Artificial intelligence is transforming how customers discover brands, evaluate products, and make purchasing decisions. As search and customer journeys evolve, marketers must rethink how they acquire customers, measure performance, and create value.
That’s why Harvard Business School Online has updated its Digital Marketing Strategy course, now called Digital Marketing Strategy and AI. The refreshed certificate program combines proven marketing frameworks with new AI-focused content to help you adapt your approach to reaching, engaging, and retaining customers in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.
The update comes as AI adoption accelerates across marketing. According to the 2025 State of Marketing AI report, 60 percent of surveyed marketing professionals are either piloting or scaling AI in their work, while 74 percent said it will be “critically important” or “very important” to their marketing efforts over the next year.
The new content, taught by Sunil Gupta, the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, explores how emerging technologies—from generative AI to agentic commerce—are reshaping customer discovery, search, and strategic marketing decisions. It builds on the course’s existing curriculum, which equips learners with proven frameworks, practical tools, and real-world insights to develop effective, data-driven digital marketing strategies.
Joining the course’s existing lineup of faculty and industry leaders are new experts who share firsthand perspectives on AI’s growing impact on marketing, including:
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Shakir Moin, president of marketing for North America at Coca-Cola
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Mike Moynihan, senior vice president of marketing at LEGO and a senior lecturer at HBS
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Stan Sthanunathan, executive chairman at i-Genie.ai
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Andrew Warden, chief marketing officer at Semrush
Throughout the course, you’ll also learn alongside a global community of professionals, exchanging ideas, feedback, and diverse perspectives that deepen your understanding of today’s marketing challenges and opportunities.
For Marcela Paim, an entrepreneur and Digital Marketing Strategy past participant, immersing herself in real-world business problems alongside professionals from different industries, countries, and backgrounds transformed her learning experience.
“Many of the courses I had taken throughout my career were centered around a specific expert, methodology, or point of view,” Paim said. “HBS Online was different. Rather than teaching a single way of thinking, the program encouraged me to build my own perspective. I developed a richer way of thinking by listening, debating, reflecting, and learning from people with different experiences and perspectives from around the world.”
By the end of Digital Marketing Strategy and AI, you’ll be able to:
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Understand how marketing has evolved, and where it’s headed, in an AI-driven world through real-world insights from leading brands, agencies, expert practitioners, and faculty
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Define the right objectives, metrics, target audiences, and value proposition to position your product or service for success
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Discover how to acquire and retain customers through paid, owned, and earned media
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Evaluate how AI-powered search, generative engines, and emerging agentic commerce are transforming customer discovery and digital marketing strategy
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Develop approaches for attribution, budget allocation, and calculating customer lifetime value
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Explore AI-powered approaches to customer engagement, including personalization, storytelling, and community building
Are you ready to strengthen your digital marketing skills? Enroll in Digital Marketing Strategy and AI today for $1,949. The course is offered on demand, enabling you to start any time and progress at the pace best for you over 90 days.
With the new AI additions, the course is now included in HBS Online’s Digital Transformation and AI Learning Track alongside the MarketingLearning Track. If you complete three courses within either topic area in 18 months, you’ll earn an advanced Certificate of Specialization. If you’ve already completed an HBS Online course, you’ll receive a 30 percent past participant discount on additional courses within the Track.
