"I want efficiency toward an end."

That was Ezra Klein’s mandate as he questions the premise (or lack thereof) behind the Department of Government Efficiency.

His central question, which went viral on TikTok last month, landed like a punch to the gut: “Efficiency in service of what?”

This hits uncomfortably close to home for marketers. We’re hearing it constantly: “Go faster.” “Automate more.” “Spend less.” “Fewer campaigns, more ROI.”

Okay. But let’s ask the real question: Efficient marketing toward what purpose? To grow market share? To future-proof the brand? To build long-term loyalty?

Or, are we just racing to hit quarterly targets, starving the brand of meaning and soul? Stripping the customer experience down to its barest bones? Ignoring the creativity and insight sitting untapped on our own teams?

Our POV? Efficiency without vision isn’t just neutral — it’s dangerous. 

It becomes a tool to accelerate whatever machinery is already in motion. Even if that machinery is broken.

Let’s be clear: Efficiency isn’t a strategy. It’s a system setting. Literally. Just think about your washing machine!

Marketers are not just operators. They’re architects of meaning and relevance. 

And when we lose the plot, “efficiency” just becomes another word for shrinking. Shrinking teams. Shrinking ambition. Shrinking resonance.

This disconnect becomes even more critical in the age of AI.

We’re being handed tools that promise efficiency at scale; content in seconds, insights on demand, orchestration without friction. But if we aren’t anchored in purpose, AI doesn’t make us better marketers. It just helps us make more noise, faster.

Worse: it can accelerate sameness. Same prompts. Same outputs. Same content strategy dressed up a thousand slightly different ways. (May I direct your attention to your LinkedIn feed 🙄)

AI isn’t a strategy. It’s an accelerant. So if the strategy is weak, misguided, or absent altogether… guess what gets amplified?

Before we automate, we need to align: on vision, on values, and on what story we want to tell and why it matters.

So before you tighten the belt again or spin up that next LLM-powered workflow, pause. Ask yourself and your team:

• What future are we building?
• What story are we trying to tell?
• What do we really care about? 

What does “efficient” even mean if we’ve forgotten why we’re here?

Vision first.

The right goals and metrics next.

Efficiency, and AI, in service of all that. NOT the other way around.