Meri Kokotova, CMO at TBM Group: “Martech is being disrupted on a daily basis — it’s always better to be a leader than a follower”

Welcome to the first in our new series of interviews with thought leaders in the intersection of technology and industry. Dust or Magic will feature some of the leading lights in the world of marketing, and we’re kicking off with a bang: Meri Kokotova, CMO at TBM Group.

TBM Group creates events with impact, and that means keeping ahead of technology. It’s telling that Meri says that, when she’s recruiting, “I’m now looking for tech geeks, who are enthusiastic about all the AI gadgets and tools”.

In fact, what comes through this interview is that there’s no place for standing still if you’re part of Meri’s team. But that’s also a reflection of marketing — and MarTech. This is one of the fastest-moving industries in the world. If you don’t keep up, you could end up looking like Don Draper when you need to look like Neil Patel.

Or, you may decide, Meri Kokotova.

Why Dust or Magic? That stems from a quote by legendary American advertising creative director, William Bernbach: “An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.” (And if you’re wondering where you’ve heard the name, Bernbach was the inspiration behind Don Draper of Mad Men fame.)

Could you please introduce yourself to our audience? What motivated you to pursue a career in marketing, and how did you embark on your journey in this field?  

I am Meri Kokotova, the CMO & Partner at TBM Group. After obtaining my BA in Business Management & MA in Business Law in Prague, I got pulled into the world of marketing at my first job at an events company. At the age of only 23 years, I was fast tracked into the role of the Head of Marketing at the Marcus Evans Mexico office before moving to the London headquarters to head the Marketing Department of Curation by Marcus Evans, and finally joined TBM Group CMO & Partner in 2021.

I compare my passion for marketing like my passion for travelling. Every new marketing campaign, re-branding and product launch is like a new trip — you have to get to know the locals, and be ready for an adventure! My guilty pleasure is the magic unfolding on the tracks of a Formula 1 race.

Related reading: What will the digital landscape look like in 2028?

What are your thoughts on the escalating integration of AI in digital marketing and its potential influence on the future of marketing, Martech, and social media?

If there ever was a field that is as fast-changing, ever-evolving and unpredictable as the tech world, it would be the field of marketing. Every month there is a new tool that can help you create better content, present your product or service in a better way and reach the target audience in a new creative way.

That’s why I believe the field of marketing is one of the most affected by the developing AI technology that we’ve witnessed in the past couple of years. We’ve seen AI tools completely take over processes like email writing, photo and video creation, customer interaction, and even social media campaign automation and mass emailing.

The undeniable fact is that artificial intelligence is here and is here to stay and it will probably replace 70% of the jobs in marketing. However, I’m a strong proponent of the human touch in our field. As smart as AI is, it can never get to know the target audience, anticipate people’s wants and needs and explore the brand’s buyer personas like a human can.

As much as AI can make the life of a marketeer easier, and the processes smoother and faster, the cherry on the top and the differentiating factor that will set each brand apart from its competitors is without a doubt the human touch.

How do you ready yourself for an AI-driven landscape as a marketing leader? What new skills do you need? 

The landscape has changed in the last couple of years in terms of our recruitment needs. As we’ve introduced AI tools to help us streamline processes, the need for tech-savvy employees who can work with these new tools and excel at them has become greater than ever.

When I’m recruiting, I’m now looking for tech geeks, who are enthusiastic about all the AI gadgets and tools, who think outside of the box and who are constantly on the lookout for breakthrough tools, programs or AI-generated processes to help us with our marketing needs.  

With AI tools replacing so many processes and positively affecting efficiency, we’ve seen our marketing department function better, faster and smarter with just half the workforce.

The displacement of a certain number of employees is eminent, however, I always tell my team that we are given a great blessing to be able to work in this day and age when there is a novelty every week, and we have to learn how to adapt, embrace it and make the most of it.

Related reading: 6 AI tools for digital marketing

Looking ahead to 2024, what AdTech trends do you expect to dominate?

One of the trends that we will see is the ad world becoming increasingly more creative, as AI tools make ad production affordable for everyone. Gone are the days when only the biggest brands could afford to produce elaborate video and photo ads, as nowadays you can virtually create anything with a simple AI video creator.

So now that we’ve removed largely the budget factor, it will come down to creativity to grasp the attention of the audience. Organic social media reach has largely decreased the need for huge ad budgets, as nowadays the audience has the final say and votes on the content it likes to consume. Any small brand with a creative ad with basically no budget can go viral and reach audiences if the campaign is creative enough for people to share and engage with.

Another trend that is already very popular and will become even more so in the years to come is the user experience element of every brand. Technology has spoiled us, I must say, and we have high expectations of our brands to deliver the smoothest, most pleasant, simple yet entertaining user experience when we land on their website/social media profiles. So brands will be competing to attract and retain consumers largely through their consumer interface.

How do you think AI might evolve B2B Marketing and/or ABM strategies in 2024?

AI has already automated a big part of the process in B2B marketing. Lead generation has become easier and faster, mass emailing has been enhanced with automated processes for campaigning, and analytics tools have helped us narrow down and zoom in on our target client, so I think in 2024 AI will indirectly lead to a bigger human creativity factor in the who process to be able to be different from everyone else.

Our clients will be bombarded with tens of emails generated by an AI, with info that was automatically scraped, exposed to similar types of AI-generated ads on social media, so the trends that will need to emerge are greater human involvement and human touch in all B2B marketing that will set us apart from the competition and the bulk of AI-generated marketing efforts. 

Could you share some of your most noteworthy accomplishments that you take particular pride in?

One of the biggest accomplishments that we’ve had as TBM Group in 2023 is, organising the first AI Tech Summit for South Eastern Europe.

It was important for us to bring the AI industry and thought leadership to this region and start educating the not-so-advanced countries on the importance of artificial intelligence technology and its everyday implications. Our two-day agenda featured some of the greatest minds in the industry, like Jeanny Lim, the co-creator of the humanoid robot Sophia, Ronny Fehling, the founder of Boston Consulting Group, Saiman Shetty, Robotics & AI at Tesla & Lyft, Suzanne Nordinger from Universal Robots, and the list of superstars goes on. So as someone who is constantly propagating early adoption of artificial intelligence technology both into business and life, I was happy that we as the TBM Group were able to do an event of this proportion and bring AI to the forefront in this region.  

Feel free to take a look at our event video [below].

What piece of advice would you offer to fellow marketing leaders that has been particularly beneficial to you personally?

Do not fear or prolong change, but rather be an advocate of it.

Martech is being disrupted on a daily basis and it’s always better to be a leader than a follower. So stay on top of all the tech developments, as they can be one of your best competitive advantages. Change always has to come from the top, and as leaders, we always need to be the ones propagating it.

We need to create a culture that is hungry for new AI and tech developments and stays ahead of the curve in terms of early adoption. If my team can discover a tool and use it to differentiate our value proposition from our competitors, it can make a huge impact on our bottom line.

Related content

• Mailmeteor review
• Harnessing data to shape the brand experience in a post-cookie world