The news: Personalization continues to deliver higher engagement, but consumers remain uneasy about how brands achieve it. People across most age groups feel more negative than positive toward personalized ads, per Verve research—even though a strong majority say they pay more attention to content that feels relevant.

This tension is intensified by the fact that fewer than one in ten US adults fully understand how platforms use their information, per a mid-2024 EMARKETER survey.

At the same time, marketers are leaning heavily into AI tools—yet mostly for producing content. Findings from Integrate/Demand Metrics show that most B2B teams use AI for writing, email creation, and asset production, while far fewer apply it to predictive modeling or personalization, even though those applications can drive meaningfully higher returns.