At a time of heated political division, business — and marketing in particular — stands as one of the few unifying forces. Rather than fuelling partisan conflict, marketing empowers individuals: from consumers making informed choices to entrepreneurs asserting their right to earn a living.
As the newly appointed president of the American Marketing Association (AMA) New York, I see marketing not merely as a profession, but as a powerful defender of free enterprise and individual freedom.
Marketing is too often dismissed as mere persuasion or salesmanship. But dig deeper and it becomes a mechanism for choice: giving people the information they need to decide for themselves. On the supply side, it enables creators, whether they run a garage-based start-up or steer a global firm, to share their goods, services and ideas with the world. In this way, marketing fosters dignity: it honours the entrepreneur’s ambition and the consumer’s autonomy.
Right now, proponents of “democratic socialism” question the value of profit or view entrepreneurs as part of an elitist “owning class”. Yet, marketing reminds us that profit isn’t a vice but a mechanism for empowerment. When small business owners can promote products rooted in their purpose, they feed their families, sustain communities and contribute meaningfully to the economy. If marketing were stifled, be it through undue regulation or ideological disdain, individual livelihoods and freedoms would be eroded.
Marketing’s history in New York confirms its cultural weight. On Madison Avenue, pioneers like David Ogilvy and Lester Wunderman transformed the practice: Ogilvy with his “Hathaway Man” campaign and long-copy discipline, and Wunderman by inventing modern direct marketing: catalogue cards, toll-free numbers, loyalty programmes. Their work did more than sell — it educated consumers, launched businesses and built vibrant industries. That legacy still inspires.
Generative AI is the most seismic shift in marketing since the rise of networked television. Modern AI tools allow a single person to design campaigns, analyse audiences and iterate creatives with efficiency once reserved for entire teams. By lowering the cost and increasing the scale of marketing, AI puts the power of entrepreneurship into the hands of everyone. That scrappy solo founder becomes the “owning class”. And when political rhetoric attacks the so-called owning class, it wounds the everyday entrepreneur striving for independence.
AI-driven marketing empowers micro-enterprises to plug into global diaspora demand, turning local craft or agriculture into export-ready brands
My goal, in New York and beyond, is to galvanise marketers around this truth: marketing is not just about commerce; it’s the scaffolding of freedom. That means building forums where professionals can share knowledge, collaborate across industries and amplify the capacity of AI-enabled entrepreneurship. At AMA New York, we’re willing to partner with global colleagues from Lagos to Joburg to show how marketing can level the playing field in developing economies as well.
Thanks to affordable, AI-powered tools, a small manufacturer in Nairobi or Accra can now run a targeted campaign reaching diaspora communities in London or Toronto, without hiring a full agency. Generative AI platforms democratise access to global audiences by automating creative production, audience segmentation and campaign analytics, all at a fraction of traditional costs.
A McKinsey analysis estimates that generative AI could unlock $6.6bn-$10.4bn across Africa’s retail sector alone, and $61bn-$103bn across all sectors, highlighting marketing’s role as a lever for economic growth. In Kenya, start-ups are already deploying AI to summarise financial data for small business owners, reducing information barriers.
More practically, voice-enabled AI tools like Dukawalla help Nairobi shop owners access real-time performance insights via mobile voice prompts. And across the continent, 25% of small firms report that integrating AI has improved customer engagement, campaign relevance and return on investment.
The net effect? A potent model: AI-driven marketing empowers micro-enterprises to plug into global diaspora demand, turning local craft or agriculture into export-ready brands. This is marketing’s global promise: evidenced in Madison Avenue’s legacy and echoed in Africa’s digital entrepreneurial uprising.
It’s an expression of personal and collective freedom. It gives entrepreneurs the dignity of choice and consumers the dignity of voice. It enables the creative expression of identity and the economic agency of self-determination.
This term as AMA New York president could not come at a more opportune time. We stand at the intersection of AI and human enterprise. Let us seize it. Let us reject the false dichotomy that entrepreneurship is elitist; instead, we will show it is the soil in which liberty grows.
I am committed to ensuring that marketing remains a beacon of opportunity across political divides, across continents and across economic spectrums. In a polarised world, marketing offers a rare bridge rooted in creativity, choice and purpose. And I am honoured to take a leadership role at a moment when marketing’s power to preserve liberty has never been more profound.
South Africa-born Kerushan Govender is the CEO of growth strategy firm Blacfox. Govender has been elected president of the American Marketing Association’s New York chapter, one of the world’s most respected marketing networks, founded 94 years ago.
The big take-out: Marketing is about more than selling. In a polarised world, it offers a rare bridge rooted in creativity, choice and purpose.
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