How to Build a Human-First AI Marketing System That Doesn’t Kill Trust with Mike Montague

2026-01-06

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AI marketing does not fail because the technology is broken.It fails when humans disappear from the process.In this deeply grounded and forward-looking episode of Counsel Cast, host Karin Conroy sits down with Mike Montague, founder of Avenue Nine, to explore what it really means to build human-first AI marketing systems that protect trust instead of eroding it.Mike brings a rare perspective. He speaks fluent “nerd,” has spent 15+ years coaching enterprise sales teams, has executed campaigns for Fortune-level brands, and has performed on stages in front of tens of thousands of people. That combination gives him a unique len...

AI marketing does not fail because the technology is broken.

It fails when humans disappear from the process.

In this deeply grounded and forward-looking episode of Counsel Cast, host Karin Conroy sits down with Mike Montague, founder of Avenue Nine, to explore what it really means to build human-first AI marketing systems that protect trust instead of eroding it.

Mike brings a rare perspective. He speaks fluent “nerd,” has spent 15+ years coaching enterprise sales teams, has executed campaigns for Fortune-level brands, and has performed on stages in front of tens of thousands of people. That combination gives him a unique lens on AI, marketing psychology, and why most current AI advice is dangerously shallow.

Together, Karin and Mike dismantle the idea that AI is a shortcut or replacement for strategy. Instead, they frame AI as an amplifier. It magnifies whatever system already exists, whether that system is thoughtful and human, or generic and broken.

This conversation goes far beyond prompts and tools. It explores trust, ethics, creativity, emotional labor, and why the most powerful use of AI actually makes marketing more personal, not less.

📌 You’ll learn:

Why “human-first AI” is not common sense in modern marketing
The subtle red flags that instantly signal AI-generated content and quietly destroy trust
Why AI always defaults to predictable, lowest-common-denominator answers
How to build a contextual AI system that actually sounds like you
Why remixing your content beats generating new content from scratch
The real danger of letting AI start the thinking instead of supporting it
How AI can personalize campaigns at a level humans never had time to do before
Why mass marketing is fading and individual-based marketing is rising
Where AI belongs, where it doesn’t, and why emotional work still belongs to humans
How to pressure-test your ideas by letting AI critique them before the market does
Why “I’ll know it when I see it” is not a strategy (and how AI exposes that gap)

💡 Featuring:

Karin and Mike also unpack why AI slop is everywhere right now, how marketers accidentally sabotage trust through formatting mistakes and tone mismatches, and why letting AI “drive the bus” is the fastest way to dilute your brand.

Karin and Mike give listeners actionable tips on: