For months, the digital advertising landscape has buzzed with talk of Meta’s push towards full ad campaign automation by putting targeting, placement, and bidding decisions directly in the hands of AI. The goal is efficiency, but the reaction from many in the industry has been one of anxiety and loss of control.
Brands that rely on sophisticated targeting, custom creative assets, and a highly personalized customer experience are rightfully concerned about the potential pitfalls of this move to full automation: off-brand messaging, wasteful spending, and worst of all: losing touch with customers and prospects through real-world conversations and insights. These are the exact issues marketing teams work so hard to avoid.
While this move by Meta is a reflection of where the broader advertising industry is headed, the truth is that AI is only as powerful as the data you feed it. In an increasingly automated world, advertisers are right to ask a critical question: can AI allow us to target real people with sincere messaging that resonates?
At Resonate, we’ve built a methodology that guarantees the answer is yes, but only with the right data. Meta’s automation is built on its internal signals; Resonate provides the human intelligence that directs it. Our audience intelligence is rooted in verified, high-quality consumer signals that are constantly refreshed and validated. We don’t rely on static segments or secondhand data, and our platform delivers a real-time, 360-degree view of what drives actual human behavior—values, intent, preferences, and psychographics.
As Meta and other platforms double down on AI-powered campaign automation, many marketers are wondering: Where does this leave brand control, personalization, and performance?
Elizabeth Drenning, Director of Managed Service at Resonate breaks it down.
Q: What is Meta’s full ad campaign automation, and why is everyone talking about it?
A: Meta is shifting control away from marketers and toward algorithms, automating bidding, placements, and even targeting. It’s designed to maximize efficiency, but comes with a tradeoff: brands risk losing control over messaging, audience precision, and spend optimization.
For teams that rely on human nuance like brand voice, high-value segments, or creative intent, this change feels less like an upgrade and more like a black box.
Q: Will automation hurt my ability to reach the right audience with the right message?
It could, unless you bring your own data. Meta’s algorithms are only as smart as the signals they’re trained on. If you’re relying solely on Meta’s native data, you risk diluted targeting, irrelevant creative, and off-brand messaging.
With Resonate, you can take back control. We feed Meta’s automation with human-centered data that reintroduces relevance, values, and intent into the equation.
Q: How does Resonate help brands stay in control of their message?
We elevate, not automate, creative control by starting with intent-driven insights and messaging. Generic ads are the death of ROI. Resonate empowers you to design creative based on what people care about most before launch.
- Use psychographics, values, and real-time intent to inform asset creation
- Build high-propensity audiences that force Meta to spend budget where it matters
- Eliminate guesswork and iterations that waste time and money
“Resonate empowers our clients to elevate, not automate, creative control with intent-driven messaging.”
Q: Can Resonate help me understand the “why” behind my audience’s behavior?
Yes, and this is where most AI platforms fall short. Meta excels at predicting the what (e.g. who clicked), but not the why (e.g. their motivations). This gives your AI the missing context to perform and convert better.
Resonate data brings the human element:
- Verified, privacy-safe signals refreshed nightly
- Deep motivations, psychographics, and personal values
- Real-time behavior + emotional drivers
Q: Do you have an example of this working in real life?
A client in higher education used Resonate to uncover hidden motivations behind student enrollment not visible in demographic data alone. By blending those qualitative insights with Resonate’s psychographic segments, they not only discovered new audiences, but outperformed their initial goals.
Q: What about media efficiency? Doesn’t Meta optimize that already?
Not always. Broad targeting often leads to broad waste. Meta’s automation is designed to test widely, which is great for net-new growth but it also burns budget on unqualified users or over-saturates ready-to-buy ones.
With Resonate, you:
- Define the ideal consumer using future intent and motivation data
- Limit waste by feeding Meta only high-LTV audiences
- Direct every automated dollar toward profitable outcomes
Does this mean I can stop worrying about AI automation altogether?
AI automation is here to stay and it’s only getting more advanced. But with the right data, you don’t have to fear AI, you can direct it. As the allure of AI automation increases, the brands that win will be the ones grounding their AI in truth. Resonate helps marketers keep their eye on what really matters: real people, real insight, and real outcomes with trusted, dynamic, people-based data at the core. Learn more about how Resonate’s Managed Services can help you navigate the future of advertising here.
