60% of Brands Will Use Agentic AI by 2028. Is Your Data Ready?
The marketing landscape is on the brink of a monumental shift. If you are still relying on traditional channel-based marketing strategies, you might want to brace yourself for a rapidly approaching AI revolution.
According to Gartner, 60% of brands will adopt agentic AI by 2028 to deliver streamlined, one-to-one customer interactions. This development signals a transition from segmented marketing funnels to a new era of highly autonomous, personalized engagement.
The Rise of the “Digital Concierge”
Rather than pushing messages out across distinct channels, brands will utilize AI agents that act as persistent digital concierges. These AI agents will work autonomously, effortlessly bridging the gap between marketing, sales, and customer support to create a hyper-personalized experience for every single user.
Emily Weiss, Senior Principal Researcher at Gartner, didn’t mince words about the impact: “This marks the end of channel-based marketing as we know it.”
To survive this shift, marketers need to adapt their technology and processes immediately. Weiss notes that brands must:
- Implement strict data governance.
- Track customer journey shifts on a weekly basis.
- Seamlessly integrate agentic systems into existing martech stacks for secure and ethical personalization at scale.
The Shift from Engagement Metrics to Trust Metrics
As AI-generated content floods search results and social feeds, consumers are becoming increasingly skeptical. A late 2025 Gartner survey revealed that 78% of consumers believe explicit labeling of AI-generated content is a vital factor in maintaining trust.
Because of this, Gartner predicts that by 2027, brands will allocate 50% of their influencer marketing budgets to content and creator authenticity initiatives.
With AI muddying the waters, authenticity is becoming a premium commodity. Budgets will heavily pivot toward:
- Identity verification.
- Content provenance checks.
- Anti-deepfake measures.
“Trust is now the most valuable asset in influencer marketing,” explains Weiss. Brands that want to protect their reputation will need to invest in third-party verification tools, strictly monitor the quality of creator engagements, and adopt crystal-clear labeling conventions for AI-generated content.
What Should Marketers Do Next?
We are witnessing a fundamental redefinition of marketing operations. It is no longer just about optimizing engagement metrics; it’s about optimizing trust and creating autonomous, one-to-one relationships with buyers.
The brands that act now will lead the next era of marketing. Those who delay risk falling hopelessly behind.
Now is the time to audit your data governance, rethink how you define a “marketing channel,” and start budgeting for authenticity and verification tools. The era of Agentic AI isn’t just on the horizon, it’s already knocking on the door.
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