Top 10 AI Tools Every Marketing Professional in New Zealand Should Know in 2025

For New Zealand marketers in 2025, AI is no longer optional: it's a competitive multiplier - but only if teams close a stubborn skills gap. Data Insight flags that just 41% of Kiwi workers use AI (compared with 91% in India), a shortfall the report calls “a full‑blown chasm,” meaning marketers who don't get role‑specific training risk falling behind New Zealand AI skills gap report.

At the same time Datacom's 2025 State of AI Index shows real upside - 88% of NZ organisations using AI report positive operational impact - so marketers who learn to harness generative content, audience personalisation and automation can turn efficiency into growth Datacom State of AI Index 2025 report.

Practical upskilling matters: short, hands‑on courses that teach promptcraft, safe data practices and campaign integration can deliver quick wins - see Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work for a pragmatic pathway to get team skills market-ready Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp.

Bootcamp	Length	Early bird Cost	Registration
AI Essentials for Work	15 Weeks	$3,582	Register for Nucamp AI Essentials for Work

“It is encouraging to see New Zealand organisations capitalising on the benefits AI offers. We are still seeing business leaders calling for greater guidance and support around AI and 50% rank New Zealand's position in AI innovation and regulation as “lagging” compared to other countries.”

Selection prioritised tools that deliver practical, role‑specific value for Aotearoa: those that help close the documented skills gap, scale quickly, and fit within emerging national guidance.

Criteria were weighted to reflect NZ realities - closing the “full‑blown chasm” in worker AI use flagged in the New Zealand AI Skills Gap report, supporting the Government's light‑touch uptake and responsible approach in New Zealand's AI Strategy, and addressing the security and governance concerns raised in Datacom's State of AI Index.

Preference was given to off‑the‑shelf solutions with clear ROI and low onboarding friction (the same class of tools highlighted by local advisers), because local studies show broad uptake and large efficiency gains across Kiwi firms.

Final picks balance usability, legal and privacy fit for NZ, measurable productivity impact, and human oversight so tools augment creativity and decision‑making rather than replace it.

For sourcing and vetting, vendor transparency, existing NZ case studies and training pathways were tie‑breakers.

Selection Criteria	Why it matters in NZ
Skills & training	Addresses low AI adoption and confidence highlighted in the New Zealand AI Skills Gap report (New Zealand AI Skills Gap report).
Policy & governance	Aligns with the Government's AI Strategy and Responsible AI Guidance (New Zealand's AI Strategy).
Security & ROI	Responds to Datacom findings on risk, adoption and measurable operational benefit (Datacom State of AI Index).

“AI bias is something organisations need to be particularly mindful of. While AI can be used to support and drive diversity and inclusion initiatives, without the right checks and balances, it has the potential to do the opposite.”

ChatGPT is the Swiss‑army knife for Kiwi marketers who need fast ideation, sharper copy and quick market research: use it to brainstorm blog ideas, spin up social posts, test email subject lines or draft conversion‑focused ad copy, then polish the output to your brand voice and Aotearoa context (remember to set NZ spelling and local examples).

Practical prompt structure - task, context, persona and format - lifts the quality of results, and NewZealand.AI's masterclass and prompt library are a great place to learn those techniques NewZealand.AI ChatGPT Masterclass and prompt library.

It's brilliant at producing first drafts and dozens of variations for A/B tests, but outputs must be reviewed, fact‑checked and localised; the Marketing Association warns marketers to validate content, guard against bias and keep the human touch when publishing Marketing Association guidance on using ChatGPT in digital marketing.

For many teams the payoff is tangible - what once took hours can become a tightly edited campaign brief in minutes - so use ChatGPT to multiply creativity, not replace editorial judgement.

“ChatGPT is a tool that can really help once you have worked out your strategy and brand voice.”

Canva has become a fast, practical ally for Kiwi marketers who need polished brand assets without a design team: its Magic Studio lets teams generate images from text, tweak photos with Magic Edit and Eraser, and repurpose layouts instantly with Magic Switch so a single hero visual can spawn social posts, email headers and ads in minutes - turning a prompt like

mountain retreat in watercolor at golden hour

into a campaign-ready image almost instantly (useful for NZ tourism, retail or local events).

The Canva AI Image Generator uses Stable Diffusion under the hood and pairs well with commerce workflows - Shopify guide to Canva Connect and Magic features outlines how Canva Connect lets retailers drag product images into designs and speed up merchandising - and Canva's tiers (free with limits, Pro for full Magic tools) make it easy for small teams to scale without a big budget.

Practical tips matter: be specific in prompts, align results with brand colours, optimise file sizes and preview across devices to avoid slow pages. For a hands‑on walkthrough, see Leadpages guide to the Canva AI Image Generator, Shopify run‑down of Canva Magic features and Nucamp AI Essentials for Work syllabus.

Feature	Canva AI Image Generator	Leadpages AI Image Generator
Integration	Manual download/upload	Seamlessly built into landing page builder
Image Generations	Limited on free plans	Unlimited on all plans
Customization	Style-based variations	Composition, colour, and mood prompts
Best Use	Broad design needs	Direct landing page use

For New Zealand marketers building out long‑form content and campaign funnels, Jasper.ai is the practical copilot that turns outlines into publishable drafts fast - its long‑form editor and command‑style “Boss Mode” speed up blog, email and ad workflows while Brand Voice and templates help keep local tone consistent; see a clear feature comparison in the Jasper vs Copy AI review for marketers Jasper AI vs Copy AI: Which is Better?.

Jasper shines when teams need scale without losing control: feed it brief local context, then fact‑check and humanise the copy so stories about Kiwi products or regional events land authentically.

Practical how‑to guides show best practices for prompts, workflows and teaching Jasper a brand voice, which makes it a handy tool for small agencies and in‑house teams alike How to use Jasper AI? Best practices + Usecases.

Think of it as a first‑draft engine that frees up time for strategy - like producing a ready‑to‑edit piece while the kettle boils - so editing and local insight, not the AI, deliver the final polish.

Feature	Jasper (research)
Templates	60+ templates for short & long form
Long‑form editor	Yes (Boss Mode for commands)
Pricing (starter)	Starter from $29/mo; Boss Mode from $59/mo
Integrations	Surfer SEO, Grammarly, Chrome extension

For Kiwi content teams competing for scarce search attention, MarketMuse is the kind of content‑intelligence platform that turns guesswork into a clear road‑map: its patented AI crawls your content inventory, maps topic authority, surfaces competitor gaps and even scores personalised difficulty so teams know which topics are quickest to win.

Instead of chasing isolated keywords, MarketMuse builds topic clusters and generates a prioritised content plan in minutes, recommends brief‑level optimisations and internal links, and flags pages that need refreshing - a workflow that helps publishers and brands focus effort where NZ authority already exists and where small updates can deliver outsized gains within weeks.

See the product overview at MarketMuse product overview and the practical content‑audit playbook in MarketMuse's guide to content inventory and auditing to understand how to fold these insights into local editorial calendars and governance.

Feature	What it does
Content inventory	Automates site auditing and tracks pages for optimisation opportunities
Topic authority & cluster analysis	Identifies where you already have strength and where to expand
Personalized difficulty	Shows which topics are easiest to rank given your site's authority
Optimize & briefs	Produces structured optimisation guidance and content briefs

“The MarketMuse approach is way more efficient than how I've been looking for topics to cover.” Anna Mason, Content Strategist, Clickmatize

BrightEdge brings enterprise-scale SEO to Kiwi marketing teams that need data-driven, cross‑site visibility rather than one-off keyword tips: its AI‑first platform (Data Cube, Copilot and Autopilot) surfaces the highest‑impact actions, ContentIQ keeps large sites healthy, and StoryBuilder turns rankings into executive dashboards and ROI stories - ideal for NZ retailers, travel brands or agencies juggling many domains and local listings.

BrightEdge Insights promises time back for teams by prioritising a single feed of critical fixes, and the platform also includes local SEO workflows (Google Business Profile integration) and deep competitive intelligence for multi‑region strategies.

The tradeoffs are real: BrightEdge is powerful but enterprise priced and has a learning curve, so it fits organisations ready to invest in training and governance.

See the product detail at BrightEdge Insights and the platform capabilities to judge fit for larger NZ programmes.

“imagine reviewing a prioritized optimization plan put together by an AI‑powered virtual data analyst in the morning, and getting your team to work on the most important tasks before lunch”

Feature	What it does
Data Cube	Keyword & competitive intelligence at scale
Copilot	In‑platform AI assistant for on‑page optimisations
Autopilot	Automated, zero‑touch optimisations across pages
ContentIQ	Enterprise site audits and technical issue monitoring
StoryBuilder	Custom executive reporting and KPI dashboards

“BrightEdge constantly updates its product and stays ahead of the SEO game.”

ManyChat puts omnichannel conversational marketing within reach for busy Kiwi teams: a visual Flow Builder and Growth Tools turn Instagram comments, DMs, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS and email into lead funnels and 24/7 sales conversations without coding, while live-chat handoff and contact tags let small squads keep personalised service as volumes grow.

Start for free (up to 1,000 contacts) and test automations, then scale to Pro (from $15/mo) for unlimited sequences, advanced segmentation, analytics and ManyChat's AI helpers - Intention Recognition, AI Step, Text Improver and a Flow Builder Assistant - that speed lead qualification and message optimisation (see the full pricing guide at ManyChat pricing details and a side‑by‑side feature breakdown at ManyChat plan comparison and feature breakdown).

The payoff is tangible: messenger marketing can produce very high opens and clicks compared with email, so a well‑tuned bot can convert casual commenters into buyers while the team sleeps - a practical growth lever for NZ SMEs and creators that need low‑friction, measurable automation (read the ManyChat review at ManyChat review and benchmarks on Voiceflow).

Plan	Price / Start	Key limits & features
Free	$0 / mo	Up to 1,000 contacts, basic features, ManyChat branding
Pro	From $15 / mo	Scales by contacts, unlimited flows/sequences, analytics, no ManyChat branding, AI features
Elite / Custom	Custom pricing	All Pro features plus advanced AI, enterprise support and custom channels

“We've used Manychat to generate over $65 million in sales...”

HeyGen puts fast, hyper‑real AI avatars and multilingual synthetic voice into reach for Kiwi marketers who need rapid, low‑cost video - think a two‑minute explainer rendered in under ten minutes - making it ideal for internal training, multilingual outreach and quick social promos, but with important local caveats.

The platform's strengths - built‑in avatars, voice cloning and auto lip‑sync for 175+ languages - can seriously speed workflows, yet New Zealand teams should test carefully: The I.T Team found HeyGen struggled with NZ accents, failed custom‑avatar renders that still consumed quota, and it doesn't yet support Te Reo out of the box, so public‑facing campaigns that rely on authentic local voice still need human oversight (HeyGen AI review by The I.T Team).

Product docs and community updates show steady improvements - Avatar IV, motion and combined photo/video avatars are rolling out - so start with internal use cases and the free tier, learn avatar consent and slot rules in the Video Avatar FAQ, then scale if it proves reliable for NZ audiences (HeyGen Video Avatar FAQ (avatar consent & slot rules); HeyGen product updates: custom avatar creation, motion, voice).

Plan	Price (research)	Notes
Free	Up to 3 videos/mo (watermark, 720p)	Good for experimentation
Creator	From $29/mo (~$24/mo annual)	Longer exports, higher res
Team	From $39 per seat/mo (~$30/seat/mo annual)	Advanced features; min 2 seats
Avatar add‑on	$29/mo or $300/yr	Additional video avatar slots (FAQ)

“an actual game changer,”

Smartly.io is the kind of automation platform Kiwi marketers should test when scaling social and video ads: its Media Suite centralises multi‑platform campaign management, automates creative production from templates and feeds, and uses Predictive Budget Allocation (PBA) to shift spend to winners in real time - so a small NZ retailer can push hundreds of Advantage+‑style ad variations and dynamic product creatives without multiplying headcount.

Smartly speeds video and short‑form production (AI Video Ad Assembly, auto‑cropping and channel overlays) so teams can iterate for Reels, Shorts and TikTok formats, reduce ad fatigue with automated rotation, and connect catalogs for Dynamic Product Ads - all features designed to turn a slow creative backlog into measurable upper‑ and lower‑funnel performance (see Smartly Media Suite features and case studies) and to activate new channels like Reddit with conversion best practices and automated ad creation.

For NZ teams that need both scale and governance, Smartly pairs creative automation with cross‑channel measurement and managed services to help campaigns run smarter, not harder.

Feature	Benefit for NZ marketers
Smartly Media Suite: Automated multi-platform media management	Launch and optimise hundreds of campaigns from one interface
Creative automation & templates	Generate and resize on‑brand ads and videos fast, reducing production bottlenecks
Predictive Budget Allocation (PBA)	Automatically shift budget to top performers to improve ROAS
Dynamic Product Ads & catalog management	Personalise product creatives at scale for e‑commerce and retail

“PBA gives us the ability to globally diversify our marketing mix. Manually tracking the specific platform dynamics for the markets that we operate is not efficient for us.” - Joris Mulders

Noogata was an AI‑first e‑commerce analytics platform that promised to act like an

always‑on AI team member

for CPG, digital brands and agencies - surfacing competitive intelligence, consumer search insights and plug‑and‑play

AI blocks

to boost Amazon visibility and digital‑shelf performance - but its story also underlines a hard lesson for NZ marketers: after raising $28M the company ceased operations in May 2025, leaving customers and prospects to weigh continuity risk alongside capability.

For Kiwi teams selling on global marketplaces or working with multinational CPG partners, Noogata's tooling (and its roster of clients such as PepsiCo and Colgate‑Palmolive) showed the value of automated ad and content signals, yet the shutdown reported by CB Insights company overview of Noogata reminds buyers to prioritise exportable data, contractual exit paths and pilot projects that deliver immediate ROI. Read the company overview at CB Insights company overview of Noogata and the post‑mortem coverage on the Canvas Business Model post‑mortem on Noogata for the timeline and takeaways.

Founded	Headquarters	Status	Total Raised	Main focus	Notable customers
2019	Tel‑Aviv, Israel	Ceased operations (May 2025)	$28M	E‑commerce analytics, Amazon/digital shelf, AI blocks	PepsiCo; Colgate‑Palmolive; PCA Skin; Elta MD

Make.com (formerly Integromat) is a practical no‑code automation canvas Kiwi marketing teams should test: its visual drag‑and‑drop builder and conditional logic let small agencies and e‑commerce teams stitch Shopify, Google Sheets, HubSpot and Slack into end‑to‑end pipelines that turn a frantic Monday of CSV copy‑paste into a single overnight scenario, freeing time for strategy.

It supports hundreds - even thousands - of app connections, includes AI helpers, array aggregation and robust error‑handling for reliable runs, and offers a free tier plus paid plans starting around NZ‑friendly entry pricing (from roughly $9/month), so pilots can prove value before scaling.

The tradeoffs are real - expect a learning curve on complex scenarios and slower support at times - but for NZ marketers who need to automate lead routing, dynamic product feeds or campaign reporting without custom engineering, Make's operation‑based model can be cost‑effective and highly flexible; see a hands‑on review at Make.com hands-on review and a practical platform overview at Make (Integromat) - Automate Your Business Workflows overview.

Feature	Why it matters for NZ marketers
Visual workflow builder	Build multi‑step automations without code; faster onboarding for small teams
Wide integrations (1000+ apps)	Connect Shopify, Google Workspace, CRMs and social channels used by NZ businesses
AI assistant & error handling	Speeds scenario creation and improves reliability for production workflows
Pricing (free → from ~$9/mo)	Low‑risk experimentation with capacity to scale as operations grow

Choose AI tools in Aotearoa the way a sensible marketer chooses channels: start with a clear business purpose, test small, and insist on governance before scale - twin themes in New Zealand's AI Strategy and the MBIE guidance.

Prefer proven, role‑specific tools that deliver measurable ROI, require exportable data and clear exit terms, and fit the Government's light‑touch, adoption‑first recommendation described by legal specialists at DLA Piper (DLA Piper analysis: Quick on the uptake? New Zealand's strategic approach to AI).

Build simple cross‑business oversight (security, privacy, legal, data and Māori data considerations), document training data and decisions, and run short pilots that prove value in weeks - not quarters - so teams can justify training and vendor commitments.

Use local governance toolkits and procurement guides to harden processes before public rollouts (AI Forum NZ governance toolkits and procurement guides), and invest in skills so people, not just software, capture the productivity upside - a pragmatic path that keeps NZ law, culture and customers front of mind.

MBIE Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses (New Zealand AI Strategy and guidance for business)

Bootcamp	Length	Early bird Cost	Register
AI Essentials for Work	15 Weeks	$3,582	Register for Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp (15 Weeks)