Braze City x City: From AI hype to real marketing impact and what it means for mobile loyalty

There’s a familiar feeling walking into any AI-focused keynote at the moment. It’s a mix of excitement and a quiet sense of scepticism. Everyone’s asking the same thing, even if they’re not saying it out loud: “what does this actually mean for me?

Last week at Braze City x City, between the Braze keynote and Apadmi's braindate workshop, Mobile Loyalty Unleashed, that question started to feel a lot more grounded and inspiring. Less about future-gazing, more about what’s already changing and how to make it work in practice.

AI is everywhere, that’s the point

One of the clearest takeaways from the keynote was this: AI is now a baseline expectation.

With generative AI, content has become almost limitless and campaigns can be spun up faster than ever, across more channels, with more variations. But that doesn’t automatically translate into better marketing, if anything, it raises the bar.

Because when everyone can create more, the real question becomes: who’s creating something that actually lands?

The answer seems to lie in how well brands combine three things: customer context; creative judgment; the ability to orchestrate both through AI. The technology takes care of scale, but the meaning still comes from people, and that balance is where standout experiences are built.

Speed is impressive, collaboration is more interesting

One of the most talked-about moments early on was the zoom in on Braze AI Operator; a super smart system that can take a series of tasks and desires and turn it into a fully realised campaign in minutes. On the surface, it’s about efficiency. You define an outcome, and the AI handles everything from workflows to messaging to testing, but what made it feel different was the way it kept marketers in the loop.

Rather than operating as a black box, these systems show their reasoning, allow edits and invite oversight at every step. It’s about accelerating the path from idea to execution, while keeping human judgment firmly in place.

That shift (from automation to collaboration) feels like a more realistic picture of where AI fits in marketing teams.

Compare The Market shared a compelling success story about re-platforming to Braze in just a few weeks and seeing incredible results thereafter. The story proves that transformation can happen quickly if you want it to and new ways of working can also be embedded using the powerful co-pilots, operator and agent creator tools now available with Braze AI-powered models.

Campaigns that don't stand still

Another area that’s evolving quickly is continuous decisioning. Instead of building static campaigns and optimising them manually, AI can now continuously test and adapt in real time and BrazeAI Decisioning Studio does this impeccably.

That means experimenting across channels, adjusting timing, refining offers, and learning what works for individual customers. Not segments, not averages, but actual people.

Over time, these systems get better on their own, optimising toward real outcomes like engagement or revenue. It’s a move away from “set and forget” campaigns to something much more dynamic.

While the technology is doing the heavy lifting, the intent behind it still matters. What are you trying to optimise for and why?

Creativity still isn’t automated

The Canva partnership brought an important perspective into the mix. AI is quickly becoming part of the creative infrastructure; it helps teams move faster, iterate more, and raise the baseline quality of output. But it doesn’t replace creativity, if anything, it makes it more visible.

When content is easy to produce, the difference between something generic and something genuinely engaging becomes much clearer. The challenge now is to scale content without losing the distinctiveness of the brand, which is where creative judgment still plays a central role.

Loyalty is changing shape

These themes carried straight into our Braindate workshop discussions around loyalty.

There was broad agreement that loyalty has moved beyond points, perks, and traditional schemes. Those things still have a role, but they’re no longer enough on their own.

What brands are really aiming for now is trust, relevance, and a sense of consistency over time. Loyalty becomes less about isolated interactions and more about the cumulative experience.

That shift also brings new challenges. How often should you engage without overwhelming people? How do you stay relevant in both high-frequency and low-frequency relationships? And how do you add value beyond your core product through, for example, partnerships or everyday utility?

Mobile is the engagement layer—not the strategy

Unsurprisingly, mobile sat at the centre of most of these conversations. But there was a clear warning that came up more than once: don’t confuse the app with the strategy.

Apps are powerful, but they’re just one part of the ecosystem. In many cases, mobile web still plays a critical role in acquisition, while the app becomes the space where deeper, ongoing engagement happens. What matters is how those pieces work together and whether the experience feels consistent across them.

From a customer perspective, it’s less about channels and more about whether things feel easy, relevant and joined up. It’s also about where you want your customers to end up - on the device they use more than any other that also happens to drive the highest CLTV.

Personalisation needs restraint

With all the advances in AI and data, personalisation has become incredibly powerful, but also easier to get wrong. When done well it feels seamless and helpful, but when done badly it can feel intrusive.

That’s why context is so important. Knowing when to personalise, how far to go, and when to hold back is just as critical as having the capability in the first place.

It also explains some of the internal challenges that came up in our workshop. Many organisations are still working through legacy systems, internal resistance and the need to build confidence in more experimental, test-and-learn approaches. This is a mindset shift as much as a tooling issue.

Not every customer wants the same thing

Not all loyal customers behave the same way. Some will fully embrace digital experiences while others may trust the brand deeply but have little interest in apps or always-on engagement. Designing for both is part of the challenge. It means thinking beyond a single “ideal” journey and creating flexibility, whether that’s through physical touchpoints, partner experiences, or lighter digital interactions.

Meeting customers where they are sounds straightforward, but it requires deliberate design.

Where this leaves us

Looking across some of the key sessions and our Braindate workshop, there’s a clear direction of travel. AI is making it easier to scale, test, and optimise. Platforms like Braze are becoming incredibly powerful engines for real-time, personalised engagement. But success still depends on how they’re applied; that’s where craft comes in.

At Apadmi, we focus on translating all of that intelligence into mobile journeys that are intuitive, cohesive, and genuinely useful. The kind of experiences where personalisation doesn’t feel forced, and where every interaction makes sense in context.

Ultimately, customers don’t see the system behind the scenes, they just experience the outcome.

The bottom line

AI can do a lot of the heavy lifting. It can generate content, optimise decisions and learn continuously, but it doesn’t automatically create something people care about - yet.

That still comes down to how well brands combine technology with context and creativity. Brands need to use AI to enhance, rather than replace, the human side of marketing.

Get that balance right, and you’ll move beyond automation and start building experiences that actually stick.