Stewart Hillhouse on the AI Playbook for Tomorrow’s Content Teams
The Animalz Content Marketing Podcast
Navigating Transparency in Marketing Campaigns
This chapter explores the transition in sales and marketing toward relationship-based selling, emphasizing the importance of AI operators in teams. It also highlights a unique open-source marketing campaign and discusses broader success metrics in engaging audiences knowledgeable about marketing tactics.
In this episode, Stewart Hillhouse shares a refreshingly practical perspective on how content teams can thrive in an AI-accelerated environment. Fresh from a three-year run as Head of Content at Mutiny and now heading to StoryArb as VP of Content, Stewart offers concrete workflows, AI prompting techniques, and a clear vision for how content teams should restructure for maximum impact.
His approach emphasizes both speed and creativity—advocating for shorter planning horizons, integrated quarterly campaigns, and transparent marketing that acknowledges the audience's sophistication. Most importantly, he provides a framework for the "content team of the future" that leverages AI for operational tasks while positioning humans as strategic directors and personality-driven marketers.
About Our Guest: Stewart Hillhouse
Stewart Hillhouse has just completed a three-year tenure as Head of Content at Mutiny, where he developed campaigns that generated millions in pipeline while witnessing the company's growth from Series A through the emergence of generative AI. His background is unconventional — he started his career in forestry before making a pivot into content marketing through a self-initiated podcast where he interviewed marketing leaders.
Stewart is now beginning a new chapter as VP of Content at storyarb, where he'll focus on newsletter and narrative editorial content. Throughout his career, he has maintained a commitment to experimentation and knowledge-sharing, regularly publishing his techniques and insights for the broader marketing community.
About This Season of the Animalz Podcast: AI & Content
Hello... is there anybody out there creating real value with AI?
The AI conversation in content marketing has become deafening — skeptics shouting from one side, shallow tips from enthusiasts on the other. But somewhere in this noise, there must be pioneers who've actually figured something out, right?
We've gone on a search for the real pioneers — the ones who've ventured beyond the hype to succeed (or fail) spectacularly. Through their hard-won insights, we'll discover if there's actually something of value hiding in the noise, or if we're all just shouting into the void.
Timestamps
- 00:00 "You can't think more than 90 days ahead in today's environment"
- 02:00 From forestry to content marketing through podcasting
- 05:00 Building integrated campaigns at Mutiny
- 07:00 The "Survivor" campaign: 10,000 participants, millions in pipeline
- 09:00 Why timeliness trumps perfect execution
- 11:00 Joining StoryArb as VP of Content
- 13:00 "Don't write your own prompts" - The meta AI hack
- 16:00 Using AI but owning the final result
- 18:00 Feeding AI unexpected combinations for creative output
- 20:00 Three foundational guardrails for consistent AI content
- 24:00 "I'm no longer a better writer than AI"
- 26:00 From creation to operations: the changing content role
- 27:00 The future content team: personality marketers, operators, and directors
- 33:00 The open source target account list campaign
- 36:00 Breaking the fourth wall in B2B marketing
- 40:00 The AI research hack: finding relevant podcast segments
Mentioned Links & Resources
- Mutiny (00:05:00): Stewart's previous company, a personalization platform.
- Survivor Campaign (00:07:00): Stewart's AI-focused campaign that generated millions in pipeline.
- Storyarb (00:11:00): The agency Stewart is joining as VP of Content.
- 95% Content (00:13:00): Podcast where Stewart previously shared AI content tips.
- DeepSeek (00:20:00): A newer AI model Stewart mentions.
- Claude and ChatGPT (00:22:00): AI tools Stewart uses with project/memory features.
- Open Source Target Account List (00:33:00): A groundbreaking ABM campaign where Mutiny publicly shared their 5,000 target accounts and created personalized microsites for each one.
Follow Stewart Hillhouse on LinkedIn where he regularly shares content marketing insights.
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