Phrasee appoints new CEO to head into the future of AI-based marketing

Phrasee, a digital marketing firm in London, said it has appointed Dan Head as CEO as it helps guide content marketers through the AI revolution.

Head was formerly chief revenue officer at Braze, including during its growth from series-B funding to its IPO in November 2021. Before Braze, he spent four years as regional vice president at Salesforce during the inception of its Marketing Cloud.

Parry Malm, Phrasee’s founding CEO, has stepped down from his role and will remain on the board with a focus on thought leadership that pushes the AI content category forward.

“AI is advancing at an incredible pace, but brands struggle to utilize AI’s potential,” Head said in a statement. “Making the most of the AI industrial revolution hinges on three key factors: access, scale, and trust. As CEO, I am determined to empower brands with innovative, and scalable content solutions, with enterprise-grade governance and controls, that deliver high value quickly.”

With nearly 5,000 AI tools released in 2023 and an expected global AI investment of approximately $200 billion by 2025, Head will lead Phrasee as it helps businesses cut through the noise of the AI content category.

This will ensure customers gain value from AI technology through fit-for-purpose architecture that delivers high-performing content that brand leaders can trust – and is essential for progressive, customer-centric, marketing teams, the company said.

“The explosive growth of the current AI landscape caught many marketers and technologists off guard,” said Malm, in a statement. “With nearly a decade of proven experience in natural language generation and deep learning, Phrasee is uniquely positioned as a thought leader in the category. Dan will evolve Phrasee to meet the tremendous market potential as we enter the next phase of innovation and growth.”

“Clients will gain competitive advantage from the combination of Phrasee’s core architecture and how it leverages both its own and the latest generic AI technologies,” Head added. “The result is that AI will deliver on its promise of effectiveness, scale, and performance for brands, and a more impactful and valuable experience for consumers and fans.”

Phrasee believes in a future where enterprise marketers drive unprecedented results using AI.

Phrasee boosts customer engagement and lifetime value for the brands, including Sephora, Walgreens, Sainsbury’s, Currys, Pet Supplies Plus, and Novo Nordisk. Phrasee is owned by funds managed by Capital D, its management and staff.

In an email to VentureBeat, Head said, “AI is advancing at an incredible pace, but gaining value from these technologies while ensuring brand safety and effectiveness in the tech stack is a challenge for brands. Under Dan’s leadership, Phrasee will provide customers with innovative, proven, and scalable solutions that deliver rapid time-to-value, backed by enterprise-grade governance and controls.”

He added, “Clients should expect to gain a competitive advantage as Phrasee leverages the latest AI technologies and delivers them cost-efficiently.”

Head said he believes companies can’t stand on the sidelines of the AI revolution.

“The potential of AI has exploded onto the technology scene and into the world of content marketers. They must lean into this new industrial revolution,” Head said.

But he said they have to solve problems of access (to the array of new AI models and their potential); scale (of AI into the operations of a mature enterprise); and trust (in AI, it’s outputs, and in the context of pending legislation and rapidly evolving cost models).

He said Phrasee is exciting because it was built from day one to address these problems. Phrasee provides marketers with the best-performing content for use across their digital marketing campaigns through an AI content platform with enterprise-grade controls. Phrasee’s AI platform enables enterprise Marketers to create and optimize on-brand content that improves results.

As for the outlook, Head said, “Phrasee is not shifting its vision or overarching strategy. It has been delivering brand-safe and enterprise-governed, AI-driven content at scale for nearly a decade. However, the explosive growth of the current landscape caught many marketers and technologists off guard, putting Phrasee in a position to provide guidance to lead the category. As a result, Phrasee will evolve to meet the tremendous market potential.”