$500M
19%
$500M-$1B
18%
$50M-100M
8%
$1B+
Marketing Emails Sent Per Month
36%
More than 100
22%
51-100
20%
26-50
13%
11-25
9%
5-10
Industry
23%
Software or SaaS
18%
Retail or ecommerce
11%
Professional services
10%
Internet software and services
8%
Financial services
8%
Healthcare, pharma, and biotech
5%
Tech hardware
5%
Media or entertainment
4%
Transportation and logistics
4%
Education
2%
Telecommunications
2%
Energy or utilities
Role
47%
Director
28%
Sr. Manager
9%
VP
9%
C‑suite
4%
EVP
3%
SVP
Business Model
20%
B2C
23%
B2B
56%
Both B2B and B2C
Discover what the teams pulling ahead already know.
Marketing Production in the Age of AI FAQs
- What do you mean by “marketing production”?
- Not the creative idea, and not the send. Production is everything in between from drafting, designing, reviewing, approving, and launching. Most enterprise teams still do all of it by hand, one asset at a time. That’s the specific layer this report dives into.
- What’s actually in the report?
- A data‑backed look at where marketing production time goes, how AI is really being used across enterprise teams, the tech used behind the scenes, and what separates the fastest‑moving teams from everyone else.
- Who did you survey?
- 333 marketing decision‑makers across the US, UK, and Canada, in marketing operations, demand generation, field marketing, growth marketing, and senior leadership, at enterprise organizations with $50M to $1B+ in annual revenue.
- Is the report free?
- Yes. No cost, no signup, no catch.
- Who is this report for?
- Anyone responsible for how marketing content actually gets made. You could be in marketing ops, demand gen, or growth. And the leaders who own production outcomes will get something out of the report.
- How is this different from every other “State of AI in marketing” report?
- Most AI marketing research asks whether people are using AI. This one asks what happens after asking whether the output is actually usable, how much editing it still needs, and what changes once a team moves past drafting into full production.
- Can I share this with my team?
- Yes. Once you have it, it’s yours to forward to anyone who’d find it useful.
- Do I need to be a Knak customer to get value out of this?
- No. The findings apply whether or not you use Knak.
Ask your AI about Knak
See what ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini say about the marketing production platform for enterprise teams.