Table Of ContentAdvance Praise for The AI Marketing Canvas
“Strategic marketing drives growth that can only be achieved by delivering truly customer-
centric experiences. Marketers now must harness the power of AI and data to scale experiences
that convert; this book gives you the foundational knowledge, framework, and inspiration to
do just that.”
—Christina Bottis, CMO, Coyote Logistics
“AI is something every marketer thinks they need to use, but don’t really know why. The AI
Marketing Canvas does a phenomenal job of demystifying this burgeoning capability and laying
out actionable plans that allow AI to be a key differentiator that sets your brand apart. A must-
read for any marketer that seeks real disruption.”
—Andrea Brimmer, CMO, Ally Financial
“This is a must-read book for business leaders that want to truly understand the impact AI will
continue to have on companies and brands that want to leverage customer centricity as their
North Star in driving growth. It is a smart, pragmatic, toolkit-filled playbook that allows the
reader to turn best-practice learning’s into implementation moves, now!”
—Scott Davis, Chief Growth Officer, Prophet
“Not only do the authors make the case that AI-driven marketing is critical, but they also
provide a practical and inspirational primer on how marketers can make it work for their
business. This book will get any marketer both excited and prepared for the possibilities of AI
marketing and eager to jump in!”
—Kelly Gillease, CMO, NerdWallet
“Whatever stage in your marketing evolution and digital customer journey, learn how to un-
lock the value you have already captured using AI to supercharge impact. This powerful yet
digestible book gives you a step-by-step guide to take stock by asking the right questions, lay
a foundation, and get started on execution. Build a road map, demonstrate success, and get the
support and investment you need.”
—Brett Groom, Chief Marketing Officer, ATI Physical Therapy
“Over the next ten years, AI and machine learning will transform marketing in ways far more
profound than previous technology revolutions. For marketing leaders, recognizing the shift
isn’t enough. You have to act. This book provides a practical road map for getting started and
for building sustainable advantage in the face of disruptive change.”
—Matt Lawson, CMO, Juniper Square
“Through real-world, evidence-based research, Raj and Jim clearly demonstrate that successful
implementation of AI and machine learning is going to result in “winner take all” scenarios.
This book is a critical read to ensure that your brand ends up on the right side of that equa-
tion—the framework and practical applications that are provided will be additive whether
you’re at the beginning of this journey or well on your way.”
—Joe Maglio, CEO, McKinney and Co.
“The AI Marketing Canvas offers a practical, inspiring, and grounded guide to leveraging AI
as an essential tool to increase authentic connection with customers and amplify the impact
of marketing today. Spanning numerous categories and useful case studies, this book is an
essential read for marketers who want to win today and dominate tomorrow.”
—Brooke Skinner Ricketts, CXO, Cars.com
“This book is mission-critical to marketing today, and to all business decision makers. Market-
ers can use this book to propel their organization forward—they can and should use this book
to be a change agent within their own organization.”
—Lindsay Saran, Senior Marketing Manager, Google
“Marketers have an amazing opportunity to redefine their relationship with customers through
AI and machine learning. Yet, most of us are unprepared. It’s time to embrace the future, and
The AI Marketing Canvas is your guide. This book will inspire your own ideas and provide an
excellent road map to bring your team and company on the journey!”
—Cassidy Shield, Vice President of Marketing, Narrative Science
“A wonderful articulation of the challenges and opportunities facing the modern CMO. Raj
Venkatesan and Jim Lecinski provide a thorough and anxiety-reducing road map with tangible
examples on how to integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning into a marketing
organization’s business strategy.”
—Jim Stadler, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, First Midwest Bancorp
“Never has it been more important for marketers to harness the power artificial intelligence
(AI) and machine learning to deeply know, personalize, and engage customers. Venkatesan
and Lecinski not only make the case that AI is critical to delivering customer-centric durable
growth, but potentially imperative to business survival. This is an essential guide, chock-full
of insights and examples, for today’s modern marketer.”
—Jon Suarez-Davis (jsd), Senior Vice President, Marketing Strategy & Innovation, Salesforce
“This is a book that sorts out the signal from the noise while providing actionable road maps
on how AI can be understood and leveraged for business and marketing. Business leaders
should read this book to gain a competitive advantage.”
—Rishad Tobaccowala, author of Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human
in the Age of Data, former Chief Strategist of Publicis Groupe
“Providing a great loyalty experience is about creating truly personalized, customer relationship
moments throughout the entire customer experience. And loyalty is challenging to engender
and difficult to maintain! Venkatesan and Lecinski give us the AI blueprint on transforming
organizations into customer-centric powerhouses!”
—Chris Wayman, EVP Promotion & Loyalty, Merkle
THE AI MARKETING CANVAS
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The AI
Marketing
Canvas
A FIVE- STAGE ROAD MAP TO
IMPLEMENTING ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE IN MARKETING
Rajkumar Venkatesan &
Jim Lecinski
STANFORD BUSINESS BOOKS
An Imprint of Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford UniverSity PreSS
Stanford, California
©2021 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
Excerpt(s) from Buddha’s Little Instruction Book by Jack Kornfield, copyright
©1994 by Jack Kornfield. Used by permission of Bantam Books, an imprint
of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the
prior written permission of Stanford University Press.
Special discounts for bulk quantities of Stanford Business Books
are available to corporations, professional associations, and other
organizations. For details and discount information, contact the special
sales department of Stanford University Press.
Tel: (650) 725- 0820, Fax: (650) 725- 3457
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free, archival- quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Venkatesan, Rajkumar, author. | Lecinski, Jim, author.
Title: The AI marketing canvas : a five-stage road map to implementing
artificial intelligence in marketing / Rajkumar Venkatesan and Jim
Lecinski.
Description: Stanford, California : Stanford Business Books, an imprint
of Stanford University Press, 2021. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020041771 | ISBN 9781503613164 (cloth) |
ISBN 9781503628045 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Artificial intelligence—Marketing applications.
Classification: LCC HF5415.125 .V46 2021 | DDC 658.800285/63—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020041771
Cover design: Kevin Barrett Kane
Text design: Kevin Barrett Kane
Diagram design: Alexandra Modie
Typeset at Stanford University Press in 10/15 Spectral
This book is dedicated to all professional marketers, and those
students aspiring to become marketers, who work tirelessly every
day to drive profitable incremental growth, to build long- term
brand equity and to be a force for good in the world, and who are
wrestling with how to achieve these goals in a rapidly changing
world of marketing, customers, and technology.
The trouble is that you think you have time.
— Jack Kornfield, Buddha’s Little Instruction Book
Contents
Notice to Readers ix
List of Figures xi
PART 1. THE CHALLENGE AND THE SOLUTION
1. The Marketer’s Challenge Today 3
2. The AI Marketing Canvas: A Strategic
Path Forward for Marketers 10
3. Navigating This Book 18
PART 2. AI AND MARKETING ESSENTIALS
4. Networks and Nodes 25
5. The Customer Relationship Moments Mental Model 46
6. What Are Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning? 63
PART 3. THE AI MARKETING CANVAS: FIVE STAGES
OF AI AND MACHINE LEARNING IN MARKETING
7. Elements of the AI Marketing Canvas 87
8. Stage 1: Foundation 95
9. Stage 2: Experimentation 113
10. Stage 3: Expansion 126
11. Stage 4: Transformation 143
12. Stage 5: Monetization 155
13. Putting It All Together: Starbucks 164
PART 4. IMPLEMENTATION
14. Managing Change 177
15. Getting Started 190
16. A Call to Action 200
Acknowledgments 207
Notes 211
Index 235
About the Authors 251
