The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 11-2021.00 · Job Zone 4

AI exposure: Marketing Managers

Plan, direct, or coordinate marketing policies and programs, such as determining the demand for products and services offered by a firm and its competitors, and identify potential customers. Develop pricing strategies with the goal of maximizing the firm's profits or share of the market while ensuring the firm's customers are satisfied. Oversee product development or monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services.

Reading this score

computed

51.6% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Marketing Managers at the 89th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 3.0 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.

What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 20 tasks it averages 1.98 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.

The most exposed thing this job does is Initiate market research studies, or analyze their findings, at 86.7%. The least is Direct the hiring, training, or performance evaluations of marketing or sales staff and oversee..., at 13.3%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.

Within management occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 56 roles in the group is 41.2%, and only 0 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.

What would move this score. Of 20 tasks, 18 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 1 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take systems being given deeper access to the organisation's own records and history, which is already happening. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.

Task by task

20 tasks, O*NET 31.0
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Initiate market research studies, or analyze their findings.86.7%13.3%0.0%3.71exposed
Use sales forecasting or strategic planning to ensure the sale and profitability of products, lines, or services, analyzing business developments and monitoring market trends.77.8%22.2%0.0%3.94exposed
Compile lists describing product or service offerings.73.3%26.7%0.0%3.62exposed
Evaluate the financial aspects of product development, such as budgets, expenditures, research and development appropriations, or return-on-investment and profit-loss projections.61.3%26.2%12.5%3.77exposed
Select products or accessories to be displayed at trade or special production shows.55.0%20.0%25.0%2.82exposed
Integrate environmental information into product or company marketing strategies, policies, or activities.55.0%20.0%25.0%2.74exposed
Develop business cases for environmental marketing strategies.55.0%20.0%25.0%2.50exposed
Identify, develop, or evaluate marketing strategy, based on knowledge of establishment objectives, market characteristics, and cost and markup factors.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.89exposed
Consult with product development personnel on product specifications, such as design, color, or packaging.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.61exposed
Recommend modifications to products, packaging, production processes, or other characteristics to improve the environmental soundness or sustainability of products.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.57exposed
Consult with buying personnel to gain advice regarding the types of products or services expected to be in demand.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.64exposed
Confer with legal staff to resolve problems, such as copyright infringement or royalty sharing with outside producers or distributors.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.23exposed
Consult with buying personnel to gain advice regarding environmentally sound or sustainable products.50.0%25.0%25.0%3.01exposed
Conduct economic or commercial surveys to identify potential markets for products or services.45.0%30.0%25.0%3.43exposed
Advise business or other groups on local, national, or international factors affecting the buying or selling of products or services.45.0%30.0%25.0%2.83exposed
Formulate, direct, or coordinate marketing activities or policies to promote products or services, working with advertising or promotion managers.41.7%20.8%37.5%4.08exposed
Develop pricing strategies, balancing firm objectives and customer satisfaction.40.0%35.0%25.0%3.76exposed
Coordinate or participate in promotional activities or trade shows, working with developers, advertisers, or production managers, to market products or services.35.4%27.1%37.5%3.16exposed
Negotiate contracts with vendors or distributors to manage product distribution, establishing distribution networks or developing distribution strategies.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.24assisted
Direct the hiring, training, or performance evaluations of marketing or sales staff and oversee their daily activities.13.3%11.7%75.0%3.82untouched

Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.

Where the score comes from

judged

Every task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.

DimensionMeanScale
Capability2.980-4
Embodiment0.070-3
Presence0.950-3
Accountability0.770-3
Context1.980-3
Verification cost1.290-3

What this means in practice

Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.

Occupations either side of this one

The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.

Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.