AI: Machine-Made Marketing

On this episode, we are joined by Matt Hixson, Co-founder and CEO of Tellagence. We talk about the next step for AI in marketing: moving beyond dashboards and reports to actually understanding customer intent. Matt also explains why the future isn't more data—it's knowing which data matters.

Today we are joined by Rebecca Sykes, Partner and Head of AI at Brandtech Group. We talk about taking the repetitive & mundane work out of marketing so people have more time to think, why AI should create opportunity instead of simply cutting costs, what agentic AI actually changes, and why the brands that come out ahead will be the ones that change their culture, not just their technology.

On this episode of AI: Machine Made Marketing, we're joined by Oz Etzioni, CEO & Cofounder at Clinch. Oz explains why AI is exposing the cracks in marketing instead of fixing them. We also talk about connecting creative and media, making every campaign a learning opportunity, and why rebuilding your workflow matters more than adding another AI platform.

This week we're joined by Chan Suh, Senior Partner and Chief Digital Officer at Prophet. We talk about why AI is changing business the way the web once did, why measuring AI adoption misses the point, and how companies can move beyond endless pilots to create real growth. Chan also shares new research on consumer trust and explains why the brands that put people first will have the advantage.

On this episode, I sit down with Steve Bevilacqua, Principal Consultant at Cella by Randstad Digital, for a candid conversation about what AI is actually doing inside marketing organizations today. We dig into the gap between executive expectations and real-world adoption, why leaders need to be hands-on with AI instead of simply directing others to use it, and how marketing teams can avoid creating bland, homogenized content. Along the way, we share a few laughs about six-fingered AI images, caveman prompting, and why AI should be viewed as a powerful tool rather than a replacement for human creativity. It's a practical, entertaining look at where AI delivers value today and where marketers still need to keep a human in the loop.
 

On this episode of AI: Machine Made Marketing, Ivan Doruda, Global CEO at MGID, joins the show to discuss how AI is changing search, publishing, and performance marketing across the open web. From the shift away from traditional SEO to the growing importance of monetization, contextual intelligence, and generative engine optimization, Ivan shares a grounded look at where the industry is headed and why human expertise still matters in an increasingly automated world.

In this episode, Daniella Harkins, SVP of Product GTM at LiveRamp shares a practical, grounded look at making AI actually useful inside marketing teams. From starting with simple use cases and leaning into trusted partners, to building stronger first party data foundations and using AI to improve decisioning, optimization, and measurement, this conversation is less about hype and more about what helps marketers work smarter, think more strategically, and move forward with confidence.

On this episode of AI: Machine-Made Marketing, we sit down with Nick Valenti, CEO of Mādin, to unpack why AI isn’t replacing creativity — it’s raising the bar for what actually matters.
Nick explains how Mādin uses AI as a creative collaborator rather than a creative director, accelerating ideation, testing, and execution while doubling down on the human elements machines still can’t replicate: taste, empathy, judgment, and cultural intuition.
The conversation explores how AI is collapsing the gap between instinct and proof of concept, why the future of agencies belongs to smaller high-taste teams instead of bloated organizations, and how brands can avoid drowning in “AI-generated sameness.” Nick also shares why Rick Rubin’s philosophy on creativity has become required reading inside Mādin, how AI is democratizing high-level creative production for startups, and why strategy and storytelling are becoming more important — not less — in the age of generative media.

In this episode of AI: Machine Made Learning, Leslie Walsh, GM & Head of Strategy at RYA, joins the show to talk about why speed alone is not the goal in an AI-driven world. From the risk of “AI slop” to the importance of human taste, cultural nuance, and proprietary data, Leslie breaks down how marketers can use AI to elevate creative—not dilute it. The conversation explores the balance between machine efficiency and human judgment, and what it really takes to produce work that resonates and stands out.

On this episode of AI: Machine Made Marketing, I’m joined by Justine Frostad, CMO of Cognitiv, and Sam Choi, Founder & CEO of Manual Labor, to talk about why it’s time to move past static personas and rethink how we understand audiences. We get into the “Meet Edna” campaign, the role AI plays in the creative process, and why transparency—and a strong human point of view—still matter more than ever.