Marketers at Possible adjust to the realities of AI while trying to stay human

In this first installment of a two-part series, here are interviews with executives from Geico, news and information source 1440, market research firm Marketcast, media agency Mediaplus, Latin-focused agency CROING and Maybelline.

Katie Klumper, a key marketing and growth executive with Geico, shared how AI is helping the insurer with finding and retaining talent, saying her department is one “others want to poach from us.”

Tim Huelskamp, who co-founded and launched news and information source 1440 a few years before the pandemic, believes the time is right for a truly neutral source of news, which is why the site employs so many fact checkers. He also is a believer in “knowledge serendipity.”

Marketcast, which bills itself as a market effectiveness firm, sits at the crossroads of media, marketing and culture, picking up signals to help guide advertising effectiveness. Its CMO, Kerel Cooper, says the firm is using AI as a way to speed the crunching of data to glean insights — without losing the human and emotional connection advertising can create.

Media agency veteran Alan Schanzer came to his first Possible this year, and his take was that Possible feels like “Cannes [Lions] and CES all scrunched into one,” which is a pretty solid take on the conference. Schanzer said the economic signals out there are worrying, but he still hasn’t seen much pullback at all from marketers.

Finally, Digiday editor in chief Jim Cooper caught up for the third year in a row with Alejandra Salazar, founder of Latin-focused agency CROING, who brought along with her the president of Maybelline New York, Yasmin Dastmalchi. Both execs shared their best tactics and practices to authentically connect with Latin consumers.

The next and final installment of interviews with executives at Possible will feature conversations with Muche and Hyve Group CEO Mark Shashoua, as well as executives from Kepler, GoGo SqueeZ and Clinch. Stay tuned.