Jason Hunt is the co-founder of Merged Media and Chatello.ai, an AI-powered tool revolutionizing customer engagement and lead generation. With over a decade of experience in digital marketing, Jason specializes in blending human creativity with AI-driven efficiency to help businesses scale. A sought-after speaker and educator, he teaches “Leading Change in Digital Tourism” at George Brown College and has spoken at major global events like LeadsCon and AdWorld.
Company: Merged Media / Chatello.ai
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Jason Hunt: Sure! My name is Jason Hunt, and I’m the co-founder of Merged Media, a digital marketing agency that specializes in helping businesses grow through creative strategies and AI-driven solutions. Over the past decade, I’ve been fortunate to work with a wide range of businesses—from small startups to large-scale enterprises—helping them navigate the evolving digital landscape.
One of the most exciting projects I’ve worked on recently is Chatello.ai, an AI-powered tool designed to revolutionize customer engagement and lead generation. Chatello.ai helps businesses and agencies convert website visitors into leads by providing 24/7 real-time support, personalized conversations, and seamless integrations. It’s been amazing to see how businesses are using it to save time, cut costs, and deliver a better customer experience.
Outside of work, I’m passionate about teaching and sharing insights. I teach “Leading Change in Digital Tourism” at George Brown College and speak at marketing events worldwide. Whether it’s helping businesses scale or empowering people with new ideas, I’m always looking for ways to connect, inspire, and make an impact.
What specific areas of your business have been most impacted by AI, and how?
Jason Hunt: AI has had a significant impact on several key areas of our business, making us more efficient, scalable, and innovative. Here are the main areas where it’s transformed the way we operate:
Lead Generation and Customer Engagement
The development of Chatello.ai, our AI-powered lead generation tool, has been a game-changer. Chatello allows businesses to engage with website visitors in real time, answer their inquiries, and guide them toward becoming leads—all 24/7. This has not only helped our clients increase conversions but has also given us deeper insights into how we can create better customer experiences for our own agency.
Content Creation and Campaign Development
AI tools like ChatGPT have streamlined our content creation process. From brainstorming campaign ideas to drafting ad copy and social media captions, AI saves our team hours each week. It doesn’t replace the human touch but provides a foundation we can refine and customize, enabling us to produce high-quality work faster.
Data Analysis and Decision Making
Analyzing large sets of data—whether it’s for ad campaigns, SEO performance using tools like cuppa.ai or topicalmaps.ai, or audience insights—used to be a time-consuming process. With AI, we can now pull actionable insights in minutes instead of hours. This allows us to make data-driven decisions more quickly, optimize campaigns in real time, and allocate resources where they’re needed most.
AI has allowed us to do more with less. By automating time-consuming tasks and enhancing our ability to analyze and act on data, we’ve been able to scale our business while delivering even greater value to our clients. It’s clear that AI isn’t just a tool for the future—it’s a critical part of how businesses operate today.
How are you ensuring ethical considerations are taken into account in your use of AI?
Jason Hunt: Ethical considerations are a top priority for us when it comes to using AI at Merged Media and through tools like Chatello. We believe that while AI can drive efficiency and innovation, it must always be used responsibly to build trust with both businesses and their audiences.
AI is a powerful tool, but it’s not infallible. By prioritizing transparency, privacy, and human oversight, we ensure that our use of AI drives results while maintaining the trust and integrity that businesses—and their customers—deserve. Ethical AI isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s the only way to build sustainable success.
What advice would you give to other CEOs looking to integrate AI into their business?
Jason Hunt: Start small and focus on specific pain points where AI can have the biggest impact. Choose tools that streamline repetitive tasks, like customer engagement or data analysis, to free up your team for high-value work. Always prioritize transparency, data privacy, and human oversight to maintain trust. Remember, AI isn’t about replacing people—it’s about empowering them to do more, faster. Test, adapt, and scale as you learn what works best for your business.
How do you see AI evolving in your industry over the next 5 years?
Jason Hunt: Over the next five years, I see AI evolving into something deeply personal—every individual will have their own AI agent to handle the tasks that eat up our time and energy. Imagine an AI that can book your dinner reservations, coordinate plans with friends, and even manage your calendar seamlessly.
For marketers and business owners, this means a shift toward creating customer experiences that cater to these AI agents as much as to the humans behind them. Businesses will need to ensure their systems are AI-friendly, enabling these personal agents to interact with their services smoothly and efficiently.
The real beauty of this evolution is that it will free us up to focus on what truly matters—experiences, relationships, and creativity. AI won’t just make us more efficient; it will enhance our ability to connect with others and live fuller, more meaningful lives. The challenge for businesses will be to adapt to this shift and ensure their offerings align with this new AI-enabled reality.
