In search of connection: Marketing lessons at Agentforce from Louis Theroux and Formula 1
Agentforce is a Salesforce event covering all things AI-powered service and innovation. This year, our Content Strategist, Emily Lowes was on the ground to pull together her key takeaways from the day.
By the time Louis Theroux was 23, he was interviewing doomsday preppers in the Nevada desert. He was nervous. They were armed. And he wasn’t sure what he’d walked into. But that experience, like many he’s had since, taught him that connection is about curiosity, empathy and staying open long enough to understand someone else’s world.
That same lesson now sits at the heart of marketing’s biggest challenge: creating connection in a digital world that often feels designed to divide us.
We live in a time of filtered, unchronological realities, algorithmic echo chambers and AI-generated everything. In this climate, marketing isn’t about getting noticed – it’s about making someone feel seen.
How do we do that? As it turns out, some of the most useful lessons are hiding in Weird Weekends and the pit lanes of Formula 1.
We’re all looking for the manual
Theroux described his core motivator in life and work in a single word: curiosity.
“From an early age, I felt like everyone else had the manual for life and I didn’t. That became a source of curiosity: what have they got that I don’t?”
Marketers may not phrase it quite like that, but we work with the same tension. Every campaign, every insight, every click is an attempt to capitalise on our perceived understanding of an audience. We’re guided by the same principles: what motivates someone? What are they searching for? What would make them trust us?
The real challenge today is that the answers keep changing. Today’s marketing landscape is messy. Customer journeys are fragmented, ROI is hard to track, and AI is changing how we discover, engage, and decide.
For instance, we used to search… now we ask. LLMs offer answers that feel more meaningful than a string of links. AI agents are starting to predict what we want before we know how to ask for it.
And customers? They don’t want to be targeted. They want direct, meaningful connections with brands they can believe in. That’s not a small shift – it’s a redefinition of marketing itself. Now, it’s no longer a siloed department; it has a place in every customer touchpoint.
Formula 1 understands the new rules of engagement
In the last five years, F1 has undergone explosive global growth – adding new races in Miami and Las Vegas, tripling its fan base in China, and doubling viewership across the Middle East.
But the secret isn’t just expansion. It’s personalisation.
“We need a single view of the fan,” says F1’s Donna Birkett Baida. “One might care about performance, another about lifestyle. The more we understand attitudes and passions, the more relevant we can be.”
F1 is building a system where every moment, whether it’s watching a race or logging into a fan portal, is part of a unified, responsive experience. AI agents help with customer service. Predictive systems anticipate needs. It’s what she calls a “pit crew for fan engagement.”
That same thinking applies to any brand today. Customers don’t want to be part of a segment; they want to be seen as individuals. And that takes systems that listen, learn, and adapt in real time.
Authenticity matters more than ever
We live in a time of curated perfection and algorithmic sameness. But as Theroux points out, the tiniest moment of realness can cut through it all.
“Because so much online nowadays feels fake, any real moment resonates more. Tone matters – even emojis can soften conversations and convey a feeling through a text that even words can’t express. We’re wired to notice warmth, to respond to charm, to remember sincerity.”
That’s true in documentaries, it’s true in interviews, and it’s especially true in marketing.
So, as generative AI becomes a larger part of how we produce and distribute content, the real differentiator will be emotional intelligence. Not just what we say, but how we say it, and why.
Empathy is a strategic skill
The most powerful insight from Theroux’s interviews isn’t journalistic – it’s human:
“I remember on one of my first ever jobs, I was terrified. I didn’t know how the interviewees were going to take me. But once I realised that they’re just people, I stopped feeling so intimidated. And see, once you don’t feel threatened, empathy and understanding, and therefore connection, becomes easier.”
He clarified that this means we must listen with the intent to understand. For marketers, that’s the challenge: to connect with people who may not trust us yet, who may not buy from us yet, who may not even know us yet. But if we stay curious, if we lead with empathy, we earn the right to build something lasting.
So, what does this mean for marketing agencies?
Whether you’re behind the camera or drilling down into strategy for a campaign, the same truth applies: real connection comes from listening.
Louis Theroux’s disarming interviews and Formula 1’s dynamic fan strategy may seem worlds apart, but they share the core belief that people want to feel understood.
At Transmission, we’re aware that we’re operating in a digital world of noise, pace, and increasingly more synthetic content. Part of the new era of marketing will include AI products that improve and increase our outputs – and we’re already doing that with our AI Content Engine. But we’re also aware that (to really cut through) we need to keep human qualities like warmth, relevance, and emotional intelligence central to our strategies.
Relationships aren’t built on conversion tactics alone; they’re built on the ability to offer something meaningful to our audiences. And the brands that embrace that will not just win attention, but trust.