What if everything you thought you knew about AI adoption in business was wrong? Imagine a world where C-suite executives are more comfortable with AI than digital natives. Well, according to groundbreaking new research from Lightricks and the American Marketing Association, that world is already here.<\/p>\n
For decades, we\u2019ve operated under the assumption that new technology adoption flows from the bottom up. Young professionals, fresh out of college, bring new tools and techniques to their organizations. But AI is completely flipping this script, creating an unprecedented divide in marketing teams<\/a> that threatens both innovation and career growth.<\/p>\n The numbers are startling: while 61% of executives use AI weekly, only 42% of entry-level marketers do the same. Even more concerning? 65% of executives have received formal AI training<\/a>, compared to just 34% of early-career marketers. This isn\u2019t just a gap \u2013 it\u2019s a canyon that\u2019s growing wider every day.<\/p>\n Today, we\u2019re joined by Corbett Drummey, a pioneer in the creator economy and AI space. As part of Lightricks, which recently partnered with the American Marketing Association on this groundbreaking research, Corbett brings unique insights into this shifting landscape. His experience leading Popular Pays through its successful<\/a> acquisition by Lightricks, and his current work developing AI tools for brand safety, puts him at the intersection of marketing leadership and technological innovation.<\/p>\n The AI Hat Podcast<\/a> host Mike Allton asked Corbett Drummey about:<\/p>\n \u2728 Reversed AI Adoption Pattern<\/strong>: Traditional bottom-up technology adoption is being replaced by executive-led AI integration<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2728 Training Determines Success<\/strong>: The growing training gap between leadership and staff is becoming a critical career factor.<\/p>\n \u2728 Bridge The Divide<\/strong>: Organizations must actively work to democratize AI access and training across all levels.<\/p>\n Learn more about Corbett Drummey<\/strong><\/p>\n Resources & Brands mentioned in this episode<\/strong><\/p>\n This episode was sponsored by Lightricks, in partnership with the AMA.<\/strong><\/p>\n (lightly edited)<\/em><\/p>\n [00:00:00] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> The AI adoption curve here is definitely led by executives and it\u2019s so, it\u2019s so weird to look at because we\u2019re used to the, the younger entry level folks driving that AI adoption curve. But instead, I think there\u2019s one or two things going on here. Like I mentioned, I think people know that this is a very fast growing and still evolving product.<\/p>\n But I think one big thing underpinning that discrepancy between entry level and executive AI adoption. Is that the executive players in the space, I think they have a business perspective from their years in the industry, having gone through some changes, I think they know what\u2019s coming, even if it\u2019s not there yet.<\/p>\n And so I think entry level folks are using these tools and there\u2019s some useful things, but there\u2019s a lot of things that are still not quite ready for prime time. There\u2019s, you know, there\u2019s some warts and things that aren\u2019t really working right in these early products. It\u2019s still very early stage. And so it\u2019s in beta for a lot of times, but executives, they know that that\u2019s just the beginning.<\/p>\n And so I think they\u2019re eyes on the ball with these new tools coming out.<\/p>\n [00:00:57] Mike Allton:<\/strong> Welcome to AI in Marketing: Unpacked, where we simplify AI for impactful marketing. I\u2019m your host, Mike Allton here to guide you through the world of artificial intelligence and its transformative impact on marketing strategies<\/a>. Each episode, we\u2019ll break down AI concepts into manageable insights and explore practical applications that can supercharge your marketing<\/a> efforts.<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re an experienced marketer just starting to explore the potential of AI, this podcast will equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to succeed. So tune in and let\u2019s unlock the power of AI together.<\/p>\n Greetings program. Welcome back to AI in Marketing: Unpacked, where I selfishly use this time to pick the brains of experts at keeping up with and integrating or layering artificial intelligence into social media<\/a>, content, advertising, search, and other areas of digital marketing. And you get to learn to subscribe to be shown how to prepare yourself and your brand for this AI revolution<\/a> and come out ahead.<\/p>\n Now, what if everything you thought you knew about AI adoption<\/a> and marketing was wrong? Imagine a world where C suite executives are more comfortable with AI than digital natives. Well, according to groundbreaking new research from Lightricks and the American Marketing Association, that world is already here for decades.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve operated under the assumption that new technology adoption flows from the bottom up. Young professionals, fresh out of college, bring new tools and techniques to their organizations, but AI adoption<\/a> is completely flipping this script, creating an unprecedented divide in marketing teams that threatens both innovation and career growth.<\/p>\n The numbers are startling. While 77 percent of executives use AI weekly, only 43 percent of entry level marketers do the same. Even more concerning, 65 percent of executives have received full formal AI training compared to just 34 percent of early career marketers. This isn\u2019t just a gap. It\u2019s a canyon that\u2019s growing wider every day.<\/p>\n But today we\u2019re joined by Corbett Drummey, a pioneer in the creator economy and AI space as part of Lightricks, which recently partnered with the American Marketing Association on this groundbreaking research. Corbett brings unique insights into this shifting market landscape is experience leading popular page through a successful acquisition by Lightricks and his current work developing AI tools<\/a> for brand safety puts him at the intersection of marketing leadership and technological innovation.<\/p>\n Hey, Corbett, welcome back to the show.<\/p>\n [00:03:19] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> Thanks. It\u2019s great to be back. Thanks, Mike.<\/p>\n [00:03:21] Mike Allton:<\/strong> My pleasure. I\u2019m so excited to have you here and to help us all kind of understand what is going on with A. I. And these executives and how it\u2019s being adopted. And where I want to start is the research showed that this A. I. Adoption of marketing jumped from 73 percent to 90 percent in just a few months one year. What do you think is driving this dramatic acceleration?<\/p>\n [00:03:44] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> I mean, yeah, we all have seen it in our day to day lives, but it\u2019s really crazy to see the stats of the overall usage in our industries. I think that big jump up to 90 percent it\u2019s really for two things, two reasons.<\/p>\n Number one, I think that when it when I tools first came out, they really captivated people\u2019s attention. But in the last year, we finally had very practical ways to start using them in our day to day workflows. So number one is just they have become useful. But I think there\u2019s this increasing focus on AI this is different from other tools we\u2019ve seen simply because executives, I think, notice where the trend line is going. And it\u2019s also a product that\u2019s changing and growing faster than anything else before. And so I think that adoption is basically we have some real world initial use cases for AI but then everyone knows more is coming, and so we\u2019re paying attention.<\/p>\n [00:04:35] Mike Allton:<\/strong> And that is really interesting, because AI does seem to be different, right? We\u2019ve talked about how, you know, younger people typically lead those technology adoptions, bringing in new tools, and they\u2019re kind of willing to play around and test things. They\u2019re willing to be wrong, when I think a lot of executives are not.<\/p>\n Why else do you think, though, that AI is so different?<\/p>\n [00:04:56] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> First off, just to state that again, it is really different. I can\u2019t think of anything similar in any technological shift. One thing that comes to mind for me is, for example, when I was starting my career in marketing and advertising over a decade ago there was of course a huge social social shift with like Instagram Twitter, et cetera being more and more important Facebook, of course.<\/p>\n And it felt like we were always as entry level teammates back then trying to push our brands to adopt or push our clients to adopt things talking about the importance of things. And it felt like the leadership was kind of stuck in. Ways of working with that, that they\u2019ve been used to, but now it\u2019s, it\u2019s very different.<\/p>\n The, the adoption curve here is definitely led by executives and it\u2019s so, it\u2019s so weird to look at because we\u2019re used to the, the younger entry level folks driving that adoption curve. But instead, I think there\u2019s one or two things going on here. Like I mentioned I think people know that this is a very fast growing and still evolving product, but I think one big thing underpinning that discrepancy between entry level and executive adoption is that the executive players in the space, I think they have a business perspective from their years in industry.<\/p>\n Having gone through some changes, I think they know what\u2019s coming, even if it\u2019s not there yet. And so I think entry level folks are using these tools and there\u2019s some useful things, but there\u2019s a lot of things that are still not quite ready for prime time. There\u2019s, you know, there\u2019s some warts and things that aren\u2019t really working right when these early products, it\u2019s still very early stage.<\/p>\n And so it\u2019s in beta for a lot of times, but executives, they know that that\u2019s just the beginning. And so I think they\u2019re, eyes on the ball with these new tools coming out. So yeah, I think it\u2019s a mixture of business experience and the fact that the products aren\u2019t really there yet for a lot of the times.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s, what\u2019s driving like the executive focus on adoption, even though the entry level teammates aren\u2019t using it all the time yet.<\/p>\n [00:06:46] Mike Allton:<\/strong> I think that observation about experience is spot on. It was something I\u2019ve been thinking about a lot as well. Generally speaking, executives are older. So they have more experience in business, but they also have a much more, a richer understanding of just history and society where we\u2019ve gone and I think they can just feel that AI is different from, say, a brand new social network or or a new tool. I mean, they see that there\u2019s just so much more depth in this technology, but there was one statistic that I want to drill down to a little bit more. And it, it goes beyond just the fact that more executives are using AI or understanding it, but they\u2019re significantly more comfortable with AI, which really stood out to me.<\/p>\n And it was like 55 percent compared to entry level marketers, just 33%. What do you think explains that confidence gap?<\/p>\n [00:07:41] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> You know, I think I think people are using it for different tasks depending on their job and you know, entry level teammates are using it for the day to day work and finding that it\u2019s helpful but not transformative.<\/p>\n And I think that executive teammates are using it for different things. Like, I think execs are using it for strategy and collaboration reasons, not just, you know, content creation<\/a>, etc. But I, I think I\u2019d have to guess it\u2019s also just a willingness to lean into it, knowing that it\u2019s going to change everything about their work and so they need to get familiar with it.<\/p>\n So there\u2019s this discrepancy in confidence as well as training. Executives have a lot more training in this, which is, again, very different from the norm. Usually people pick it up in their personal life, bring these tools to work, and this is completely flips the script here where executives are both teaching themselves and getting formal company training and are more like satisfied in their desire to learn about it, whereas there\u2019s younger entry level folks who aren\u2019t getting the training they want, as well as you know, are left to their own devices to learn about it.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s a completely different on most yeah aspects of adoption and training versus traditional trends that we\u2019ve seen in the past. I think,<\/p>\n [00:08:45] Mike Allton:<\/strong> I think that\u2019s just an astute observation because as I think back to how I used AI initially, how the people in my circles my social circles, colleagues and friends and so on, who are, they\u2019re not entry level marketers by any stretch, but we\u2019re, we\u2019re practitioners and technicians.<\/p>\n We\u2019re the ones creating the blog content, the social posts and that sort of thing. And so of course that\u2019s where our first minds went to when it came to using Chat GPT. Oh, it can help me write an Instagram caption. Oh, it can help me write an outline for a blog post, which it can do all those things.<\/p>\n But like I\u2019ve said on the show many, many times, if you don\u2019t put a lot of pre work into it, you\u2019re not going to get great output. But if you ask it to sit with you and have a conversation about marketing strategy<\/a> or business strategy or something like that, it\u2019s remarkably good without a lot of pre work because it just has that total world knowledge. But one thing you mentioned there was the training. So let\u2019s, let\u2019s talk about that for a second because as you mentioned, we\u2019re seeing the substantial disparity in training<\/a> between leadership and staff. What do you think the implications are for marketing folks and career development?<\/p>\n [00:09:52] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> Yep. I mean, there\u2019s a few things there. One perspective is we should talk about what companies should do, knowing these stats. And the other is talking to teammates on the ground and talking about how they should be thinking of these things, knowing the stats that we\u2019ve uncovered through the survey.<\/p>\n So for example one interesting stat is that for executives only 13 percent say that they want more training than they have, but for entry level folks, it\u2019s about 27%. So more than double say that they want more training than they have access to. So that\u2019s really important for, for, for both stakeholders here.<\/p>\n Companies should know that there is a desire for training, which. That never happens, right? Like no one ever says I want more training, but everyone knows that this is going to be important for our jobs and companies should be really receptive to offering formal training here. And it is really important how you use these tools.<\/p>\n One thing I would say is that a lot of times people use AI tools<\/a> they, they don\u2019t work and then they don\u2019t try them for a long time, but things are changing so quickly that the same tools are completely different six months later. And so I think consistent training is required and companies should know there\u2019s a latent desire for entry level teammates to get that training.<\/p>\n So if they hear anything, they should be responsive to that. On the converse angle, like I think that entry level teammates should advocate for training if they want it. 41 percent of entry level people are self directed in their training. So that\u2019s the vector through which they learn the most.<\/p>\n Whereas for executives, 65 percent are learning from the company\u2019s training. So it\u2019s, it\u2019s really different. We expect entry level people to be self directed, but I think, you know, when you see almost half of the teammates getting, you know, versus, you know double the amount on the, the executive side, getting company training.<\/p>\n I think that\u2019s just something that we should point out. If you want training, advocate for it. And if you\u2019re a company, consider offering it<\/p>\n [00:11:37] Mike Allton:<\/strong> either through the report or through your own experience. Do you have any indication of what that training should really look like? Is it a video training, read a book, listen to podcasts?<\/p>\n What, what should they be looking for?<\/p>\n [00:11:50] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> You know, the, I would say that There are a few people in each organization that have a lot of expertise here. And one thing I\u2019ve seen is that most people aren\u2019t aware of the sheer different ways that AI can be useful. One random example is, you know, I use ChatGPT a lot for manipulating spreadsheets, you know, uploading a file and then asking it to change something.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s like having a junior analyst you know, on, on your team. And it\u2019s, it\u2019s good enough at so many things, but it\u2019s also good at, helping you you be good enough and to learn things and so a lot of times things break down organizations between different stakeholders So for example, I\u2019m waiting on someone technical to do something this like AI really does shrink that gap where instead of me passing something off to someone who is a technical capability I can be good enough with AI to do it myself And so whether it\u2019s like a little bit of coding a little bit of you know Spreadsheet manipulation a little bit of data analysis the the fact that you can you know you upload files and do all these things now most people aren\u2019t aware of all the different ways you can use it So I\u2019d say for training the number one thing just personally I would advocate for is highlighting various use cases because then once people see it, it\u2019ll stick with them. But you know, I\u2019d also ask companies be responsive And, and hear about what people want to learn more of.<\/p>\n Usually I don\u2019t think people even know how good it is at so many different tasks.<\/p>\n [00:13:09] Mike Allton:<\/strong> Yeah, that\u2019s exactly right. That\u2019s actually been like a, a nonstop theme with this show. I mean, every, every episode we\u2019ve tried to surface use cases like that. And I\u2019m always, you know, being exposed to new ideas, new ways.<\/p>\n Either I see somebody else doing it, or it just occurs to me. And just a couple of weeks ago, I was trying to determine what the monthly Downloads for this podcast were and because I\u2019m getting stats from three different places and none of them offer this monthly view. And I just wanted to see how I was progressing month over month.<\/p>\n So I was downloading the daily stats and I was going to import them into a spreadsheet and calculate the monthly totals and then get an average from that. And halfway through that project, which probably would have taken me an hour, I realized, duh, I can just throw the files into chat GPT and ask it, right?<\/p>\n Oh my gosh. And within seconds, not only did it have the answer, it gave me a cute graph so I could see how the things were progressing month over month.<\/p>\n [00:14:01] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> So sometimes we get this interesting data back and we have the data and the interpretation is a little open. But one potential reason, for example, why executives have been adopting.<\/p>\n This is that they\u2019re instead of individual contributors, they\u2019re often used to collaboration and delegating things, et cetera. And it is this is like having a you know, an analyst across many different forms from data science to coding to design, et cetera. So I\u2019m not technical across any of these fields like design and engineering.<\/p>\n But you can ask it for code. You can ask it for a quick design of something. And these are all prototypes. You really need experts to polish and finish the work. But if there\u2019s one thing I think AI is really good for, it\u2019s prototyping and I\u2019d say also scaffolding. So, for example executives are often doing strategy work, and I can\u2019t for the life of me sometimes remember certain things, but if you ask it for an outline, you know, humans are better at filling in the outline, but AI is better at, like, remembering pieces that you, so you don\u2019t forget them and leave them out.<\/p>\n So I\u2019d say those are two examples but, you know, for I do expect this gap to close just because I think it\u2019s going to continue transforming our work. But it\u2019s interesting seeing this, this gap. And I think training could help. So if you\u2019re, if you\u2019re a company, listening to this from executive I\u2019d really lean into that for your team.<\/p>\n [00:15:14] Mike Allton:<\/strong> And one of the things that the data showed that stood out to me was that there were different concerns across different levels. Executives tended to worry about client expectations while entry level marketers might\u2019ve been, Focusing on ethics and copyright. How do you think teams can bridge this perspective gap<\/a> in AI adoption?<\/p>\n [00:15:33] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> I think both are really important. And so I think both sides can learn from the other. In terms of their concerns, as you mentioned, it makes sense why people are concerned with these. So for example executives being concerned about just will this work meet clients demands, even though they\u2019re adopting it, they know that there\u2019s gaps in what it can do, that it\u2019s not perfect, that there are you know, hallucinations or problems.<\/p>\n And so I think that awareness is driving that. So definitely the top concern for executives are, Hey, you know, 46 percent are asking, is this work going to be acceptable for my client? The other part is they do, they do worry about. Will this work there? Will this these tools diminish my teammates in a creativity?<\/p>\n And I think that\u2019s also really important to talk about, because if you\u2019re early to AI, it\u2019s very easy to let AI steer you into. I almost would call it like mid level work. Like the default response will be fairly average. And so you you need to know how to use it to make yourself better. And in AI assisted<\/a> person will be better than someone without AI.<\/p>\n But I think executives are worried about you know, will people lean on this for as a crutch? And just will I get, you know, average or mid level results back from, you know, what you\u2019re asking this is AI tools. So if execs are worried about is the work acceptable quality level? And, you know, will this diminish my teammates creativity?<\/p>\n On the other side junior teammates and entry level folks are thinking, well, okay, Is the work going to be, you know, good enough quality for, for my outputs, but they\u2019re more concerned on things like bias and copyright issues and infringement issues which you\u2019d think executives would be worried about, like executives are usually the ones worrying about legal stuff like that, but this might be a little bit of a generation thing of this is a, the entry level folks are more familiar with the creator economy, I\u2019d say they grew up with it more and they\u2019re thinking about, you know, where\u2019s this training data coming from or or, or is it, yeah, is it going to be biased?<\/p>\n We\u2019re living in a really you know, Interesting media environment to say the least but I\u2019d say yeah, everyone\u2019s concerned about quality and accuracy, but the difference is I\u2019d say is Executives I think they they don\u2019t want this to diminish people\u2019s latent creativity and the entry level folks are just making sure hey This is are my outputs biased from you know, the writing I\u2019m getting back or is it do I have to worry about copyright issues?<\/p>\n But it\u2019s really weird to see that the copyright stuff didn\u2019t appear as a top concern for executives<\/p>\n [00:17:45] Mike Allton:<\/strong> Yeah, and that all makes a lot of sense. That reflects a guest lecture that I was just giving this past week for Baruch College in New York City, and I was talking to these young marketers who are about to enter the workforce.<\/p>\n How about how they need to learn how to customize and personalize AI and give themselves an entire team of AI assistants as they go into new jobs, but also need to be aware of not being too reliant on AI. Folks, we\u2019re talking with Corbett drumming about the massive differences between how executives and staff are adopting AI.<\/p>\n And I\u2019ve got several more questions. You aren\u2019t going to want to miss, but first a quick word from our sponsor.<\/p>\n This episode of AI and Marketing Unpacked is brought to you by Magai, your gateway to making generative AI incredibly simple and accessible. Wondering how to seamlessly integrate AI into your marketing strategy<\/a> without getting bogged down by complexities? That\u2019s exactly where Magai shines. It provides user friendly AI solutions that empower marketers just like you to innovate and elevate your campaigns<\/a> without needing a degree in science.<\/p>\n Imagine having the power to generate creative content<\/a>, insightful marketing data analysis, Or even personalized customer communications, all at the touch of a button. Magai isn\u2019t just about providing tools. It\u2019s about transforming your approach to marketing with AI that\u2019s tailor made to be straightforward and effective.<\/p>\n So, whether you\u2019re looking to boost your content creation process, or want deeper insights into your marketing performance, Magai makes it all possible with a few clicks. No fuss, no gain. No hassle, just results. Ready to simplify your AI journey? Visit Magai.co today to learn how their solutions can revolutionize the way you engage with your audience.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t just market, market smarter with Magai<\/a>. Tap the link in the show notes.<\/p>\n So Corbett, for the marketing leaders who are listening to us right now, and they want to figure out how to resolve some of these differences and just adopt AI across organization.<\/p>\n What role do you see them playing in democratizing AI access and training in particular in their organizations?<\/p>\n [00:19:45] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> You know, I think, I think there\u2019s, there\u2019s two points here, although I\u2019ve talked a lot about. You know, painting it as, as something really good, which I think it\u2019s healthy to be, have an eye on the horizon.<\/p>\n I think first off executives could just make, I think it\u2019s important to make sure you keep your ears open to the feedback you\u2019re hearing from your entry level teammates and your individual contributors. So you know, there\u2019s concerns that they\u2019ll be bringing about how this might impact their day to day work.<\/p>\n And I think it\u2019s important to listen to and Use that when communicating your own ideas on the importance of adopting these tools. But outside of listening to your teammates and their concerns, since they differ from, I think, what yours would be as a company executive I do come back to the training part because you know, executives are learning mostly, like, two thirds mostly from the company.<\/p>\n Half of them, more than half of them are learning from outside sources. But only a third are teaching themselves, and that completely flips on the, side. Most employees about where they learn th<\/p>\n Most of the magic from you know, it comes from seeing other people use it and how these in the workplace and so that that training is specific to your workplace, I think will go really far compared to what you might pick up on your own just from the Internet. And so one other note that we don\u2019t we haven\u2019t talked about, which is a little of a of a interesting wrinkle to this is that now in a post pandemic world.<\/p>\n Well, there is less in office work, and I think that one of the ways historically junior teammates have leveled up is they are in office and learning from people, and I think everyone loves a flexible work environment, but if you are completely remote, it\u2019s very, it\u2019s a lot less likely that you\u2019re going to pick up these tips and tricks from your team.<\/p>\n And so I think that also might be a compounding factor in terms of One of the reasons why there\u2019s this gulf and learning and or appreciation of these tools. So I\u2019d say if you want to, if you\u2019re a junior teammate and you want to you know, pick up the pace in terms of your, your adoption of this, I think you can, like I said, advocate for company training, but also just try to be around teammates who are using it.<\/p>\n And I think getting into an office environment can help. And just so you pick it up kind of by osmosis. And I\u2019ve, I\u2019ve learned a lot of tips and tricks around the office for different creative tools. That I would not have picked up by myself. So I think, I think the workplace context of the tools is important in terms of how people use them for things that would be in your day to day.<\/p>\n And just picking up by osmosis is another random point that\u2019s worth mentioning.<\/p>\n [00:22:02] Mike Allton:<\/strong> That is a great point to mention. In fact, it was something we talked about in a previous episode with Ashley Gross and her kind of tip or recommendation for remote employees like myself. I\u2019m in St. Louis, Missouri. I don\u2019t have an Agorapulse employee within 500 miles of me.<\/p>\n So there is no option for me to go to any office. Our headquarters are in Paris, but what we do have is a vibrant Slack community. And, and her recommendation for every, every business<\/a> was to have a Slack channel or someplace where people are. Conditioned to regularly go and share what they\u2019re doing with AI recently.<\/p>\n Like I should go and share the thing I did with the spreadsheet, because I\u2019m sure I\u2019ve got coworkers who are also wrestling with spreadsheets now and then. And we\u2019d love to have that recommendation. And I would love to know how they\u2019re using AI and, and, you know,<\/p>\n [00:22:48] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> That is an amazing recommendation. I\u2019m very, we have a Slack channel for everything.<\/p>\n I\u2019m very surprised that I\u2019m not in one for that. We used to have a productivity channel around the pandemic because there\u2019s so many tips and tricks when we started working remote briefly around the pandemic. But that\u2019s a really great one because there\u2019s so much you can do now. Every, every, It feels like every week there\u2019s a new frontier model being released, et cetera.<\/p>\n As you know, Lightricks being a content company, we\u2019re building our own AI tools from, you know, LTX studio, which is an amazing AI video platform to for Popular Pays. We, we made this really cool AI brand safety tool called safe collab. And we see cool uses in our Slack channel around our own tools and how you can use them.<\/p>\n But yeah, I mean, there\u2019s all these periphery things. You learn there\u2019s, there\u2019s an AI for everything. If that\u2019s, if you are remote, that\u2019s a really good recommendation is to kind of condition the team to just be dropping in tips for that. And it really helps everyone move forward much faster.<\/p>\n [00:23:40] Mike Allton:<\/strong> And by the way, you know, we did an entire episode, you and I, Corbett, about the amazing things that you guys are doing with your tools and, The AI power development. So I\u2019ll have a link to that in the show notes, because folks, if you\u2019re doing anything with video or want to do anything with video, they have some amazing, amazing tools that you can look into.<\/p>\n I just, I kind of hinted at that at the outset and I needed to say more, but I also talked in the outset about that weekly usage statistic, and I don\u2019t want to get your take on that 77 percent executives. Versus 53 percent entry level is really shocking to me. What specific AI tools or applications do you think that these executives are using?<\/p>\n Maybe that junior staff aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n [00:24:20] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> It\u2019s a really good thing to talk about. First off, like you said, that discrepancy is really surprising. Again, I can\u2019t think of any other trend where executives are using things on a weekly basis where entry level teammates aren\u2019t for something so strategic as this but yeah, the usage, again, does differ.<\/p>\n For example in terms of the executives, it\u2019s things around like collaboration. Everyone\u2019s using it for writing both, both entry level and executives. That\u2019s the number one use case. So I\u2019d say the classic ChatGPT. But I think there\u2019s a little bit of difference where I\u2019ve seen a lot of people in leadership default to ChatGPT almost as like replacing Google.<\/p>\n And so I think. understanding that you can ask threads and follow up on it and keep context of a search is very different from how you Google things. And so I\u2019d say, of course, writing is the top use case across the board, but execs are using it for things like design collaboration strategy and a few other random ones like audience targeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n And so these are more like collaborative multivariate uses, whereas on the entry level, it\u2019s like, you know, writing, brainstorming, content creation, et cetera. But the, the data that the weeklies is shocking. It\u2019s 77 percent for execs and only 53 percent for entry level. I\u2019d say on a personal basis, the best things you can do is try just defaulting for a week to ChatGPT for search results.<\/p>\n Now I, I, I mostly do that. Like three fourths of my own searches are through ChatGPT and not Google. And that\u2019s a really good like entryway into it. It builds a habit and then you\u2019ll find all these really cool ways you can branch off from that initial use case. Funny enough, I don\u2019t use it for writing really.<\/p>\n I use it for scaffolding things but I don\u2019t use it to write, but that is currently the top use case.<\/p>\n [00:25:57] Mike Allton:<\/strong> Yeah, that makes sense. I recall being on a company meeting a couple of weeks ago and in the course of the conversation, our CEO said, well, let\u2019s just, let me look that up in chat GPT instead of a Google search.<\/p>\n And it was a little jarring to me that, that he was, he was doing that. And I realized, oh yeah, okay. More and more folks, that\u2019s, that\u2019s what they\u2019re turning to as the default, because it\u2019s giving them a set of a list of options. It\u2019s just giving them the answer. But one of the interesting things also that I picked up on in the research report from, from you and AMA was that it indicated that 27 percent of the executives want to be in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n And while that, that might sound like a low percentage, compare that to just 5 percent of entry level marketers. What does that tell us about the future of marketing careers?<\/p>\n [00:26:43] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> Yeah, this, this is actually one of the more interesting points I really wanted to talk about. But yeah, going back to it again, there\u2019s that hesitancy gap.<\/p>\n So. A lot of this could be due to training. It could be like just the broad awareness of where, where AI is helpful and where it\u2019s going. But that stat is one of the most interesting ones around, you know, 27 percent of, of executives being okay or wanting AI in the driver\u2019s seat with, with little human oversight and only 5 percent for entry level.<\/p>\n That that\u2019s, of course, there\u2019s a lot of things here that makes sense. For example, It might be entry level folks are worried about their job being disrupted if AI is primarily in the driver\u2019s seat. I would, I would disagree, by the way. I think it\u2019s increasing everyone\u2019s productivity, but we don\u2019t see it taking jobs.<\/p>\n It\u2019s more of, you know, you should be worried about the teammate who\u2019s using AI taking your job versus just AI itself taking your job. But there, there have been a few places where, you know, as I think execs see places where AI could be really helpful even without much human oversight. But one of the top use cases was audience targeting, for example there are certain things like that where it\u2019s so complex that it\u2019s hard for, for humans to really input things in, in time enough to really move the needle better than AI can.<\/p>\n And I\u2019ll give you one example, like many, many people use Facebook ads. And for a while now, the most effective way of using it has been just kind of letting AI learn and serve things with, you know, not the same human oversight you\u2019d be used to specifying your own audience. So that\u2019s one where marketers are more used to, but more and more will be that.<\/p>\n I also want to shout out our team built, I think the first use case where I would strongly prefer only AI used like in the driver\u2019s seat versus any, this is pretty wild, but when we really safe collab, I\u2019ve seen clients have people spend four to six hours vetting a single creator. And we put that creator into our brand<\/a> safety tool and it catches things the humans never could.<\/p>\n Like it can look back through years of audio, visual texts, et cetera, and highlight, you know an audio piece in a clip from two years ago or whatever. And that is the precision that humans can\u2019t achieve. And so I like, you know, I think that human oversight is necessary to kind of, you know, approve accepted and deny results.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s one where I don\u2019t want humans doing that work. It\u2019s both routine and they should be doing more strategic work, but also they\u2019re not good enough at it. Like this is for AI. And so I think we\u2019re seeing more and more of those cases. Things like targeting catching, you know, brand safety things now that these models are multimodal and can view audio, visual, text, et cetera.<\/p>\n There are growing cases of that, but I think, again, entry level might be worried about job displacement where in fact, I think, I think people should be more worried about not using these tools and not growing. Both as a company and personally, then, then being, you know like a lot of people are scared of adopting tools, but instead you should be scared of not adopting them is on my, my real honest take about it.<\/p>\n [00:29:29] Mike Allton:<\/strong> Yeah. That, that makes sense. I mentioned a moment ago that I\u2019ve been talking to students at Baruch college. I\u2019ve talked to students at Otterbein College. I\u2019m talking to a group of students at Emory in a couple of weeks. And what\u2019s interesting to me about each one of these instances is that I\u2019m coming in as a guest lecturer to a general digital marketing course where they basically aren\u2019t talking about AI. It\u2019s not being taught. They\u2019re not being formally trained. So how can, you know, marketers who are coming into the workforce or, you know, they\u2019ve been there just for a couple of years, these early career, early entry marketers, how can they close this, this AI gap?<\/p>\n Do you think, especially if they\u2019re not receiving formal training?<\/p>\n [00:30:10] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> It\u2019s a really tough question. I mean, podcasts like this, that\u2019s like I think that I\u2019d go back to try to, If you\u2019re remote tools, like you said around having a community you\u2019re in, whether it\u2019s your colleagues at work or a community where people are sharing these, so you can get more exposure to it, but see what works best for you, whether it\u2019s a great podcast on, on how marketers are using it.<\/p>\n on Slack, et cetera. Working with teammates you know, in proximity with them. So you can pick up these by default, the work habits. But it is a challenge and then, you know, advocating for more, more formal training. But yeah, it is. The one classic answer to is you can use AI to learn AI. And actually, interestingly, I\u2019d say the most frequent use case for not the deepest I\u2019ll go.<\/p>\n Like I go big. pretty deep on certain tasks like data analysis, et cetera, and content creation with AI. But my most frequent use case is using AI to learn about other things. And that could be random things I\u2019ll, I\u2019ll take a picture of and say, what is this? Or, you know, it could be quick facts I\u2019m looking up, but I use it to learn about pretty serious topics too.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not super qualified to read a lot of Papers, but you know, there\u2019s all these papers coming out on on everything from a development to scientific research, etc. And you can use AI to summarize things and to be an expert in your field. And so I think you exposure for the day to day work tasks, but you can become.<\/p>\n pretty expert by using AI to kind of crawl dense information and help it make help it be accessible to you.<\/p>\n [00:31:33] Mike Allton:<\/strong> That is such a great point. You know, we, we talked lately about a notebook LM being able to feed it all kinds of PDFs and documents, and then have it generate a really fun and entertaining five minute podcast.<\/p>\n We listened to that. We\u2019ll teach you or summarize, or you can even have questions with it back and forth but another great. Just a general use case, like you said, is if you\u2019re being suddenly asked to do something new in your role that you\u2019ve never done before. Maybe your team needs you to put on a webinar and you\u2019ve never done a webinar or you\u2019re going to a live event next month that you\u2019ve never exhibited a live event will bring a on AI on and have a conversation with it and allow it to tell you.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the list of all the things you need to think about, because if you\u2019ve never done it before, you\u2019re not gonna be able to fill in that list very well. Now you can figure it all out once you have that list. Mhm. But AI can be a real asset there. I think<\/p>\n [00:32:21] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> that\u2019s exactly right. And that\u2019s when I say scaffolding, that\u2019s kind of what I mean around like that you\u2019re interviewing for a job for a marketing brand manager role, and you only had a narrow background before, and this is a more broad role.<\/p>\n You can say, you know, if I\u2019m making a marketing plan for X, Y, and Z, what should I consider? It\u2019s not going to make you like the best tagline or the funniest. And it, you\u2019ll have more creative idea in it, but it\u2019s really good at making sure that you\u2019re thinking of all the pieces along something, whether it\u2019s a document, you\u2019re drafting a plan, you\u2019re crafting, et cetera.<\/p>\n So that that scaffolding use case is really powerful.<\/p>\n [00:32:52] Mike Allton:<\/strong> And one of the really interesting things for my last question for you, Corbett, this ongoing conversation that we\u2019ve been having on this show and even outside the show is How is AI going to affect my job, my colleagues jobs, the makeup of my marketing department at my company, or the company overall?<\/p>\n Did the research tell you anything about changes in how marketing teams might be structured, the roles that might be necessary over the next few years?<\/p>\n [00:33:18] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> We didn\u2019t dive into that one specifically with the, the research in terms of asking marketers how their teams are changing, for example. But I\u2019ve seen it day to day.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve, we architected our marketing team. It\u2019s making everyone more efficient. What\u2019s crazy too, is it\u2019s really hit the marketing landscape first, compared to any other space. Like AI will change everything about everyone\u2019s jobs. But there are certain industries that are more regulated ranging from, you know things where you\u2019re in physical product production to medicine, etc.<\/p>\n And content. It was kind of the earliest and wild wild west use cases of of AI impacting our day to day jobs The first tools were these LLMs and content creation tools that are really changing all of our day to day works. So I\u2019d say We know that it\u2019s gonna change everything about marketers roles and it won\u2019t stop and we are also kind of the ground zero for that, for that change.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s tough. It\u2019s tough as a creator, as a marketer, as even someone building these tools to constantly have to learn the next thing or, you know, integrate the next library or model that\u2019s come out. But I guess it\u2019s better this than the other, which you don\u2019t want to be in a field that\u2019s totally static, but the pace is fast and we\u2019ll get faster.<\/p>\n So the last thing I\u2019d say on that on that part is I would really encourage everyone to use these tools for their own enrichment, like, you know, I don\u2019t think I ever would have been able to dedicate the time to be a software engineer, for example with, with what I have today, but I have used these to make a very simple web app, and that\u2019s, you know, I, I\u2019m not a designer, but I\u2019ve used this to make a, I\u2019ve used LTX Studio to make a movie, and of the story I\u2019ve always wanted to create.<\/p>\n So I think that this should enrich everyone. It\u2019s, it\u2019s tough to learn everything and it can feel exhausting at times to stay on top of things, but it can be really enriching and it can help you branch out into things that you might never thought possible. So I am an optimist about this stuff. I think that it\u2019ll empower people, not replace them.<\/p>\n And they can be used in, in great ways. So to say, you know, stay optimistic about it, keep an eye out for where it can help you. We all should be looking out for making sure it. We\u2019re using it in a, in a like ethical in ways that are productive and helpful, but keep an eye out that there are a ton of ways where it can be used in that, in that way.<\/p>\n There are a ton of great use cases for it.<\/p>\n [00:35:24] Mike Allton:<\/strong> What a great way to wrap up. Thank you so much, Corbett. This has been so insightful for folks who want to learn more about you or connect with you. Where can they go?<\/p>\n [00:35:33] Corbett Drummey:<\/strong> So I would go to Lightricks. com because we have a whole suite of amazing products. And, but we\u2019ll be posting about this survey.<\/p>\n We have a dedicated site with some really cool visualizations and graphics. It\u2019s our survey with AMA, the American Marketing Association, but I would follow us on Twitter. We\u2019re posting cool stuff all the time, ranging from our new products, these survey results, et cetera. But if you have a moment, check out the site because it has the, the coolest visualizations.<\/p>\n And you can also share this easily with your colleagues to you know, kind of spur them into action about some of the stuff we talked about today.<\/p>\n [00:36:04] Mike Allton:<\/strong> It\u2019s terrific stuff. Like I said, we talked about it in a previous episode, so we\u2019ll have a link to that episode. Everything that Corbett mentioned today, including the report, we\u2019ll have linked in the show notes, check it out.<\/p>\n And by the way, don\u2019t forget if this is your first foray into AI marketing and you\u2019re kind of feeling overwhelmed by things like LLMs and Claude versus Gemini, I\u2019ve got an AI marketing primer<\/a> for you. It\u2019s free. It\u2019s in the show notes. It\u2019ll help walk you through what all these terms and tactics mean and help you get.<\/p>\n Started on your journey into AI today. That\u2019s all the time we\u2019ve got for today, friends check us out in the next episode until then. Welcome to the grid.<\/p>\n Thanks for joining us on AI and marketing unpacked. I hope today\u2019s episode has inspired you and given you actionable insights to integrate AI into your marketing strategies<\/a>. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and consider leaving a review. We\u2019d love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions you might have.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget to join us next time as we continue to simplify AI and help you make a real impact in your marketing efforts<\/a> until then keep innovating and see just how far AI can take your marketing. Thank you for listening and have a fantastic day.<\/p>\n Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaihat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Corbett-Drummey-AI-in-Marketing-Unpacked-landscape-1024x576.png\")
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The Surprising Truth About AI Adoption in Marketing Teams with Corbett Drummey<\/h3>\n
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