Marc Pritchard: why brands still need the human touch
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AI is changing the world at warp speed, accelerating profound changes in media, commerce and brand-building. But as the industry squares up to AI — its risks, rewards and responsibilities — there is one constant, according to Marc Pritchard, P&G’s chief brand officer. And that is that human insight remains the foundation of successful brands.
Speaking at yesterday’s P&G seminar, Robots Can’t Build Brands: The New S-Curve Of Creative Transformation, Pritchard said the current marketing environment is at an inflection point driven by three shifting forces: media fragmentation, the convergence of media and commerce, and the rapid adoption of AI.
“But it’s never been more fun to be a brand-builder,” Pritchard insisted, pointing to the “exciting new technologies” that he believes will transform creativity rather than sideline it.
The P&G veteran traced the evolution of media from newspapers and broadcast television to social media, streaming platforms and generative AI. Meanwhile, commerce has become increasingly integrated with media, allowing consumers to move from product discovery to purchase in minutes.
“The path to purchase is literally collapsing right in front of us,” he said, citing the rise of quick-commerce platforms in markets such as China and India.
AI is accelerating both trends by enabling personalised experiences, generating creative content at scale and helping consumers navigate purchase decisions. However, Pritchard stressed that technology cannot replace the human understanding that drives effective brand-building. “What stays the same are the fundamentals of brand-building,” he said.
“Brands must continue to discover relevant human insights that lead to meaningful brand ideas.”
He illustrated the point with P&G’s experience with adapting dishwashing products for the UK market. While the company’s Dawn Powerwash succeeded in the US, the same positioning failed in the UK because consumers habitually soak dishes before washing them.
That cultural insight led to a new Fairy campaign built around the idea that consumers could “skip the soak”. “AI could have analysed millions of data points,” Pritchard said, “but it would not have understood the deep-seated cultural ritual of soaking dishes in the UK.
That takes human observation, empathy and intuition.”
He also referenced the Tide Evo and Pantene campaigns as examples of combining consumer insight with AI-powered execution. In Pantene’s case, teams used AI tools
to produce creative assets faster and more efficiently, but the original idea emerged from human observation. “The technology didn’t create the idea,” Pritchard said. “It helped bring human insight to life at the speed of culture.”
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