By Giana Damianos, Associate Director Cultural Insights and Elizabeth Jackson, Chief Marketing Officer, Collage Group
In today’s marketing landscape, AI isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a necessity. From predictive analytics to personalized content generation, AI is driving new levels of speed, scale, and efficiency. But as brands rush to adopt these technologies, they face an urgent challenge: how to integrate AI without undermining the trust they’ve worked so hard to build.
Trust is fragile. The overwhelming majority of Americans do not trust businesses to use AI responsibly. At the same time, Collage research shows that 80% of consumers say trust influences their brand choices, yet only 40% actually trust brands today. That 40-point gap is a red flag and a wake-up call.
The lesson? Consumers want AI that resonates. They’re open to innovation, but not at the expense of authenticity, respect, or relevance. That’s why Collage developed this research-backed guide: to help marketers use AI responsibly, effectively, and most importantly, empathetically.
The AI Imperative: Move Fast, but Thoughtfully
AI is being deployed across industries with remarkable speed. Over 70% of companies now report using AI in at least one business function. For marketers, this opens a world of possibilities: creative acceleration, hyper-targeting, real-time optimization. But moving fast shouldn’t mean skipping the fundamentals.
To maintain consumer trust, AI must feel like an upgrade, not a shortcut. Without the right guardrails, AI can generate content that feels impersonal, off-base, or even offensive. Especially among younger, more diverse audiences, this can trigger disengagement, or worse, backlash. The solution is not to slow down; it’s to ground every AI decision in cultural insight.
Cultural Insight: The Key to Human-Centered AI
AI can mimic patterns. But only cultural intelligence can decode meaning. That’s where cultural insights play a vital role in humanizing AI applications. Authenticity isn’t about mimicking human behavior. It’s about understanding people. Brands that invest in cultural insight move beyond surface-level representation to uncover the deeper values, motivations, and lived experiences of their target audiences.
This enables marketers to:
- Develop creative that feels real, not robotic
- Craft messages that resonate across diverse segments
- Build trust by reflecting shared cultural codes and narratives
When AI tools are trained on datasets rich in segment-specific cultural context, they stop being generic content machines and start becoming engines of relevance and emotional resonance.
Visibility Matters, But So Does Value
Not all uses of AI are created equal. Collage’s new framework evaluates AI marketing tactics along two axes: consumer visibility and functional value.
- High Visibility + High Value: Think virtual try-ons, language translation, or adaptive content personalization. These enhance the consumer experience while showcasing innovation.
- High Visibility + Low Value: Flashy but shallow applications—like AI avatars or gimmicky filters—can feel performative or insincere, triggering skepticism.
- Low Visibility + High Value: Behind-the-scenes applications like media optimization or sentiment analysis support business goals while staying consumer-neutral.
Key takeaway: The more visible your AI, the more value it must deliver.
Consumers don’t reject AI; they reject AI that feels unnecessary, inauthentic, or exploitative. Cultural insight ensures that every AI-powered interaction delivers real utility and emotional relevance.
Embedding Cultural Insight into Every Phase of Creative
1. Creative Briefing
Start with culturally relevant questions: What values drive this audience? How do they define success, humor, family? What historical or generational context matters? A brief rooted in cultural nuance leads to better creative and stronger results.
2. Production Planning
Casting, language, music, wardrobe, and setting are not aesthetic choices—they are cultural signals. Avoid generalizations and stereotypes by leaning into specific values, traditions, and identity markers that resonate across communities.
3. Execution and Optimization
Use tools like Collage’s CultureRate:Ad to measure resonance, likeability, and credibility across key segments before launching. Data-backed feedback enables teams to iterate quickly while maintaining cultural precision.
Segment-Specific AI Guardrails
- Gen Z: Embrace co-creation, not automation. AI should amplify creativity, not replace it.
- Black & Hispanic Consumers: Highlight AI’s ability to support—not supplant—human roles. Representation matters, but respect matters more.
- Asian American Consumers: They’re ready for sophisticated AI—but expect it to be smart, strategic, and additive.
AI alone won’t make your brand more relevant—or more trusted.
But AI guided by cultural insight? That’s marketing at its most powerful—and most human.
Source: Collage Group’s The New AI Playbook for Marketing: How to Use AI Without Losing Consumer Trust, Spring 2025