Episode 107: Using AI as a Contrarian Thought Partner: How Ryan Shenefelt Stress-Tests Strategy Before Spending a Dollar

Ryan Shenefelt, digital marketing and AI innovation lead at deNovo Marketing, has been in this work for 13 years. Over that time he's watched what happens when agencies and marketing teams use AI the way most people use it: to confirm what they already think, to move faster, to check the box.   In Episode 107 of the Digital Velocity Podcast, Ryan shares a different approach. He uses AI to argue against himself. When he has a hunch about a decision, he tells the tool where he's leaning and then asks for every reason he's wrong. He separates the "why" and the "why not" into two distinct prompts so the AI fully commits to each side rather than hedging both at once.   This episode covers: ●        How to use AI as a contrarian thought partner when evaluating marketing strategy ●        Why synthetic panels and persona-based focus groups can surface blind spots in a plan before money is spent ●        The case for stopping new tool evaluation and mastering what you already have ●        How Notebook LM reduces the risk of hallucinations by keeping AI grounded in your own data ●        Using AI as a leadership coach to tailor communication across different personality types on your team ●        What "vibe coding" made possible for someone with a limited development background   "I will straight up tell it, I'm thinking this. Why not? Give me five reasons. Give me 10 reasons why not. And it's doing that gut check. It's telling me okay, you think this, what about this?"   Ryan and Erik Martinez also discuss the practical reality of building AI capability inside an agency: why it takes longer than expected to start, how to identify the recurring tasks worth automating, and what it actually feels like to spend 10 hours on something that saves you 15 minutes, and why that's still worth doing.   Ryan Shenefelt is the digital marketing and AI innovation lead at de Novo Marketing. He leads the agency's AI task force and works across account management, digital advertising, and strategy.