If you're a marketer
wondering how to
get started with
Asian Force Marketing
to drive personalized
results at scale
with AI, you're in
the right place.
I'm Lee Price, joined
by Trailblazers
Angela Vega, Director
of Capabilities
and Operations at
Expedia, and Patrick
Kilgore, Senior Product
Manager at Indeed.
Welcome to Dreamforce
to both of you.
Yeah, glad to be
here. Yeah, we're on
day three. How's
your week been going?
Busy, as always, but a
lot of exciting things
going on. Love it.
Well, let's get stuck
in because I know you've
both been instrumental
in exploring and
advancing the use of
agents in your businesses.
So Angela, I might
start with you. What
are some of the most
impactful use cases
that you've been
investigating at Expedia?
Yeah, we've been looking
at a lot of things,
but mostly on how we
can really improve our
marketing operations
and how we execute.
And the way that we're
doing that is really
actually starting to
look at what are the
things that are highly
repetitive, that humans
don't like doing, that
are super resource
intensive and trying
to figure out those
bundles of functions and
jobs to be done to kind
of start automating
that. So that's a
lot of like one from
selecting content that
you already have a really
robust library or
transposing information
from one place to
another and so many other
really great use cases.
Love it. And Patrick,
I know you spend a
lot of time on the
B2B marketing side of
things at Indeed. So
what are some of the
use cases you're finding
that are really having
a big impact? Sure.
You know, as the
world's number one job
site, we have issues
of scale, right? And so
we're always trying
to figure out how we
can do more with less.
And so for us, we've
deployed a few different
agents. We have
one that we call
our employer service
agent, which helps when
somebody comes to our
site, if they have a
common issue, a billing
challenge, a credit
card challenge,
those issues come up
time and time again. So
that employer service
agent can help us
with case deflection.
But we also have an
internal version of that
we call Spark, which
helps Indeedians like
myself not have to
repeat those same
tasks, find information
they're looking
for, and really just
operate more efficiently
on their day-to-day.
I love it. And now that
you've been investing
a little bit of time
with this, what are
some of the key lessons
you've learned as
you're building out
these marketing agents?
Maybe an unexpected
win or a surprise
that you encountered
along the way.
So, Angela, I might
kick off with you.
Yeah, I think a
lot of people think
that the biggest
benefit of AI is
going to be
automation. I don't
disagree. That's
going to be massive.
But it's also gaining
alignment, right?
When you're going
through the process
of figuring out
how to define and
decide what your
agents are going to do,
you can't be nebulous,
right? And as humans,
we're really, really
great with that, right?
The idea of the messy
that, you know, go
talk to Beth, go talk
to, you know, Siraj, go
talk to all these
sorts of people to get
something done. But if
we want to craft agents,
we have to be very
clear across the entire
group of what are we
trying to accomplish?
What are the tools
and tasks that we
need to get done?
And be very clear on
where those handoffs
are going to
happen between agent
to agent, but also
looking at orchestration
AI overall.
Love it. And Patrick,
I know Indeed's
definitely one of the more
advanced organizations
out there in
exploring marketing
agents. So have there
been any surprises
along the way for
you? You know, I think
one surprise for us
is just how human we
can actually operate
even using these
agentic tools. And for
anyone who attended
the keynote this week,
I mean, what we saw
is this idea of two
-way communication.
And for us as marketers,
I think we've long
held the idea that,
like, let's just send all
these messages from
a no-reply message, a
monolithic, you know,
alias going out into
the world. We've all had
that experience, right?
Do not reply. And so
now that those days
are gone, we can reply
to every message that's
out there. We can use
an agentic solution
to make sure that
either there's an agent
behind that message or
ultimately funnel that
to a human to really
facilitate a true human
sort of anthropomorphic
conversation. Yeah.
In fact, you said
something to me backstage
that really resonated
with me that you're
actually making this
more human by allowing
humans to free up their
time to focus on these
much more impactful
tasks that build
relationships. So it
sounds like that's been a
real unexpected, I guess.
Right. I think, had
you told me beforehand,
because I was, like
anyone else, I was
nervous to dabble in AI
and agents. And so, had
you told me in advance
that, oh, we're actually
going to have more
one-to-one direct
communication as a result
of these tools, I
wouldn't have believed
you. But I think the
reality is the agents have
their place, and then
they can actually
facilitate more and
more of that direct
interaction. Yeah, and
it's so measurable. You can
see how the results
are being driven. Well,
exciting how it's
panning out for you both.
I'm really interested
to hear, for folks who
are watching online
now, they're saying,
yes, I'm ready to dive
into marketing with
agents. But it can be
very overwhelming knowing
where to start. So now
that you've both gone
down this path a little
bit, what would your
advice be to folks who
are tomorrow looking
to log on and work out
where to get started
in terms of agents
with marketing? So,
Patrick, I might get
your point of view. Sure.
You know, what
I would say is I
was sort of a
skeptic or maybe a
stoic is a lack
of a better term.
When I first started
dabbling, I was, you
know, like a little
afraid to truly engage
in what these agentic
solutions mean. They
just felt so different
than what I was
used to. And so recently
I attended a product
conference and I
learned a vibe code and
I, you know, just
dabbling in tools like
lovable, whatever the
case may be, leaning
in, just starting to
do it because I think
we've all been told,
oh, AI is going to
come for our jobs. I
don't think that's true.
I don't think AI is
coming for our jobs,
but another marketer
who understands AI
and can harness that,
that person might.
Yeah, I love it. Angela,
how about you? Yeah,
I think it is
definitely starting with
first understanding
the processes you have
today and being willing
to like really take
those things apart
and understand, again,
what some of the
outcomes that you want.
And with that, it's
really focusing on the
jobs to be done, the
technology to support
it. And while we
always want to put, you
know, people first
and humans first, we
need to make sure that
we line those sorts
of things up. And I
couldn't agree more.
I know I currently have
probably about $200
worth of AI subscriptions
personally that
me and my husband
like to talk about.
We're all guilty
here. Exactly. But you
definitely have to use
it and explore it quite
often in order for
you to be able to
advocate for it as well.
Love it. Well, thank
you both so much for
your insights. And
we want to wish you
all the most continued
success on your amazing
journey. Thank you
again for being here
with us. Thank you.
If you're watching
at home and you'd
like to see Agent
Force Marketing in
action, scan the QR
code on your screen
or go to sforce.com
slash marketing AI.
