#UAE #marketingAI - Most UAE marketing teams use AI, but disconnected systems are limiting the results. International communications agency Team Lewis surveyed 150 marketing managers and above and found 91 percent of organisations use AI in some capacity. Only 36 percent describe their systems as fully connected, while 44 percent manage marketing across four to six platforms. Reworking inaccurate AI content is the biggest time cost, cited by 31 percent.
SO WHAT? - UAE marketers have the AI tools, but what they lack is a connected AI system with integrated access to marketing data. However, this is not by any means a new challenge. Marketers have battled with the issue of disconnected technology, data, and processes for many years, often running multiple marketing systems in silos. The promise of AI is that it will help link and sync all these different data sources and systems up. 51 percent of those surveyed by Lewis have only partially connected systems and still require manual processes. Only 36 percent claimed to have a unified view of their marketing systems.
KEY POINTS:
Team Lewis commissioned OnePoll to survey 150 UAE marketers at manager level and above between 4 and 17 September 2026. Respondents included SMEs with 10-49 employees (13%), through to enterprises with 1,000+ staff (26%).
91% of organisations use AI in marketing in some capacity, and 39% use it regularly across several functions. A further 30% use it in selected workflows, 22% have integrated it and 3% don’t use it.
44% manage marketing and communications across four to six separate platforms. Only 36% of those surveyed describe their systems as fully connected with one unified view, while 51% said that they were partially connected, with manual data handling still common.
The report highlights that fragmentation of systems and data carries a time cost. Reworking inaccurate AI-generated content was reported to be the the biggest drain on time (31%), followed by preparing reports and presentations (30%) and searching for information across systems (29%). Drafting and turning data into insights each take 25%.
When asked which systems would add most value if unified, marketers chose marketing automation (50%), then website analytics and social media channels (48%). Meanwhile, paid-media platforms, customer-service data and sales data each scored 39%.
According to the survey, integration with existing marketing platforms is the second most wanted capability (29%), just behind AI trained on brand guidelines and approved materials (30%). Arabic and English content support follows at 27%. Respondents could pick up to three.
Use is concentrated in tactical tasks: social media management (59%), Arabic/English translation (50%), website optimisation (50%), content drafting (47%) and AI-search visibility (47%). Data privacy and security is the top barrier to scaling, cited by 42%.
Fewer than four in ten marketers are “very confident” in AI-generated content in any category. 87% monitor how their brand appears in AI search, 42% systematically, and 77% are at least somewhat concerned about misrepresentation.
ZOOM OUT - High usage of AI among marketers aligns closely with AI adoption across the UAE. According to a recent report from AWS and the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office, national business adoption of AI reached 72 percent in 2026 (which compares with 54% in Europe). However, adoption is varied among UAE firms, with only 31 percent have reached transformative use with custom, agentic or autonomous systems. Startups lead, with 88 percent adopting against 51 percent of large businesses. The UAE AI Office survey identified skills are as main brake, with 48 percent citing shortages and an average 5.8 months to recruit qualified staff.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Source: Team Lewis
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View the full report (Team Lewis)
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