About the Awards
AI is transforming marketing.
But is it making marketing better?
The AI for Better Marketing Awards, presented by The Internationalist, recognize case studies where artificial intelligence strengthens insight, creativity, and meaningful customer connection.
We celebrate work where AI goes beyond automation or efficiency—demonstrating how technology and human understanding together can elevate marketing.
At a time when AI is reshaping both marketing and human experience, the question is not just what AI can do—but what it should do.
What Kind of Work Wins?
Winning entries typically show how AI is:
- solving a real customer or business problem
- improving insight or decision-making
- expanding creativity or relevance
- strengthening customer relationships
- delivering measurable marketing or business impact
In short: AI that makes marketing better—not just faster.
Who Should Enter
- Brand and marketing teams using AI to improve customer understanding or engagement
- Agencies applying AI to unlock new creative or strategic possibilities
- Organizations using AI responsibly to strengthen trust and transparency
- Partnerships between brands, agencies, platforms, or nonprofits
You don’t need a large campaign to enter.
Many of the most compelling examples come from focused innovations or smart applications of AI.
Why Enter
- Be recognized for leadership in AI-driven marketing
- Share your work with an international jury of senior marketers
- Showcase how AI is improving marketing—not just automating it
- Gain visibility across The Internationalist’s global platform
- Contribute to a growing body of work defining “Better Marketing”
Why We’re Different
- We celebrate emotional impact, not just technical achievement.
- Winners are chosen for blending AI with human creativity, empathy, and strategy.
- The focus is on Better Marketing—where AI enables more meaningful customer relationships.
- Recognition goes beyond an award: winners are featured through The Internationalist’s global marketing community.
2025 WINNERS ANNOUNCED
It’s Easy To Enter
Entering is straightforward.
Simply answer eight short questions describing your initiative and provide supporting links or materials.
1. Context & Challenge
What marketing challenge or opportunity prompted this initiative?
Describe the business, brand, or customer context that made AI relevant at this moment.
2. Defining Insight
What critical human insight shaped the strategy?
How did understanding people—not just data—inform the approach?
3. The Role of AI
What specific role did AI play in the solution?
Was it enabling prediction, personalization, creativity, decision-making, operational efficiency—or something else?
4. Human + AI Collaboration
How did human judgment, creativity, or emotional intelligence shape the use of AI?
Where did people make the difference?
5. Responsible & Customer-Centered Application
How did the initiative prioritize customer needs, trust, and ethical responsibility?
Were there guardrails, transparency measures, or bias considerations?
6. Creative & Strategic Innovation
What makes this application of AI distinctive or pioneering?
How did it move beyond automation toward meaningful marketing?
7. Results & Impact
What measurable outcomes demonstrate success?
(Brand growth, revenue impact, behavioral change, engagement, loyalty, cultural influence, etc.)
8. Making Marketing Better
How does this initiative demonstrate that AI can elevate marketing—strengthening relationships, improving relevance, or making a broader difference?
Please aim to keep answers to roughly 300 words.
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY ON THIS FORM
Key Dates:
- March 2026 – Call for Entries Opens
- May 8, 2026- Deadline for Entries. Extensions are available.
- Mid-June 2026- Finalists alerted. Winners announced at the Cannes Ad Festival.
- Virtual Awards Show to follow.
Qualifying Period:
Cases may be submitted for initiatives appearing in any market in 2025—up to the Awards deadline of late May 2026.
Entry Fees:
The entry fee is USD $495 for a single entry.
USD $445 for each entry when you have multiple entries.
Judging
These awards are not about gimmicks or hype. Each entry is carefully reviewed by an international jury of senior leaders who understand both the promise of AI and the realities of marketing.
What makes our judging unique is the balanced perspective: technology matters, but it’s always measured against human understanding and brand-building impact. That’s what makes these awards truly different.
Judging is anonymous through online forms and by client-side marketers who are part of The Internationalist community or ANA members.
This year’s awards, appropriately, will also feature an additional AI Judge. The Internationalist will consider AI-driven scoring as a factor in how it compares with the human experience, insights, and emotional responses of our client-side marketer judges.
Entries are judged for:
- Insights & Strategy – How well the case demonstrates a deep understanding of customers and a smart use of AI to meet their needs.
- Creativity & Innovation – How AI is applied in new, imaginative ways that go beyond efficiency to inspire.
- Results & Impact – Clear outcomes that show AI not only drove performance, but also built stronger connections with consumers.
- Human + AI Collaboration – Evidence that human ingenuity and emotional intelligence shaped the use of AI for better marketing.
MORE ABOUT THE AWARDS:
Yes, AI has been around for decades. What’s different now for marketers is the capability for enhanced computing power, combined with unprecedented advances in natural language processing (NLP) and Generative AI, which leverages machine learning capabilities to create new content, such as text, images, or videos, often in response to prompts. Together, NLP and Gen AI can train chatbots, make predictions, analyze, translate, categorize, and develop highly relevant messaging—and make a world of difference to marketing at its best.
While the benefits of Artificial Intelligence are clear, so are the risks of overstepping privacy, developing biases, and fueling misinformation. The Internationalist’s AI FOR BETTER MARKETING Case Study Awards will highlight those brands and organizations that are using AI to gain a deeper understanding of their customers’ needs so that they can provide solutions that create excellent value for all.