The Future of Warfare Looks a Lot Like Marketing
As nation states grapple with the reality of AI on the battlefield, brands have many of the same issues to consider.
Last week, I got sucked into to a podcast about the future of drone warfare. Not exactly a routine topic for me, but my fascination with AI often drifts beyond the tidy borders of marketing and commerce. What drew me in? The stakes don't get any higher than war. If we're going to consider the impacts, the ethics, the unknowns that come with AI, this is as real as it gets. Autonomous robots, digital battlefields, weapon systems smart enough to make their own decisions ... I find all of it both intriguing and frightening. Yet as the episode progressed, all the talk of disruption, transformation, and existential threats felt all too familiar.
Consider the basic premise of a military drone costing just a few thousand dollars taking out a tank worth millions. It's the story of a nimble newcomer leveraging technology to defeat an old-school powerhouse. It's a timeless marketing narrative. But the comparisons didn't end there. With every turn in the conversation I drew another parallel between the dramatically shifting dynamics of warfare and the sweeping disruption underway in marketing.
Let me be clear. There's no comparing the sobering reality of warfare with the pursuit of campaign ROI and unicorn IPOs. But make no mistake: the sense of urgency, the mindset, and the underlying lessons couldn't be more relevant.
Game Theory
In warfare, the scenario in which one side has access to a decisive new weapon, and the other does not, isn't merely risky. It's unthinkable. This, in fact, is the motivation behind an arms race. Not the desire for dominance, but the fear of vulnerability.
In marketing, the same logic now applies. Imagine your biggest competitor leveraging AI to fuel their analytics, customer research, and campaign strategies at 100x productivity, while you cling stubbornly to manual spreadsheets and gut instinct. You're not just disadvantaged. You're doomed. And it’s not only a tactical setback—it’s a psychological defeat, a mind game in which you've surrendered the high ground before a single move is made.
Asymmetry
Then there's the underdog scenario. The imbalance that favors the small guys. On the modern battlefield, off‑the‑shelf consumer drones rigged with improvised payloads are disabling multimillion‑dollar targets. Robots equipped with basic cameras and sensors are providing real‑time reconnaissance that outperforms the most advanced traditional surveillance. It's David versus Goliath, but David isn't armed with a stone. He's armed with software and ingenuity.
Now translate that to marketing. Small brands and startups are a force to be reckoned with. They're leveraging AI to flood the market with personalized content, to precisely target their campaigns, and to automate operations in a way that scales effortlessly. Suddenly, size is a liability. Budget and headcount—the traditional strengths of larger incumbents—can be countered with agility and efficiency at a fraction of the cost. The advantage goes to the smaller player.
Deployment
Which brings us to the issue of speed. What military tacticians call the "pace of deployment." Here, the podcast raised a point I couldn't forget: In the future of warfare, the difference between victory and defeat comes down to how quickly you can deploy new technology into the field. This concept couldn't be more relevant for marketers.
Think of traditional marketing processes: quarterly meetings, agency briefings, approval chains. These habits were fine in a slower-moving world. But today, AI-first companies are launching, testing, adjusting, and relaunching campaigns multiple times in a single day. The speed at which you observe market data, orient your strategy, make decisions, and act (known in military circles as an "OODA loop") determines whether you lead or lose.
And what holds back speed? In a word, bureaucracy. Just as defense contractors complain bitterly about the slow-moving wheels of government procurement, marketers are often stalled by their own internal barriers. Legal teams, branding committees, and data-privacy officers—all well-meaning—routinely slow AI pilots to a crawl.
But the future of marketing demands urgency. The smartest brands will create integrated teams that can fast-track AI initiatives, freeing themselves from the bureaucratic delays that suffocate innovation. They don't eliminate oversight, but they recognize that the pace of adoption has become its own form of competitive advantage.
Bad Actors
Technology becomes truly dangerous when it falls into the wrong hands. Any conversation about the future of warfare must address the prospect of rogue states, extremist groups, or unscrupulous individuals exploiting the power of AI for their own ends. While marketing is trivial in comparison, there's a similar narrative. And brands must still prepare for the reality of competitors and adversaries using AI in irresponsible ways.
We're entering an era where AI will power a non-stop flood of low-quality content, unwanted spam, fake reviews, online scams, and more from dishonest perpetrators. As a result, consumers will be more skeptical than ever. Attention will be harder to gain. Trust will be harder to earn.
The countermove? Establish robust AI governance and codify clear ethical standards. Empower integrated teams to audit AI outputs, adapt policies swiftly, and train staff on responsible practices. In tomorrow’s marketing battlefield, safeguarding your brand means proactive vigilance—anticipating threats and neutralizing them before they erode consumer trust.
Uncertainty
Military strategists freely admit that the future of warfare is a moving target. Adversaries may harness AI in unforeseen ways. The pace of technological advancement is unpredictable. And subsequent breakthroughs could introduce new challenges and opportunities. Here, the parallel with marketing is undeniable.
Will SEO still matter? What privacy regulations are around the corner? How will marketing jobs be impacted? When will artificial general intelligence (AGI) be achieved? And will it change everything? None of us has a crystal ball but we do know the marketing landscape will be changing dramatically over the next decade. Perhaps over the next year or two.
Clinging to a fixed annual plan in such conditions is a recipe for disaster. Instead, brands must cultivate a new mindset for a new era. Pilot AI initiatives rapidly, empower integrated teams, adopt rolling roadmaps, continuously monitor performance, and invest in up-skilling employees.
A New Mindset
The podcast episode gripped me from beginning to end, a stark reminder that the stakes in high-tech warfare are only getting higher. Yet the marketing parallels are cemented in my mind. Game theory as a psychological advantage. The urgency to deploy quickly. The advantages of being small. The threats from irresponsible actors. And the ever-present element of uncertainty.
For brands, the mandate is clear. Adopt an AI‑first mindset. Pilot solutions rapidly. Break down silos. Safeguard data and uphold ethical standards. Embrace rolling strategies and continuous skill building. In short, elevate AI from an experimental technology to a core strategy. This is the future of marketing and it's an arms race in every way.
