OnBase: Smashing Sales and Marketing Misalignments

Ep. 562 | AI in B2B advertising: Craig Miller (AWS) on what’s next for marketers

Oct 3, 2025

Craig Miller, a Senior advertising and marketing technology leader at AWS, shares his extensive expertise on the transformative power of AI in digital advertising. He discusses how core marketing goals remain unchanged while AI enhances efficiency. Key insights include current successful AI applications like personalization and segmentation, and the importance of robust data strategies to overcome adoption barriers. Craig emphasizes the need for marketers to engage AI at the decision-making point and outlines practical steps to leverage AI for effective advertising in the evolving landscape.

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INSIGHT

Core Marketing Goals Persist

Marketing goals haven’t changed: acquire, retain, upsell customers remain primary.
AI and new formats simply make achieving those goals more efficient and scalable.

ADVICE

Start With Efficiency, Then Expand

Use AI first to increase operational efficiency in personalization, segmentation, and data enrichment.
Then expand to new channels and agent-driven automation as your data and practices mature.

ADVICE

Address Data And Organizational Blockers

Fix your data quality, accessibility, and unification before scaling AI use cases.
Build organizational readiness and governance to operate AI responsibly and effectively.

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Demandbase CEO Gabe Rogol hosts a critical conversation with Craig Miller of AWS to tackle the seismic shifts reshaping the advertising landscape. They dive into how generative AI and LLMs are fundamentally disrupting digital advertising, from the very definition of context to the future of SEO and SEM. The discussion moves beyond the hype to identify the AI use cases that are delivering real outcomes for marketers right now.

This episode is essential for any go-to-market leader navigating this transformation. You'll gain a clear understanding of the blockers holding teams back and the data strategies required to win. Craig provides a visionary yet practical roadmap for embracing the future, ensuring your organization not only survives but thrives in the new era of AI-driven advertising.

Key Takeaways

Outcomes Remain the Same

Despite rapid technological change, the fundamental goals of marketing—acquiring, retaining, and upselling customers—remain constant. AI is a powerful new tool to achieve these goals more efficiently.

Data Is the Determinant

Your data strategy is the most critical ingredient for success. Winning in the AI era depends on your ability to unify and activate high-quality first-party and third-party data.

New Channels Are Emerging

AI is creating a new advertising channel. Marketers must learn to influence AI agents at the "point of reasoning" to ensure their products and services are discovered.

Start Now and Build Momentum

Don't wait for the future to take shape. The winners of tomorrow are building their organizational knowledge and operational muscle today by starting with achievable, high-value use cases.

Partnerships Accelerate Success

Overcoming internal data and organizational blockers is complex. Working with integrated platform partners like Demandbase and AWS accelerates time-to-market and removes the undifferentiated heavy lifting.

Quotes

"Data is absolutely the critical ingredient. It's kind of a garbage in, garbage out problem."

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About the Guest

Craig Miller is the Global Industry and Solutions Lead for Advertising and Marketing at AWS. With decades of experience at the forefront of digital advertising, from building the first third-party ad server to driving innovation at AppNexus and Xandr, Craig brings a powerful perspective on the convergence of data, AI, and marketing technology. His work at AWS places him at the center of how the world's most innovative companies are preparing for the next chapter of advertising.

Connect with Craig.