The Australian Centre for AI in Marketing (ACAM) and Kantar are urging marketing leaders to rethink how they use AI, warning that brands are burning through expensive tokens and, ergo, their budgets on tasks that don’t require such intensive AI use.
Australian CMOs are being told to stop treating AI like a shiny new toy and start using it strategically, with new research warning many organisations are spending heavily on tools they have not yet learned how to properly deploy.
ACAM and Kantar are warning marketing leaders against what they describe as “jackhammer AI syndrome” — using powerful, expensive AI models for simple tasks — while also cautioning brands are entering “arranged marriages” with enterprise AI platforms that may not actually suit their needs.
The warnings come as ACAM today releases its 2026 Australian AI in Marketing Benchmark Report, which found 83 per cent of organisations remain stuck in the early stages of AI maturity, with no organisation reaching the top two levels of capability.
The report, based on responses from 126 Australian CMOs and senior marketing leaders across 12 industries, found almost six in 10 organisations (58 per cent) have no documented AI roadmap, while 45 per cent say their enterprise AI platforms are disappointing, harder than expected or only “OK”.
‘Jackhammer AI Syndrome’
ACAM co-founder Douglas Nicol told B&T one of the biggest mistakes marketers are making is assuming the most advanced AI model is always the best option.
He described the issue as “jackhammer AI syndrome”.
“We’re seeing nasty cases of what we call jackhammer AI syndrome, where you’re using a highly advanced frontier model that burns through the tokens to solve a really simple marketing task,” he said.
“It’s like a jackhammer to open a walnut, and it’s completely ridiculous.”
Nicol said marketers need to become smarter about matching AI capability with the job at hand.
“It’s not necessarily about how recent the tool is and how new the tool is. Does it fit the task?”
The issue, he said, will become increasingly important as finance leaders begin asking tougher questions about AI costs.
“The CFO is looking at the bills that the organisation is paying for AI,” Nicol said.
“Token prices are coming down, but we’re accelerating our uses of AI, and that means the cost is going up.”
The AI ‘arranged marriage’ nobody asked for
Nicol also warned many marketing teams are being handed AI platforms they did not choose — and are then expected to make them work.
He described the situation as an “arranged marriage”.
“Quite often a marketing team will be given an AI platform, and that’s all you use,” he said.
“It’s an arranged marriage. They didn’t choose it.”
While access to AI tools is increasing, Nicol said the bigger question is whether those platforms are actually helping marketers solve their biggest challenges.
“Access to a tool is one thing, but is it fit? Is it a superpower that is going to support the key things you need to do in marketing?”
AI adoption ‘like buying a gym membership’
In an interview with B&T, Kantar Australia executive group director Karin Du Chenne said organisations had moved beyond convincing people AI mattered — but were now facing the harder challenge of making it part of everyday work.
She compared the journey to signing up for a gym membership.
“Last year when we did the report, we were trying to drive adoption and just get people to know that it was important,” she said.
“It was a little bit like, ‘please buy the gym membership’.”
“This year they’ve bought the gym membership. They’ve adopted AI. But now they don’t go to the gym every day because life gets in the way.”
Du Chenne said the organisations moving fastest were those embedding AI into culture, workflows and decision-making.
“The organisations that are making this part of culture and part of how we do things, and have set a strong leadership direction, are the ones that are embracing it faster.”
Concerns around sloppy AI
The report also found AI slop remains a major concern, with 61 per cent of CMOs identifying low-quality AI-generated content as their biggest operational worry, while 32 per cent flagged potential brand damage.
Du Chenne said brands needed to avoid using AI as a replacement for human creativity.
“AI should be enhancing, not replacing,” she said. “You still have to have the part where there are choice points where a human gets involved.”
Her advice to CMOs is to stop chasing tools without a clear destination.
“If there was one thing I would do as a CMO, I would make sure my team is aligned and that we have a common vision.”
Nicol said the industry’s next challenge was turning AI enthusiasm into measurable business impact.
“We’re seeing amazing leadership. Leadership is the number one top-scoring dimension in this report,” he said.
“But that’s now got to be translated into strategic planning. That’s the big challenge for the coming year.”
