Marketers will be embarrassed they used to do manually

Summary

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MarTech Podcast™: “Marketers Will Be Embarrassed They Used to Do Manually”

Date: February 20, 2026
Host: Benjamin Shapiro
Guest: Ariel Kelman (President and CMO, Salesforce)

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on how rapid advances in AI and automated content creation are fundamentally changing marketing practices, particularly high-cost manual production like traditional TV ads. Guest Ariel Kelman, CMO of Salesforce, forecasts that in five years, marketers will look back and be embarrassed by how much time, money, and effort they invested in manual processes that will soon be automated. The discussion explores current tech stacks, AI-driven video production, and real-world applications transforming the industry right now.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Decline of Manual Traditional TV Ad Production

• Ariel Kelman predicts: Marketers will soon feel embarrassed about spending significant money on filmed, traditional TV ads, as AI-driven tools make video production faster, cheaper, and exponentially more sophisticated.
  • Quote:
    “I'm going to say spend large amounts of money on traditional filmed TV ads.” — Ariel Kelman (02:45)

2. The Exponential Rise of Video Editing and Production Tools

• Ariel describes the growth of video editing technology:
  • Tools have improved dramatically (notably with noticeable advancements “every six weeks”).
  • These tools can convert stills or short clips into high-quality videos—a process that used to require massive crews, budgets, and time.
  • The current state: Companies are still hiring traditional crews, but the transition to automation is accelerating.
  • Quote:
    “It's production. It's the ability to take stills or short video clips and make large videos out of it. But we've just been able to generate things that are incredibly high quality that previously would have required, you know, a massive amount of people and time and money.” — Ariel Kelman (03:20)

3. Technology Stack and AI Tools in Use

• While Ariel doesn’t specify individual brand names, he references a coming shift toward chained, integrated tools that automate what used to be manual marketing labor.
• He recommends inviting more practitioners and CEOs from the space onto the podcast for deeper dives into specific toolsets.

4. Real-World Example: AI-Powered Production at Davos

• Application: At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Salesforce’s team used the AI-driven platform Agent Force to enhance their mobile app for attendees.
• Creative process: The team needed to present multiple spatial designs and demos. They produced a comprehensive, animated, AI-generated video fly-through to help align internal stakeholders on the design across four locations.
  • The entire fly-through was produced by a newly hired video AI engineer—in just six hours on his second day.
  • This level of speed and cost-effectiveness would have been "unthinkable" a few years ago.
  • Quote:
    “We would have never done that before, but it provided a really easy way to see in one place how what we're doing in four different locations is all going to look … it was built by a video AI engineer we hired on his second day in six hours. Never would have even thought of creating an actual video fly through for that.” — Ariel Kelman (04:35–05:12)

5. AI Customer Experience & Visibility

• The episode’s sponsor, Scrunch, highlights a major shift in marketing: Brands must now prioritize how AI agents (not just human visitors) experience their websites.
  • AI platforms decide what gets surfaced, trusted, and recommended; so understanding content and citation gaps—as well as technical blockers—is a new frontier.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the rate of technology improvement:
  “It has gotten exponentially better like every six weeks.” — Ariel Kelman (02:56)

• On the future of manual video ads:
  “In five years, I think very few companies are going to be manually shooting 30-second spots.” — Ariel Kelman (04:01)

• On the transformative impact of AI-driven video production:
  “It's like new things that are possible that weren't before that allowed all, all the different leaders in the company to be like, are we aligned on what we want all this to look like? Yes, we're aligned.” — Ariel Kelman (05:12)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:45 — “What will marketers be embarrassed they used to do manually?” — Main topic introduced.
• 03:20 — Explaining difference between traditional video production and new AI-powered workflows.
• 04:13 — Commentary on the emerging tech stack for video production.
• 04:35–05:12 — Salesforce’s real-world example of AI-driven video fly-through for Davos event.
• 05:12 — Broader reflections on how new possibilities create better internal alignment and decision-making.

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Takeaways

• The marketing industry is on the cusp of a dramatic shift, as AI tools rapidly automate previously resource-intensive work, especially in video production.
• Marketers need to adapt, building AI into both their content creation workflows and their understanding of how AI "views" and ranks their brand.
• In the near future, investing heavily in traditional, manual methods will seem both wasteful and outdated.

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Transcript

[A]

The Martech Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit iheareverything.com.

[B]

From advertising to software as a service to data across all of our programs and clients, we've seen a 55 to 65% open rate. Getting brands authentically integrated into content performs better than TV advertising. Typical lifespan of an article is about 24 to 36 hours. If we're reaching out to the right person with the right message and a clear call to action, then it's just a matter of timing.

[A]

Welcome to the Martech Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. In this podcast, you'll hear the stories of world class marketers that you use technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's the host of the Martech Podcast, Benjamin Shapiro.

[B]

Time for a short break to hear from our sponsor, Scrunch. When was the last time you actually visited a website to research something? For me, AI does all that work now. So if AI is doing the discovery research and deciding who or what is your brand's website really for the rise of AI bots becoming as important as new visitors is a massive change in user behavior. And that's what Scrunch is taking head on. Scrunch is the AI customer experience platform that helps marketing teams understand how AI agents experience their site. They tell you how your brand shows up in LLM results, where it doesn't, and what's preventing your content from being retrieved, trusted or recommended. It's not just visibility. Scrunch shows you the content gaps, citation gaps, and how to fix the technical blockers that matter so your brand is found and chosen in AI answers. Face it, your most important site visitor isn't human anymore. It's the AI deciding what gets surfaced. And for Martech podcast listeners, Scrunch is providing a free website diagnostic that uncovers how AI sees your site, where you have content gaps and where you're showing up versus your competition. To see how LLMs evaluate your site, go to scrunch.com martech that's scrunch s c r u n c h.com martech all right, next question. In five years, what will marketers be embarrassed that they used to do manually?

[C]

I mean, I'm going to say spend large amounts of money on traditional filmed TV ads.

[B]

Really? Tell me more. Why is that the thing that's going away?

[C]

I. I think that what you, what you can do with these video editing tools is amazing. I think that, and it's just, it has gotten exponentially better like every six weeks.

[B]

Give, give me an example of the, the current state and, and what makes you think that video editing is the thing that you're thinking?

[C]

And it's not say video editing, it's, it's production. It's the ability to take stills or short video clips and, and make large videos out of it. But we've just been able to generate things that are incredibly high quality that previously would have required, you know, a massive amount of people and time and money. Now we're still, we're still, you know, to be clear, we're still like, we're still hiring, you know, we're traditional film crews and we're, we're doing it the old way, but it's getting to the point when you, if, you know, if you say in five years, I think very few companies are going to be manually shooting 30 second spots.

[B]

Yeah. Tell me a little bit about the tech stack that you're, you're using and what's caught your eye.

[C]

I haven't personally been using them. I've, I have in my head, I don't have the brand names but essentially this chain together set of tools that will do all these things that used to be manually, people doing them all before. But I think I recommend for future podcasts I can give you. Our chief Creative Officer John Zismos has really been playing around with this a lot or you should have on some of the CEOs of some of the companies in this space because it's, you know, and, and, and like other things, it's letting you do high quality things in many cases where it wasn't possible. So for example, like next week we're doing a pretty big activation at the World Economic Forum Davos because they're using Agent Force to power their mobile app to help attendees schedule meetings, do briefings, all this kind of things. So all of our creative for different spaces and all the demos and functionality, we, our team went and built a complete animated video fly through of all our spaces and the demos and all the signs. And we would have never done that before, but it provided a really easy way to see one place how what we're doing in four different locations is all going to look. And it was built by a video AI engineer we hired on his second day in six hours and fascinating. Never, I mean we never would have even thought of creating an actual video fly through for that so it's like new things that are possible that weren't before that allowed all, all the different leaders in the company to be like, are we aligned on what we want all this to look like? Yes, we're aligned.

[B]

All right, that wraps up this episode of the Martech Podcast. Thanks to Ariel Kelman, the President and CMO of Salesforce, for joining us. And a special thanks to Scrunch for sponsoring this interview. Scrunch is the AI customer experience platform that helps marketing teams understand how AI agents experience their site. They tell you how your brand shows up in LLM results, where it doesn't, and what's preventing your content from being retrieved, trusted or recommended. And for Martech Podcast listeners, Scrunch is providing a free website diagnostic that uncovers how AI sees your site, where you have content gaps, and how you're showing up versus your competition. To see how LLMs evaluate your site, go to scrunch.com that's scrunch S C-R-U-N C-H.com if you'd like to contact Ariel, you can find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes or on martechpod.com of course, you can always visit his company's website. It's salesforce.com and if you haven't subscribed and you want a daily stream of marketing and technology knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or on YouTube and we'll be back in your feed next week. All right, that's it for today, but until next time, my advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.

[C]

Foreign.

[A]

Thanks for listening to the Martech Podcast and I hear everything. Production Looking to launch or scale a podcast like this one for your brand? Then visit iheareverything.com.