Can AI really replace data? It’s a fair question. Algorithms can now generate insights, segment audiences, and predict behaviour in seconds. But while machine learning transforms the creativity and mechanics of marketing, the meaning behind that information still rests on data and the human ability to understand its story.
AI may accelerate discovery, but data remains the foundation of meaning, the part that explains why people act, not just how. Yet many brands have lost touch with that meaning. They collect endless streams of data but rarely interpret it in ways that drive insight or emotion.
Interestingly, studies show that 87% of marketers believe data is the most underutilised asset, while 40% plan to increase their data-driven budgets. This gap between investing in data and understanding it highlights a deeper problem: information alone doesn’t create intelligence. Without the expertise to analyse it and make informed decisions that trigger emotions, even the most advanced tools remain underutilised.
Knowing what to measure is easy. Knowing why it matters is what separates precision from purpose. That’s where the human element comes in: turning numbers into meaning and insights into intuition.
The sameness trap
When brands fail to understand their own data, they lose the ability to differentiate themselves. In fintech, this has created a paradox: the more data-driven the industry becomes, the less originality it offers.
Technology has democratised access to analytics, segmentation, and automation, but not to insights. Too many fintech companies end up sharing the same brand identity, offering similar products, and making identical promises.
It’s performance without perspective: campaigns that are efficient but not evocative, relevant but not memorable. We’ve become a sector defined by innovation and creativity, yet we’ve somehow trained ourselves to produce the same tried-and-tested outcomes.
So the real question for every fintech marketer is this: we can measure behaviour, but can we decode motivation? Can we optimise not just for conversion but for conviction?
The head and the heart of fintech marketing
There is a growing misconception that, with AI, data will lose its relevance, that its meaning has been diluted by automation and algorithms. But data is the head of the company (not just marketing). It’s the logic, precision, and structure. It tells us what works, where, and for whom. But numbers alone can’t create meaning.
To truly resonate, brands need the heart; the part that brings empathy to clients’ pain points, honesty to their experiences, and human understanding into every decision. In other words, the heart is what gives direction to data.
At Exness, the two—head and heart—are inseparable. Our approach begins with data itself: vast, real-time streams of client activity and behaviour. We analyse it to identify patterns that predict outcomes, but also to understand and anticipate client needs, refining every element of their experience. That intelligence then becomes the foundation of our marketing and brand promise.
This is what allows us to develop both products and campaigns that are meaningful, and how we transform conversion into loyalty. For us, this is where the head and the heart truly meet: in decisions that are logical in design, emotional in impact, and real in value.
The humanisation of technology
As finance becomes more automated, the real opportunity for brands isn’t to compete with technology but to humanise it. AI can process billions of data points, but it can’t interpret emotion, context, or intent. The question for marketers is not how much data they have but how humanely they use it.
The most effective fintech brands will be those that use data to strengthen human connection, making people feel informed, confident, and in control.
Humanised technology is what turns a trading platform into a trusted partner. It transforms product efficiency into emotional clarity.
At Exness, we see this as the future of financial marketing: precision powered by empathy. Even the channels we use, from influencers to digital communities, are simply tools. What matters isn’t the medium but the message. When brands collaborate with credible voices and speak authentically in the spaces where their audiences learn and share, they create a deeper, more enduring connection.
Promises are easy. Delivery is what creates trust. At Exness, we measure success not just in acquisition or engagement, but in how consistently we deliver the experience we promise: reliable, transparent, and human.
AI may transform the mechanics of marketing, but it can’t replace the meaning behind it. Data gives us clarity, but meaning gives us purpose. The future belongs to those who can unite both the head and the heart to create brands that think intelligently and feel deeply.
- By Alfonso Cardalda, Chief Marketing Officer at Exness
