Twilio's CMO Scrapped His 2026 Plan in One Month

What happens when your next customer isn't even human? Chris Koehler is the CMO of Twilio, and his 2026 marketing plan lasted exactly one month before AI agents forced him to rethink everything. In this conversation, Chris gets real about why planning horizons have collapsed from years to weeks, what happens when AI agents — not humans — are doing the buying, and why brand might matter MORE in an AI-driven world, not less. Chris Koehler is the Chief Marketing Officer at Twilio, a $5B+ customer engagement platform. Previously, he led marketing at Box and helped build the analytics engine at Adobe.   Key takeaways: • Why using AI to speed up bad processes is the wrong move — you need to reimagine them entirely • The agent buying continuum: SEO → AEO → human-to-agent → agent-to-agent • Why brand awareness becomes MORE critical when agents do the discovery • The 'frozen food vs pizza' framework for the future of software • How to stop feeling paralyzed: the quadrant exercise he uses to prioritize AI initiatives   Follow Chris on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ckoehler/ Learn more: twilio.com   Chapters: 00:00 Meet Chris Koehler, CMO of Twilio 01:44 The Healthy Tension Between IT and Marketing 02:44 Planning in Weeks, Not Quarters 04:40 The Rise of Asynchronous AI Work 07:22 Unlearning 30 Years of Marketing 11:37 Frozen Food vs Pizza: The Future of Software 14:07 Content Scarcity to Content Abundance 15:51 Could AI Agents Fix the Privacy Problem? 17:11 The Agent Buying Continuum 22:12 The Tsunami Most People Can't See 24:40 How to Get Embedded in LLM Recommendations 26:33 Does Brand Matter When Agents Are Buying? 31:01 Measuring Success When You Can't Track Anything 33:12 The AI Agent Webinar Experiment 36:44 What Events Look Like in 2029 42:48 How Chris Curates AI Intel Daily 46:22 Advice for Paralyzed CMOs 49:01 Lightning Round ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Merriam-Webster named "slop" the 2025 word of the year - and it explains everything about where AI-generated content is heading. Elizabeth Maxson, CMO of Contentful, reveals the uncomfortable truth about AI adoption: 96% of CMOs say it's a top priority, but only 65% are making meaningful investments. The gap between enthusiasm and execution is costing teams momentum. She breaks down research conducted with The Atlantic, surveying 425 global marketing leaders. The findings expose why teams are stuck in experimentation mode, what top performers do differently, and why soft skills matter more than prompt engineering. We explore evidence-based creativity, the rise of the full-stack marketer, and simple personalization strategies that actually move the needle - including the geo-tagging change that increased event attendance by 51% and the Lorem Ipsum homepage trick that drove 250% more engagement. If you're tired of tools that promise speed but deliver sameness, this episode is your blueprint for moving from workslop to real strategy.   Chapters: 00:00 The Volume Trap: More Content Doesn't Equal Better Content 01:27 The Optimism-Execution Gap: Why CMOs Aren't Investing 10:05 AI Slop: When You Recognize Your Own ChatGPT Output 13:04 The Homepage Login Discovery 15:50 Why Simple Geo-Tagging Works 18:34 The Lorem Ipsum Homepage Experiment 19:29 Ruggable's Cat People vs. Dog People Strategy 28:00 The NASCAR Slide That Almost Went Wrong 31:17 Hiring Full Stack Marketers: Soft Skills Over Hard Skills 43:00 Course Correction Year: Two Pieces of Homework ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Best practices told you to optimize reputation across all 10,000 locations equally—but granular competitive data just revealed that 7,000 of those stores don't need it, and you're wasting millions on the wrong priorities. The era of broad-based marketing is over. Michael Walrath (CEO & Founder of Yext) reveals why we're entering a "post-best-practice world" where context trumps everything. From the 10,000 taco restaurant problem (why you're overspending on 7,000 stores that don't need help), to why pay-to-play platforms like Forrester and Gartner face disruption, to how ChatGPT's memory will match insurance agents to customers based on shared interests like golf—without anyone typing a single preference. You'll learn why software and services are blending (Palantir trades at 105x revenue for this reason), why store managers need localized control instead of centralized brand police, and how AI context windows are fundamentally shifting from generic queries to completely bespoke recommendations. This is the playbook for moving beyond one-size-fits-all tactics into hyper-personalized optimization at scale.   Chapters: 00:00 Is "Content Everywhere" Already Outdated? 01:10 The 10,000 Taco Problem: Why Best Practices Waste Millions 04:07 Will Forrester, Gartner & G2 Survive the AI Era? 07:30 Context is Everything: The Lunch Example That Explains AI's Future  ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most websites are bleeding traffic before visitors even see the page… and Google Analytics can't tell you it's happening. Pantheon's data shows that if your site takes longer than 2 seconds to load, users swipe away before your page even renders. The magic number is now under 1 second, and mobile users expect websites to feel identical to opening an app. Josh Koenig (Co-Founder and SVP of Marketing at Pantheon) reveals what's silently killing growth: the brutal shift in user expectations, how AI crawlers swarm websites like "denial of service attacks" on UFC fight nights, and why companies need to structure content for LLMs as "research assistants." He breaks down the 5 evergreen SEO tactics that still work—question/answer formats, schema markup, Reddit engagement, strong brand voice, and ungating content—plus why chasing AI micro-trends is risky. From understanding what data Google Analytics can't see to learning why gated content is dying in the LLM era, this is the framework for building websites that survive both human impatience and AI crawler swarms. If you're still optimizing for 5-second load times or seeing unexplained traffic drops despite good rankings, this shows you exactly what's broken.   Chapters: 00:00 - Page Speed's Silent Kill (Bounce Before Load) 02:10 - The Magic Numbers (1 Second Good, 2 Seconds Dead) 04:04 - AI Crawlers Swarming Sites (UFC Fight Night Case) 08:54 - Five Evergreen Rules for the LLM Era ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if the marketing channel getting the least resources is actually shaping your entire brand reputation? Daniella Sampson reveals why B2B teams chase the wrong AI trends while underfunding social media. She breaks down GEO vs SEO, why monitoring 10,000 prompts daily is mostly noise, and how AI agents are forcing brands to evolve from social listening to social intelligence. She explains her 300-data-point framework, manually analyzing competitors across websites, LinkedIn, Instagram, press releases, and ads to create spider chart visualizations revealing genuine white space opportunities. She details why ChatGPT failed to automate this work, why brand fatigue doesn’t mean consumers are tired of you, and why Coca-Cola has never changed their red. We explore how to build a properly resourced social team, why B2B brands need to ditch corporate TikTok dances, why LinkedIn + TikTok is the top B2B combo in 2026, and why consistency beats perfection every time. Chapters: 01:10 - Why GEO Matters More Than You Think 02:36 - GEO vs SEO: Conversations Over Keywords 06:44 - Hidden Brand Mentions You're Missing 09:32 - AI Agents and the Future of Social Intelligence 16:12 - Why AI Still Needs Human Taste 17:25 - The Most Valuable AI Use Cases Right Now 37:49 - The 300 Data Point Framework Explained 46:20 - Building the Right Social Team in 2026 48:16 - Where B2B Brands Go Wrong on Social 49:30 - LinkedIn + TikTok: The B2B Power Combo   ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every startup hits the same ceiling: your founder customers love you, but they won't get you to $200M. So how do you move upmarket to enterprise without losing the community that built you? Harmony Anderson, VP of Growth & Marketing at Superhuman, gets into the real mechanics of it: The 70/30 resource split between enterprise and community Why she's hiring a "startup evangelist" to hold down their founder base Why they didn't need a rebrand to start winning enterprise deals What she learned studying how Canva pulled off the same shift Plus, Harmony's vision for where AI-native productivity is actually headed and why the line between your personal and professional tools is about to disappear. If you enjoyed this clip, be sure to check out the full episode on Marketing Trends: The Secret To Scaling From $20 Million to $200 Million ARR (Extremely Fast)  ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In January 2026, a CMO at a six billion dollar software company scrapped his entire year's marketing plan only two weeks into the year. AI agents made it obsolete. Stephanie Postles, CEO of Mission.org, and Lacey Peace, VP of Content, explain in plain English what AI agents are, why they are fundamentally different from the automations marketing teams rely on today, and what this shift means for marketing jobs, team structure, and the skills that will matter most going forward. If you have confused AI agents with automation or wondered whether your role is safe, this episode gives a direct answer. Chapters 00:35 - Introduction 01:31 - The CMO Who Scrapped His 2026 Marketing Plan in January 02:30 - What Triggered This, and Why It Happened in Two Weeks 05:12 - What Is an AI Agent? (Plain English Definition) 08:14 - AI Agents vs. Automation: The Key Difference 09:40 - The Mindset Shift Required to Use AI Agents Effectively 13:50 - What Happens to Marketers in Execution Roles 14:20 - How Automation Reshaped Marketing Jobs Before 15:16 - Do Marketers Need to Understand AI Internals 20:28 - Is AI Coming for Marketing Jobs, The Honest Answer 21:54 - What Marketers Should Do Right Now 23:48 - Recap and What Is Coming Next ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most brands think viral marketing takes months of planning and massive budgets. Nick Tran engineered it in 72 hours. In this segment from Marketing Trends, the former Global Head of Marketing at TikTok breaks down the exact reverse-engineered playbook that turned unknown creators like the Ocean Spray skateboarder into overnight viral sensations, and why the traditional 2-3 month campaign timeline is dead. From understanding why Nick tells marketing leaders to "kill your KPIs" and hire for intuition instead, to learning how he identified viral potential before it happened, this is a masterclass in speed-to-market and cultural relevance. If your team is still running 90-day campaign cycles while competitors are shipping in weeks, this framework will show you exactly what you're missing, and how to move faster without sacrificing quality. Chapters:00:00 - The Reverse-Engineered Playbook04:32 - Project Cheetah: 72 Hours to Viral09:15 - Moving Upmarket Without Losing Your Soul13:48 - Five Things Marketing Leaders Must Unlearn  ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The marketing teams winning with AI today are not the ones chasing every new model release. They are the ones who found the boring, repetitive tasks their teams hate and automated those first.Nir Pochter, Co-Founder and CMO at Lightricks, joins Stephanie Postles on Marketing Trends to break down what AI actually means for creative workflows and why most teams are still using it wrong.You’ll learn:- The "algebra problem" of AI adoption- How to save your design team 80% of their time- Why the gap between marketers who use AI well and those who don't is widening fast.- How to use an LLM scoring system to pre-review documents for you- The dangerous trend of "AI Marketer" job titles- What’s really in store for the future of video+AI Key Moments:00:00 — Why AI Hasn't Improved Creative Output Yet02:06 — The Algebra Problem: Tools vs. Knowing How to Use Them07:27 — Nir's Background: AI PhD to Lightricks and FaceTune09:46 — What Used to Take Weeks Now Takes Minutes13:35 — Why Automating Everything Failed Miserably16:38 — Start with What People Hate Doing20:08 — The LLM Scoring System: Nothing Gets Reviewed Without an 8521:43 — Train Your LLM to Be Mean, Not Nice23:32 — Building Custom GPTs with Company Guidelines26:30 — The Pitfall: Using AI to Please Leadership28:47 — From Toys to Tools: Why Text-to-Video Isn't Enough31:05 — Coca-Cola's 70,000 Prompts (Was It Worth It?)34:41 — AI Won't Replace Creatives, But This Will37:04 — The Two Critical Skills: Prompting and Curation37:55 — How AI Multiplies the Skills Gap (7 vs 10 Example)42:47 — What CMOs Should Be Asking Their Teams46:20 — Why "AI Marketer" Is LinkedIn Fluff ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The websites that win today are not the ones with the most content. They are the ones that deliver a fast, clean experience in the very first second a visitor arrives.Josh Koenig, Co-Founder and SVP of Marketing at Pantheon, joins Stephanie Postles on Marketing Trends to break down what he is seeing across thousands of high-traffic sites and why most teams still miss the basics. He explains how the shift from search to ask is changing online discovery, what AI bots prioritize when they crawl a site, and why the fundamentals of clarity, structure, and speed now matter more than any growth hack.Josh also shares how teams are using Pantheon’s new Content Publisher to eliminate copy-and-paste workflows, why vibe coding is giving non-technical teams the ability to build richer digital experiences, and what the rise of AI-powered crawlers means for anyone trying to stand out on the modern web.Key Moments: 00:00 — The Two-Second Rule: Why Website Speed Kills Conversions04:30 — The Hidden Growth Killer Most Marketers Miss08:21 — AI Crawlers Gone Wild: The UFC Fight Night Story12:22 — Five Evergreen Website Tactics for the LLM Era16:13 — The Gated Content Dilemma: Lead Gen vs AI Indexing20:42 — Avoiding Artificial SEO: When Optimization Goes Too Far23:10 — The Generic Content Trap Poisoning AI Search Results26:00 — Content Publisher for Google Docs: Eliminating Copy-Paste31:53 — The CMO-CTO Partnership: Why This Relationship Unlocks Growth36:05 — Brokering Peace Between Marketing and IT Teams40:20 — Vibe Coding for Marketers: The Prototype Revolution44:06 — Next.js Explained: Open Source for Marketing Development48:17 — From Vibe Code to Production: The Last Mile Problem51:03 — Data Analysis Without the Wait: LLMs Democratizing Insights54:20 — The Entrepreneurial Marketer: Why Technical Fluency Is Required ----Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.