Pragmatic AI: How CMOs Build Credible AI Stories Without Losing Trust
Every company has an AI story, but not every story is believable.
As pressure from boards, analysts, and competitors intensifies, CMOs are being pushed to lead with AI even when the product reality is still evolving. Too often, this results in vague positioning, recycled narratives, and promises that outpace delivery, ultimately eroding buyer trust.
In this session, Rob Karel, most recently the Sr. VP of Marketing at Precisely, draws on his experience as a former industry analyst and senior marketing leader to share a pragmatic approach to AI positioning. He’ll break down how CMOs can clearly separate vision from roadmap from reality, establish a differentiated point of view in a crowded market, and use AI internally to accelerate marketing teams without compromising credibility.
This conversation is designed for CMOs and senior marketing leaders who want to stand out in the AI era by being clear, honest, and customer-driven… not just loud.
AI is everywhere… and that’s exactly the problem.
Nearly every company claims to be “AI-powered,” yet buyers are more confused and skeptical than ever. During a recent Game Changers CMO Series session, Robert Karel, former SVP of Marketing at Precisely and longtime B2B marketing leader, shared a clear message for CMOs: credibility, not hype, will determine who wins the AI era.
Drawing on his experience as a former Forrester analyst and marketing executive, Karel broke down why so many AI narratives fall flat and what CMOs can do differently.
The AI Hype Cycle Is Familiar and Predictable
Karel opened by placing AI in a historical context. He’s seen this pattern before.
There are hyped trends; data warehousing, advanced analytics, the cloud, big data, now AI. Every change has been legitimate, but the trajectory is consistent: we overpromise, underdeliver, disappoint the market, and then the real winners emerge.
The difference this time? The pressure is coming from every direction. Vendors fear irrelevance if they don’t talk about AI. Buyers fear falling behind if they don’t invest.
The result is widespread confusion and an opportunity for CMOs to stand out by being clear.
Start With Value, Not AI
One of the most consistent themes of the session was that AI should never be the headline.
“Marketing always has to start with value,” Karel said. “Who are you solving a problem for? What are you solving? And what’s differentiated about how you solve it?”
AI, he explained, is the how, not the what. Leading with “AI-powered” without explaining the underlying value only adds to buyer skepticism.
Tip for CMOs:
Don’t ask, “How do we make this an AI story?”
Ask, “What problem do we solve better than anyone else — and how does AI help us do that?”
Vision, Roadmap, Reality: Why the Distinction Matters
One of the most actionable parts of the discussion focused on separating vision, roadmap, and what’s actually in production.
There is real damage when you overpromise and underdeliver. In a subscription economy, you don’t survive on hype. You survive on renewals.
When marketing and product aren’t aligned, companies end up pitching capabilities with no real delivery date, creating excitement initially, followed by frustration and churn.
Tip for CMOs:
- Vision = your long-term North Star (3+ years out)
- Roadmap = potential paths to get there (not commitments)
- Production = what customers can use today
If you blur these lines, trust erodes fast.
Releasing Features ≠Marketing Features
Karel also challenged the assumption that every product update deserves a marketing moment.
Releasing capability doesn’t mean marketing that capability. Those are two separate decisions.
While continuous product releases are important for customers, pushing every feature to the market overwhelms sales teams and confuses buyers. Instead, he advocated for thematic, seasonal launches that bundle meaningful progress into a clear story.
Tip for CMOs:
- Keep shipping product updates for customers
- Train technical teams continuously
- Market in focused, narrative-driven launches (quarterly or biannual)
Differentiation Starts With Use Cases, Not Buzzwords
When asked how to compete against vendors making bolder AI claims, Karel was blunt:
I’m a big fan of letting competitors tarnish their own brand.
Rather than matching exaggerated promises, he advised CMOs to anchor their AI narrative in specific use cases where they have a clear right to win.
Start with the use case. Then explain how AI is used to solve that problem. It doesn’t have to be agentic or autonomous just because that’s the buzzword.
Tip for CMOs:
If you can’t clearly explain where and why AI is used in your product, buyers won’t trust it.
Build a Layered AI Messaging Architecture
Another common mistake Karel sees: trying to create one AI message for everything.
You’re not crafting a single AI message. There are layers, brand-level vision, product-level messaging, and use-case-level stories.
Each layer serves a different audience and purpose. Confusion happens when feature-level language is used for brand storytelling, or when vision messaging creeps into sales conversations.
Tip for CMOs:
Design your AI messaging like an architecture — not a slogan.
Where AI Is Actually Delivering Value Inside Marketing Teams
Internally, Karel emphasized that AI’s biggest impact today is efficiency, not replacement.
I don’t use AI to build theories. I use it to test them.
From persona analysis and content audits to competitive research and battle card updates, AI excels as a thinking partner, accelerating work without replacing human judgment.
One standout example: training AI on personas and existing content to automatically map assets to the right buyers.
Tip for CMOs:
Use AI to scale thinking and speed execution but keep humans accountable for strategy and differentiation.
Guardrails: Encourage Experimentation, Protect Trust
When it comes to internal guardrails, Karel kept it simple, saying, “It’s mostly common sense.”
Don’t upload sensitive customer data. Don’t expose proprietary IP. Beyond that, give teams room to experiment and fail.
Everyone is being asked to do more with less. AI is part of that reality.
Tip for CMOs:
Create psychological safety around experimentation, but be clear about security boundaries.
The CMO’s Job Isn’t Execution — It’s Imagination
One of the most resonant moments of the session came when Karel reframed the CMO’s role in the AI era.
Your job isn’t to figure out how demand gen uses AI. Your job is to give the tools and the mandate and then use AI yourself where it matters most.
From board communication to strategy development, CMOs need to model the behavior they expect from their teams.
The biggest risk for CMOs right now is a failure of imagination.
Final Thought: Trust Is the Real Differentiator
As the session closed, one theme stood above all others: trust compounds.
AI stories will evolve. Tools will change. Buzzwords will fade. But CMOs who clearly separate vision from reality, anchor their narratives in real customer value, and resist the urge to overpromise will be the ones still standing when the market matures.
In a world full of noise, pragmatism is the strategy.
