Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
*Get our AI Career Guide ($100k AI jobs):* clickhubspot.com/ebt
Ep. 411
“Most marketing teams are scaling with AI right now, and the output is getting worse and worse”
Kieran dives into the 5 essential future roles every marketing team needs to master AI and stand out as AI transforms the industry. Learn more on why simply creating more content with AI isn’t enough, how brands like Unilever and Coca-Cola are experimenting (and sometimes struggling) with AI-driven marketing, and which new roles—like prompt strategist and agent ops manager—will define successful marketing teams in the era of autonomous agents.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 — The Problem: More AI, Worse Output
01:00 — Why This Is Happening Now (The Messy Middle)
02:00 — AI Went Agentic + AI Source Traffic Exploded
03:00 — The Content Volume Wall
04:00 — Role 1: Prompt Strategist
06:00 — Demo: The Prompt Library System
06:30 — Role 2: Agent Ops Manager (Chief Agent Officer)
07:30 — Unilever's Brand DNA System (Real Results)
08:30 — Role 3: AEO Specialist
09:45 — Role 4: AI Content Strategist
10:30 — Building Writing Styles & Winning Platform Profiles
12:00 — Coca-Cola vs Unilever: What Goes Wrong vs Right
13:15 — Role 5: AI Creative Director
14:00 — Unilever Sketch Pro: 2 Hours Instead of 2 Weeks
15:00 — The Future Marketing Team (All 5 Roles Together)
15:30 — "AI Won't Replace Workers — Workers Who Use AI Will"
Mentions
Unilever unilever.com/
Claude claude.ai/
Perplexity perplexity.ai/
Veo3 aistudio.google.com/models/veo-3
#AIMarketing #FutureOfMarketing #AIRoles #PromptStrategist #AgentOps #AEO #AIContentStrategy #AICreativeDirector #MarketingAgainstTheGrain #KieranFlanagan #AIforBusiness #MarketingTeam #AIJobs #Unilever #AgenticAI #AIStrategy2026
Host Links:
📲Kipp Bodnar, twitter.com/kippbodnar
📲Kieran Flanagan, twitter.com/searchbrat
‘Marketing Against The Grain’ is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Produced by Darren Clarke.
About the Show
Kipp Bodnar, HubSpot’s CMO and Kieran Flanagan Hubspot's SVP of Marketing, lead you down the rabbit hole of marketing trends, growth tactics and innovation. On the way you’ll pick up undiscovered strategies to give you that slight edge for success. These are not your typical twitter thread regurgitated marketing tactics that everyone is doing. These are new methods, with unfiltered examination of successful fresh ideas.
*Get our AI Career Guide ($100k AI jobs):* clickhubspot.com/ebt
Ep. 411
“Most marketing teams are scaling with AI right now, and the output is getting worse and worse”
Kieran dives into the 5 essential future roles every marketing team needs to master AI and stand out as AI transforms the industry. Learn more on why simply creating more content with AI isn’t enough, how brands like Unilever and Coca-Cola are experimenting (and sometimes struggling) with AI-driven marketing, and which new roles—like prompt strategist and agent ops manager—will define successful marketing teams in the era of autonomous agents.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 — The Problem: More AI, Worse Output
01:00 — Why This Is Happening Now (The Messy Middle)
02:00 — AI Went Agentic + AI Source Traffic Exploded
03:00 — The Content Volume Wall
04:00 — Role 1: Prompt Strategist
06:00 — Demo: The Prompt Library System
06:30 — Role 2: Agent Ops Manager (Chief Agent Officer)
07:30 — Unilever's Brand DNA System (Real Results)
08:30 — Role 3: AEO Specialist
09:45 — Role 4: AI Content Strategist
10:30 — Building Writing Styles & Winning Platform Profiles
12:00 — Coca-Cola vs Unilever: What Goes Wrong vs Right
13:15 — Role 5: AI Creative Director
14:00 — Unilever Sketch Pro: 2 Hours Instead of 2 Weeks
15:00 — The Future Marketing Team (All 5 Roles Together)
15:30 — "AI Won't Replace Workers — Workers Who Use AI Will"
Mentions
Unilever unilever.com/
Claude claude.ai/
Perplexity perplexity.ai/
Veo3 aistudio.google.com/models/veo-3
#AIMarketing #FutureOfMarketing #AIRoles #PromptStrategist #AgentOps #AEO #AIContentStrategy #AICreativeDirector #MarketingAgainstTheGrain #KieranFlanagan #AIforBusiness #MarketingTeam #AIJobs #Unilever #AgenticAI #AIStrategy2026
Host Links:
📲Kipp Bodnar, twitter.com/kippbodnar
📲Kieran Flanagan, twitter.com/searchbrat
‘Marketing Against The Grain’ is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Produced by Darren Clarke.
About the Show
Kipp Bodnar, HubSpot’s CMO and Kieran Flanagan Hubspot's SVP of Marketing, lead you down the rabbit hole of marketing trends, growth tactics and innovation. On the way you’ll pick up undiscovered strategies to give you that slight edge for success. These are not your typical twitter thread regurgitated marketing tactics that everyone is doing. These are new methods, with unfiltered examination of successful fresh ideas.
