Reclaiming the power of the story — fueled by data and AI

The May 2026 MarTech Conference convened a panel of marketing leaders to address a defining tension: preserving authentic storytelling amid an era shaped by AI and data.

In the session, “Marketing’s moment: Reclaiming the power of the story, fueled by data and AI,” moderator A. Lee Judge, co-founder and CMO of Content Monsta, led a discussion with Dale Bertrand, Melanie Deziel, Lexie Haggerty from Braze, and Jordache Johnson.

The reality of modern marketing is that audiences are increasingly skeptical about whether a human or a machine is behind the screen. Deziel argued that trust will depend less on polish and more on transparency. “People are gonna be looking for those trust signals,” she said, noting that brands must provide “behind the scenes” insight to prove real people are driving the messaging.

When AI-generated noise becomes the baseline, personal storytelling becomes the differentiator. Johnson urged marketers to lean into conviction. “Take a position in something that costs something,” he advised, arguing that tension and vulnerability are the exact signals of human involvement that machines cannot replicate.

The panel also examined how to leverage data without stifling the creative spark. Bertrand explained that data should support storytelling rather than replace it, using customer intent analysis to understand audience needs. He shared how his agency analyzed sales calls to quantify the impact of inaccurate competitor messaging, uncovering an estimated $12 million in at-risk revenue.

For these leaders, AI’s greatest value lies in improving workflows and surfacing hidden insights. Bertrand described sales recordings as a “cheat code” for discovering what customers genuinely care about, while Judge noted that AI can surface patterns that sales teams might overlook.

Scaling effectively requires a foundation of process over plugins. Johnson stressed that organizations often rush toward tools while ignoring the systems required to use them.

“Context is more important than any other piece of input that you’re gonna put into an AI tool,” he said. Deziel reinforced this, warning that applying AI to disorganized workflows only creates “mess and miscommunication at scale.”

On the topic of personalization, Haggerty pointed out that the hurdle isn’t a lack of data, but the silos that prevent its activation. She emphasized using real-time behavioral data to create useful, non-invasive experiences. “It’s 2026,” she said. “We know that personalization is not just like throwing a first name into a subject line.”

Looking ahead, the panel warned against the trap of over-optimization. Johnson criticized the tendency to “worship velocity over vividness,” while Deziel reminded the audience of the human at the end of the automation chain. “You made so much content so effectively, and no one felt anything,” she said. “That’s not the goal.”

The path forward is clear: AI should amplify, not replace, human strategic thinking. Success in this evolving landscape belongs to the brands that combine data-driven insights with authentic storytelling that audiences truly remember.

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