AI in Marketing: Hype vs Reality

Yesterday I had the pleasure of moderating a lively, no-nonsense panel at the Generative AI for Marketing Conference in London. Big thanks to Joanna Edwards for the invite, and to my brilliant panellists Ambra Cosentino, Frank Ravanelli of FOREO and richard love for bringing clarity to a topic that often feels like alphabet soup.

We tackled the big, unsaid question:

𝙄𝙛 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙟𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝟯𝟬 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙬𝙚’𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝘼𝙄?

Turns out: quite a lot. But only if we fix what’s been holding us back.

Key highlights:

- 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆. AI only works when it's tied to real goals like revenue, retention and better customer experience.

- 𝗙𝗶𝘅 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁: Map the full end-to-end process, and ensure data is unified and clean. Without this, AI just accelerates the chaos.

- 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀. Hybrid human–AI workflows, governance, cross-functional collaboration, and proper training matter far more than the model you choose.

- 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. Compare human-only vs. AI-assisted outputs and link results directly to business value.

- 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿-𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰. Adopt AI in small steps, avoid over-centralisation, and make sure the customer, not just the company, gets the benefit.

- 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀. AI can draft, refine and scale. But judgement, taste, insight and original thinking remain human superpowers.

And finally, we ended with some takeaways for every marketing leader:

• Be realistic, but bold.

• Focus on the foundations. The fancy stuff comes later.

• Use AI to elevate your people, not replace them.

• And don’t forget: marketing has to change too.

Great discussion!

📸 : Ambra

A Small Marketing Insight from a Very Big Gig

I’m not usually a fan of arena gigs. The eye-watering ticket prices, the slog of getting in and out, the crowds - so many people - and the inevitable band-in-the-distance experience while the people behind you chat through every song. So. Much. Talking.

But on Friday I saw Radiohead at the O2. Twenty thousand people, absolutely not my natural habitat, yet they were outstanding. Easily a Top 10 gig, maybe even Top 5.

What struck me is how musicians at this scale have absolutely nailed the experience. Post-Covid, people crave moments that feel communal, emotional, memorable.

Arena tours have immersive audio, cinematic visuals, a shared emotional arc. They don’t just play music; they build a feeling. It’s also why, even in B2B, events like Dreamforce and Adobe MAX still pull huge crowds: they’re more than events; they’re rituals.

The bar for experience continues to go up.

The Independent summarised Radiohead perfectly: their “music about alienation makes feeling alienated feel less alienating.” Even the difficult material becomes connective when the environment is right.

Anyway, tonight I’m off to see one man and a synthesiser in a small arts club (capacity 300). Back to my comfort zone, but with a new appreciation for the big-stage craft.

Marketing's failed to implement every major technology wave for decades… what makes us think we’ll nail AI?

Looking forward to next week’s GenAI for Marketing Conference in London.

I’ll be joining a keynote panel titled “State of AI in Marketing. What’s Hype vs. Reality?” (Monday, 5pm) together with Ambra Cosentino, Frank Ravanelli and Richard Love and after our prep call… let’s just say it’s going to fun.

Marketers love a shiny object, but AI might be the shiniest we’ve ever had. Truth is though, everyone is experimenting, nobody has it fully figured out and half the noise in the market comes from the fact that we’re all talking about different things when we say “AI.” Generative… agentic… adaptive models… automation… machine learning… general intelligence… It’s like we’ve been handed the world’s most powerful toolkit and immediately lost the manual.

We’ll be getting into:

• Why marketing keeps repeating the same pattern: big promises, shiny tech, heroic demos… followed by “Wait, why isn’t this working?”

• Whether this time might actually be different, and the uncomfortable possibility that the tech isn’t the barrier… we are.

• How to define success, and what our expectations should be for payback.

• Why personalization has been ‘the future’ for 25 years

• Why AI without people and process is just a very expensive autocomplete.

And yes, we’ll absolutely be asking the taboo question: If marketing has failed to implement every major technology wave for decades, what makes us think we’ll nail this one?

It’s going to be fun - a proper scene-setter for the two days that follow.

If you're at the event on Monday, come along!

I've been on both sides of the redundancy email. Here's what nobody tells you.

30+ years in marketing leadership means I've lived the full spectrum of career turbulence.

I've been the leader making the brutal calls: performance issues, restructuring, M&A fallout, RIFs. Sat in too many rooms where we decided who stays, who goes.

And I've been the person getting the tap on the shoulder. The "new direction" conversation. The non-voluntary plot twist. More than once.

Here's what I've learned from both sides of that table: every time my career felt like it was ending, it was actually moving toward something better.

But only because of one thing. It wasn't timing. It wasn't luck. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸.

Not the LinkedIn "spray and pray" version. The real one. The slow-build relationships forged over coffees, conference dinners, shared war stories, terrible jokes and genuine curiosity about what makes people tick.

I'm naturally more introvert than extrovert. Building and maintaining connections doesn't come naturally - I've had to force myself to do the upkeep. Show up at events when I'd rather be reading. Join and invest time in communities like Pavilion, The CMO Circle, The Slice Network.

Just this week, someone planning to become a fractional CMO asked me where my opportunities come from. Answer: a network built over decades

My last 8 roles all came through relationships, not job boards. A WhatsApp from an old colleague. A referral from someone I helped years ago. An exec who remembered me from an interview I didn't even get.

Nurture relationships before you're desperate.

Make the calls. Send the messages. Book the coffees. Not because you need something today, but because relationships compound like interest.

Your network isn't your safety net. It's your springboard.

And that's the bit nobody mentions until you're already mid-flight.

AI Makes things. Humans make stuff.

Years ago, someone tried explaining the difference in process and discrete manufacturing to me: "Process manufacturers make stuff. Discrete manufacturers make things."

I walked away none the wiser but that distinction stuck with me ever since. And now, watching everyone panic about AI taking over, it suddenly makes perfect sense.

𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀

• First drafts of proposals

• Reformatting 60-page documents into one-pagers

• Cleaning up messy spreadsheets

• Generating code snippets

• Building templates and frameworks

• Turning chaos into bullet points

It's the ultimate discrete manufacturer of the knowledge economy. Fast, consistent, uncomplaining.

𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳

• The insights that only come from getting fired twice

• The pattern recognition from 30 years of watching markets shift

• Original thinking that appears in the shower

• The gut feeling that says "this strategy won't work, trust me"

• The creative leap no prompt can reach

• The taste that knows when something's off

AI remixes. Humans originate.

AI optimises. Humans imagine.

AI formats. Humans feel.

Let AI handle the machinery of things - the drafts, edits, automations, summaries. Let humans obsess over the alchemy of stuff - the ideas, meaning, direction, soul.

One scales effort. The other scales imagination. Together, they scale impact.

So there you have it. AI makes things. Humans make stuff.

Any the wiser?

PS: Top marks for spotting what “stuff” is being made in the photo...

Why are B2B Brands betting big on sport?

If you watch enough sport (especially Formula 1) or cable TV, you’ll see an extraordinary number of B2B tech businesses advertising or sponsoring.

So why are B2B brands increasingly investing in major sports partnerships?

That was the topic of a fascinating conversation at The Drum's B2B World Fest, featuring Sarah Dawson (Wasserman), Priyanka Mehra (TCS) and Karen Feldman (Iron Mountain).

A recurring theme was that B2B brands don’t actually sell to “businesses” - they sell to humans. (Another case for humanising, Paul Cash!)

Sport isn’t just something we watch. It’s something we feel. And when a brand can plug into that emotion - authentically, consistently and with purpose - something powerful happens.

Priyanka from TCS described a challenge familiar to most complex enterprise brands: technology can sound, well… complex. Heavy. Abstract. Hard to feel.

So TCS turned to a platform built entirely on human emotion: the marathon.

TCS now partners with 14 global marathons, reinforcing at each that training and race day aren’t fleeting events, they’re year-long personal journeys full of discipline, resilience and shared pride.

Everyone knows someone who has run a marathon. Everybody knows what that story means. That’s the connection.

And TCS are not just sponsoring marathons - they’re using them as live innovation environments.

Take their Digital Twin project, created with elite runner Des Linden. TCS built a digital model of her heart, allowing her to analyse performance, adjust for changing race conditions and optimise in real time. A world-class example of taking enterprise innovation and making it both tangible and inspiring! And they’re scaling it. From one athlete → to many → to everyday runners → to other industries entirely.

And Iron Mountain, a 75-year-old business known for information storage, is using its new partnership with McLaren F1 to shift perception.

They’re not just powering storage. They’re powering history, access and storytelling using AI-driven content discovery to unlock decades of unseen racing archives.

It’s heritage meets data innovation, and it is deeply emotive.

𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘄?

Three signals came through loud and clear:

🎯 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲: Sport creates memory, belonging and identity.

🎯 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 & 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Formula 1, marathons and sports leagues provide year-round engagement moments, not just events.

🎯 𝗔 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Sport becomes a proving ground for technology, data and new experiences.

I guess my takeaway is that the brands winning in sports aren’t chasing visibility. They’re building meaning.

Sport isn’t a channel. It’s a human translation layer.

And for B2B brands trying to stand out in a world of feature lists and complexity? That translation layer might just be the advantage.

Breaking out of the algo bubbles

𝗠𝘆 𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗺 𝗯𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.

On YouTube, I'm drowning in videos of bedroom producers in provincial UK towns recreating early 80s synth classics. 50 followers. 4 likes. While the world watches MrBeast and Chicken Shop Dates I'm watching Jeff from Chelmsford break down Visage’s "Fade to Grey" on his Korg keyboard.

On LinkedIn, it's the ageism posts. Dozens of them. Talented people over 50 sharing their 200th rejection. My feed has become a support group for Gen X marketers wondering where all the opportunities went.

But here's what I've realised: the algorithm isn't the problem. Yes, ageism is definitely in the air right now. But I also get that some companies are trying to shake up the old guard of “pale, male and stale” leadership. Maybe its time to flip the script. As I’ve had reinforced by the very excellent Troy Thompson on his “Outward Performance” course on Pavilion, its all about changing your mindset, not just focusing on behaviours.

Don’t let your career fade to grey (see what I did there?). Target organisations that actually need what we bring:

• **𝗗𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻**: Companies with strong mid-level talent but no one who's navigated multiple market cycles.

• **𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗺 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀**: Startups that need someone who won't panic when plan A fails. Because we've been through plans B through Z.

• **𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀**: Teams that value building capability, not just hitting quarters.

I've seen this pattern in my fractional work. The companies that hire experience aren't looking backward - they're looking for balance. Mixed teams where wisdom complements energy. Where battle scars prevent repeated mistakes.

Stop applying where youth is the unspoken requirement. Find the organisations mature enough to value maturity.

Your sweet spot exists. It's just not where everyone else is looking.

Now if you'll excuse me, Jeff just uploaded his version of "Cars" by Gary Numan. 🎹

Transferable skills may still matter

In full-time corporate land, industry segment is increasingly everything. Try moving from niche A to niche B? Forget it.

"We need someone with 10+ years in network security for mobile devices, focused on individual users (not enterprise), in a PLG motion (not sales-led), with experience in France and Sweden - but not Germany - in a company with exactly $17m in ARR with plans to go to $22m, NOT $25m."

Sound familiar? The old concept of “transferable skills” seems to have died a death in the past few years. Hirers are myopically looking for the perceived unicorn, nervously reluctant to hire marketers without the perfect credentials.

But fractional work? It's really interesting. Completely different mindset.

People actually value experience over exact industry fit. They want strategic thinking and execution understanding, not just sector knowledge.

Over the past couple of years I've worked across art tech, nature restoration, health, fintech, engineering and public relations. From bootstrapped to Series C to $100m PE-backed. In both B2B and B2C. Opportunities never thought possible in the full time world. Yes, each one is different, but yet they’re all powered by the same fundamental need:

• Clear customer story

• Focused strategy

• Measurable outcomes

• AI as the multiplier

Turns out "transferable skills" are still in demand. And in an AI-powered world, adaptability might just be the ultimate skill.

The fundamentals of good marketing don't change when you cross industry lines. Understanding customers, building trust, creating value - that works everywhere.

The tactics may shift. The strategy fundamentals stay the same.

Fractional work has reminded me that good marketers aren't industry-specific. We're problem-solvers who happen to work in different sectors.

Your spreadsheet isn’t your strategy.

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆.

Forget the offsite workshops and persona guesswork.

Grab 20-30 sales conversations from your CRM or transcription tool. Feed them into ChatGPT with a prompt that extracts distinct buyer cohorts, their specific pain points, competitive concerns and exact language they use.

Every time I do this, the same pattern emerges. On the surface, everyone has identical challenges. Dig deeper? Completely different stories emerge.

Same industry. Different worlds.

For each cohort, you can build:
✅ Personas based on real jobs, pains and goals
✅ Messaging that speaks their language (not marketing speak)
✅ Google Ads targeting keywords from actual conversations
✅ Content that answers their real questions

Then attach these insights back into your project or custom GPT. Future prompts become automatically smarter.

The result? Marketing that feels like mind-reading because it's built on what customers actually said, not what we think they meant.

Works every time.

Stop guessing. Start listening. Segmentation isn't a spreadsheet exercise. It's a conversation analysis.

Network, network, network

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀.

Yes, whether fractional, part-time or full-time, the senior marketing job market is challenging. But the game hasn't changed - it's just become more visible.

While everyone's focused on applying to hundreds of roles and getting ghosted by AI, the real opportunities are happening where they always have. In conversations.

Just like the practice of marketing has changed, so has recruitment. But instead of being AI-led, it’s more than ever people-led.

My last 8 roles came from:

• A chance meeting at an industry event with another speaker

• An opportunity shared in a (paid) networking group

• An ex-colleague from 30 years ago who'd been reading my latest LinkedIn posts

• A referral from an agency founder I've stayed in touch with for 20+ years

• An internal referral from a peer at a previous employer

• A conversation at an industry dinner

• Someone I chatted with on a social event

• An exec who remembered me from an interview process (I didn't even get the job!) and liked my approach

• A peer I first met when I ran a small CMO networking group, 20 years ago

Zero came from job boards. All came from relationships.

While you're applying to job #247, someone's getting hired through a WhatsApp message.

But this is actually brilliant news. Because while everyone else is playing the numbers game, you can focus on what actually works:

✅ Show up consistently (industry events, dinners, networking groups)

✅ Stay visible (LinkedIn posts, sharing insights, helping others)

✅ Keep in touch (that colleague from 2004 might be your next boss)

✅ Be memorable (not just for your CV, but for how you think)

The market is tough, but relationships are timeless.

Your next role isn't in a job board. It's in your network.

Start nurturing it today.