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Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek has spent her career helping brands harness technology to build connections. And we mean big brands: Michelle has ben CMO of IBM Watson, the company’s ground-breaking AI platform, not to mention Skillsoft and IDC. At the latter, she spearheaded the company’s first GenAI initiatives with a goal of creating global impact.
Now CMO at Sitecore, Michelle is determined to embed generative and agentic AI alike into the foundations of the company’s marketing operations – not just as an automated system, but as an amplifier.
The question is, how do you amplify your message whilst keeping trust? Something very hard to attain in what Michelle calls today’s “trust recession”. One answer is to emphasise transparency. “Brand trust is built when we use AI not to trick or trap, but to serve,” she explains. By responsibly using data, brands can turn AI personalisation into a service rather than a tool, and rebuild the trust that keeps people coming back.
In Michelle’s view, the time where AI was an experiment is ending. “AI is foundational,” she explains, adding that “we’ve moved from campaigns that react to customer behaviour to platforms that predict and respond in real-time”.
Michelle also urges marketers to be intentional. “Don’t chase the shiniest tool,” she advises. AI should be designed “intentionally, ethically, and with empathy” above all. For her, the human element is what makes AI adoption truly successful.
With a career spent championing both technology and consumer, Michelle sees AI as the natural evolution of marketing. That’s why we began by asking how that evolution is already changing her approach to work.
AI has fundamentally reshaped not only what we deliver, but how we think, build, and lead in marketing. But perhaps the bigger shift is that consumers are already living with AI. From search to discovery, it’s changed how people find products, evaluate options, and engage with brands. As a result, authenticity is being redefined, content consumption is shifting, and context has become not just powerful, but existential.
This is no longer experimental. AI is foundational. We’ve moved from campaigns that react to customer behaviour to platforms that predict and respond in real time.
One of AI’s greatest contributions is its ability to uncover intent and surface signals, not segments. Today, we can spot behavioural cues, orchestrate dynamic content, and deliver individualised experiences across multiple channels at speed and scale. It was possible before, but it took a village. Today, AI lets us do it faster, smarter, and more intuitively for both marketers and customers.
But the real shift is structural. AI is forcing marketing teams to rethink how they work. Today’s marketers are strategists and storytellers, but now, they’re also prompt engineers, data stewards, and brand guardians. As a CMO, I see AI not as a tool, but as a workforce strategy. And that requires new mindsets, new skills, and new measures of excellence.
Too many marketing strategies are still rooted in segments. But customers don’t live in static categories; they operate in context. What they browse, what they search, where they pause — these are signals. And signals tell us far more than job titles or demographics ever could.
But signal detection isn’t optional anymore. Search behaviour has changed. The traffic hasn’t disappeared; it’s been rerouted. You can’t wait for people to come to you. You must find them, understand their intent, and show up with relevance.
To create authentic, resonant experiences, marketers need more than personalisation at scale. They need designed intelligence, the intentional choreography of AI and human insight to drive emotional connection and business outcomes.
That means shortening the distance between content and commerce, creating not just a story, but a path to conversion. And that requires three things:
It feels like a moment like Oreo’s “Dunk in the Dark,” where relevance, timing, and emotional connection collided perfectly.
AI enhances brand trust when it makes people’s lives easier, more intuitive, and more personalised, but only when done transparently and ethically. If customers know what’s driving the experience and why, they’re more likely to engage.
But we’re living through what marketers are calling a “trust recession.” Many consumers are uncomfortable with how brands use their data. Without transparency and clear value exchange, trust erodes quickly.
The risk comes when synthetic content saturates the feed, personalisation feels invasive, or AI gets used in manipulative ways. It can feel like marketing is speaking at people instead of with them.
That’s why designed intelligence matters. AI must be governed, guided, and grounded in human values. Brand trust is built when we use AI not to trick or trap, but to serve. And that requires rigorous oversight, clear disclosures, and human accountability.
With great power comes great responsibility. Just because we can predict behaviour doesn’t mean we should.
Marketers must embrace ethical frameworks that prioritise transparency, fairness, and user consent. The best experiences are not just personalised, they’re permissioned.
The regulatory landscape is evolving, but this shouldn’t be about compliance alone. It’s about leadership. Brands that champion responsible AI usage can differentiate in the market by being clear about how their systems work and what data they rely on.
Many marketers treat AI as an add-on, a shiny tool that bolts onto existing workflows. But AI isn’t an accessory. It’s an amplifier. And it only works if it’s grounded in purpose.
It’s why Sitecore is focused on helping brands bring content, data, and decisioning together, not as separate systems, but as a connected experience. When those pieces work in harmony, AI doesn’t just automate tasks, it amplifies creativity and accelerates outcomes.
Take financial services as an example. A global firm now uses generative AI to draft personalised communications — from investment summaries to onboarding materials. But instead of letting the system run unchecked, they train it on brand-approved tone, regulatory guidelines, and customer segments. Every output passes through brand and legal checkpoints, ensuring the result is both compliant and consistent. Here, AI isn’t just saving time, it’s safeguarding trust and scaling brand integrity.
Don’t chase the shiniest tool. Start with your goals. Ask: What problem are we solving? What outcome are we aiming for? Then build backwards.
AI isn’t plug-and-play. It requires context. The more you train it on your brand, your tone, your workflows, the better the results. And the more you invest in your teams by upskilling, educating, embedding AI fluency, the more effective your strategy becomes.
The marketers who succeed won’t just use AI. They’ll design it intentionally, ethically, and with empathy. Because AI can deliver answers. But only you can decide which ones are worth acting on.
