What's driving Google and Meta's record earnings? Hint: it's AI, not traditional ads.

In this episode, Paul and Martin unpack the latest earnings calls, HubSpot's strategic acquisition of X Funnel, and then venture into scenario planning for marketing's future. From business-as-usual to AI agent swarms running entire organisations, we map out what you should watch for and what you should do right now.

Key Takeaways

• Meta's AI-powered advertising suite is now handling $60 billion in annualised ad spend. That's real money, real results: 5% more time on Facebook, 10% on Threads, 30% growth on Instagram video.
• Google posted its first $100 billion quarter, driven by AI features in Search and YouTube. YouTube Shorts now earn more per watch hour than traditional in-stream ads.
• HubSpot acquired X Funnel to double down on Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) — ensuring your brand shows up in AI chatbot answers. But don't chase FOMO. Focus on brand-building and content quality; those work across all search channels.
• Five plausible futures for marketing:
  1. Business as usual
  2. Niche AI agents handling specific tasks
  3. Hyper-personalisation at scale
  4. AI agents driving strategy
  5. Fully autonomous agent swarms Which scenario emerges depends on technology progress, regulation, and how quickly organisations can rethink workflows.
• The real bottleneck isn't technology — it's human change. AI-first startups will outcompete legacy organisations unless incumbents commit to wholesale rethinking. Disruption ahead.
• Customer preference trumps efficiency. If your audience values human interaction and human-crafted outputs, that changes everything. Personalisation won't win if customers prefer the human touch.

What to Do Now

• Invest in AI skills training for yourself and your team. The saying holds: marketers aren't replaced by AI; they're replaced by marketers who use AI.
• Get your customer data in order. Clean, structured, first-party data is essential — especially if privacy regulations tighten. If an AI agent needs to draw insights, it needs good data to work with.
• Establish an AI ethics and usage charter. Give customers confidence. Guide employees on responsible AI use.
• Build human-in-the-loop QA processes. Identify where you can safely automate and where humans must review. As niche agents emerge, you'll know exactly where to deploy them.
• Run scenario planning for your business. Use ChatGPT or Claude with your business context to model which scenario matters most to you. Don't just accept our five; build your own.

Mentioned in This Episode

• Meta: AI recommendations; Vibes (image generation); Advantage+.
• Google: AI Overviews; Performance Max; YouTube Shorts.
• HubSpot: X Funnel acquisition; Loop Marketing; GEO.
• Tools: Zapier; Claude; ChatGPT; Canva; HubSpot; Salesforce.
• Reference: The Last Economy by Emad Mauck.

New episodes every week on Artificially Intelligent Marketing. For questions, use cases, or scenario disagreements, find us on LinkedIn or reply to our latest episode post.

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What actually matters now in AI for marketers—beyond the hype. Paul and Martin unpack the week’s launches from Anthropic and Google, new Microsoft–Claude tie-ins, and the UK government’s civil-service AI literacy push. They also tackle the practical question: should you chase “AI SEO” today, or double-down on timeless content and distribution?

Top takeaways

• AI visibility ≠ old SEO. Generative search is highly personalised; “rank tracking” for LLM answers is shaky. Invest in high-quality, well-structured content and robust distribution over gimmicky “get featured in ChatGPT” checklists.

• Anthropic’s direction: Haiku 4.5 offers fast, low-cost coding and general tasks; Claude Skills hint at SOP-driven, tool-aware assistants and a future marketplace.

• Enterprise shift: Claude is deepening its Microsoft 365 integration (SharePoint, Outlook, OneDrive, Teams), making business context more accessible to assistants.

• Video creation reality: Google’s Veo 3.1 and Flow expand control (reference frames, storyboard timelines). Quality still depends on human editing judgement—AI is an ingredient, not the whole recipe.

• AI Studio cleanup: Google has unified its playground and simplified keys/settings, making it easier for newcomers to explore models and tune temperature/controls.

• Public sector skills: The UK’s “One Big Thing: AI for All” aims to boost civil-service confidence via short modules and department case studies—baseline literacy first, then role-specific adoption.

• Training that sticks: Start with common foundations (what LLMs are/aren’t), then move to function-level workflows. Create “champion” groups and a light governance rhythm so updates translate into process change.

Chapters

00:00 Harrison recap; AI in sales needs thoughtful application, not blind scale.

03:00 Brand presence in LLM answers: content + distribution over hacks.

10:00 Why LLM personalisation breaks classic rank tracking.

15:00 Anthropic: Haiku 4.5 and Claude Skills; SOPs for agentic work.

21:00 Claude ↔ Microsoft 365: the enterprise context advantage.

25:00 Google Veo 3.1 & Flow: creative control vs. “one-click” video.

34:00 Google AI Studio: unified playground; why marketers should tune temperature.

38:00 “Zero-to-magic” tease; what a no-code app path might mean.

40:00 UK “One Big Thing—AI for All”: literacy at scale; early gov use cases.

42:00 Good AI training design: baseline, then function-specific change.

55:00 Reality check: useful today, but still needs steering and review.

Practical guidance

• If you’re a marketer: Treat AI outputs as drafts. Edit for voice, accuracy, and distinctiveness. Measure distribution as much as production speed.

• If you’re a leader: Provide one sanctioned assistant (Copilot/Gemini/Claude), set guardrails, and fund a small “AI council” to turn releases into workflow changes.

• If you’re experimenting with video: Use Flow (or your editor) to storyboard, trim, and mix assets. Don’t ship raw generations.

Mentioned in this episode

• Anthropic: Haiku 4.5; Claude Skills; Microsoft 365 integrations

• Google: Veo 3.1; Flow storyboard editor; AI Studio updates

• UK Government: “One Big Thing 2025—AI for All” initiative

• Discussion: training that works vs. one-and-done workshops

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🎙️ Artificially Intelligent Marketing: Episode 47 – Harrison Wade on “Why AI is NOT the Easy Button”

Welcome back to Artificially Intelligent Marketing! In this episode, Paul Avery is joined by special guest Harrison Waid, co-founder of Succession. Harrison brings hands-on experience from the life sciences sector, revealing how his team is redefining sales and marketing through AI innovation.

From Business to Science Harrison shares his journey from software sales to leading go-to-market strategies for life science firms—where tools common in SaaS are still a rarity. He explains how this gap creates both challenge and opportunity for innovation.

AI in Sales Enablement & Marketing Discover why sales teams often lag behind marketing in tech adoption, and why tech-fluent, AI-first team members are essential for orchestrating automated workflows that actually deliver results.

What Works—and What Doesn’t Harrison details how his team uses robust context, training, and tools like Clay to supercharge outreach—highlighting the danger of treating AI like an “easy button.” A 27-page context document? Essential, not overkill.

Real AI Workflows, Not Magic Forget AGI hype—this episode is packed with practical advice on using AI for prospect research, workflow automation, and creative outreach. Think personalised videos, Suno-generated songs, and campaigns that cut through the noise.

Building the Future: Micro-Apps & Vibe Coding Paul and Harrison explore how tools like Replit and Lovable let marketers build lead magnets and custom web apps without coding skills—ushering in a new era of “vibe coding.”

Human Creativity Still Wins AI can scale output, but human creativity drives connection. Harrison argues that empathy, emotion, and storytelling remain the ultimate differentiators in AI-driven marketing.

Arms Race or Open Water? Will personalised AI content saturate the market? Harrison says no—most teams lack the expertise or drive to execute at scale. There’s still huge opportunity for those willing to experiment.

Actionable Advice

• If you love tinkering, start small and iterate.
• If you want results, partner with builders who do.
• For life sciences growth, Succession Bio can help scale your top-of-funnel efforts.

Key Takeaways

• AI isn’t the easy button—human creativity and context win.
• Automation is messy—curiosity and patience pay off.
• Personalisation breaks through—even songs can sell.
• The emerging “conductor” role is key: orchestrating tools to outcomes.

Connect & Challenge Want to stand out? Combine creativity and AI—send us a Suno-generated song about this episode using the YouTube transcript!

Contact For top-of-funnel support or AI workflow advice, reach out to Harrison at Succession Bio.

Subscribe to Artificially Intelligent Marketing for stories, workflows, and insights on AI in marketing—new episodes every week.