At Glossy, Modern Retail and Digiday’s AI Marketing Strategies virtual event on Wednesday, Beekman 1802’s chief digital officer, David Baker, made one thing clear: AI isn’t here to replace marketers, it’s here to make them sharper.
“The playbook is still being written,” Baker said. “There really are no best practices other than to keep trying.”
Baker, who oversees digital and CRM strategy at the skin-care brand known for its goat-milk formulas, shared how his team is using AI to understand customers on a deeper level, personalize marketing and move faster, all without losing the brand’s human touch.
Beekman 1802 has partnered with AI analytics firm Bezel to make sense of its troves of first-party data. By feeding CRM and Shopify insights into large language models, Baker’s team uncovered customer personas that now guide everything from campaign strategy to product messaging. “We were able to throw all of our data at a large language model and really understand deeply who this consumer is and how many subtypes of consumer we have,” he said.
Two standout profiles emerged: Budget Betty, the deal-driven shopper who loves promotions but still values innovation, and Luxury Linda, who wants the highest-efficacy formulas and isn’t afraid to spend for results. These AI-generated insights don’t just segment audiences but also shape how Beekman communicates. “When we launch a product that we know is going to do really well with Luxury Linda, but maybe not Budget Betty, we can focus our efforts there,” Baker explained.
Beyond defining customers, Beekman uses AI to test its creatives more quickly. The brand has developed its own prompt flow, a step-by-step process that turns customer insights into campaign ideas. “It starts by reminding the model who we are — clean, clinical skin care, ingredient-forward — and then we identify who we’re talking to,” Baker said. “From there, we ask the model to generate motivators, themes, and even hooks and calls to action.” What once took weeks of creative brainstorming can now happen in under an hour. “It’s taking our teams from being writers to being editors,” he said. “We’re honing and perfecting the output rather than starting from scratch.”
This hybrid approach keeps human judgment front and center. “We’re not turning it over to the computers,” Baker said. “We’re refining it at every step.” One of his biggest challenges has been helping the team see AI as an ally. “The robots are not coming for your jobs,” he said. “They’re changing your jobs.” He compared the shift to the internet’s early days: “AI is a tool like the internet was. The internet changed how we worked; AI is changing how we work.”
Instead of mandating AI use across departments, Beekman focuses on empowering early adopters. “If someone’s really motivated by this, what can you do as a leader to free up their time so they can 10x your team’s ability?” That focus has paid off. The brand has seen double-digit improvements in ROAS and customer acquisition efficiency over the past year.
AI’s influence now extends across Beekman’s operations. Through CRM company Postscript’s “Shopper” tool, the brand is testing one-to-one SMS marketing, tailoring messages based on when and how each customer shops. “It looks at what time they’re most likely to receive, what they’ve purchased or viewed, and what products complement that,” Baker said. “Historically, that would’ve taken way too much manpower.”
Even creator partnerships are getting smarter. “We can now source creators not just by follower count, but also by tone, pacing and on-camera style,” he said.
For Baker, the next AI frontier isn’t in creative — it’s in analytics and forecasting. “The math part has been more challenging than the creative part,” he said. “What really excites me is using AI to tighten our inventory, understand retail and DTC sales in real time, and get that insight the moment we wake up.”
If the past year has been about testing, 2026 will be about integration. “AI helps us do more, faster, but it’s still about keeping that real, authentic story,” Baker said. “Especially in skin care, consumers expect to see real people and real results.”
Baker’s takeaway for marketers navigating AI: “Be curious, be ethical and keep testing. The brands that lean in early will be the ones that define what comes next.”
