The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®

Episode #733: Agentic AI Delivering Business Value with Rupali Jain & Kevin Li, Optimizely
Aired: September 12, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, recorded at Opticon 25 in New York City, host Greg Kihlström explores the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, marketing technology, and customer experience (CX) with Rupali Jain (Chief Product Officer) and Kevin Li (SVP Product) at Optimizely. The discussion centers around the launch of Optimizely’s agent orchestration platform, the rise of “agentic AI,” and the impact these tools will have on marketers’ roles, workflow integration, content strategy, and how brands can stay agile in the face of industry change.

Key Topics & Insights

1. Agentic AI & Platform Announcements (02:21-05:46)

• Agent Orchestration Platform:
  • Rupali introduces the new platform, emphasizing both out-of-the-box AI agents and an extensible platform for marketers.
  • CMS advances: Out-of-the-box agents can now create fully formed, enterprise-ready websites, automate content modeling, analytics, and optimization.
  • Experimentation: Five AI agents automate the lifecycle of marketing experiments—from ideation to execution—reducing costs and boosting velocity.

“Not just the facade of one that you can get from any of these prototyping solutions ... but a fully formed enterprise-ready website which includes your content model ... all that's available and then it's optimized ... and then you can get analytics on it.”
— Rupali Jain (03:18)

• Platform Component:
  • Open agent directory for discovering and building no-code agents.
  • Workflow sequencing and action-taking tools empower marketers to act, not just ideate.

"It's not just the hey, I chatted, I know what to do. It's the now let's please get it done. That's 80% of the work."
— Rupali Jain (04:46)

2. Integration, Ecosystems, and Openness (05:46-08:06)

• Strategic Decision to Build Opal as a Platform:
  • Kevin Li discusses why Optimizely moved from embedded AI features to an open platform capable of integrating with existing martech stacks (Google Analytics, Salesforce, Zendesk, etc.).
  • Flexibility, ecosystem openness, and rapid workflow creation are key differentiators.

“No customer runs their entire stack on Optimizely ... They need to orchestrate things ... then build a much better experience ... you can only do that with a platform.”
— Kevin Li (06:48)

• Agility and Speed:
  • Greg notes the shift from slow, complex API work to the speed and adaptability of agentic AI platforms.

3. Shifting Roles for Marketers – From Execution to Strategy (09:20-12:55)

• Workflow Transformation:
  • Kevin Li outlines how AI-based integration and intent-driven interfaces free marketers from technical, execution-heavy work, allowing them to focus on higher-level strategy.

“If you can describe your intent of what you’re doing, just let the software do it for you.”
— Kevin Li (11:14)

• Strategic Focus Required:
  • Rupali stresses that faster execution shouldn’t overshadow clarity of business outcomes and strategy.

“Now you can trust the execution ... but if you don’t have a strategy, the execution will not deliver the things you want ... The strategic focus is non-negotiable. Like AI can’t do that for you.”
— Rupali Jain (12:25)

4. The Importance of Context in AI & Unlocking Hidden Value (13:28-15:21)

• Efficiency vs. Value:
  • Kevin warns of “garbage in, garbage out”—highlights the need for deep, organizational context, and retrieval augmented generation.
  • AI can unlock “below the waterline” work, such as frequent site updates and competitive research, that was previously too resource-intensive.

“So much of the things that’s actually valuable but not getting done today is below the waterline ... Should you do competitive research for every single brief to increase the quality of your campaigns? You should absolutely do that.”
— Kevin Li (14:28)

5. Evolution of Search—From SEO to GEO (16:09-20:39)

• AI-Driven Content Discovery:
  • Rupali describes the shift as “machines as new audiences”—AI engines increasingly function as intermediaries between brands and consumers.
  • Structured data and Q&A content formats will be critical for visibility in AI platforms (“answer engines”).

“Your content is still at the heart ... but now you have a new audience ... a machine in the middle ... so you have that dichotomy of machines and users and you’re optimizing for both ... machines can read structured data.”
— Rupali Jain (16:38)

• Foundations Still Matter:
  • Brands successful in SEO are well-positioned for GEO (generative engine optimization), but need to double down on clarity, structure, and intent signaling.
  • The market is still “early innings,” so experimentation and adaptation are key.

“We're still in the super early stages ... no one can agree on what this thing is actually called.”
— Kevin Li (19:10)

6. Agentic Platforms and the Future of Buying/Selling Agents (20:39-22:56)

• Consumer Buying Agents & Brand Selling Agents:
  • Kevin conceptualizes future commerce as a negotiation between consumer-side buying agents (e.g., AI tools) and brand-side agents (websites, interfaces, etc.).

“You could have a buying agent on behalf of a consumer. Then what is that on the other side in terms of brand? It's a brand selling agent ... still a brand selling agent.”
— Kevin Li (21:16)

• Fundamentals Endure:
  • Despite technological evolution, the basics of supply, demand, and value exchange persist.

7. Optimizely’s Role & Industry Positioning (23:33-25:01)

• Leader in DXP and Optimization:
  • Rupali underscores Optimizely’s focus on outcomes for users and businesses—content, agentic orchestration, and empowering the entire customer base.
  • The company’s greatest strength is its customer insight and ability to solve enduring problems with new tools.

“Our customer base ... the thousands of conversations we can have with them, understand the real problems because the problem set has not changed, how we solve them—completely different.”
— Rupali Jain (24:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Agentic AI Evolution:
  “The magic is ... let’s please get it done. That’s 80% of the work.”
  — Rupali Jain (04:46)

• On the Role of AI in Marketing:
  “Marketers are changing from an execution spec writing type of a role to just ... describe your intent and let the software do it for you.”
  — Kevin Li (11:14)

• On Context in AI:
  “Garbage in, garbage out is still the case ... Context is still super, super important.”
  — Kevin Li (13:28)

• On Industry Change:
  “We're the leaders on the DXP side, we're the leaders on optimization. People look to us to set the bar and rightly so, we're doing that.”
  — Rupali Jain (23:33)

Important Segment Timestamps

• [02:21] - Agentic AI & platform announcements
• [05:46] - Platform openness and integration
• [09:49] - Changing role of the marketer with integrated AI workflows
• [13:28] - Context in AI and unlocking hidden value
• [16:09] - AI’s impact on search/discovery (GEO/SEO)
• [20:39] - Future of agents: consumer vs. brand agents
• [23:33] - Optimizely’s role in the evolving market
• [25:17] - Highlights from Opticon 25: Customer excitement & real-world impact
• [26:22] - Advice for staying agile: Hands-on learning and top-line focus

Closing Thoughts

Rupali Jain and Kevin Li paint a picture of a marketing world transformed by agentic AI—one where marketers are empowered to focus on strategy rather than execution, and where open, extensible platforms connect tools with workflows at unprecedented speed. Yet, as rapid change continues, the enduring importance of strategic clarity, robust content, and customer focus remains. Optimizely situates itself as both innovator and guide, setting standards and supporting brands through the ever-shifting martech landscape.

For more resources or to listen to the full episode, visit The Agile Brand website or check the show notes.