The AI Marketing Canvas by Raj Venkatesan and Jim Lecinski is divided into four sections. The first section presents the case that, as the authors put it, “we believe there is one way and only one way to win, and that is with AI and machine learning.” The second section provides a high level overview of concepts used throughout the book including the new/winning and old/losing business models, the four key moments in the authors’ marketing model, and the basic vocabulary and concepts in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The third section introduces the authors’ “canvas”, applying a five stage maturity model against the four key marketing moments. The final section is called “Implementation” and is intended to help readers put the authors’ approach into practice.
I was attracted to this book and agreed to read and review it because I am very interested in how the Connected Intelligence Revolution (with AI at its core) is transforming how businesses operate, and I have greatly benefitted from tools like the Business Model Canvas and the Value Proposition Canvas. I hoped that this book would both further educate me on how AI is transforming the discipline of Marketing and provide a new powerful tool for use as I work with clients on their businesses. Unfortunately, for me, the book failed to deliver on either count.
The AI Marketing Canvas suggests a five-stage roadmap for implementing AI into different areas of marketing. The book also provides an introduction to some basic concepts of marketing and AI, so parts of this book could be helpful to readers completely unaware of those fields. In general, however, the book feels like an already outdated attempt to stretch an article’s worth of content into a full-length book. Readers may be better served to seek out the authors’ article on the same topic in California Management Review or look for a better, more current book on the topic.