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While many marketing teams still see AI as a cost-cutting tool, Publicis Sapient used AI to redesign how work is done from the ground up. This story is especially relevant for Vietnamese marketers because it shows that AI’s biggest benefit does not lie in automating individual tasks, but in restructuring the entire workflow, roles, and capabilities of the team.
In a conversation with MarTech, CMO Teresa Barreira said her organization had shifted to an “AI-first” mindset, focusing on tasks rather than job titles. The standout result was that the time needed to bring a campaign to market dropped from 20 days to just 3 days.
AI is not just a tool, but a way to reorganize work
The key message from Publicis Sapient is: if you simply add technology to an already messy system, AI is unlikely to create lasting differentiation. According to Teresa Barreira, the first step is to rethink the workflow from the ground up, then redesign operations around AI.
What stands out is that the organization did not begin with the question, “Who can AI replace?” but rather, “Which tasks can AI handle better so people can focus on higher-value work?” That approach helps companies avoid internal defensiveness and opens the door to real transformation.
Task is the “atomic unit” of transformation
Publicis Sapient chose specific tasks as the core unit for redesign. Teresa Barreira describes a task as the “atomic unit of transformation,” meaning the smallest unit to assess whether it can be automated, supported, or optimized with AI.
According to the program, this approach helped the team automate about 80% of marketing activities without eliminating human roles. That is the important point: AI is being used to boost productivity and reduce friction, not simply to cut headcount. When repetitive work is handled more efficiently, the marketing team can spend more time on strategy, creativity, and decision-making.
Empowering marketers to become “builders”
Instead of keeping AI in the hands of a separate technology team, Publicis Sapient encourages every marketer to help build tools for themselves. Teresa Barreira said the organization has created more than 100 custom AI assistants to support a wide range of tasks.
This approach brings AI into day-to-day operations instead of leaving it at the pilot stage. When marketers can create or fine-tune AI assistants that fit their needs, the team’s digital capability also grows. From a management perspective, this is a major shift: marketing is no longer a department that merely “consumes” technology, but one that co-creates workflows.
People are still essential for AI to deliver high quality
Another key lesson from Publicis Sapient is that AI cannot operate effectively without human expertise. Teresa Barreira emphasized the role of domain experts in training, feedback, and evaluation so the system can reach the expected level of quality.
This shows that AI-first does not mean “AI-only.” To achieve stable output, businesses need to establish quality-check loops, standardize feedback, and continuously improve the model based on real-world use. In other words, the deeper AI is used, the more important human quality management becomes.
A perspective for the Vietnamese market
For many Vietnamese businesses, the biggest challenge in adopting AI is not a lack of tools but a lack of a systematic approach. The lesson from Publicis Sapient is that AI implementation should start with a specific, measurable process with a clear pain point, rather than being rolled out broadly just because it is trending.
In particular, local marketing teams can consider three directions: first, break work down by task rather than by job title; second, build AI assistants to support internal workflows; third, establish quality review mechanisms led by subject-matter experts. If these three steps are done well, AI will not only save time but also upgrade the entire way marketing is organized.
If AI is treated as a support layer for the existing system, the impact is usually limited to small improvements. But if AI is seen as a catalyst for redesigning operations, marketers can achieve a major leap in speed, capability, and scalability.
Source: MarTech, article “How Publicis Sapient transformed its marketing organization”, published on 24/06/2026.
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This article focuses on AI in marketing organizations with a perspective for the Vietnamese market.
