Decoding AI for Marketing

Jamie Umpherson, Chief Creative Officer at Runway and former advertising creative director, explores how AI scales creative production and builds persistent world models for storytelling. He discusses AI as a new VFX pipeline, unifying UGC and localization at scale, and when hybrid versus traditional production makes sense. He also covers agentic feedback loops, versioning strategies, and operational approaches for agencies.

Shegun Otulana, CEO of Copysmith.ai, says there’s a widening gap between marketing teams that use AI tools on the edge, and ones that have fully rebuilt their processes around AI. He explains how his company is focusing now on the shift to GEO, how he’s built and continues to build AI-powered products for specific client needs, and why share of voice, mentions, and citations are becoming the new metrics of visibility. For further reading:  Copysmith.ai: https://www.copysmith.ai/ Comeback Town: He built a billion dollar company in Birmingham and so can you: https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2025/03/comeback-town-he-built-a-billion-dollar-company-in-birmingham-and-so-can-you.html From $250k Raised to $1.25B Exit w/ Shegun Otulana: https://bryce.medium.com/from-250k-raised-to-1-25b-exit-w-shegun-otulana-34e32912c603 More about Shegun: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheguno/ Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1715735755

Jeff Lunsford, CEO of Tealium, says that as enterprises rush to deploy agentic AI, batch processing and siloed systems won’t cut it: AI strategy lives or dies on the quality — and speed — of your data. In this episode, we explore what a true real-time data layer looks like, why most companies are underutilizing their marketing tech, and how brands must prepare for a world where AI agents — not humans — are initiating customer interactions. From identity tokens and authentication to agent-to-agent negotiation, we look at what’s coming next and what that means for marketers. For Additional Reading:  Tealium achieves AWS Generative AI Competency, advancing enterprise AI at scale: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/02/17/3239448/0/en/Tealium-achieves-AWS-Generative-AI-Competency-advancing-enterprise-AI-at-scale.html Tealium Adds AI Features for Real-Time Customer Engagement: https://www.cmswire.com/customer-data-platforms/tealium-adds-ai-features-for-real-time-customer-engagement/ The secret to happy customers is… your data layer: https://martech.org/the-secret-to-happy-customers-is-your-data-layer/ More about Jeff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefflunsford/   Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1715735755

Konrad Feldman, co-founder and CEO of Quantcast and veteran in neural networks and programmatic advertising. He discusses the shift from rule-based systems to goal-driven AI. He explores how ML enables granular, real-time audience models. He highlights orchestration of multiple AI components and why measurement is the biggest bottleneck for marketing.

Michael Walrath, Yext CEO and ad-tech veteran (DoubleClick, Yahoo, Moat), explains how AI is reshaping search and advertising. He discusses generative search, context and memory, and why structured data and citations will replace clicks. He predicts affiliate-style monetization, fragmented AI engines, and practical steps for brand visibility in an AI-first world.

Shelly Palmer, professor in residence at Syracuse and expert in all things AI, returns to the show to offer up what trends he saw at CES, and where the marketing industry is going. He explains how fast AI is changing every day, what marketers need to be doing to keep up, and why the technology is still underhyped.For Further Reading:CES 2026 Day 1: https://shellypalmer.com/2026/01/ces-2026-day-1-robot-wars/How to Install and Setup Claude Code: https://shellypalmer.com/2026/01/how-to-install-claude-code/MMA CMO AI Transformation Summit featuring Shelly: https://mmaglobal.com/cmo-ai-transformation-summit Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1715735755

Sid Sudhakaran, Head of Data Strategy & Engineering for North America at Kantar, explains the benefits of the company’s ambitious AI assistant: KAiA. He explains how it democratizes data, when chatbots work for marketers (and when they don’t), and the real customer pain points they are tackling each and every day. For Further Reading: Embedding Artificial Intelligence in the World’s Largest CompaniesLeveraging GenAI for Connected InsightsKantar forecasts ten marketing trends for 2026 strategic planningMMA and Kantar unveil how consumers are using AIMore about KAiA Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1715735755

Bill Gross, founder of Overture (the company that created paid search) and now ProRata.ai, says that generative AI is fundamentally rewriting the rules of search - which means marketers, advertisers, and customers must all adapt to new ways of discovering products. Gross explains ProRata’s business model, how advertising will evolve inside AI-generated results, what a fair-value model for publishers and creators might look like, and how brands can stay discoverable and trusted as attention shifts away from search pages toward GenAI chat models. For Further Reading: Generative AI Has a 'Shoplifting' Problem. This Startup CEO Has a Plan to Fix ItProRata.ai raises $40M and launches new search tool for publishersProRata.ai Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1715735755

Jacob Bank, the founder and CEO of Relay.app, revolutionizes marketing with custom AI agents he develops for productivity. He discusses the decline of traditional large marketing teams, advocating for smaller, AI-augmented ones to enhance autonomy. Jacob shares insights on automating entire workflows, like webinars, and explains the critical balance between human input and AI efficiency. He also highlights the shift in marketing roles, predicting the rise of super-individual contributors while traditional bureaucratic positions fade away. A must-listen for forward-thinking marketers!

Diaz Nesamoney, Founder, President, and CEO of Jivox, says that commerce media is fast becoming the next big wave in advertising, thanks to transaction-level data that makes personalization more precise than search and social media ever could. He explains how commerce media is growing beyond retail and how AI allows that scale, as well as the complexities marketers face when handling diverse product catalogs across multiple retail platforms. For Further Reading: The Future of Commerce Media Isn’t Retail. It's EverywhereCommerce Media Has Entered a New EraCommerce media evolves as AI, offsite, and new vertices reshape the landscape Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1715735755