TWICM 211: Jellyfish's Natasha Wallace On How Marketers Win with Humans & AI Without Flattening Their Brands

Natasha Wallace, Chief Solutions Officer for Strategy, Planning and AI at Jellyfish, joins That’s What I Call Marketing to discuss how brands can become more visible and understandable to AI without sacrificing creativity, emotion or distinctiveness.

This episode explains how marketers should approach the growing challenge of serving two audiences at once: humans, who respond to stories, feelings and ideas, and AI models, which rely on clear signals, context, trust and specificity.

In this episode, we cover:

– Why Jellyfish’s research found almost no correlation between how humans and AI models judge creative work

– What “brand flattening” means and why marketers should resist making everything rational and functional

– How to make a brand legible to large language models without weakening its creativity

– Why brand trust, distinctive assets and consumer consensus still influence AI recommendations

– The role of YouTube, Reddit, creators, ecommerce and digital PR in shaping model perception

– Why paid, owned and earned media need to work together in an AI-led discovery environment

Natasha also explains Jellyfish’s concept of the “brand echo”: the conversation, reaction and community created around a brand, even when the original activity is not directly visible to an AI model.

The practical message is not that marketers need to abandon the fundamentals. It is that audience strategy, brand positioning, content, media and measurement need to work together more closely. The brands most likely to succeed will be clear enough for machines to understand and interesting enough for people to care about.

A useful listen for marketers interested in AI in marketing, GEO, brand strategy, creativity, content strategy, advertising effectiveness and the future of search and discovery.

That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.

Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.

Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com

**Timestamps**

00:00 Why marketers must not flatten their brands for AI

00:39 Introducing Natasha Wallace of Jellyfish

02:04 Natasha’s career across digital, media and emerging technology

03:35 Why AI feels different from previous industry shifts

05:23 Working globally with Heineken and major sports properties

07:05 Why Natasha joined Jellyfish

09:00 Bringing media, content, creative and AI strategy together

12:32 What humans and AI models see in award-winning advertising

15:31 The danger of brand flattening

16:36 How the “brand echo” influences AI models

17:35 Why brand trust and distinctive assets still matter

20:21 Why YouTube is frequently cited by large language models

22:28 How marketers should prioritise their AI and GEO activity

24:46 Leading and lagging indicators for AI visibility

26:01 The platforms and voices that shape model perception

27:27 Borrowed credibility, belonging and long-term brand associations

30:05 Testing creative work without making it formulaic

32:25 Why AI should strengthen human thinking, not replace it

That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.

Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.

Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com

This Cannes Sessions episode is produced in partnership with The Digital Voice.

That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.

Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com

Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/

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