Today’s MarTech Top Voice: Acclaro, VP Marketing, Andrew Thomas.
The global MarTech landscape is undergoing a structural shift from channel-driven campaigns to AI-powered, adaptive demand ecosystems. Enterprise buying journeys are now self-directed, multilingual, and intent-led. Marketing’s role has expanded from lead generation to building scalable, revenue-aligned growth systems across markets.
In this edition of MarTech Top Voice, hosted by Sudipto Ghosh, Global Head of Marketing at Intent Amplify, the focus turns to one of the most underutilized drivers of global demand: localization as a growth lever.
The intent behind this conversation is to move beyond surface-level AI narratives and examine how marketing leaders are building systems that scale pipeline, unlock new markets, and align content with real buyer intent.
Andrew Thomas, VP Marketing at Acclaro, brings a perspective shaped by the evolution of language technology from early localization workflows to AI-driven content ecosystems. He connects foundational innovations such as transformer-based models to their impact on enterprise marketing, demand generation, and global expansion.
This conversation highlights the trends defining the current technology and marketing landscape:
- The shift from SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and machine-readable content ecosystems
- The rise of AI-enabled content at scale, anchored in human expertise
- The repositioning of localization from a cost-center to a strong revenue driver
- The growing role of intent signals in identifying and scaling global demand
- The convergence of brand, content, and pipeline into a unified growth system
For demand generation leaders, CMOs, and growth marketers, this serves as a practical blueprint.
By subscribing to this conversation, you will learn:
- How to translate complex technology into board-level narratives that drive investment
- How to identify early demand signals across geographies
- How to build an AI-enabled martech stack that improves speed, scale, and decision-making
- How to balance brand storytelling with pipeline accountability in enterprise environments
- How to position your organization for global expansion with operational clarity
This interview offers a clear view into how modern marketing leaders are redefining growth in an AI-first, globally connected market.
Here’s the full interview.
MarTech Insights (MTI): You’ve lived through the transformation from manual localization workflows to AI-powered global ecosystems. If you had to identify one inflection point that permanently changed the industry, what was it?
Andrew: The real inflection point was the introduction of neural machine translation and the transformer architecture in 2017. That moment didn’t just improve translation quality it laid the foundation for large language models and the AI era we’re now living in. Nearly a decade later, much of today’s AI disruption, far beyond localization, can be traced back to that breakthrough. What looked like an industry-specific innovation ultimately rewired how language, scale, and intelligence power modern business.
MTI: When SaaS disrupted traditional on-prem deployment models, what did that teach you about marketing complex technology to enterprise buyers?
Andrew: SaaS taught enterprise marketers that trust can shift faster than expected once economics and lived experience align. Early on, B2B buyers were understandably wary of the cloud, but as it became embedded in everyday life from streaming media to online banking that skepticism gave way to overwhelming demand, especially when deployment costs and time-to-value were so much lower than on-prem alternatives. Once “the cloud” became an accepted default, messaging actually became simpler: marketing could stop selling infrastructure and focus instead on what truly differentiated the product.
At the same time, SaaS and agile development upended traditional launch cycles. The move away from waterfall toward continuous delivery challenged marketing teams that were used to peaks and troughs tied to major releases. Initially, many didn’t know how to handle the constant flow of updates. Over time, the discipline evolved combining a steady drumbeat of value aligned to agile releases with more intentional, bundled launches that preserved the impact and excitement enterprise buyers still expect.
As SaaS markets matured and competition intensified, differentiation shifted again. Feature parity became common, and advantage increasingly came from specialization, niche market focus, and brand credibility. That evolution created real demand for strong product marketing discipline and brand building, because winning was no longer about how software was delivered it was about relevance, positioning, and trust in crowded markets.
MTI: You’ve recently stepped into the VP Marketing role at Acclaro. What was the first strategic priority you identified, and why?
Andrew: As I step into the role, my immediate focus has been building the right team, because strategy only matters if you have the capability to execute. In parallel, I’m working to sharpen Acclaro’s differentiation, clearly defining what we can offer that similar providers cannot. At the same time, I’m evaluating our marketing technology stack to ensure we’re fully taking advantage of modern approaches, including AI, automation, and tighter system integration. The work is ongoing, but the goal is clear: align team, narrative, and execution so marketing can scale with the business.
MTI: Enterprise localization is technically sophisticated. How do you translate that complexity into a compelling, board-level narrative for CMOs and global growth leaders?
Andrew: I translate localization complexity into a board-level conversation by grounding it in two simple realities. First, I ask how much of a company’s revenue comes from outside its home market, and more often than not, international revenue already outweighs domestic. Then I ask when they last made a purchase, personally or professionally, where the product content wasn’t in their language. The answer is almost always never. Once those two points are established, the connection between localized content and revenue becomes obvious.
From there, the conversation shifts to upside. If language is already a prerequisite for conversion, localization becomes one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to unlock new markets. In many cases, it’s a shortcut to demand creation, far cheaper and faster than standing up in-country sales teams first. At that level, localization stops being a technical discussion and becomes a growth strategy.
Recommended MarTech Insights: MarTech Top Voice Interview with Christa Patrylak, CMO at Sparq
MTI: Many companies still treat localization as an operational cost. How should leaders reframe it as a revenue and expansion multiplier?
Andrew: Leaders need to recognize that content now does more to sell products than salespeople or even the product itself particularly in digital and SaaS-led buying journeys. If that content can’t reach a buyer in their language, context, and preferred format, it simply can’t do its job. Localization, then, isn’t an operational expense; it’s the mechanism that allows your best content to perform everywhere you want to grow. Anything less is leaving real revenue on the table.
MTI: What does intent-driven marketing look like in a localization context, and how do you identify early buying signals for global content scalability?
Andrew: Most companies are still stuck in reactive localization only translating content once regional demand is already obvious. That mindset is rooted in treating localization as a cost center rather than a revenue generator. Intent-driven localization flips that model. With the speed, quality, and economics of AI, companies can now proactively test demand by translating content into markets where they believe opportunity exists. The smartest teams use AI to experiment at scale, validate where engagement and traction emerge, and then invest human expertise to refine and elevate the content for maximum impact. Localization becomes a growth signal, not a cleanup task.
MTI: How do you balance long-term brand storytelling with short-term pipeline accountability in an enterprise environment?
Andrew: Every piece of content and every customer touchpoint ultimately delivers a single idea. No matter how many words, visuals, or interactive elements are involved, audiences walk away with one dominant takeaway. That’s why a strong, cohesive brand is so critical. It provides the connective tissue that allows demand generation to flex across audiences, tones, and campaigns without fragmenting the message. When brand storytelling clearly encapsulates what you stand for, short-term pipeline efforts reinforce rather than compete with long-term value.
MTI: LLMs are “language models,” yet translation still requires human oversight. How do you apply a human-in-the-loop philosophy to AI within your marketing organization?
Andrew: Large language models are, at their core, applied statistics they recognize patterns and generate new ones based on training data and input. That means AI doesn’t invent; it amplifies. Used correctly, it’s extraordinarily powerful at expanding options, refining ideas, and creating variations across audiences at scale. In our marketing organization, we treat AI as an accelerator for brainstorming, content development, and analysis but not as the final authority. Human expertise is essential to verify, contextualize, and ultimately stand behind the output. A tool is only as valuable as the expert who knows how to use it well.
MTI: What does your ideal AI-enabled martech stack look like today, and where do you see the biggest efficiency gains?
Andrew: The biggest efficiency gains from AI come from scale and synthesis. AI enables a much higher volume of content permutations mapped to buyer personas and their variables (e.g. language, location, culture, tone, and format) at a speed that simply wasn’t possible before. It also helps surface insights across disparate data sets, like web engagement and CRM pipeline, which accelerates decision-making and course correction. AI can be a powerful brainstorming assistant as well, but only if there’s a strong idea to begin with. When teams rely on AI to generate from scratch, the output is generic. The real value comes from using AI to amplify good thinking, not replace it.
MTI: How do you partner with sales to elevate conversations from “translation services” to “global growth enablement”?
Andrew: The biggest challenge is getting in front of the right buyer. Localization is often buried inside other departments (e.g. product marketing, technical communications) and treated as a cost center. When sales conversations happen at that level, the focus inevitably narrows to cost savings. But when you engage higher in the organization, the conversation changes to growth, expansion, and market opportunity. Marketing’s role is to help Sales reach those content-owning leaders who already understand global growth and are predisposed to that message. That means creating demand with proof points such as case studies and testimonials from peers at similar seniority, along with ROI and TCO models that account for top-line impact, not just cost reduction.
Recommended MarTech Insights: MarTech Top Voice Interview with Vibhor Kapoor, Chief Business Officer at AdRoll
MTI: If you were advising a Series C SaaS company expanding into five new markets, what would your localization roadmap look like in the first 12 months?
Andrew: In the first 12 months, the focus should be on establishing the right foundation before attempting to scale. The actual first step is determining how many languages are truly required for the new markets. That’s rarely a one-to-one equation. Some markets require multiple languages, like Canada, while others may already be supported by the source language. This assessment defines the true scope of localization and prevents over- or under-investing from the outset.
Next, instead of defaulting to discussions about linguistic quality (a common trap rooted in older ways of thinking), it’s far more important to define the right quality of outcome for different types of content. Not all content carries the same business risk or revenue impact, and that distinction should drive the translation process, including how much automation versus human expertise is applied.
From there, before investing in technology, I’d bring all relevant stakeholders together to align on shared terminology and definitions across the business. That single exercise forces the right conversations, clarifies priorities, and establishes an early governance model everyone can work from. Once alignment exists, the next critical decision is choosing the operating model whether in-house, single-vendor, multi-vendor, or full BPO because that choice directly determines the most effective technology strategy. Getting these fundamentals right early allows a Series C company to expand into new markets with speed, consistency, and confidence, rather than re-architecting under pressure later.
MTI: If you had to predict one major shift in global content strategy over the next five years, what would it be and how should CMOs prepare?
Andrew: The biggest shift over the next five years will be the move from static, SEO-driven global content to adaptive, AI-enabled content ecosystems. We’re already seeing the early signs in the transition from SEO to GEO where structure, summarization, and machine readability matter as much as keywords. At the same time, generative AI will be fully operationalized, not as isolated experiments but as part of standardized workflows with clear governance, integrations, and accountability.
As markets become more saturated, generic localization will give way to transcreation at scale. That requires investment not just in multimodal generative AI, but also in creative talent that can ensure content resonates culturally, emotionally, and contextually. Agentic AI will play a growing role as well, but its effectiveness will depend entirely on whether CMOs have their content operations, data, and lead lifecycles in order. Without that foundation, autonomy simply amplifies chaos.
Finally, there’s a generational shift underway toward parasocial relationships with brands and their spokespersons. Global audiences increasingly expect authenticity and continuity, not just consistency. CMOs who invest early in building and localizing those relationships across markets will be far better positioned than those who treat global content as a purely transactional exercise.
Recommended MarTech Insights: MarTech Top Voice Interview with Natalia Vasilyeva, EVP Marketing and Strategy at Anzu
For media inquiries, you can write to our MarTech Newsroom at info@intentamplify.com
About Andrew
Andrew Thomas is the VP Marketing at Acclaro, where he leads global marketing strategy at the intersection of localization, AI, and enterprise growth. His career reflects the evolution of language technology from traditional localization workflows to AI-powered content ecosystems that drive scalable, intent-led demand across international markets.
About Acclaro
Acclaro is a trusted global localization and AI-powered content solutions partner to some of the world’s largest brands and fastest-growing enterprises. At its core, Acclaro combines deep cultural expertise with advanced language technology to help organizations expand globally, connect authentically with diverse audiences, and drive meaningful business growth.
