Introduction
In this episode of Pathmonk Presents, we welcome Benjamin Hoehn, VP of Marketing at MARZ (Monsters, Aliens, Robots, Zombies). Benjamin introduces us to MARZ, a traditional VFX studio that has worked on award-winning shows for Netflix, Disney, and Marvel. He discusses their latest product, Lipdub AI, which uses machine learning to automate the dubbing process for long-form content. Benjamin explains how Lipdub AI solves the challenge of converting high-quality video content into multiple languages efficiently, maintaining the original quality while reducing time and costs. He also shares insights on their target markets, marketing strategies, and his approach to scaling demand generation efforts for this innovative AI-powered dubbing solution.
Ernesto: Pathmonk is the intelligent tool for website lead generation. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in their buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and conversates on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments. With relevant micro experiences like case studies, intro videos and much more, stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50%. Add Pathmonk to your website. In second, let the AI do all the work and get x to 50% more qualified leads while you keep doing marketing and sales as usual. Check us on pathmonk.com. Welcome to today’s episode. Let’s talk about today’s guest. We have Benjamin from Monsters, Aliens, Robot Zombies, or Mars for short. VP of marketing with them. How you doing today, Ben?
Benjamin Hoehn: Doing well. How are you?
Ernesto: Doing great, great. Thank you so much for asking. And I’m curious, right, the name is a curious name. So, well, let’s kick it off with that. I’m sure our listeners are tuning in and wonder what Mars is all about. So in your words, can you tell us a little bit more, Ben?
Benjamin Hoehn: Sure. Mars is Monsters, Aliens, Robot Zombies. Quite a fun mouthful of a name there. It is a traditional VFX studio, it was started a number of years ago, and they’ve been working with some award-winning different shows, as we call them in the industry. They’ve been working with Netflix, Disney, Marvel, all of the kind of large names. And right now, the last project that they worked on, The Creator, is up for quite a few awards as well.
So this is a team of VFX artists that have been solving just a ton of different problems. And I’m really joining the team new to help them launch the latest product that we have called Lipdub AI. Traditionally, a lot of dubbing work has been done manually by just teams of VFX artists. And what this team decided to do was invest in AI-based automation, engineers, researchers, everyone to let machine learning actually handle the translation piece.
So our latest product, Lipdub AI, does that for long-form content that requires a lot of quality and kind of Hollywood-grade dubbing.
Ernesto: Awesome, great. So that way our listeners can get a good understanding of Mars then, Benjamin, what would you say is the key problem or problems that you saw for clients?
Benjamin Hoehn: Yeah, the key problem is converting any video into another localized piece of long-form content. So let’s say you are shooting a large commercial for the Super Bowl, right? And that is not cheap to get airtime, it’s not cheap to produce. So for that level of quality content that you’re producing, especially if you want to convert it into other markets — so you’re shooting it in English, and maybe you want to deploy it in Japan and South Korea and Mexico and Latin America — you need to retranslate it.
You could manually do this. You could do a ton of research and hire all these different actors that speak all the different languages and then kind of 8x your schedule. Or you can use a platform like ours that will take a few minutes of the high-quality footage and then redub it into those other languages and just have that main set of actors that you originally shot it with produce it seamlessly in the other languages, and it still maintains the quality.
That’s essentially the problem that we solve for.
Ernesto: Definitely. That’s super important, right? Like you mentioned, going to different markets. I think we’re as global as we could be as of 2024. But then would you say there’s a vertical or an ideal ICP that you guys have there at Mars?
Benjamin Hoehn: So we’re in beta right now, and what we’re seeing are about five major groups that really use us.
Obviously, there’s film and television. This started with Hollywood VFX artists, so it was kind of built for them. The next is advertising and media. So generally, when you’re shooting high-quality footage, even if it’s just a minute or two minutes, you know, to go global, you’ll need us.
The third are e-learning people and education folks. Think TED Talks, Masterclass, anything that has high-quality footage of someone doing a documentary or an educational piece where someone is speaking.
Another are creators and influencers. So we’re getting a lot of interest from large macro influencers that have hundreds of thousands of subscribers and followers that want to go global.
And then finally, it’s straight-up marketing teams internally. We do have a couple of e-commerce customers now who are leveraging us for either internal training or their external videos that they’re shooting. Typically, everyone now is translating things in eight to ten languages, and then they’ll use us for that content as well.
Ernesto: Absolutely. That makes sense. I’m sure you’ve heard of MrBeast, right? He started doing the same thing for different countries, and it was weird listening to him — or the voice actor — in Spanish.
Benjamin Hoehn: Right.
Ernesto: But that’s interesting that everybody on YouTube is using that as well, right?
Benjamin Hoehn: Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up, Ernesto. Because YouTube’s actually releasing an update where you can have the multilingual drop-down on your content. So you can start to post your podcast in English and Spanish within the same channel. You no longer need multiple channels to do that.
Ernesto: Wow, that’s amazing. And how would somebody typically find out about Mars? Is there a top client acquisition channel that you guys have?
Benjamin Hoehn: So we’re early stage. This was previously only accessible for the Mars VFX customers, but now it’s an actual product and we’re in beta. You can go to Lipdub AI, and that’s our main channel.
Everything that we’re doing right now is based on PR. We’ve been covered by CNN, Fast Company, Variety and a lot of large Hollywood publications. We’re just starting to scale our demand gen efforts. That’s also why I was brought on. My background is in SaaS demand gen marketing, so I’m here to help scale those efforts as we go outbound.
Ernesto: Definitely. And what role does a website play for client acquisition?
Benjamin Hoehn: The website plays a major role for Lipdub AI. We’re actually in the middle of revamping it right now. It’s more of a one-pager as we’re in beta, but we’re taking everything to the next level by adding more pages.
My background is in website-based copy development, content management, content marketing and demand gen. All of that is intertwined with the website acting as a hub. You produce great content, get people back to the website, analyze the metrics, and then decide where to double down.
Ernesto: Would there be any tips you would recommend to our listeners as far as website lead generation?
Benjamin Hoehn: I always recommend building out a buyer’s journey. Even now, what I’m doing with our sellers and success folks is sitting down account by account and asking what questions prospects had, what pieces they looked at, what emails were sent.
All of that gets converted into actual content along the buyer’s journey and then populated on the website. And before building anything, make sure the backend is configured. I personally love Google Tag Manager. Whatever you’re using, make sure it communicates with your CRM, marketing automation platform and analytics. You need measurability to know where to double down.
Ernesto: Let’s switch gears and talk about you. What are some key tasks you focus on day to day?
Benjamin Hoehn: Right now it’s focusing on communicating with the community we have within beta. If you’re early stage, your number one job is making sure customers love your product.
I’m literally in our Discord channels taking notes on everything customers are chatting about with our success team — repeated keywords, issues, concerns, pricing questions — and converting that into content or follow-ups.
Ernesto: Let’s jump into our rapid fire round. Are you ready?
Benjamin Hoehn: Oh boy. Let’s go.
Ernesto: What is the last book that you read?
Benjamin Hoehn: I have a stack of books next to my bed. Right now it’s All About Love by bell hooks, Barracoon, and a toddler parenting book called No-Drama Discipline. I tend to read a few books at once and cycle through them.
Ernesto: What is one single thing Mars is focused on the most at the moment?
Benjamin Hoehn: Lipdub AI. Making sure the product is in as many hands as possible and that customers are satisfied. Everything we’re doing — website rewrite, PR, content — is centered around them.
Ernesto: If there were no boundaries in technology, what would you want fixed for your role as a marketer?
Benjamin Hoehn: I think technology is already outpacing us. It’s less about what tech can do and more about choosing where you want to specialize. Gen AI is redefining entire roles. So it’s about pushing creativity deeper in your chosen area rather than being a jack of all trades.
Ernesto: And finally, what advice would you give yourself if restarting your marketing journey today?
Benjamin Hoehn: Always choose curiosity over fear. Whether it’s Gen AI, a new department, or new tech — be curious. Learn how things work. That will never steer you wrong.
Ernesto: That’s great advice. Before we end, what’s the one thing people should remember about your company?
Benjamin Hoehn: Lipdub AI is the new way to go global when quality matters.
Ernesto: Awesome to hear. You can check them out by searching Mars VFX or Lipdub AI. Thank you so much, Benjamin, for being with us today. And to our listeners, thanks for tuning in to Pathmonk Presents.
Benjamin Hoehn: Thank you, Ernesto.