Which marketing role will be extinct in five years?

Summary

Podcast Summary: MarTech Podcast ™ – “Which marketing role will be extinct in five years?”

Host: Benjamin Shapiro
Guest: David Rabin (Chief Marketing Officer, Lenovo Solutions and Services Group)
Date: August 21, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode centers around a provocative question: “Which marketing role will be extinct in five years?” Benjamin Shapiro and guest David Rabin explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the marketing landscape, specifically evaluating which roles are most vulnerable and how marketers can adapt to stay relevant. The discussion expands beyond marketing, touching on broader workforce implications as AI continues to automate routine tasks.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Fading Role of the "Order Taker"

• Order Takers at Risk:
  David Rabin argues that "order taker" roles—positions that passively wait for assignments—are most threatened by AI. This includes writers, designers, or anyone dependent on others to set their work in motion.
  • Quote (David Rabin, 01:36):

    “There are people that sort of wait for a brief to land on their desk and then they start running… Those roles are going to be the first to go.”

• AI's Acceleration of Research:
  Tasks like background research, which used to require significant manual effort, can now be accomplished in minutes using AI—further reducing the need for traditional order-taking roles.
• Evolving to Add Value:
  Those in vulnerable positions can secure their future by shifting from execution to strategy—infusing their work with insights, strategic thinking, and marketplace smarts.
  • Quote (David Rabin, 02:20):

    “If the order taker roles today can start figuring out ways to add value, to add strategy, to be smarter on the marketplace, they might have a future. If not, we will start phasing those roles out.”

It’s Not About the Role—It’s About Adoption

• Framework Shift:
  Shapiro frames the coming extinction not by job titles (writer, researcher, executive) but by adaptability. Those who leverage AI gain “superpowers,” expanding their impact and making themselves indispensable.
  • Quote (Benjamin Shapiro, 02:29):

    “If you know how to use artificial intelligence effectively, you’re going to have superpowers… If you’re just trying to do things the old way… you’re a dinosaur. You’re in trouble.”

• The Human-AI Team:
  Marketers will increasingly act as “filtering mechanisms,” overseeing AI agents that generate content and perform tasks, moving away from hands-on execution.

Broader Workforce Implications

• Beyond Marketing:
  Drawing parallels to other industries—truck drivers, radiologists, front desk staff—Rabin notes that any job waiting for instruction is susceptible to automation.
  • Quote (David Rabin, 03:33):

    “Any of those jobs that you’re waiting for somebody to tell you what to do are ripe to be replaced by AI.”

• Service Sector Disruption:
  Examples from fast food (ordering at kiosks) and healthcare illustrate the accelerating removal of routine human roles.

The Future Marketer: From Teamwork to Individual Execution

• Solo Operators Enable More by Themselves:
  Shapiro envisions a future where marketers can “do incredible things” using modest AI toolsets, running large-scale campaigns independently.
  • Quote (Benjamin Shapiro, 04:22):

    “You’re going to have these people that really can do amazing large scale campaign creation, management, execution, evaluation using the tool set.”

• Team Dynamics May Shift:
  Rabin observes that as individuals take on more themselves, the traditional team structure may fragment.
  • Quote (David Rabin, 05:10):

    “You can imagine a workplace where some of the team dynamic starts to get fractured because more and more of the work I’m going to do… might be done by me as opposed to a team of people. Can be quite interesting.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On job security (David Rabin, 01:36):

  “The order taker role is going to be phased out.”

• On adaptation vs. extinction (Benjamin Shapiro, 02:29):

  “If you’re just trying to do things the old way… you’re a dinosaur. You’re in trouble.”

• On automation’s reach (David Rabin, 03:33):

  “Any of those jobs that you’re waiting for somebody to tell you what to do are ripe to be replaced by AI.”

• The rise of solo marketers (Benjamin Shapiro, 04:22):

  “You’re going to have these people that really can do amazing large scale campaign creation, management, execution, evaluation using the tool set.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:36] – Why “order taker” roles are first on the chopping block
• [02:29] – Leveraging AI as a superpower: adopters vs. laggards
• [03:33] – Work beyond marketing: truck drivers, radiologists, and AI’s reach
• [04:22] – The future of marketing: more power for individuals, less need for order takers
• [05:10] – Potential impact on team dynamics in the marketing workplace

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Episode Tone and Style

The conversation is direct and candid, peppered with humor and pragmatism. Both speakers strike a balance between optimism about AI’s potential and realism about job displacement, urging listeners to think strategically about their roles and the value they add. The tone is conversational, with both guests contributing perspectives that are actionable for marketers at any stage.

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Takeaway

Marketers—and professionals across industries—should take an active approach toward upskilling, learning to orchestrate AI tools rather than fearing them. Pure “order takers” will become redundant; those who infuse their work with strategy, creativity, and adaptability will thrive.

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Transcript

[Podcast Announcer]

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.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

From advertising to software as a service to data, across all.

[David Rabin]

Of our programs and clients, we've seen.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

A 55 to 65% open rate. Getting brands authentically integrated into content performs better than TV advertising. Typical life span of an article is about 24 to 36 hours. 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.

[Podcast Announcer]

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 use technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's the host of the Martech Podcast, Benjamin Shapiro.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

I'm Benjamin Shapiro and joining me today is David Rabin, the Chief Marketing Officer at Lenovo's Solutions and Services group, which helps companies build right size AI solutions. And today David is going to share how you can overcome organizational barriers that are blocking your AI adoption. All right, which marketing roles do you think will be extinct in the next five years?

[David Rabin]

I wish I knew the actual answer to that because it would help me with my organizational planning. But there's a role that we think about as order takers. There are people that sort of wait for a brief to land on their desk and then they start running. And it could be a writer, it could be a designer, anybody that's sort of at the mercy of somebody else to get their work started. Those roles are going to be the first to go. You kind of set it on your own. Imagine if you had a researcher six months ago, you would have said, hey, I need you to do some research on David Rabin. Tell me everything you can find out about David Rabin, his speaking style, what his company's up to, how he writes, how he talks. Today, in literally 15 minutes, you can get that done. So the order taker role is going to be phased out. If the order taker roles today can start figuring out ways to add value, to add strategy, to be smarter on the marketplace, they might have a future. If not, we will start phasing those roles out.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Yesterday, I think of it a little bit of a different framework and maybe the question led this direction where it's what roles? Are writers going to be in trouble? Are researchers going to be in Trouble is the executive team going to be worthless. Can marketers do it all themselves? Who knows? I actually don't think it's an individual role. I think where the gap is going to be with adopters and laggards, where if you know how to use artificial intelligence effectively, you're going to have superpowers to expand your role scope and effectiveness for your organ. You'll be incredibly more powerful and valuable. If you're just trying to do things the old way and you're a writer and you're sitting there and like, nope, gotta use my typewriter, can't use AI, gotta write every word myself. You're a dinosaur. You're in trouble. So to me, what's going to be extinct, it's not being enabled with the copilot next to you or not understanding how to build agents that can do the work that you want in your style for you. And we serve as more of the filtering mechanism and less of the operators.

[David Rabin]

Yeah, but even if you were to say, let's take our marketing hats off for one second, okay, truck drivers, we rely on them to move goods around the country. What if those become all autonomous? We don't know. What about a radiologist who today we would say, wow, I mean, they're going to be kind of reading what's going on inside my body. But if tomorrow an AI tool can take over and say, we got this, we don't need to wait six hours or an hour for the radiologist. It's just going to do it real time. Even front desk workers, if you've walked into a fast food restaurant recently, the human interaction is almost gone because they want you to order at a kiosk. So there's all sorts of functions that they're the ones waiting for the thing to happen. Tell me to drive this truck from point A to point B. Here is this X ray. Please read it. I would like to give you my order. Any of those jobs that you're waiting for somebody to tell you what to do are ripe to be replaced by AI.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Undoubtedly there will be industries that are totally disruptive. When I think of the role of marketing, right, a truck driver. Yes, the trucking industry. When autonomous vehicles become commonplace, probably going to change pretty dramatically. When you think about the service workers and the idea and the creatives in marketing specifically, some marketers can do incredible things with very limited AI tools. Now and five years from now, when we've got more agentic services and super intelligence and God knows what is coming down the pike, you're going to have these people that really can do amazing large scale campaign creation, management, execution, evaluation using the tool set. And that makes the need for the sort of order taker type role to be less important.

[David Rabin]

Yeah, and what you're describing also is we're going to do more on our own. So just like today, we're sometimes more comfortable looking at our phone for hours on end than communicating with other people. You can imagine a workplace where some of the team dynamic starts to get fractured because more and more of the work I'm going to do, from the insights to the strategy to the content development to the publishing might be done by me as opposed to a team of people can be quite interesting.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

And that wraps up this episode of the Martech Podcast. Thanks to David Rabin, the Chief Marketing Officer at Lenovo Solutions and Services Group, for joining us. If you'd like to contact David, you could find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes or on martechpod.com or you can visit his company's website, which is lenovo.com and if you haven't subscribed yet 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 on your feed every week. All right, that's it for today, but until next time, my advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.

[David Rabin]

Foreign.

[Podcast Announcer]

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