Why isn't Canada a leader in AI adoption? Sabrina Geremia, Vice President & Country Managing Director at Google Canada, tells Alison Simpson, CEO of the CMA, that Canada was a leader in AI creation but is falling behind in adoption. With only 26% of Canadian organizations having adopted Generative AI, despite the potential to save workers 170 hours annually, Google suggests empowering people, accelerating AI value creation, and contributing to the Canadian national ecosystem.

00:00:01:18 - 00:00:23:12 Presenter Welcome to CMA Connect, Canada's marketing podcast, where industry experts discuss how marketers must manage the tectonic shifts that will change how brands and businesses are built for tomorrow, while also delivering on today's business needs. With your host CMA CEO, Alison Simpson.

00:00:23:14 - 00:00:27:21 Alison The artificial intelligence revolution isn't just changing how we work. It's redefining what's possible for Canadian businesses and the economy as a whole. There are many benefits, but also risks associated with that are super important to understand. As AI continues to innovate at breakneck speed, the question really becomes how can Canadian marketers and businesses harness these advances to drive growth and close our productivity gap in ethical and responsible ways? For today's episode, I'm pleased to welcome Sabrina Geremia, VP and Country Manager for Google Canada.

00:00:54:10 - 00:01:25:21 Alison Sabrina will be celebrating her 20th anniversary with Google in May and next year Google is actually celebrating their 25th anniversary in Canada as well. Sabrina has led Google Canada's strategic direction and advertising business since 2017, focusing on fostering Canada's digital economy by assisting businesses in growth, supporting the tech sector and enhancing digital skills among Canadians. With over 25 years of experience spanning marketing, public relations, sales and general management, Sabrina brings a unique perspective to the intersection of technology and business transformation.

00:01:26:02 - 00:01:48:19 Alison Her journey actually began in consumer packaged goods before making a strategic pivot to technology during the early dot-com era. At Google she has held various leadership positions, including managing director of Integrated Solutions, building her expertise as a trusted advisor to Canada's C-suite. She's been recognized as one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women and the recipient of the Women in Communication Technology Women of the Year Award.

00:01:49:01 - 00:02:11:00 Alison Sabrina is deeply committed to advancing digital skills and innovation in Canada. Her experience really positions her uniquely to speak about AI's potentially transformative impact on marketing, as well as Canada's productivity challenges and the evolution of digital advertising in an increasingly AI-driven landscape. Welcome, Sabrina. It is an absolute pleasure to have you join us today, and I'm looking forward to a terrific conversation.

00:02:11:05 - 00:02:13:06 Sabrina Hi, Alison, it's so great to be here.

00:02:13:08 - 00:02:30:23 Alison So I'd like to kick things off by hearing a bit about your career. So as I mentioned, you started your career in consumer packaged goods with P&G, and then you pivoted and have spent the majority in tech, including your upcoming 20th anniversary with Google. What inspired you to change industries fairly early in your career and what's kept you in tech?

00:02:31:01 - 00:02:55:22 Sabrina Yeah, well, it's so great to be here and I love spending time with the CMA. You know, especially as a former board member, I know that the work that you do is so valuable and important to Canada. So thank you for that. Yeah, my career has been an interesting one. I have actually lived through the three arcs of technology. So I have been working for close to three decades, and I've kind of gone from no internet to the internet, from internet to mobile,

00:02:55:22 - 00:03:18:21 Sabrina and now this just enormous and transformative AI moment. And so pre-internet, I mean, I am Canadian, I grew up in Guelph, just outside of Toronto, and I went to Laurier, for university, and I did my last year in Italy as an exchange student. And from there I worked at Procter and Gamble. And when I worked at Procter and Gamble, it was really underlying what you know very well, Alison.

00:03:18:21 - 00:03:38:21 Sabrina Just like the importance of marketing and how important the foundation fundamentals of marketing are. So I worked there for about five years. I worked across cosmetics and some of their laundry business all across Italy. But I had friends who were in the Valley, and I saw the internet coming, and I knew that it was coming. And I just, you know, knew it was going to be very transformative.

00:03:38:21 - 00:03:58:01 Sabrina I remember one day driving past the Colosseum and just reflecting on like, wow, like that amazing moment when all of this new technology and these new advancements were happening in Rome. I want to be part of that. So I left my job and I did what, you know, many people do. I took a year to kind of move around.

00:03:58:01 - 00:04:16:16 Sabrina I did a lot of nonprofit work. I did a lot of volunteer work. I went to Asia. I did some work with the UN on what the internet could mean for the digital divide. And this was all, again, just at the emergence of the internet. And then I went and landed at Ask Jeeves and after that, Reckitt Benckiser and really learned the foundations of the internet.

00:04:16:16 - 00:04:39:22 Sabrina And I was working in London and globally at that time. And then from there, Google found me, and I started working at Google in 2006, in London, in the UK, and I helped them set up like our whole consumer packaged goods practice on how were we going to work with CPG companies like Reckitt, like P&G, the largest advertisers in the world, and help them shift and transition to this internet future?

00:04:40:00 - 00:04:55:15 Sabrina So a little while later, I came back to Canada and was so happy to come back. And during my time and, you know, working all the aisles of the grocery store in Canada, that was the big shift to mobile. And the shift to mobile was big. Like, no one believed that you would ever buy a pair of running shoes on a mobile phone.

00:04:55:19 - 00:05:13:05 Sabrina And yet we know today people buy cars on mobile phone. They do all sorts of things on their mobile. The form factor had changed. And so, you know, fast forward to today. It's the third shift. It's a really big one. It's very transformative. We've done it before. We're going to do it again. And you know what inspires me really

00:05:13:06 - 00:05:36:19 Sabrina you know, to stay in tech, and I've been in tech like, you know, we said for over 20 years and even more, if you count my experience before Google, is that really it's our mission. Like our mission at Google in this moment is really on helpfulness, and it's making AI helpful for everybody. And in Canada, what inspires me is our shared mission as a team to help make Canada a global leader in AI in the value creation phase.

00:05:36:19 - 00:06:04:10 Sabrina We've been such leaders in the creation of the tech. I want us to be leaders in the adoption and value creation. And this really means empowering our people, it means accelerating AI value creation with all of the amazing partners that you work with every day, and also contributing to the national ecosystem in Canada, and and it really is important to get this right in Canada, because while we were leaders in the creation of AI, we're starting to fall behind in the adoption phase.

00:06:04:12 - 00:06:25:15 Alison I love your career story and the fact that you actually started internationally, spent a number of years. I also love that you've demonstrated great bravery as you decided I want to try something different. Most people would find another job and grow that way, and you took a bet on yourself that clearly paid off and led to some fascinating experiences, including work with the UN, and ultimately brought you to tech.

00:06:25:15 - 00:06:46:18 Alison So lesson number one for our listeners is that willingness to bet on yourself and take some measured risks throughout your career can be an amazing accelerator. So AI is certainly shaping the future across industries. From your perspective as head of Google at Canada, what do you see as the biggest opportunities that AI presents for businesses and the economy in Canada right now?

00:06:47:00 - 00:07:10:14 Sabrina That is a really important question, Alison, and probably one that I think about every day. We talked earlier about being so ahead in the primary research. If you think about many of the AI greats who contributed to this technology, a lot of them were here and a lot of them are here today. And, you know, we have a lot of great primary researchers and a lot of engineers and technological strength in the AI fields.

00:07:10:16 - 00:07:33:12 Sabrina But some of the latest reports are showing that we're lagging in the adoption of AI right now as an economy. So there was a Deloitte report out recently that only 26% of Canadian organizations have adopted AI, and that's about, you know, ten points lower than other companies in a global peer set. So this idea here that we created it, but we're not moving fast enough to adopt it.

00:07:33:14 - 00:07:57:09 Sabrina What's at stake is productivity and opportunity. And you know, the valuation of this is around 230 billion in economic impact for Canada. So that's eight points of GDP. It could save the average worker three and a half weeks per year, 170 hours per year of work. And that's kind of lower value tasks that then you can kind of uplevel and do different things and do them more effectively.

00:07:57:09 - 00:08:17:09 Sabrina So I think really about having Canadians being able to use the tools, adopt the tools. We know that people know it's important. We did a poll of businesses and 84% of C-levels in Canada and business leaders think that AI really does offer an important opportunity for the Canadian economy. Almost 80% of them agree that it's going to have a positive impact on productivity.

00:08:17:14 - 00:08:41:06 Sabrina But we need businesses of all shapes and sizes, from the SMBs to retailers, to manufacturing to agriculture. This is a multipurpose tool, right? We need adoption to accelerate and the value creation to follow that. So really it's about putting AI to work for Canadians today. And the really good news here is like we're talking to an audience of marketers, is that marketers are playing an outsized role in the adoption of AI at this moment.

00:08:41:08 - 00:08:44:12 Sabrina And they are leaders in using AI to supercharge their strategies and results. So we do know that it's working.

00:08:47:00 - 00:09:13:06 Alison Building on that, we did some CMA research and found out that, to your point, marketers are ahead of other Canadian knowledge groups, including scientists, so that's encouraging. But we're still sitting, I think 72%. So there's still lots of growth. We know even before AI, Canada's productivity gap is a real challenge. The fact that we had such an amazing head start and leadership role in AI, and we've given some of that up for sure.

00:09:13:08 - 00:09:24:03 Alison And then combine that with your recent research. Around 80% of Canadian business leaders know this is a powerful tool. So what do you think is getting in the way of our adoption?

00:09:24:05 - 00:09:44:13 Sabrina You know I mean I think we're going to get there. So I have faith in Canada. Like we are smart, we are resourceful and we are talented. But you know what we're focused on really Google Canada's two things - like one is really about skilling Canadians. Right. And people and skills matter foundationally so much. And then second is about creating and scaling business value.

00:09:44:13 - 00:10:01:09 Sabrina So if we look at the people and skills there, there is some data to suggest that Canadians are a little more fearful of AI than their global peers. And that is probably, you know, creating some of the adoption lag here. And we know the opportunity and it's 230 billion. But we know that Canadians want to learn AI skills.

00:10:01:09 - 00:10:19:09 Sabrina And so 63% of Canadian workers want to acquire these skills. I was in a cafe this weekend and I was with my son, and we were sitting next to two people who were working on laptops, and he kind of gave me the elbow and he said, listen, mummy, they're talking and teaching each other how to use Gemini. So they were in a cafe teaching each other how to use Google Gemini.

00:10:19:09 - 00:10:41:23 Sabrina I think they might have been teachers. And I turned to him and I said, yeah, because everybody knows that using these tools is really going to help them supercharge their skills and supercharge what they're doing. So we are trying to contribute to that through, we launched an AI Opportunity Fund. It's a $13 million fund, and it's a goal to actually support two million with AI skills.

00:10:41:23 - 00:11:07:03 Sabrina So 2 million Canadians supercharged with AI skills. We have an amazing roster of nonprofits and partners that we're working with, like the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, Skills for Change, the First Nations Technology Council, and the Toronto Public Library. If you live in Toronto and you go into a TPL branch, you will probably see a sign that says, join us for learning circle around a Grow with Google AI Essential certificate.

00:11:07:03 - 00:11:25:14 Sabrina And so these certificates are micro-credentials. They're short courses that you can do in one batch, or you can do it a little bit at a time. And it's really helping people use the schools to be more effective in their work, and to build practical, hands on AI skills. This AI essentials that is part of the Grow with Google portfolio,

00:11:25:18 - 00:11:46:11 Sabrina it's the most popular Gen AI course on Coursera of all time globally, and what I find really promising about it is we talk to many of the people who have graduated, and there's been 54,000 Canadians who have graduated so far, and 75% of them are reporting a positive career outcome after they take this course. They might get a promotion.

00:11:46:11 - 00:12:04:15 Sabrina Then maybe they get to work on a new project. They might find a job. And so we know that when they, you know, work on their skills and learn how to use these tools, they create value. So I think the skilling of Canadians is really foundational. It's really important. I encourage anyone listening who wants to learn to check out the Grow with Google.

00:12:04:15 - 00:12:26:17 Sabrina There are also many other options out there. But again, we want to get every Canadian, not just the 2 million powered up with AI skills. Then the second area is really about business value creation. Like we have to accelerate the business adoption and value creation as the tools are emerging. And one of the things that I think is really important is that AI isn't a strategy.

00:12:26:22 - 00:12:47:02 Sabrina Your business strategy can deliver more with AI. So I'm always asking folks like, what is your business strategy enabled by AI? Right? And then that becomes a totally different conversation. And that's really important for marketers, like marketers right now, it's it's a tough balancing job. And you know this, right? You you probably hear it from all of the CMA members every day.

00:12:47:07 - 00:13:08:07 Sabrina You're being asked to drive exponential growth. You're being asked to do it while delivering on efficiency. You're being asked to do new creative things differently. And what we've seen is that leading marketers who are using AI are seeing 60% business results, whether it's making media work better, finding new customers you didn't know you were looking for, it could be personalizing creative and delivering it at scale.

00:13:08:11 - 00:13:32:14 Sabrina It might be back end processes where you're iterating, etc. or it might be in the emerging fields of solving customer needs better with AI agents. So when I look at all of these use cases with a really powered up workforce in Canada that knows how to use these tools, I think that this is the building block of really seeing that 230 billion economic impact for Canada become real.

00:13:32:14 - 00:13:46:08 Sabrina I see so many glimmers of this happening, and I just, you know, my hope for Canada is that we can figure out what works, we can scale it quickly, and we can avoid pilot paralysis where we're stuck in a bunch of pilots. We're actually scaling what's working.

00:13:46:12 - 00:14:22:22 Alison Well said. And I share your optimism for Canada as well. And I was at your kickoff for the $13 million accelerator. And just to see the organizations that you're partnering with and the active role you're playing in helping upskill 2 million Canadians is such an important step in our ability to really deliver on the opportunity. Now you talked a bit about how this is impacting marketing, and you're absolutely right that whether it's AI or any new major market shift, consumer shift or technological shift, when you're sitting around the executive table, all eyes tend to turn to the CMO first with an expectation that we're going to figure it out first, which also can be a little intimidating.

00:14:22:22 - 00:14:40:14 Alison You've had over two decades in tech. You've seen incredible transformation, including the three major cycles that you've talked a bit about. How have Canadians habits, especially around expectations of brand and marketing, fundamentally evolved during this time, leading us into today's more AI-driven landscape?

00:14:40:16 - 00:15:03:23 Sabrina It's evolving. You know, on the whole premise, one of the main values of Google is like, you know, follow the user and all else will follow. And as technology emerges, user behaviour evolves. And it's happening pretty quick. So Google DeepMind, which is our primary research, it's our team at Google and it's led by Demis Hassabis. And he actually says that it's it's happening at 10x the industrial revolution, happening at 10x the speed.

00:15:04:01 - 00:15:20:14 Sabrina So if you put that math together, it's happening at 100x. So maybe, you know, I'll share a little story with you. Like I realized that I needed to buy a swimsuit for an upcoming trip. And so I turned to Search and I started searching for swimsuits. And I came across a new brand that I had never heard of, which is called Left on Friday.

00:15:20:16 - 00:15:44:12 Sabrina And I thought, that's really interesting. I'd like to learn more. Like, is this a Canadian-founded company? That was the question that I asked. And it actually took me to AI Overviews. And it told me, yes, indeed it was. It's a company founded by two Canadians and they're based in BC, and they have created this brand. So then I pivoted to AI Mode, which is the tab that actually allows you to have a conversational experience with the AI.

00:15:44:16 - 00:16:04:06 Sabrina And I started asking about their product assortment reviews and doing comparisons and so on. Then I went back to Search and I asked to go to the site, and I started looking at places that I could buy it, and I found out where the store was, and there's one in Toronto. And so this is just such a perfect example of how Canadian consumers are just doing things differently.

00:16:04:06 - 00:16:27:18 Sabrina Right? It's more complex. They're searching, they're streaming, they're scrolling, they're shopping. They're watching the game, often simultaneously. Right? They're doing a lot of things all at once. And consumers are now interacting with around 130 mobile touch points a day. So when you think about that story of what I did, like, you know, the the AI overviews, 2 billion people are seeing this every month.

00:16:27:18 - 00:16:43:05 Sabrina AI Mode, we just launched it. It's already at 100 million users per month. And users of AI mode, they're asking questions that are 2 to 3 times longer than traditional queries. That's not even to mention Google Lens, Circle to Search, all of these new features that we have.

00:16:43:07 - 00:17:02:20 Alison Sabrina, you clearly have your PhD in multitasking. And I can personally vouch for the Left on Friday swim brand. I have a couple of their bathing suits, and I'm a proud supporter of outstanding Canadian business. I'd love you to go a little bit deeper on AI's impact and gains in advertising, and share some of the tangible gains marketers who are actively investing in AI are seeing in their campaigns.

00:17:04:18 - 00:17:24:22 Sabrina You know, we said earlier, like, this is just such a huge boost. I think marketers are ahead in leveraging AI tools, and we know that when they're integrating AI tools, the reporting 60% greater revenue growth. And that's what's so important is that we're now able to measure two business outcomes, right. We're not talking stories of media metrics anymore.

00:17:24:22 - 00:17:53:00 Sabrina It's really understanding how we can make Canadian companies grow. And there are a lot of different use cases. You know, another one of my favourite stories is a Aritzia. So, you know, I don't know if you know, the Super Puff, Alison? My daughter bought one of them last winter and she swears by it. She absolutely loves it. But Aritzia worked with us and they used AI to identify that Super Puff jacket demand and people interested in it wasn't happening just in October and November and in the winter. It was spiking as early as June.

00:17:53:05 - 00:18:15:22 Sabrina So it's something that you may not think about, you know, like when your demand is spiking for something like a warm winter jacket. So they pivoted quickly. They looked at how they could meet demand earlier. They worked with us on Demand Gen, YouTube, on early awareness, search and performance max on conversion to high tech. They played the entire funnel and they optimized their performance against profitability goals.

00:18:15:22 - 00:18:37:06 Sabrina Again, a business goal, not of media metrics. And the Super Puff team saw that 55% year over year increases in demand were happening thanks to the efforts that they did. So I think that's just like one example of many on the media front of just really being thoughtful of where demand is, how to actually measure to the right number on demand.

00:18:37:11 - 00:19:00:08 Sabrina But then how to use AI to maximize profitable outcomes, irrespective of what you might think that someone is going to be shopping for a Super Puff in the winter as opposed to starting in June. And so that's on the media front. We're also seeing a lot of use cases on the process front, on the creative front. And again, a lot of new emergent areas in AI and agents as well.

00:19:00:10 - 00:19:26:08 Alison So you shared some very compelling reasons for our listeners, if they're not already embracing AI, to start, having 60% better revenue growth, having 55% increase in year over year demand. So it's clear there are a lot of very powerful benefits with AI. There are also risks. So how is Google ensuring the ethical and responsible adoption of AI? And what advice would you give to marketing professionals who have tuned in today?

00:19:26:10 - 00:19:48:05 Sabrina Alison, that is a really important question and I'm really glad that you asked it. And, you know, it's something that we talk about a lot at Google, because it's really important to us. And the premise here is really about building AI boldly and responsible together. You know, the idea is that we want AI to benefit everyone, right? This is a multipurpose tool that has a lot of potential.

00:19:48:08 - 00:20:08:02 Sabrina So we were the first to develop our AI principles to guide our work. And it's about having bold innovation and developing an AI that assists and empowers, inspires and drives economic progress. We want the AI to improve people's lives. We want it to enable scientific breakthroughs. We want it to help with some of the biggest challenges that we're facing.

00:20:08:02 - 00:20:34:01 Sabrina Like one of the places I find in Google very inspiring is Isomorphic Labs. Think of the mission to solve all disease. It's such a bold mission, and this is really about reimagining drug discovery with AI. And when you look at some of the tools that are available right now, like AlphaFold, being able to look at DNA sequences and measure them and actually have them with AI and allow them to see the entire sequence, it actually just supercharges drug discovery.

00:20:34:04 - 00:20:57:07 Sabrina It supercharges solutions in really important areas. So bold innovation is really important because we need to think bold in things that benefit humanity. But we also need to do it responsible, right. So we need to develop and deploy AI responsibly. We need to acknowledge that there are complexities and risks throughout the life cycles. We have to adapt as it is evolved and we have to do this in collaboration.

00:20:57:09 - 00:21:19:21 Sabrina We create these tools for collective benefit, and we need to collaborate with different stakeholders to make sure that this is working. So from a regulation perspective, we know that AI is too important not to regulate, but it's too important not to regulate well. And we need to focus on the opportunity, not just the risk and be balanced. Because AI does have risks, but it also has tremendous potential.

00:21:20:02 - 00:21:36:23 Alison On the regulatory side, you're absolutely right, it needs to be regulated and it needs to be regulated well, which is challenging given the pace it's moving at. And no one, whether you're an AI guru or not, can really know where it's heading. So what advice would you give from a regulatory perspective?

00:21:37:01 - 00:22:06:00 Sabrina I think from a regulatory perspective, it's really about being aligned, balanced and competitive. And really looking at the risk and the opportunity together and working together with the stakeholder community. You know, talking to startups, talking to different people who are using it, because it is a moving target in terms of the technology. So it has to be at the right level of application, with the right level of inputs and reflect not just the risk but also the opportunity.

00:22:06:02 - 00:22:07:10 Alison Now I want to pivot a little bit.

00:22:07:10 - 00:22:26:16 Alison So there's lots of discussion around many tools and many benefits of Gen AI, and overlaid with what's the role for us humans in that? Looking ahead, what's Google's long term vision for integrating Gen AI into ad creation and campaign management, and how do you see this impact potentially even enhancing the role of human advertisers?

00:22:26:16 - 00:22:46:10 Sabrina Yeah, so today, you know, we've talked through some of the examples of just how AI is really making it easier for advertisers. They're going to show up in moments that you can't plan for, you know, like buying a Super Puff in June or buying a Left on Friday bathing suit while you're watching the game. And that's where I really we're investing in all of our campaigns like Performance Max, Demand Gen, AI Max Research.

00:22:46:10 - 00:23:15:08 Sabrina We know that the more that these are used, the more surfaces they're going to be displayed on, and the more demand that they're going to capture the business outcomes that the client needs. But I think as we evolve all of our capabilities, one area that I'm personally very excited about is the potential for SMBs. So Canada is a country of SMBs, and I think AI offer such a huge opportunity for them to show up and for them to to market in a way that I can't even imagine would have been possible when I started marketing over 30 years ago.

00:23:15:09 - 00:23:43:19 Sabrina You know, the tools that an SMB can have, whether it's on content creation or finding customers around the world, is pretty incredible. So like there is a restaurant in Burlington called Familia Fine Foods. It's a small local restaurant. They do really great takeaway, and they wanted to go bigger. And so they worked with us on Google Ads, AI-powered ads with different combinations of headlines and descriptions and really finding people who cared about what they were offering.

00:23:43:19 - 00:24:07:12 Sabrina And they increased their online sales by 27% in the past year. So, you know, if you're a small business, a restaurant owner, or any small business, like that, that can be game changing for you. The ability to grow your sales 27%. And I think all of these opportunities now put together is really what is going to drive some of that $230 billion in economic input.

00:24:07:16 - 00:24:19:16 Sabrina And we are trying to make all of our platforms and all of our advertising accessible, not just to the large, amazing businesses in Canada, but also companies like Familia Fine Foods.

00:24:19:18 - 00:24:38:10 Alison I love that example because you're absolutely right, SMBs play a mission critical role in our economy and are driving the bulk of our GDP, so that 27% growth is a great example of the power that could be amplified. It's also such a powerful tool for making SMBs much more scalable and competitive against the big guys.

00:24:38:10 - 00:24:54:16 Sabrina We're seeing a lot of interest right now in export, Canadian companies looking to find audiences all over the world and we're seeing that this is something, again, like an SMB can access markets outside of Canada in a way that maybe they couldn't have ten, 15 years ago.

00:24:54:18 - 00:25:08:20 Alison Absolutely. Now the creator economy is also booming, and I know YouTube's obviously a dominant player. So what is Google doing to support creators, and what are some of the new tools or initiatives in place to facilitate effective partnerships between brands and creators?

00:25:09:00 - 00:25:35:12 Sabrina Yeah, the YouTube creator piece is just so amazing. Like if you haven't had the chance to talk to a YouTube creator, I really suggest you do. There's 35,000 jobs around the YouTube creator ecosystem just in Canada. It contributes more than 1.8 billion to Canada's GDP. Huge exporters. Right? So if you're a creator in Canada, you're making content for the Canadian audience, but you're exporting over 90% of your watch time to other markets.

00:25:35:12 - 00:25:57:10 Sabrina And think about all of these new translation tools and other capabilities that you can have. And I think one of the things that people may not be aware of is that for every dollar in advertising that a creator or a YouTuber makes in Canada, 55% of it or $0.55 goes to them. So this is that 1.8 billion is an enormous economic powerhouse in Canada.

00:25:57:12 - 00:26:24:10 Sabrina And these YouTube creators are finding fame and they're finding audiences all over the world. So I spend as much time as I can with creators because I find them so fascinating. And I'm so excited about the work that they're doing. And we really punch above our weight in Canada. And there was an Ipsos study just recently that online users are 98% more likely to trust the recommendations of creators on YouTube, and that's like versus any other social sites or apps.

00:26:24:13 - 00:26:48:05 Sabrina And so creators are now embedded in influencing and in creating opportunities for brands in Canada. So we just launched the Creator Partnerships Hub. This is a dedicated tool that lives in Google Ads, and it really lets advertisers see and manage all of their creator campaigns, so that you can combine this trust of creators and your AI-powered campaigns, and you can reach different audiences.

00:26:48:07 - 00:27:04:00 Sabrina So I think it's really exciting, and I think every every 14 year old wants to be a creator. And we have Take Your Kids to Work Day. And one of the things we're going to talk to them about is how do creators start their businesses, because so many people find that to be such a fascinating opportunity.

00:27:04:06 - 00:27:11:21 Alison It really would be a fascinating career. I'm at the other end of my career where I'm now thinking about retirement, so maybe I should join and make it part of my retirement plan.

00:27:11:22 - 00:27:27:11 Sabrina Alison. Absolutely. Well, you know what? The other thing? Podcasts is one of the fastest growing and largest areas on YouTube right now. So people are looking at podcasts on video, they're watching it on CTV on their big screen. So it's maybe that could be your next calling.

00:27:27:13 - 00:27:42:22 Alison There you go. Figuring out my retirement plan as a side benefit to this episode. So for marketers and employees that are navigating this AI transformation, what is your advice for helping them truly focus on thriving and making the most of this new era?

00:27:43:00 - 00:28:03:05 Sabrina You know, I think it can seem overwhelming, but we did it before with the shift to mobile, so we can do it again. With the shift to AI, and what I see folks who are actually getting that 60% value doing is a couple of things. Like, first of all, they're anchoring to value. They're not having an AI strategy.

00:28:03:05 - 00:28:26:19 Sabrina They're having a business strategy that's enabled by AI. Second, they're scaling fast, so they're figuring out of all the pilots are doing what do they need to scale, what do they need to sunset and avoiding pilot paralysis. And third, they're bringing their people along on the journey. And this is the trickiest thing. I truly believe that the AI transformation is one part tech and three parts change management, leadership, culture.

00:28:26:23 - 00:28:50:01 Sabrina And it really is about your whole organization having the basic skills to understand it and to set that strategy. Having all members of the C-level table all in. And like you said, the CMO can be such a guiding light on this. I really feel that strongly. The HR leader has such an important role to play and to pace the change and to pace the creation and to scale the value creation.

00:28:50:01 - 00:29:06:05 Sabrina So, you know, like not everyone needs to be AI-proficient, like someone being able to create a large language model or set up a whole system. But everyone needs to understand the basics of AI, and everyone needs to understand how to anchor to that business value and process and manage this change.

00:29:06:07 - 00:29:22:04 Alison That is outstanding advice. Now, I'm very fortunate to have some of Canada's top business leaders like you as guests on the podcast. So I end every episode with a question that I know our listeners are going to be very keen to hear your answer on. What's one piece of career advice that you would share with listeners who aspire to follow in your footsteps?

00:29:22:06 - 00:29:39:20 Sabrina You know, my kids ask me this, and what's so interesting is that when I was their age, my job didn't exist. So what I always anchor on, I call it the unicorn of the future of work. So, Alison, I think that the unicorn of the future of work is a combination of left brain, logical reasoning, right brain, creative.

00:29:39:20 - 00:30:00:23 Sabrina So both of them together, left brain and right brain and supercharged with AI. And tools are going to evolve. Jobs will evolve. But the skills that you have need to be grounded in using those tools, but also the combination of both the logic, the reasoning and the creativity, the collaboration and the fundamentals of how you work with people are so important.

00:30:00:23 - 00:30:18:18 Sabrina I think creativity is the undersold super skill of tomorrow, but you also need to be technically relevant, right? I'm always encouraging people understand the tools, understand them enough to be dangerous, and then hire the people around you that are going to be able to go very deep on it. You know, but all of this is also just about being curious.

00:30:18:18 - 00:30:46:22 Sabrina Like there's so much curiosity in everything that we're doing right now with AI. If you think about your ability to have the world's information on your phone and now you're able to interact with it in a multi-modal way through Gemini Live, through some of these new tools. I just think it is such an exciting time. One to be a marketer, two to be in Canada, and I'm very hopeful for our ability to create value for the Canadian economy.

00:30:46:22 - 00:31:02:04 Sabrina But not just that, to solve some of those big challenges that we talked about earlier, like the things that really matter to us in our societies as well, and that we can do it together, and we will look back on this era and the way that we look back at mobile and think, wow, we did that.

00:31:02:06 - 00:31:25:21 Alison That is outstanding advice. And I love the unicorn of the future of work, and you're absolutely right. So many jobs didn't exist five years ago that exist today. So your ability to stay curious and learn and have both sides of your brain engaged is mission critical. So Sabrina, it's been an absolute delight. I know you're incredibly busy, and I appreciate how generous you've been with your time and looking forward to seeing you at an upcoming event as well.

00:31:25:23 - 00:31:31:06 Sabrina Thank you for the work that you do, Alison. And like the CMA is so important and I'm grateful for the partnership.

00:31:31:11 - 00:31:43:01 Alison Well, thank you. We've got amazing members and I've got an amazing team or none of this would be possible. So thank you as well.

00:31:43:03 - 00:31:55:16 Presenter Thanks for joining us. Be sure to visit theCMA.ca and sign up for your free MyCMA account. It's a great way to stay connected and benefit from the latest marketing thought leadership, news, and industry trends.