AI Adoption: Why everyone thinks they're behind
Most marketing teams feel they're behind on AI adoption, but if everyone thinks they're behind, most people aren't. The real question is how you get from playing with AI to building it into how your team works.
In this episode of Email Talk, Elliot, Joe and Will are back together after a run of guest conversations. They start with the news everyone on LinkedIn has an opinion on, Salesforce buying Braze, and what it could mean for Braze customers and the agencies that move brands off Marketing Cloud.
Will shares what he's hearing from teams this month. The talk has moved on from shiny features to getting AI into everyday workflows, and he explains why a bit of chaos first, then a system, works better than starting with a process. He also covers why protected hackathon time helps people get to their first aha moment. Joe argues it's about learning to learn, because whatever you plan will be out of date in three months. Elliot compares it with GDPR: that had a clear before and after, and AI never will.
The second half turns to trust and security. They cover what happens with the 1% of the time AI gets it wrong, prompt injection risk when MCPs are connected, and why EmailShepherd not touching customer data makes it an easier yes. Then come the supermarket fridges hacked to 50 degrees across Europe, and HMRC's 15 year CRM business case.
In this episode:
In this episode of Email Talk, Elliot, Joe and Will are back together after a run of guest conversations. They start with the news everyone on LinkedIn has an opinion on, Salesforce buying Braze, and what it could mean for Braze customers and the agencies that move brands off Marketing Cloud.
Will shares what he's hearing from teams this month. The talk has moved on from shiny features to getting AI into everyday workflows, and he explains why a bit of chaos first, then a system, works better than starting with a process. He also covers why protected hackathon time helps people get to their first aha moment. Joe argues it's about learning to learn, because whatever you plan will be out of date in three months. Elliot compares it with GDPR: that had a clear before and after, and AI never will.
The second half turns to trust and security. They cover what happens with the 1% of the time AI gets it wrong, prompt injection risk when MCPs are connected, and why EmailShepherd not touching customer data makes it an easier yes. Then come the supermarket fridges hacked to 50 degrees across Europe, and HMRC's 15 year CRM business case.
In this episode:
- Salesforce buys Braze: the challenger becomes the acquired
- What it means for Braze customers and migration agencies
- From experimenting with AI to embedding it in workflows
- Hackathons, chaos first and the aha moment
- Everyone thinks they're behind, and why that's fine
- Trust, MCP security and prompt injection
- Hacked supermarket fridges and HMRC's CRM contract
If you run email or CRM at a brand, in Braze, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe, Klaviyo or any other ESP, and you're trying to get your team from experimenting with AI to using it day to day, this episode is for you.
Where is your team right now: still playing with AI, or building it into your process? Tell us in the comments.
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Elliot Ross — Founder, ActionRocket; co-founder, Taxi for Email
https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamelliot/
Joe Cottam — Co-founder, EmailShepherd
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-cottam-80580352/
Will Harvey — EmailShepherd
https://www.linkedin.com/in/willharvey/
EmailShepherd — the agentic email creation platform to do what used to take days in just minutes:
https://www.emailshepherd.com/
ActionRocket — the independent CRM creative agency:
https://www.actionrocket.co/