The 'Agentic' Martech Arms Race Is On
The race to orchestrate autonomous AI agents is heating up in martech. Infobip is set to launch AgentOS to manage fleets of AI agents across customer touchpoints, while agency TNL Mediagene is debuting its Ad2 AI Agent as a 'decision engine' for smart advertising. This signals a major shift toward automated, agent-driven campaign management that agencies will be expected to adopt.
The race toward "agentic" AI in marketing represents a fundamental shift from task automation to goal-oriented, autonomous execution. Unlike generative AI, which responds to specific prompts, AI agents can undertake multi-step processes, make independent decisions, and learn from real-time data to achieve broader marketing objectives. This evolution promises to move marketers from hands-on campaign management to a more strategic role of supervising intelligent systems. Infobip's AgentOS, set to launch on April 1, 2026, is positioned as an "intelligent orchestration layer" that manages AI agents across more than 15 channels, including SMS, email, and WhatsApp. The platform aims to break down data silos by unifying customer data from marketing, sales, and support, allowing the AI agents to make context-aware decisions in real-time. A key feature is its "human-in-the-loop" model, where AI handles most interactions, and human specialists intervene in complex cases, continuously refining the agents. Similarly, TNL Mediagene's Ad2 AI Agent, which debuted in March 2025, functions as an intelligent assistant for advertising. It combines "AI Audience" and "AI Creative" modules to automate campaign planning, audience targeting, and ad placement. The system is built on Ad2's Retail Media Network 2.0 and complies with IAB Data Clean Room standards to ensure privacy while analyzing consumer behavior. Since its launch, the Ad2 AI Agent has been used by over 220 clients. This trend is backed by significant market growth projections, with the agentic AI market forecast to expand from $7.55 billion in 2025 to $199.05 billion by 2034. Analysts predict that by 2028, 60% of brands will use agentic AI for one-to-one customer interactions. This shift is expected to increase marketing ROI by 20-30% compared to traditional methods by enabling hyper-personalization and optimizing budget allocation in real-time. However, adoption is still in its early stages, with only about 20% of marketers currently deploying AI agents. A significant challenge is the lack of AI literacy among marketing leaders. A recent Gartner report indicated that while nearly two-thirds of CMOs believe AI will fundamentally change their jobs, only 32% think they need to significantly update their personal skills. This skills gap is critical, as only 15% of CEOs believe their marketing leaders are currently AI-savvy.
