Mike Khouri, Founder & CEO, tactical.For CMOs, pressure isn’t new. Budgets are tight, audiences are fragmented, and culture is moving faster than ever (as every agency on Earth loves to remind you of).
What has changed, however, is the shortcut thinking. Despite what you may have heard, AI isn’t the enemy. The problem is how it’s being used. Plug in a prompt, hit generate, and expect genius. That’s not strategy, that’s wishful automation.
But AI is just a subplot in a bigger story, one where creative becomes the ultimate business advantage. The opportunity isn’t to make more content, it’s to make better ideas. Ideas that connect faster, hit harder, and actually land.
That’s what I call ‘creative intelligence’.
Note to CMOs: Some things never change
Every few years, a new technology shows up promising to change everything. Remember when social media was going to kill traditional advertising? Or when apps were meant to replace websites?
Sure, things shifted. But in every wave of hype, it’s worth pausing to remember: the fundamentals don’t change.
At the end of the day, CMOs still chase the same three things: speed, quality, and value. And for years, the industry rule was that you could only pick two.
Want it fast? Say goodbye to craft. Want it high quality? Get ready to pay in time and money.
AI changes that equation.
By stripping out the friction, it unlocks the ability to move at speed, without losing consistency to deliver value, without cutting corners.
For the first time, CMOs don’t have to choose.
Speed to keep up with culture.
Quality to stay true to the brand.
Value to make every dollar work harder.
Those needs are timeless. What changes is how you get there. And right now, AI is tearing out the friction that’s held marketing back for decades.
So why now?
Think about how much of marketing production is really just logistics: locations, models, permits, edits, endless rounds of approvals.
AI doesn’t just cut corners; it removes the ones that were never needed in the first place. It’s the difference between flying economy and teleporting.
Suddenly, you can create stories, at speed and scale, without leaving the office.
And the real advantage? Iteration.
Instead of betting everything on one glossy film per quarter, brands can spread the same budget across a series of micro-campaigns. Test them in market, see what lands, and move fast to double down.
Less gambling on one big shot. More focus on what works, with AI doing the grind in the background.
And in a region like the GCC, where audiences live in culture and expect brands to show up fast, this isn’t optional anymore. It’s table stakes.
The mindset shift for CMOs
Don’t think of Creative Intelligence as a toolkit you download. Think of it as a whole new way of thinking and operating.
The era of one-size-fits-all campaigns is over.
The future lives in an editorial spine: a central narrative that flexes into dozens of cultural stories and moments, rather than relying on one big splash.
This shift moves teams closer to culture, creators, and the places where conversations actually happen.
AI shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for human creativity but as an amplifier.
Machines handle the versions, formats, and translations. People bring the taste, ideas, and leaps that cut through.
The real edge comes from discipline: knowing which stories to tell, when to show up, and how to keep the message consistent. That balance is where the real advantage lies.
Speed and scale only matter if the story is clear.
The common mistakes
The trap is treating AI like a ‘hero-output machine.’
You don’t need one shiny two-minute video blasting across every platform. That’s just expensive déjà vu. And copy-pasting a global campaign into Saudi or the UAE doesn’t make it local. It makes it lazy.
The real flex comes from agility and cultural fluency.
Knowing when to remix, when to adapt, and when to sit tight and listen. That’s what keeps brands relevant.
The bottom line
The CMOs who win the next decade won’t be the ones who panic-bought AI subscriptions the fastest. Speed matters, but so does direction.
The real winners will be the ones who use it to double down on what never changes: moving fast without the chaos, keeping quality high, and showing real value that drives results.
That’s Creative Intelligence.
Not another shiny tool, but the grease in the gears. It strips out friction so creativity can do what it’s meant to: solve business problems and drive results.
By Mike Khouri, Founder & CEO, tactical.
