In this episode of the DMI podcast, host ⁠⁠Will Francis⁠⁠ speaks with ⁠Jim Lecinski⁠⁠, marketing professor at Northwestern University, Kellogg and co-author of The AI Marketing Canvas. Together, they explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping marketing — from reducing cycle times and boosting productivity to transforming how marketers plan, execute, and measure campaigns. Jim demystifies emerging tools like AI agents, custom GPTs, and reasoning engines, and shares why marketers need to lead AI strategy rather than passively adopt it. He also offers great advice for how marketers can make the most of AI at junior, middle, and senior levels of a career.Jim's Top 3 Tips

• Nominate an AI Champion
• Focus on Today’s Practical Use Cases
• Upskill with Free Tools

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Intro & State of Marketing Today

• 01:08 – The AI Adoption Curve

• 03:30 – How AI Is Actually Used Today

• 05:01 – 4 Common Approaches to AI in Enterprises

• 08:42 – Creating an AI Strategy in Marketing

• 10:27 – Understanding AI Agents vs. Assistants

• 13:27 – What Marketers Should (and Shouldn’t) Focus On

• 16:15 – The Human Side of Marketing & Creativity

• 20:12 – AI-Generated Ads & the NBCU-Waymark Deal

• 24:33 – “We’re an AI-first company”: Why Leaders Say This

• 27:02 – How AI Will Affect Marketing Jobs

• 32:31 – Career Advice by Level

• 36:12 – What’s New in The AI Marketing Canvas (2nd Edition)

• 40:17 – How Jim Used AI to Build His Course

• 45:02 – Reframing AI as a Reasoning Engine, Not a Chatbot

• 46:12 – Job Hunting with AI

• 48:33 – Where to Upskill in AI for Marketing

-------------------

The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Check out the DMI’s extensive digital marketing library of ebooks, toolkits, webinars, guides, templates, and more! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join for free today⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review so others can find us!