Adam Brotman and Andy Sack | Co-Founders, Forum3 | It's a Bird! It's a Plane! Holy Sh!t, It's AI!

CMO Confidential

A CMO Confidential Interview with Andy Sack and Adam Brotman, Co-Founders and Co-CEO's of Forum 3, authors of the book AI First, previously at Microsoft and Starbucks. They discuss why AI is different from previous technology advances and the series of "Holy Shit!" moments experienced when interviewing Sam Altman, Bill Gates and others. Key topics include: their belief that AI is "moving faster than you think" since it isn't constrained by an adoption curve or infrastructure; the power of Artificial General Intelligence which will be smarter than most experts; why trying to calculate the ROI of AI is comparable to measuring the return on electricity; and the possibility of 95% of marketing and agency jobs being impacted over the next 5 years. Tune in to hear how Chat GPT scored a top grade on the AP Biology Exam, how Moderna became an AI leader, and their tips for staying near the front of the wave.

This week on CMO Confidential, host Mike Linton sits down with Adam Brotman, former Chief Digital Officer of Starbucks and co-CEO of J.Crew, and Andy Sack, venture capitalist and Managing Partner at Keen Capital. Together they co-authored AI First and co-founded Forum3, a company on a mission to educate businesses on how to thrive in the AI era.

In this episode, Adam and Andy recount their interviews with leaders like Sam Altman, Bill Gates, and Reid Hoffman—and unpack why we are at a true “Holy Sh*t Moment” in technology.

Learn how generative AI is poised to replace 95% of marketing tasks, what agentic AI means for the future of work, and why marketers need to shift from campaign thinking to orchestration and system design—fast.

Topics Covered:

• What Adam and Andy learned from interviewing tech’s top minds

• Why artificial general intelligence (AGI) is closer than you think

• How AI tools will transform agency and in-house marketing roles

• Why marketers must experiment now—or risk irrelevance

• The unexpected productivity ROI of adopting AI tools

This episode isn’t just about AI—it’s about how business leaders and marketers must transform to remain relevant in the age of exponential change.

00:00 - Intro & AI-Powered Marketing by Publicis Sapient

01:42 - Welcome + Adam Brotman & Andy Sack intro

04:45 - Why “AI First” started as “Our AI Journey”

08:13 - The “Holy Sh*t” moment explained

10:00 - Interviewing Sam Altman and the AGI revelation

15:50 - Bill Gates’ AI holy sh*t moment

20:30 - What AGI means for marketers and agencies

25:20 - Agentic AI and spinning up marketing agents

30:40 - Consumer behavior and synthetic influencers

34:50 - How agencies must evolve or die

38:20 - The case study of Moderna's AI-first approach

41:00 - Evaluating AI vendors + building internal councils

45:10 - The ROI of AI: Productivity & Unlocks

49:00 - Playbook for becoming an AI-first org

52:30 - Funny poker shirt story + parting advice

56:00 - Closing thoughts and next episode teaser

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