Episodes  · Season 4  · Episode 48  · 35 min

Ruslan Tovbulatov: Brand. Demand. Community.

Ruslan Tovbulatov, CMO of Gloat, on why AI is the next paradigm shift comparable to mobile and video in 2010, what his time at Google's Brand Lab helping 250 global brands navigate digital transformation taught him about the CMO role, and why great B2B marketing requires brand, demand, and community working together. Recorded as CMO at Gloat.

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 ·  The Business of Marketing  · S4 E48  · 35 min
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"I came to America as an immigrant and just wanted to do great work. Now I help enterprises navigate their AI transformation."

The Conversation with Justin Cooke

Why AI is the next great paradigm shift in marketing and why the Google Brand Lab experience shaped how to navigate it

Ruslan Tovbulatov arrived in the US as an immigrant, studied at an Ivy League school, joined Kantar Retail doing consumer behaviour research, then spent six years at Google in the Brand Lab helping 250 of the world's leading brands shift to digital. That experience watching mobile and video reshape marketing behaviour in 2010 shapes how he thinks about AI today.

As CMO of Gloat, the work orchestration platform used by MasterCard, Spotify, Novartis, and Nestle, Tovbulatov is now applying that perspective to enterprise marketing. In this conversation he explains why brand, demand, and community are the three pillars that B2B marketing must operate across simultaneously, and why AI transformation requires the same preparation and patience that the shift to mobile and video required.

Key Takeaways

  • AI is the next paradigm shift. In 2010 it was mobile and video. The brands that prepare now will compound advantages over those that wait.
  • The Google Brand Lab: helping 250 leading brands navigate the shift to digital. The lessons apply directly to AI.
  • Brand, demand, and community. B2B marketing that operates in only one or two of these pillars is structurally incomplete.
  • I want to be a builder. Consulting and advising are valuable but building is where you learn what actually works.
  • Coming to America as an immigrant with nothing and building a career through curiosity and hard work is the foundation of how I approach every problem.

Topics Covered

  1. 01 Why AI is the next paradigm shift comparable to mobile and video in 2010
  2. 02 What the Google Brand Lab taught about helping enterprises navigate platform transitions
  3. 03 Brand, demand, and community as the three pillars of effective B2B marketing
  4. 04 Why building beats consulting: the motivation to move from advisor to operator
  5. 05 How work orchestration platforms help enterprises manage skills, work, and AI agents simultaneously

Key Exchanges

05
01 Tell us about Gloat and your background.

Gloat is a work orchestration platform. We help companies like MasterCard, Spotify, Novartis understand the capabilities of their workforce, break down work into projects and tasks, and connect that work to both people and increasingly AI agents. I came to America as an immigrant, found my way through an Ivy League school, joined Kantar doing consumer behaviour research, then six years at Google in the Brand Lab.

Tovbulatov traces a path from consumer behaviour research to enterprise AI via deep digital marketing experience.

02 What did the Google Brand Lab teach you?

The Brand Lab worked with 250 of the leading brands in the world to make the shift to digital. At that time in 2010 the shift was all about mobile and video. That was a big paradigm shift for a lot of marketers then. I think AI is this next paradigm shift. I am thinking about that a lot these days.

The parallel between 2010 and now shapes his entire perspective on what enterprise marketing needs to do.

03 Why did you move from advisory to operator?

I had consulted and advised long enough between Kantar and Google. I wanted to become a builder. That is what drove me to join Gloat four or five years ago. There is something fundamentally different about building something versus advising people on how to build something.

The distinction between advising and building reflects a particular kind of professional restlessness.

04 What are the three pillars of B2B marketing?

Brand, demand, and community. Brand builds the credibility and awareness that makes everything else more efficient. Demand generates the qualified pipeline. Community creates the ecosystem of advocates and practitioners that amplifies both. B2B marketing that operates in only one or two of these is incomplete.

A clean framework for organising the B2B marketing function.

05 How does Gloat help enterprises with AI transformation?

Increasingly in the age of AI we help connect work to both the people and the AI and the agents to get that work done. I am lucky enough to bring the story of Gloat to life around the world and work with our top partners as we help them with their AI transformation journeys.

Gloat sits at the intersection of human workforce and AI transformation.

S4 E48Season & Episode
35 minDuration
250 Global brands helped through the digital shift at Google Brand Lab
6yr At Google before making the move to become a builder at scale-ups

"I want to be a builder. That is why I left consulting and advising."

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Season 4 Episode 48 35 min
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Lightly edited for readability.

Host Tell us about Gloat and your background.

Tovbulatov Gloat is a work orchestration platform. MasterCard, Spotify, Novartis, Nestle. I came to America as an immigrant, found my way through Kantar doing consumer behaviour research, then six years at Google Brand Lab helping 250 leading brands make the shift to digital.

Host What is your framework for B2B marketing?

Tovbulatov Brand, demand, community. All three simultaneously. And AI is the next paradigm shift. In 2010 at Google Brand Lab it was mobile and video. I am thinking about the AI equivalent of that a lot right now. The brands preparing now will compound advantages over those that wait.