The marketing industry has been obsessed with AI, the rare trend that dominated conversation at two consecutive Cannes Lions festivals. But marketers are often vague about exactly how they’re implementing AI.

Not so with Fabrice Beaulieu, chief marketing, sustainability and corporate affairs officer of Reckitt, who recently sat down for interviews entirely about AI during Cannes, with a follow-up last month.

In Ad Age’s latest Marketer’s Brief podcast, Beaulieu talks about how Reckitt is applying AI to get insights faster and reduce tedious work at the company, which markets such brands as Lysol, Mucinex and Airwick.

“AI doesn’t replace jobs. AI automates tasks,” Beaulieu said. “The first thing we’ve done at Reckitt is to categorize all the tasks that 2,000 marketers collectively do. Roughly 300 tasks.”

For about a third of those tasks, it makes sense to use generative AI, which frees marketers for more productive tasks, he said.

Working with Boston Consulting Group, Reckitt this year has done a series of pilots for brands that include Finish and Gaviscon.

“Our first results demonstrate what I would like to call the changing face of marketing,” Beaulieu said. “We now have proof that we can enhance both productivity and growth in marketing.”

That’s included 60% faster concept development and 30% faster adaptation and ad localization across countries and regions, he said. “We also found interestingly an increased consistency in asset quality, which is equally exciting.”

For post-campaign media analytics, Reckitt found AI could reduce the time required by 90% and improve quality twofold, Beaulieu said.

“The analysis was much more actionable, and, importantly, the teams could focus their time on implementing this analysis and the recommendations that came with it. You could say that their focus shifted toward improving the campaign rather than writing a report.”