Vol 8: AI + Humans (The New Marketing Dream Team)

While everyone worries about AI replacing humans, next-gen brands are quietly building something far more valuable: marketing systems where AI and humans make each other exponentially better...

AI adoption. It’s the marketing conversation dominating every leadership meeting, strategy session, and budget review. For good reason. But I see a fundamental flaw in the approach most brands are taking. They’re obsessing over which human tasks AI can replace, looking to cut costs by choosing one over the other.

Meanwhile, smart brands are asking a different question entirely. They know AI can crank out content and crunch data faster than any mere mortal. But they've discovered something much more valuable: AI can make their humans exponentially better. And vice-versa.

While others race to replace people with automation, these brands are figuring out how AI and humans work together to create the ultimate competitive advantage. And in a future where everyone has access to the same powerful tools, this will be the X factor.

The Problem with AI-Only

AI excels at finding patterns and reproducing them. It's a savant at creating marketing that looks like marketing. In other words, AI is great at simulating the mediocre.

And that's exactly the problem.

Because brands that win in the AI Era won’t be the ones that sound like everyone else. They’ll be the ones that make everyone else sound the same.

Next-gen brands are onto something: AI isn't replacing marketers. It's replacing bad marketing. The formulaic, the derivative, the focus-grouped-to-death content that was already robotic before the robots showed up.

The New Dynamic Duo

Why choose sides in the human vs. machine debate, when you can create something far more powerful: a marketing ecosystem where human brilliance and AI capabilities amplify each other. Just consider the unique strengths of each player:

The Human Element
It starts with cultural insight – the kind CPUs and GPUs can't compute. It's the ability to draw stories from lived experience, make intuitive leaps between disparate ideas, and navigate customer relationships with emotional intelligence. Most importantly, it's the critical judgment needed to catch AI's blind spots: spotting hallucinated facts, validating data accuracy, identifying potential plagiarism, and ensuring every output aligns with brand and regulatory requirements.

The AI Force Multiplier
AI then takes these human powers and supercharges them. It scales insights across channels, tests endless variations, and optimizes delivery with surgical precision. While humans craft the core message and maintain quality control, AI ensures it reaches the right people at the right time, personalizing each touchpoint and detecting patterns in performance that help refine future strategies.

The Next-Gen Marketing Machine

So, how are AI-forward trailblazers harnessing the human + machine multiplier effect? By redesigning their entire marketing ecosystem around it:

Market Research
AI processes a bazillion signals. Humans spot the groundbreaking trends within the noise and develop wild hypotheses. AI tests them at scale. Humans decode what it all means for the business. Rinse, repeat at superhuman speed.

Content Strategy
Humans dream up the big, bold ideas. AI adapts them seamlessly across every format imaginable. Humans gut-check every word for emotional resonance. AI gets the right message to the right eyeballs at the right nanosecond. The result? Storytelling on steroids.

Customer Experience
AI anticipates desires and customizes every interaction. Humans step in for the high-stakes moments that require a personal touch. Back and forth they volley, blurring the lines between digital and human service until customers can't help but swoon.

Campaign Management
Humans ideate the vision. AI fills in the tactical details. Humans ensure the brand soul shines through. AI dials in the targeting. United, they riff and optimize in real-time like the Miles Davis of marketing.

This isn't a one-off partnership. It's a continuous symbiotic loop, with each cycle making both parties smarter and stronger for the next round. An ever-evolving win-win...win. (The third win is for your customers. Awww.)

Your Action Plan

Ready to make  human + AI collaboration your competitive advantage? Here’s your blueprint:

1. Start with system design.
Map your entire marketing operation and identify where human insight and AI can multiply each other's impact.

2. Create clear workflows.
Smart brands document exactly how work moves between human and AI stages. No winging it.

3. Build feedback loops.
Ensure AI output receives human oversight, and human creativity feeds into AI systems.

4. Measure combined impact.
Track not just individual performance, but how humans and AI improve each other's results.

5. Continuously invest in both sides.
Make AI literacy an ongoing priority, but don’t stop developing other hard and soft skills in your people.

Get With the System

Here's the deal. The AI adoption game is on and it’s time to play ball. You’ve got two choices:

Option 1: Keep choosing between Team Human or Team AI.

Option 2: Choose both and win.

Because in a future where everyone has the same powerful tools, the real competitive advantage will be how they are used. My money’s on purpose-built marketing systems with humans and AI working together in perfect harmony.

Just remember, AI isn’t here to replace marketers. It’s here to replace bad marketing.