Behind the Numbers: AI is Turning Bank Marketing Upside Down

Episode Release Date: July 8, 2025
Hosted by: Rob Rubin, Head of Business Development at eMarketer
Guests: Jacob Bourne (AI Analyst) and Lauren Ashcroft (Banking Analyst)

Overview

In this insightful episode of EMARKETER’s "Behind the Numbers" podcast, host Rob Rubin delves into the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on bank marketing. Joined by AI analyst Jacob Bourne and banking analyst Lauren Ashcroft, the discussion explores how AI is reshaping advertising strategies, customer engagement, and operational efficiencies within the financial services sector.

1. Personal Reflections on AI

Timestamp: [01:00 - 02:17]

To kick off the conversation, Rob Rubin engages the guests in a light-hearted discussion about their personal interactions with AI. Jacob Bourne shares his experience using AI to generate baby name suggestions, saying, “I recently gave it characteristics of names that we're interested in and asked it for, like 10 suggestions. I hated them all, but I thought it was a fun process.” Lauren Ashcroft adds, “It's nice to be able to just ask AI the most random questions that wouldn't really necessarily be appropriate for a traditional search query.”

Rob contributes by mentioning how he used ChatGPT to imagine his dog, Buster, as a human, highlighting the playful and creative potentials of AI in everyday life.

2. Story by Numbers: US Financial Services Digital Ad Spend

Timestamp: [02:22 - 03:21]

Rob introduces the segment "Story by Numbers," focusing on a staggering $42.6 billion forecast for US financial services digital ad spend in 2025. He emphasizes that this translates to approximately $165 per adult annually, underscoring the substantial investment in digital marketing within the sector. Rob poses a critical question: "How has AI changed the financial industry's approach to advertising?"

3. AI’s Evolving Role in Bank Marketing

Timestamp: [03:21 - 05:42]

Jacob Bourne explains that AI has kept bank marketers in a state of constant evolution, primarily by enhancing personalization and targeting capabilities. He notes, “Agentic AI is starting to happen in the banking industry and that will change by making, for example, chatbots way more able to completely manage customer situations from beginning to end” ([04:00]).

The discussion shifts to SEO and generative search engines. Jacob highlights a significant shift: “You have to tailor your content to answer questions that people are using generative search engines for” ([04:55]). This represents a departure from traditional SEO practices, requiring marketers to adapt swiftly to stay relevant.

4. Industry Examples of AI Integration

Timestamp: [05:42 - 08:40]

Lauren Ashcroft provides concrete examples of AI in action within the banking sector. She cites Wells Fargo’s Gen AI-powered Fargo Assistant, which recorded 245.4 million customer interactions in 2024, exceeding expectations and demonstrating high user engagement ([06:05]). In contrast, Bank of America’s Erica has not yet integrated generative AI, though it remains more popular than Wells Fargo's offering.

Lauren also discusses MasterCard's success with AI-powered programmatic advertising, which saw a 254% increase in click-through rates thanks to real-time behavior analysis and cross-channel optimization ([06:48]). Additionally, Reddit’s AI insights feature has boosted advertisers' click-through rates by 19% by summarizing user conversations and enhancing ad relevance ([08:16]).

5. Synthetic Customers and Digital Twins

Timestamp: [08:44 - 09:33]

The conversation moves to the concept of synthetic customers or digital twins. Lauren Ashcroft explains how AI can generate entire customer bases to simulate and predict responses to marketing campaigns. Rob Rubin emphasizes the power of these simulations for optimizing campaigns pre-launch, stating, “It's pretty powerful” ([08:49]).

6. Limitations and the Need for Human Oversight

Timestamp: [09:33 - 11:20]

While AI's potential is vast, both Jacob and Lauren express skepticism about fully automating marketing content without human oversight. Jacob points out the critical need for compliance in banking: “The amount of human oversight needed for content before it goes into an ad is very important” ([09:33]). Lauren echoes this sentiment, highlighting that AI, despite advancements, “still needs that oversight” to ensure contextual understanding and compliance ([10:26]).

Rob Rubin challenges this by questioning whether AI could eventually match or surpass human error rates, but Lauren remains cautious, emphasizing the nuanced understanding humans bring: “You always want a human in the loop because people understand people on a fundamental level that AI might not ever” ([11:00]).

7. Future Disruptions: Ranking AI’s Impact on Bank Marketing

Timestamp: [11:20 - 22:40]

In the final segment, Argue Nicely, Rob Rubin presents five potential areas where AI could disrupt financial services marketing:

1. Bundling Products Dynamically
2. Predicting Churn
3. Generating Marketing Content at Scale
4. Testing Marketing Campaigns
5. Helping Prospects Choose Products

Lauren Ashcroft’s Rankings:

1. Helping Prospects Choose Products – High impact due to enhancing customer experience.
2. Generating Marketing Content at Scale – Saves time and reduces costs despite needing human oversight.
3. Synthetic Customers – Promising but requires time for adoption.
4. Bundling Products Dynamically – Less immediate due to technological constraints.
5. Predicting Churn – Dependent on actionable policies post-prediction.

Jacob Bourne’s Rankings:

1. Bundling Products Dynamically and Helping Prospects Choose Products – Already emerging in fintech applications.
2. Predicting Churn – Essential for customer retention amidst rising competition.
3. Testing Marketing Campaigns – Important for optimizing strategies.
4. Synthetic Customers – Growing potential for future use.
5. Generating Marketing Content at Scale – Skeptical about fully removing humans from this process.

Rob Rubin’s Insights: Rob aligns with the high impact of product bundling and customer assistance, projecting that by 2029, trust in AI recommendations will grow, especially among Gen Z. He also highlights that while predicting churn is currently a focus, it may become a standard practice rather than a differentiator in the future due to its foundational role in customer retention.

8. The Path Forward: Balancing AI and Human Expertise

Timestamp: [20:39 - 23:58]

Lauren Ashcroft emphasizes a balanced approach: leveraging AI for its strengths while maintaining human relationships in customer-facing roles. Rob Rubin and Jacob Bourne agree that the rapid advancements in AI necessitate continuous adaptation by bank marketers to stay competitive and effectively meet evolving customer needs.

Jacob shares a compelling observation about AI-generated content's realism: “I saw a video that I would bet all of my money that it was a real cast of actors and a real set. It was 100% AI” ([22:15]), underscoring the blurred lines between AI and human-generated content.

Conclusion

Rob Rubin wraps up the episode by thanking Jacob Bourne and Lauren Ashcroft for their valuable insights. He reiterates the significance of understanding AI’s role in transforming bank marketing and encourages listeners to stay informed through future podcast episodes.

“It's going to be harder to really distinguish between what's AI-generated and what's human-generated,” Lauren Ashcroft remarks, highlighting the ongoing evolution and integration of AI in the financial marketing landscape ([23:58]).

Key Takeaways

• AI is Revolutionizing Personalization and Targeting: Enhancing customer engagement through personalized marketing strategies.

• Generative AI and SEO are Redefining Content Strategy: Marketers must adapt to new search behaviors driven by AI-generated queries.

• Balancing Automation with Human Oversight: Ensuring compliance and maintaining the human touch in customer interactions remain critical.

• Future Prospects of AI in Banking: From dynamic product bundling to predictive analytics, AI offers numerous avenues for innovation but requires careful implementation.

Notable Quotes

• “Generative AI is starting to happen in the banking industry and that will change by making, for example, chatbots way more able to completely manage customer situations from beginning to end.” — Jacob Bourne ([04:00])

• “You always want a human in the loop because people understand people on a fundamental level that AI might not ever.” — Lauren Ashcroft ([11:00])

• “I saw a video that I would bet all of my money that it was a real cast of actors and a real set. It was 100% AI.” — Jacob Bourne ([22:15])

Stay ahead in the rapidly evolving digital media landscape by tuning into EMARKETER’s "Behind the Numbers" podcast, available Monday through Friday on all major podcast platforms.