Jennifer Streck knows the numbers cold. As VP of Audience Strategy at Response Media, the Ad Age Small Agency Award-winning agency, she has spent 25 years watching marketing cycles come and go. But this AI moment feels different, and not necessarily in a good way.
The data tells a stark story. Research from HubSpot and SurveyMonkey shows 70% of consumers notice AI in marketing, but only 23% like it. More telling: 59% dislike AI in customer service, while 91% of boomers and 73% of Gen Z prefer human support. That’s a 47-point enthusiasm gap between what marketers are building and what consumers actually want.
Streck frames it through behavioral science: “I think there’s a few things at play here. In a lot of ways, the AI piece is really following a little of that influencer curve. It’s the new hot thing that everybody wants to do something with. Everybody’s excited about it, and it’s going out right now in a lot of places, unregulated.”
Why the trust gap is widening
Watch this section: 7:22
Streck grounds her analysis in optimal simulation levels theory—the idea that everyone has a certain level of stimulation they want. “I think right now, part of what we’re seeing with the AI is we are over stimulating consumers. We have them so on edge, looking for, is it fake? Is it real? Is it AI, like, what is it that we have just completely overwhelmed them, and they start shutting down.”
For Gen X professionals like herself, trust issues run deeper. “I have massive trust issues with it. I use it for work, but I also know, like, I’ll use it to help do research for something, but then I’m using it to help pull in a bunch of sources that I can then go and look at and validate and verify. I trust what it comes through with the summary, no, it’s half the time. It misses the human nuance. It misses the empathy, just understanding of sentiment.”
The hidden business costs of AI overuse
Watch this section: 14:41
Beyond consumer preference lies bottom-line impact. Streck maps the real financial risks: “If you are frustrating your consumers that much, loyalty is out the door, you’re going to see an increase in turn, and then following with that becomes the hey, they’re not going to refer you anymore. They’re not going to recommend the brand.”
The risk calculation becomes brutal: “Is the efficiency that you think you’re gaining by having AI do all your copywriting and content creation worth being the next viral PR nightmare because somebody had a horrible experience and has a big following on TikTok?”
How indies can capitalize on the gap
Streck sees opportunity in the chaos. Response Media positions human connection as premium positioning: “Leaning into the human connection and like, really highlighting the fact that the human connection and understanding consumer behavior, consumer sentiment. You know how consumers are feeling about things that helps build trust, that ultimately builds long term value.”
The framework centers on human oversight: “It’s about leveraging AI as support for that human creativity and human strategic thinking, like you have to keep the people in the equation.” She advocates for real people in advertising creative, human strategists reviewing AI output, and transparent disclosure when AI is used.
Client conversations and competitive intelligence
Watch this section: 18:46
Streck reports that clients universally fear missing the boat on AI. The strategy involves auditing competitor AI use to identify where they’re removing human elements and creating skepticism. “We really want to look at, how can we take what brands are doing and then level it up by making sure that we’re saying, where is the right places in the experience that AI can fit? But then where are the places that we should absolutely articulate you need to preserve this as a human connection.”
The measurement piece matters most: tracking engagement in AI-heavy campaigns versus human-created content, monitoring customer satisfaction scores, and building frameworks to catch trust erosion before it hits sales.
Streck distills it to essential agency positioning: “Help your clients build out frameworks to measure and track the metrics that may be impacted by this. While ultimately, like sales are going to be a big metric, there’s earlier things that you can see. Are you seeing lower engagement in marketing campaigns where you’re leveraging AI versus a human copywriter or human strategist?”
The advantage belongs to agencies that understand this isn’t about avoiding AI—it’s about using it strategically while protecting the human elements that build lasting consumer trust.
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Response Media
Jennifer Streck LinkedIn
Response Media LinkedIn
Contact: jstreck@responsemedia.com
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