While many mid-market marketing teams are cautiously testing AI—dabbling in automation tools, running isolated pilots, and waiting for clearer best practices—Salesforce’s executive leadership is already pointing to what comes next.
They’re not obsessed with speed or novelty. They’re focused on how AI, data, and automation can come together to create more relevant, strategic, and trust-based marketing systems. In other words: the future isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing what matters, better.
If you want to understand how modern marketing is evolving—not just in theory but in practice—the Salesforce C-suite offers a blueprint.
Ariel Kelman: Creativity Is Still a Human Advantage
At the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival, Ariel Kelman, President and CMO of Salesforce, outlined a perspective that cuts through much of the AI noise:
“AI should remove the mundane from marketers’ days. That’s how we make space for real creativity, brand storytelling, and strategic thinking.”
Kelman isn’t pitching AI as a magic wand. He’s saying: when used right, AI agents give marketers back their time—not by replacing them, but by handling repetitive execution.
His focus isn’t volume. It’s resonance. Personalization. Strategic freedom. He wants marketers thinking about the customer, not tweaking yet another email variant. This reflects a deeper truth: AI doesn’t replace creative leadership—it enables it.
For mid-market teams, the takeaway is critical: your value isn’t in the content volume you ship—it’s in the clarity of the strategy behind it.
Boon Lai: Use AI to Empower Sales and Support
Boon Lai, Salesforce’s SVP of Growth Marketing, has taken this further—talking openly about how AI is enhancing their go-to-market engine.
Instead of AI replacing sales or marketing roles, it’s becoming an assistive force: helping sales reps prep for calls, surfacing relevant insights from CRM data, and personalizing customer interactions at scale.
He emphasizes collaboration between marketing and sales—AI tools help both sides understand the customer better and act more cohesively.
This hits on one of the biggest challenges in modern B2B: marketing and sales alignment. Many teams still operate in silos, with marketing focused on MQLs and sales focused on quota.
Salesforce’s approach shows how AI can become the connective tissue between those functions—if used strategically.
Pablo Perez: From the Attention Economy to the Permission Economy
Inside Salesforce’s AI labs, leaders like Pablo Perez are championing “Agentic AI”—systems that act on behalf of users to make decisions, complete tasks, and drive results.
But with this autonomy comes a new responsibility. As Perez puts it:
“We’re moving from an attention economy to a permission economy. Customers won’t just browse—they’ll delegate. And trust will determine which brands they empower.”
This idea should raise eyebrows across the marketing world. It suggests that the future isn’t about who shouts the loudest—but about who earns enough trust to be granted access.
In this future, AI isn’t just a tool marketers use. It’s a new environment buyers live in.
Brands that want to stay relevant won’t just optimize for clicks—they’ll need to earn permission to be present in decision flows. And that requires clarity, consistency, and deep strategic alignment with buyer needs.
4. What Mid-Market Leaders Can Learn—and Do Next
Salesforce’s executive team is showing what modern leadership looks like in the AI era:
- Kelman is focused on reclaiming creativity and strategy.
- Lai is breaking silos with AI that supports human interaction.
- Perez is preparing for a world where trust governs access.
If you’re a CMO, VP, or RevOps leader, the message is clear:
Your advantage isn’t in adopting tools. It’s in aligning people, processes, and data around outcomes that matter.
So how do you do that without Salesforce’s infrastructure?
You start with a system—not a stack.
5. That’s Why We Built the UCS ROI Toolkit™
The UCS ROI Toolkit™ wasn’t built as a collection of prompts or templates. It’s a complete, self-guided strategic system for marketers who want to think—and lead—like the best.
It’s based on the MSMS™ (Modular Scalable Marketing System), which helps you:
- Structure your funnel around buyer behavior
- Align strategy to real-world struggles (external, internal, philosophical)
- Plan content by funnel stage, not just keyword
- Translate executive-level insight into everyday execution
It’s how you scale strategic clarity—without needing Salesforce’s headcount or WPP’s budget.
Final Word
Salesforce’s C-suite isn’t speculating on the future. They’re showing it.
They understand that AI isn’t just a trend. It’s a forcing function—one that will divide brands into two camps:
- Those who chase tools without strategy.
- And those who use tools to reinforce strategic focus, alignment, and trust.
If you want to be the latter, don’t wait.
Download the UCS ROI Toolkit™ for just $89 CAD and start leading your marketing team with clarity, not chaos.