Tech On Me: Can OpenAI’s new CMO turn brilliance into brand?

There's something deliciously ironic about OpenAI announcing the hiring of its first chief marketing officer this week—Kate Rouch. A company whose technology writes marketing copy, crafts social posts, and shapes brand narratives now finds itself in need of its own storyteller. Even for a business valued at $157 billion, technical brilliance alone no longer seems enough.

The timing is no coincidence. Last night's launch of a $200 monthly ChatGPT Pro subscription could reveal OpenAI's true ambitions. The new tier brings unlimited access to OpenAI's full suite of models, including the latest version of its ‘o1 reasoning model’—an AI that fact-checks itself and reportedly reduces major errors by 34% on complex queries. With features like unlimited GPT-4, Advanced Voice Mode, and a ‘pro mode’ that leverages additional computing power for harder questions, the offering points toward a focus on professional users in data science, programming, and analysis.

The move may be more than premium pricing—it reads like a statement of intent. By positioning its ‘reasoning model’ at enterprise-level prices, OpenAI might be declaring itself not just an AI company, but an essential business tool. Think less Silicon Valley disruptor, more Oracle or Salesforce. It wants to potentially be the backbone of how modern businesses will operate.

Incoming OpenAI CMO Kate Rouch

This transformation from democratic AI pioneer to enterprise software giant presents Rouch with fascinating contradictions. Her background, shaped by navigating Meta’s vast social ecosystem and Coinbase’s turbulent crypto narrative, demonstrates her ability to bridge the gap between mass-market appeal and institutional gravitas. But OpenAI’s marketing challenge goes beyond reach or resonance—it’s about defining an entirely new category of essential technology, a task that will require strategic finesse and clear positioning.

At the heart of this challenge is a paradox: A product so powerful and versatile that it risks becoming everything to everyone—and therefore, nothing in particular. It seems Rouch’s first imperative will be focus. Strategically, amid the company’s flurry of publisher deals and enterprise-plays, what will OpenAI be positioned as? Is it a tool—a solution for challenges? An enabler—a piece of infrastructure for innovation and decision-making? These choices don’t just shape its message—they'll determine its very trajectory.

And now with Search GPT well and truly on the horizon, OpenAI is very much making a deliberate move to challenge the foundations of the search market—a space Google has long dominated. Google, currently navigating the scrutiny of an antitrust trial questioning its market practices, remains tied to an ad-supported model focused on delivering immediate answers. OpenAI’s approach seems to pivot away from this, favouring insights that are layered, contextual, and personalised.

For Rouch, the first challenge will be to align OpenAI’s diverse narratives without diluting its identity. For enterprises: A cornerstone of exploration and scalable operations. For marketers: A tool to refine audience segmentation, forecast trends, and craft campaigns with deeper resonance. For creatives: Inspiration that elevates ideas without commodifying them. Not to mention for consumers: An enabler of any thought, any place, at any time. To unite these threads into a cohesive narrative will require more than bold claims—it will demand clear, demonstrable impact. 

What comes next will be a test of the power of narrative. For marketers and brands, however, the lesson cuts to the core: Even innovation at the heart of the cultural zeitgeist remains inert without a story to propel it forward. Technology alone—no matter how revolutionary—cannot articulate its own value, define its purpose, or inspire its audience. That is the work of humans, of storytellers. AI may reshape the world, but it is human creativity that transforms it into meaning, and that is a truth our industry cannot afford to forget.

Meanwhile in Asia...

A starkly different vision of AI’s future may be taking shape in the East. Tencent’s HunyuanVideo, launched with open access, seems less about showcasing raw technological power and more about signalling a commitment to AI democratisation. It’s a fascinating counterpoint to OpenAI’s premium, enterprise-focused pivot, potentially reflecting two diverging philosophies in the global AI arms race.

What’s intriguing is Tencent’s focus on embedding AI into existing platforms that billions already use. If successful, this approach could make AI feel less like a separate tool and more like a natural evolution of the digital ecosystems people already trust. By contrast, OpenAI seems tasked with convincing the world to adopt entirely new tools—a challenge that requires not only groundbreaking technology but also compelling narratives to shift user behaviour and perception.

Looking ahead, this divergence raises pressing questions about how AI will integrate into our lives. Will the future belong to open-access models that prioritise scale and familiarity, or to premium, purpose-built solutions aimed at high-value industries? The answers aren’t clear, but we'll wait and watch.