The Art of Marketing Science, Episode 5
Every revolution begins quietly. A spark of imagination. A strange new sound. A wild idea no one quite understands - until suddenly, the world changes.
This time, it’s not steam engines or silicon chips doing the disrupting. It’s Large Language Models (LLMs).
Artificial intelligence - the new force rewriting how we think, create, and communicate.
In the latest episode of The Art of Marketing Science, Julian Stubbs and Dr. Robert England explore the beating heart of this revolution - what AI means for marketers, scientists, and every curious mind caught in between. They trace a common thread: how the power to imagine something previously unimaginable can change everything. From the steam and smoke of the first computing machines to the bright glow of San Francisco’s INBOUND 25, they trace a single thread: the power of imagination to change everything.
From gears to genius
Julian calls it “a revolution that sneaks up on you.” And he’s right - every age has had its own version.
In the oily workshops of 1820s London, Charles Babbage imagined a machine that could do the impossible - calculate. Inspired by the Industrial Revolution and its pistons, brass and steam, he designed his Difference Engine: a mechanical mind made of cogs and gears. It would take another 170 years before a working version appeared in London’s Science Museum, but Babbage had already imagined the foundation of the computer.
Ada Lovelace, seeing beyond the clanking of the machine, imagined an invention that could aid humans in the creative process. The daughter of Lord Byron, she had both logic and poetry in her blood. She wrote that Babbage’s analytical engine could manipulate not just numbers, but symbols - even compose music. “The engine,” she said, “weaves algebraic patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.” Lovelace imagined the computer’s creative power - a leap few others could even picture.
And Alan Turing, working amid the coded whispers of Bletchley Park during World War II, imagined something even more radical: a machine that could think like a human. He cracked the Enigma code and, with it, redefined the meaning of intelligence itself. Turing imagined the computer’s ability to mimic a human.
Babbage imagined the foundation of the computer.
Lovelace imagined its creative potential.
Turing imagined its capacity to think.
Three phenomenal leaps of human - not artificial - imagination. Each began in the same place: the human mind, with a single question - “What if?”
The rise of the machines (and the marketers)
Fast forward to INBOUND 25 in San Francisco, where AI wasn’t a side topic - it was the topic. Julian calls it “a moment that’s going to change things.”From driverless taxis to self-writing copy, we’re witnessing a shift that feels as seismic as Babbage’s first gears.
Rob explains it with precision:
We’re moving from search engines to answer engines. From SEO to AEO - Answer Engine Optimization. No more ten blue links. Just one answer. If your brand isn’t in it, you’re invisible.
That thought alone should make every marketer sit up, because the future isn’t about shouting louder - it’s about asking better questions.
As Julian puts it: “The future belongs to question askers, not answer givers.” It’s a beautifully Lovelace sentiment. Answers are cheap. Curiosity is priceless.
The loop, not the funnel
HubSpot’s new marketing model, The Loop, reflects that change. Forget the old funnel where customers drop in at the top and fall out the bottom. The Loop is circular, continuous, human.
Express. Tailor. Amplify. Evolve.
Four steps that mirror how science itself works - hypothesise, test, refine, repeat. It’s the kind of rhythm that feels almost poetic when Rob and Julian unpack it: marketing, like science, is never done. It’s an ongoing experiment in relevance.
The paradox of progress
AI promises speed, precision, and scale. But here’s the catch: the more AI content floods our screens, the more humanity becomes the true differentiator.
Brands will need to stand for something real. To tell stories only humans can tell. To make things that can’t be faked - like Sony Bravia’s bouncing balls cascading through San Francisco, or a podcast recorded between a cold in Europe and a driverless taxi in California.
Julian and Rob agree: in the age of the machine, authenticity isn’t optional. It’s survival.
Be bold. Be human. Or be forgotten.
Adapt or become extinct
Every revolution leaves casualties. Kodak learned that. So did the Luddites. Agencies are next in line - unless they evolve.
Julian puts it plainly: “The winners won’t be the biggest. They’ll be the most adaptable.” Agencies that use AI as an amplifier, not a replacement. That strips away inefficiency and puts their energy into creativity, strategy, and humanity.
It’s not the end of marketing, it’s the beginning of its next chapter.
The golden age of imagination
Rob closes the episode with a thought that feels both hopeful and urgent: “If AI frees us to think more, imagine more, and dream more - that’s the golden age of AI.”
Maybe that’s what this revolution is really about - not replacing people, but reminding us what makes us human - imagination.
Because, as the Beatles said (and Julian never misses a chance to remind us), “You say you want a revolution? Well, here it is.”
Welcome to it.
Coming Up Next:
In Episode 6, Julian Stubbs and Dr. Robert England take on one of the most human - and least discussed - forces in marketing: sex. From Freud’s couch to modern research labs, they explore how understanding behaviour, taboo, and desire reveals what audiences really think. It’s witty, surprising, and yes - just a little bit naughty.
Until then: stay curious, stay human… and maybe don’t blush too easily.