Marina Aleksandrovskaya — 20+ years in marketing: how advertising is changing and what awaits the industry in the age of AI?
2026-05-17 16:44
We conducted an interview about professional growth and career development with Marina Aleksandrovskaya — CEO and co-founder of the creative AI agency TDIGROUPCA (an international creative agency with 18 years of experience. Specializes in bold ideas, design, branding, BTL and promotional projects, while also leveraging generative artificial intelligence technologies), as well as a partner and close friend of the agency Make Sense. With 20+ years of experience in marketing, product launches, team building, and scaling businesses across different markets, Marina shared her expertise, insights into what matters most in marketing today, and her forecast for the advertising industry over the next two years.
Could you tell us a bit more about your professional background?
— I have over 20 years of experience in marketing, including more than 10 years focused on launching and scaling digital and tech products. I’ve managed agencies, helped brands enter new markets, and currently serve as the CEO and co-founder of one of the top 5 creative AI agencies in Central Asia, as well as a managing partner at an IT company specializing in personal data solutions. In short: I know how to turn technologies, ideas, and products into revenue.
What skills would you highlight as essential for a CEO of an international marketing agency?
1. Strategic thinking The ability to distinguish real trends from noise. Right now, this is an especially critical skill. 2. Financial discipline Marketing without unit economics is just an expensive hobby. 3. Cross-cultural communication The same brief in Russia, Uzbekistan, and Europe can mean three completely different things. 4. Fast decision-making without sacrificing quality It’s important to test hypotheses and launch solutions quickly, but without turning marketing into an endless experiment for the sake of experimenting. 5. People management Hire strong professionals, avoid micromanaging them, and know when it’s time to part ways with those who slow the system down. A CEO isn’t just someone who “inspires” — it’s someone who builds a team capable of winning even without them.
Which AI tools have already become essential in advertising, and which ones are just hype with no future?
Essentials:
AI-powered text generation (including adaptation for different channels and audiences)
AI-generated visuals and video
AI analytics and forecasting
Automated bots and AI-driven customer communication (support, lead nurturing, sales, etc.)
At the end of the day, it’s pretty straightforward: AI tools help accelerate workflows and reduce costs. Hype:
“Fully autonomous marketing agents”
For now, this is more of a conference demo than a real business solution with measurable P&L impact.
“One-click creativity that will replace agencies”
Clients still need problem-solving, not just pretty visuals. We recently launched a full-scale AI production pipeline, and our demo was exactly about this: businesses don’t need random videos — they need advertising that works. Even with AI, it takes far more than a single prompt.
“Any AI solution that isn’t integrated into business processes”
If it can’t be integrated into operations, it’s a toy — not a tool.
How will advertising change under the influence of AI over the next two years?
AI will dramatically accelerate the advertising industry. “Average” creative work will disappear, leaving only truly strong ideas or cheap performance-driven content. There will be significantly more good content — but also hundreds of times more bad content. That’s why the main scarcity will no longer be production capacity, but three things: meaning, taste, and effectiveness. AI is excellent at solving the problem of producing large amounts of content quickly and cheaply. But advertising still works not where there is the most content, but where there is the most accurate understanding of human motivation. Advertising will become less of a craft and more of a system for managing attention, data, and decision-making speed. AI won’t replace strong agencies — but it will absolutely eliminate weak ones.