Automated workflows keep teams moving
But the real magic happens after the idea takes shape. Once the idea is generated, AI acts as a force multiplier for execution, allowing smaller teams to handle massive workloads.
Justin Johnson, a global marketing and partnerships expert who was formerly the head of market development at Acorns, described his experience using a custom tool to process inbound partnership proposals.
“I’m working on a Gemini agent that would use a framework to stack rank,” he shared. Johnson explained that the agent helps answer questions like, “Does it align with brand? What is the projected output of what we think this could produce? Is this ROI positive?” From there, the agent assigns a score indicating whether to look into the deal further or if it’s not worth the time.
For large organizations, the time savings of using AI are immense. Don McGuire, CMO of Qualcomm, noted that his team has deployed writing tools to streamline copy development. “We’ve saved like 2,400 hours a month just through Writer alone,” McGuire revealed. “And my people grabbed onto that like there was no tomorrow.”
Data as the high-octane fuel for storytelling
Speed may accelerate output, but the fuel that powers successful AI is data. Karen Wood, CMO of Treasure Data, highlighted the paradox—to be more human at scale, brands need better machines. “The challenge is, how do you authentically engage with each consumer?” Wood asked. “The irony is that the way to do that is through AI, so through artificial intelligence, we’re actually putting the power in the hands of marketers to scale up what that one-to-one personalization can look like.”
Rafa Flores, chief product officer at Treasure Data, added that this data-driven speed allows for a “fail fast” mentality. “I think storytelling is all about innovation. Storytelling is about meeting the moment. So a lot of the brands we work with, you have to innovate to meet the moment.” To do that, Flores explained, AI lets brands experiment quickly, making it easier—and less risky—to try new ideas and fail fast.
