AI-Powered Marketing Communication: Exploring Strategies in the Luxury Furniture Industry

Artificial intelligence (AI) forces communication and marketing managers to improve their skills, competencies, and capabilities to understand and adopt this innovative tool. Because of its capability to perform various data-based activities faster than humans can achieve them, AI appears to be a game-changer tool for marketing communication strategies. However, despite the global awareness that AI is receiving today and its increasing introduction in marketing communication processes, marketing and communication managers’ perceptions, attitudes, and utilization are still underexplored. Therefore, the research aims to investigate marketing and communication managers’ attitudes and behaviors toward introducing AI. The study adopts the Social Cognitive Theory of Organizational Management to understand the impacts of cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors on the marketing and communication managers’ intention to use AI at work. The analysis focuses mainly on managers operating in the luxury furniture design sector, which, while on the one hand, is frequently using AI for communication and marketing purposes, on the other hand, has not been previously explored. The research adopts a qualitative approach, and data are collected by conducting in-depth interviews with marketing and communication managers of luxury Made in Italy furniture design companies to achieve its objectives. The focus on Made in Italy organizations is supported by the sector’s relevance and global recognition, which ensure the opportunity to provide managerial and policymaker-oriented implications. Although the study is still in progress, the findings will allow us to obtain a comprehensive overview of AI integration toward marketing communication strategies in luxury Made in Italy furniture design managers’ processes and activities to provide theoretical implications to advance knowledge related to the use of AI by marketing and communication managers