I'm a Marketer. And I'm Going Extinct.

How I stopped wallowing in AI panic and started documenting my survival strategy

Let me start with the uncomfortable truth: 60% of marketing jobs will be taken over by AI agents by 2028, according to Forbes. That's not some distant future scenario—that's four years away. Four years to reinvent myself or become professionally irrelevant.

I'm not here to sugarcoat this or pretend it's all exciting opportunity. It's terrifying. But after a year of existential spirals and podcast binges, I've decided to stop being a passive victim of this transformation and start actively navigating it.

This is my real-time documentation of going from traditional marketing consultant to... well, we'll find out together. This was my first post about it on LinkedIn

The Front Row Seat Nobody Asked For

Over the past year, I've been working with leading AI experts and thought leaders. It's given me an uncomfortably close view of what's coming for our industry. While people are still debating whether AI will "eventually" change marketing, I've watched it happen in real time.

The experience has been a masterclass in professional anxiety. Four existential crises, many evenings binging AI podcasts, and approximately 365 brilliant business ideas I've done absolutely nothing with. Classic analysis paralysis meets imposter syndrome.

But here's what separated me from the doomsayers and the deniers: I had access to the people actually building this future. And what I learned changed my perspective.

Why AI Isn't Just Another Marketing Tool

Unlike previous "revolutionary" marketing technologies that promised to change everything (remember when QR codes were going to transform customer experience?), AI isn't just automating existing processes. It's fundamentally rewriting what marketing means.

We're not talking about better email automation or smarter ad targeting. We're talking about AI agents that can:

• Create entire campaigns from brief to execution

• Analyse customer data and predict behaviour with scary accuracy

• Generate content that's indistinguishable from human-created material

• Optimise campaigns in real-time across multiple channels

• Handle customer interactions with more empathy than most humans

The companies clinging to "traditional strategies" aren't just missing opportunities—they're actively choosing obsolescence.

From Panic to Purpose: My Public Experiment

I've made a decision that feels both liberating and utterly terrifying: I'm documenting this entire journey publicly. Not because I have all the answers (I definitely don't), but because I suspect I'm not alone in feeling this mix of urgency and mild panic.

This isn't your typical "thought leadership" content. This is raw, honest documentation of what it actually looks like to reinvent yourself when the ground is shifting beneath your feet. The wins, the failures, the 3 AM breakthrough moments, and the inevitable impostor syndrome spirals.

Why public documentation?

• Radical accountability: Nothing motivates quite like the fear of public failure

• Community building: If you're in the same sinking ship, maybe we can learn to navigate together

• Real-time learning: Instead of waiting until I "figure it out," I'm sharing the messy middle

The Great AI Tool Deep Dive

My first mission is something every marketer is grappling with: making sense of the AI tools that are supposed to be our salvation (and potential replacement).

I use ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity daily, but I've been using them intuitively rather than strategically. Time to get scientific about it.

What I'm testing:

• ChatGPT: The creative powerhouse everyone knows, but what are its blind spots?

• Claude: The analytical genius that excels at complex reasoning—but where does it stumble?

• Perplexity: The research champion with real-time data access—but can it handle creative tasks?

I'm going beyond surface-level comparisons to uncover:

• Hidden strengths most people miss

• Specific use cases where each tool dominates

• How to combine them for maximum impact

• Prompting strategies that actually work

  
  

This isn't theory—it's battle-tested insights from someone betting their career on getting this right.

The New Marketing Hierarchy of Needs

Through my work with AI experts, I've identified what I call the "New Marketing Hierarchy of Needs"—the skills and mindsets that will separate the survivors from the casualties:

Level 1: AI Fluency - Not just using tools, but understanding how to think alongside AI

Level 2: Strategic Orchestration - Knowing when to use humans vs. AI vs. hybrid approaches

Level 3: Ethical Integration - Navigating the minefield of AI ethics in marketing

Level 4: Continuous Adaptation - Building systems for perpetual learning and evolution

Most marketers are still stuck at Level 0: denial or basic tool usage. This hierarchy will be my roadmap for the journey ahead.

The Urgency is Real (And So Is the Opportunity)

If you're feeling that cocktail of excitement and existential dread, you're not imagining things. The timeline for this transformation isn't gradual—it's exponential. But here's what my time with AI pioneers taught me: every massive disruption creates massive opportunity for those willing to lean into uncertainty.

The marketers who thrive won't be the ones who resist change or the ones who blindly embrace every new tool. They'll be the ones who develop a systematic approach to adaptation—who build learning and experimentation into their DNA.

Your Invitation to the Unknown

This blog is becoming my laboratory, my public diary of professional metamorphosis, my real-time experiment in staying relevant while staying human.

Whether you're a fellow marketer feeling the pressure, a business owner trying to understand what this means for your team, or someone who's simply fascinated by watching entire industries transform in real time—this journey is for you.

Because here's the truth nobody talks about: None of us has to figure this out alone.

The future of marketing is being written right now, in real time, by people just like us who decided to stop being spectators and start being pioneers.

Are you ready to dive into the unknown with me?

Coming next week: My breakdown of ChatGPT vs. Claude vs. Perplexity—which AI wins at what, complete with side-by-side tests, epic failures, and the prompting strategies that actually work.

Want to follow this experiment? Follow along on LinkedIn here