VMware’s Marketing AI Council Revolutionizes Operations, Boosts Efficiency, Saves Time and Fosters Creativity with GenAI

About Project

In February 2023, VMware broke new ground with the launch of one of the world’s first Marketing AI Councils, with the goal of educating, enabling, and encouraging its vast global marketing team to innovate responsibly with generative AI (GenAI). A key charter of the Marketing AI Council is that AI literacy is foundational to the safe, effective, and ethical use of GenAI at scale across their global team.

Founded by Jessica Hreha, VMware Head of Global Integrated Campaigns and Demand Content Strategy, the Council now consists of 35 cross-functional marketers and also includes colleagues from legal, IT, global communications, product marketing, and sales.

Under the Council’s leadership, in less than a year, VMware marketing has engaged AI to revolutionize its operations, boost efficiency, save time, and foster creativity.

Highlights of the Council’s achievements include:
- Created VMware’s first GenAI guidelines: “Using GenAI Writing Tools at VMware”
- Enabled 765 marketers to learn how to use our new approved 3rd party GenAI tool
- Developed 11 enablement sessions for VMware Global Marketing, all available on-demand in our Learning Hub
- Hosted our first Marketing Leadership AI Summit
- Launched an internal e-newsletter, "The AI Insider"
- All Council members are certified with “Piloting AI for Marketers” from the Marketing AI Institute
- Developed brand/tone style guide for VMware’s AI tool instance
- Integrated with VMware’s CTO AI Council and other AI workstreams in VMware
- Invited to speak main stage at MAICON 2023 on how to start an internal AI council
- Advisory inquiries received from analyst firms, customers, and other enterprises looking to follow the VMware model
- Happier people: Anecdotal feedback shows that new AI tools are increasing overall job satisfaction
In the first 6 months of our Phase 1 GenAI license expansion, the Council tracked the following results:
- Reduced agency project timelines from six weeks to one day
- Reduced time to complete a customer advocacy project from three days to four hours
- Reduced average time to draft video scripts from two hours to five minutes
- Reduced average time for drafting speech scripts from three hours to 30 minutes
In the 2H of 2023, the Council is tracking 18 GenAI pilots across content marketing, advertising, and web/digital, with the following early results:
- 30% average CTR increase – AI-assisted copy resonates with digital audiences
- 90% time savings in project completion and time to market
- AI-assisted beta tests are outperforming controls so far

VMware Marketing Team Member Quotes

“Can’t imagine going back to a world without it!”
“I’m more excited about my job since I started using [the AI tool] than I’ve been in years because it just makes it so that I can spend all my most sharp mental focus on the part of the job that is the really interesting, engaging part, which is the creative end. I’m not bogged down with all of this heavy lifting that I have had to do before I can get to that. By the time you get all the info together, you’re so exhausted you can’t come up with a really nice idea.”
“[The AI tool] has changed the way that I approach every task that I do. It’s not just about content, it’s about strategy. Every time I do something, I ask myself, how can [the AI tool] change the way I do it, and the results have been transformative.”