ORANGE COUNTY, CA - Backstories matter. This term is one of the first Tristan Simpson shared with me—one still at the center of firm tristan michele™ marketing (tmm). The brief but powerful message is a mission statement, a foundation, and a championing sentence for marketing.

With more than 25 years of successful brand experiences ranging from the retail- to supply-side, she has been at the branding table with Smart & Final®, Ready Pac Foods®, Frieda’s Branded Produce, and Roll Corporation (Sunkist®), just to name a few. Now, amid technological advances and a changing fresh culture, Tristan and her team are doing far more than eyeing the racing pulse of our business, and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer took a moment to share her insights with me.

“Produce is a people business. Technology is certainly an enabler, but human connection, contacts, and networks are the lifeblood of any business, and the fresh business is no different. Marketing is a skill,” she emphasizes, although she points out “everyone is a marketer” with a laugh. “It is a skill taught, learned, and valued and can’t be substituted with tools or trade. I am proud to be a marketer and debunk the myths about it not getting a seat at the table with other functions.”

The latest enabler of the “everyone is a marketer” misconception is having artificial intelligence (AI) for statement and image generation, spotlighting the role people actually play in the marketing field.

“I sometimes feel like a people's champion (of marketers for sure), and I am happy to do so, as there are so many talented folks in this industry!” Tristan responds to my query about the misconceptions of AI potentially replacing such roles. “I think the misconceptions are…human. The fear of what can and could be. From the impact that AI can have on the efficiency of a farming operation and automation in a processing plant to capturing consumer shopping patterns, it is often misunderstood what is possible and the consequences as a result.”

Not unlike other industries, Tristan points out AI can enable or disable aspects of a fresh produce or food business. If utilized in the spirit in which it was intended, she believes it can be quite powerful—a plus rather than a versus.

“From a marketing perspective, there is a misconception that AI can do literally everything, and so the entire department can be replaced with it. I want to think that humans have an (upper) hand sometimes and that it isn’t all or nothing in the wide landscape of tools like AI,” she states. “Misuse is another area of fear that is real and human, too.”

Tristan herself sees strong value in human support, especially under tmm’s own proverbial roof.

“After seven-plus years in business, knowing that we are a team here at tmm—it isn’t just me—is so important,” she says. “I have a group of uber-talented marketers (generalists and specialists) serving as a fractional marketing department. We supplement the existing team or are the team for many companies. We are doing everything and anything a marketing department would, from strategic to tactical. Going back to AI as an example, many companies are not resourcing marketing the same way they did years ago, allowing firms like ours to be that seamless, bolt-on team. I have always treated my firm as an additive (of value), never to replace but to build on what exists—not unlike AI.”

As a marketer, Tristan explains being taught to utilize tools—not all of which are tangible—to interpret and anticipate human needs and wants. To do so is an incredible human experience, and one that the tmm team is excited to showcase in tandem with technologies like AI.