Ahead of Possible Miami 2024, The Drum is producing a special five-part series spotlighting leading marketers and the evolution of their roles. In this installation, Colette Stallbaumer, general manager of Microsoft 365 and Future of Work marketing at Microsoft, urges marketers to embrace AI with a bold test-and-learn approach.
Colette Stallbaumer is an AI evangelist.
Marketing lead for Microsoft’s Future of Work initiative – which aims to develop solutions for an era of work that is both productive and equitable – Stallbaumer leads a team that produces wide-ranging research designed to empower businesses as they they evolve. She also leads the suite of software services known as Microsoft 365, which last year integrated Copilot, Microsoft’s AI-powered chatbot (originally released as Bing Chat, but rebranded after a series of well-documented hallucinations and strange interactions with users).
Stallbaumer herself has been experimenting with generative AI programs for just over a year – a timeline that roughly matches the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the tool that brought generative AI into the mainstream (and whose development Microsoft supported with a rate of 49%). non-controlling participation in OpenAI). Today, she says, she “can’t imagine ever going back.”
As she says: “It makes my daily life so much easier. For example, she says, “if I missed a comment in a real-time meeting, I could ask the AI instead of asking someone to repeat themselves.” And when it comes to creativity, Stallbaumer says she relies on AI tools “as a brainstorming partner and source of inspiration.”
Looking ahead, Stallbaumer, who has held various marketing roles within Microsoft and began his career at major advertising agencies including J. Walter Thompson and DDB, sees a future of work – and marketing in particular – that puts AI at the center.
A Habit-Centric Approach to AI Adoption
For marketing professionals, Stallbaumer sees key opportunities for AI, both in enabling new efficiencies in workflows and in boosting creative work.
When it comes to effectiveness, she cites research that indicates most marketers today spend 60% of their time at work communicating and only about 40% creating. There is a valuable opportunity to change these numbers with the help of AI, Stallbaumer says.
“No one ever told me they got into marketing to sort through emails,” she says. “People get into marketing because they are strategic and creative thinkers: they want to understand what customers need and connect them to products or services that can improve their work or life. AI can free us from “digital debt,” that is, all those notifications that arrive faster than we can keep up with them. »
But marketing will also increasingly incorporate AI into the creative side of the equation, she predicts. “The more people understand AI, the more they see its promise to help them in the most meaningful parts of their jobs. For example, 87% of workers in creative roles who are extremely familiar with AI said they would be comfortable using AI for the creative aspects of their job.
Essentially, she believes that AI will “help us return to what initially attracted each of us to marketing”: the love of strategic and creative thinking.
Of course, effectively integrating AI into various functions within an organization is easier said than done.
Stallbaumer encourages a test-and-learn approach. For marketing teams in particular, she recommends “(building) a daily habit with technology in order to see and feel the productivity and creativity gains of AI.” She likens the idea to practicing or learning a new language and says effective and efficient AI integration will require “intentional, daily practice.”
According to Stallbaumer, the marketing teams that will lead the pack are those working tirelessly today to determine how AI tools can work in harmony with human productivity and creativity, quickly sorting through the most effective applications.
According to her: “It is not enough to only consider individual productivity. In the coming years, AI will completely transform the marketing function. Marketers must determine which tasks to delegate to AI and which work is human-only and allocate talent and resources accordingly.
AI and the changing role of the CMO
At the executive level, the job of the marketer is rapidly transforming (an idea The Drum explores in depth this year). CMOs are increasingly expected to contribute to the company’s broader strategic goals.
This is a reality that Stallbaumer sees in his daily work at Microsoft. In 2024, she says, “every marketing director will have to contribute to the evolution of their company and their activity. How are customer expectations changing? How will your products or services evolve to meet them? »
AI will help CMOs meet both of these priorities, says Stallbaumer, “from uncovering customer insights across data silos and personalization at scale, to inspiring new thinking and original innovations.
It’s no wonder, then, that nearly 80% of CMOs plan to increase their organization’s spending on AI and data this year – up from 57% in 2023, according to a recent Accenture study.
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And the CMO – who Stallbaumer sees as someone generally obsessed with the customer and creativity – is uniquely positioned to make the most of AI, she says. According to her, successful marketing leaders will “bring (their) creativity to the adoption of AI.”
A CMO she knows is asking his entire team to upskill and prepare for new responsibilities within their roles as AI changes key marketing functions, an approach Stallbaumer applauds. “This desire to rethink and reinvent what is possible is decisive (for today’s CMOs).”
Stallbaumer encourages marketers to think big. Developing AI applications in the world of marketing is not just about automating tedious tasks or brainstorming during creative sessions. It’s going to be much bigger and more important than that, she said.
“As marketers, we already know the importance of thinking outside the box: you need to do the same for AI at work. Don’t just use it to do the same thing, faster,” she advises. “Work with your teams to reimagine what’s possible. »
Colette Stallbaumer, general manager of Microsoft 365 and Future of Work at Microsoft, will speak at Possible Miami on Wednesday. April 17 at 9:45 a.m. to share his thoughts on “Seizing the AI at Work Opportunity” with the VIP Academy. To find out more and book tickets for the event, click here.
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