On this episode of The Brand Herald, Landon sits down with Todd Krise, founder of MercenaryMarketing.ai, a Louisville-based AI consulting firm helping businesses and solopreneurs harness artificial intelligence without the hype, the headaches, or the fear. What starts as a conversation about a Louisville Business First article quickly becomes one of the most grounded, practical discussions about AI and brand that The Brand Herald has hosted yet.

Todd’s path to founding Mercenary wasn’t linear. Sports journalism, publishing, agency life, and a front-row seat to social media’s rise all built the foundation. But it was watching AI emerge on the horizon that made him go out on his own. The core idea behind Mercenary is deceptively simple: most businesses already have the tools, the data, and the people, they just need someone to connect the dots. Todd’s platform serves as an aggregator, pulling together a client’s existing CRM, email marketing, content tools, and social channels into a centralized system powered by AI. The result is a smarter version of you, working while you’re in the field.

The conversation turns toward the harder, more human questions: What does brand even mean in an AI-saturated world? Brand, in Todd’s view, is the knowledge base, it’s everything your AI agents know about how you speak, what you stand for, and how you serve customers. It’s not a logo or a color palette. It’s the totality of how people experience you, whether they’re talking to you in person or to your AI persona at 11:30 at night. 

What makes this episode stick is Todd’s conviction that as technology gets more powerful, authenticity gets more valuable. Humans can smell fake and the businesses that will win in an AI-first world are the ones that use AI to amplify what’s real about them, not to manufacture something that isn’t. For anyone wondering where to start, Todd’s parting advice is to go to mercenarymarketing.ai/resources, pick a low-risk tool, and dip your toe in. The mercenary isn’t here to replace you. He’s here to make you unstoppable.

Chapters:

00:02: Landon opens with a Louisville Business First article covering Todd’s AI consulting startup.
00:36: Todd introduces himself, journalist, MBA, and self-described PhD in “butt kissing.”
01:51: Todd’s career path from sports journalism to agency work to spotting the AI wave early. 04:49: The origin of the Mercenary name
05:54: How the business evolved from C-suite content creation to a full AI platform
09:32: Real client use case, how a three-business solopreneur uses AI to prospect, communicate, and monitor leads while he’s in the field.
12:46: The knowledge base explained why cloning a client’s voice and expertise is the key to AI content that actually sounds like them. 
19:41: How Todd defines a brand in an AI world. It’s not your logo, it’s your knowledge base. 25:03: Why hyper-local, in-person relationships are becoming more valuable as AI scales.
31:15: Practical advice for every AI readiness level and where to find low-risk starting points at mercenarymarketing.ai/resources.

Resources:

Todd Krise LinkedIn  
MercenaryMarketing.ai LinkedIn  
MercenaryMarketing.ai
MercenaryMarketing.ai/resources