Bob Pearson

expert panel

Marketing teams have never had more data, automation or channels to work with. Yet the problems that stall growth, weaken trust or drain a team’s energy often aren’t technical at all. They’re rooted in people: how customers feel, how teams collaborate, how leaders handle uncertainty, and how organizations respond when old assumptions stop working.That tension is becoming harder to ignore as AI changes both the volume and nature of brand communication. Americans remain cautious about AI’s broader impact, and recent industry conversations have pointed to a related marketing reality: As AI-generated content and commerce tools multiply, brands still need real trust, relevance and direct human connection to stand out.A marketing problem may look like a messaging issue, a measurement issue or a channel issue, but to resolve it, leaders often need to look deeper. Because no matter how many campaigns launch or what dashboards say, marketing is only effective if it reaches and connects with the audience—and that requires both inward and outward focus on the humans who write and receive the story.Below, members of the Senior Executive CMO Think Tank, a curated group with expertise in brand storytelling, customer engagement and the rise of AI in marketing, share and discuss examples of the human challenges that will always impact marketing and how teams can adjust their strategies once they adopt a human-centered viewpoint.

expert panel

For many marketers, Reddit is treated simply as a community platform—a place to monitor conversations, answer questions and occasionally engage with niche audiences. But its role in the digital ecosystem has expanded. And that evolution creates a new challenge for CMOs.Brand perception is no longer shaped only by owned content, paid campaigns or carefully managed social channels. It’s also shaped by open, peer-driven exchanges where customers compare options, challenge claims, share frustrations and look for trusted perspectives before making decisions. These are exactly the type of discussions that happen on Reddit. Today, Reddit threads—including complaints about brands—are favored sources for AI engines. The platform has even struck a deal with Google that allows the search leader to use posts from the site to train its AI models. With consumers increasingly turning their attention to AI results when researching products and services, marketers can’t afford to underestimate Reddit’s influence. So how should marketing leaders rethink Reddit’s role in the marketing mix? Below, members of the Senior Executive CMO Think Tank share practical insights on how CMOs can better understand and tap into Reddit’s growing influence on brand discovery, customer trust and the broader digital conversations that shape purchasing decisions.