How AI can help avoid marketing fatigue on Black Friday

1 in 3 people will use AI in their shopping journey this year. Double from last year. And the brands outspending everyone won't necessarily be the ones who survive this. I'll be honest, the pace of change around AI is a lot to track (and I'm paying close attention). But some shifts matter more than others when it comes to what we're doing day-to-day. Just this past week: OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, an AI-powered browser where agents interact with websites like actual humans. They click around. They fill forms. They even click on paid ads. And yeah it's cool, until you realize most bot detection can't flag these agents. Which means brands might be paying for clicks from bots, not buyers. Meanwhile, Reddit is suing Perplexity for "data laundering." Meta's pushing AI deeper into campaign optimization with Andromeda. The EU is scrambling to regulate. And consumer confidence is shaky. Holiday spend expected to drop 10%, with 77% expecting higher prices. That's a lot of movement in just a few days. And it all points to the same thing: AI agents are rewriting how people discover and buy. Platforms are automating more of the decisions that used to be yours. Your customers are using AI to research and compare before they ever reach your site. The brands that will weather this aren't necessarily the ones outspending everyone on ads (that might be getting bot clicks). They're building assets they own. Direct relationships. First-party data. Channels that don't vanish when the next algorithm changes. This hits close to home for me right now. I'm working on a pitch to our executive team about getting back to our foundations. We've been guilty of putting too much on rented platforms and arenas we don't own. The data doesn't lie. We're pouring budget into channels that could disappear overnight. Algorithm changes. Platform policy shifts. Ad costs that keep climbing while reach keeps shrinking. So we're getting back to our roots. Working on what's real about our brand and how we'll use that to connect at a human level with our audience. If you're thinking about similar questions heading into Black Friday, we're running a webinar on November 5 at 1:00 PM CET about building customer loyalty that compounds. We'll cover retention strategies and that bot detection piece that's top of mind for a lot of marketers right now. If you're interested, registration is here: https://dub.link/eFiAQGi

Andrew Lipsman breaks down how OpenAI’s ad model may disrupt retail media networks. He explains why the biggest threat isn’t AI search itself, but retailers giving up control of their first-party data. Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/g92cRFbY

Brands can’t buy love anymore. They have to earn it. The MediaPost article below nails an uncomfortable truth: marketing is shifting from attention economics to algorithmic economics. AI agents, not ads, will soon guide what people see, buy, and believe. So if you can’t just buy your way into people’s feeds or shopping carts — what still breaks through? Storytelling. Real, human, emotional storytelling. Because even as AI agents sort by logic and data, people still connect through meaning. That’s where branded entertainment comes in — it’s not an ad you scroll past, it’s a world you step into. 🧩 Key takeaways: - AI will increasingly mediate purchase decisions — so discoverability depends on structured data and cultural credibility. - Brands that entertain, inspire, or invite participation will build the emotional moat algorithms can’t replicate. - The new equation: Make content worth recommending — by humans and machines alike. - If you’re in marketing, this isn’t a reason to panic — it’s a reason to evolve. Build systems that serve AI, but stories that move people. 📖 Read more here: Pick Me! Brands Can No Longer ‘Buy Their Way’ Into Consumers’ Hearts — MediaPost: https://lnkd.in/eYtvhvbP #BrandedEntertainment #Storytelling #MarketingStrategy #BrandBuilding #AIandAdvertising #ContentMarketing #MediaInnovation #CreativeStrategy #FutureOfMarketing #MediaPost

This is huge! Algorithmic economics means entertainment content marketing is the critical leverage point for companies looking to connect, keep, and grow with customers.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗜𝘀 𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 Search is no longer just about keywords. With AI now interpreting meaning, context, and intent, discovery has become far more conversational — and far more personal. At Springboard, we’ve been exploring how AI, social platforms, and peer communities are reshaping the consumer journey. Our latest blog breaks down what this shift means for CPG and Omnichannel brands navigating today’s fragmented landscape. 𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀: 🔹 Half of Gen Z now use TikTok and Instagram as their search engines. 🔹 Reddit’s unfiltered conversations are helping train AI models from Google and OpenAI to better understand how people really talk. 🔹And AI monetization, including ads inside conversational tools, is already being tested. The discovery game is changing fast. The brands that win will be those that stay clear, consistent, and credible wherever consumers begin their search. 👉 Read the full piece: https://lnkd.in/gHZFZ3Mb #AI #Search #ConsumerBehavior #MarketingStrategy #BrandTrust #Ecommerce #Omnichannel #FutureOfDiscovery #DigitalTransformation #CustomerExperience

Your email knows when you're likely to buy. Your website changes based on your mood. Your ads follow your browsing patterns. AI marketing feels like mind reading because it is. We've moved beyond basic demographics and purchase history. Real-time AI now reads intent, behavior, and context as customers interact with brands. This isn't future thinking. It's happening now. Consider these results from 2024-2025: 🔸 Coca-Cola saw 870% social media engagement boost with AI-personalized campaigns 🔸 Mastercard achieved 37% higher click-through rates using real-time social listening 🔸 Bayer increased CTR by 85% with AI predictive insights 🔸 Under Armour reduced returns with in-store AI foot scanning The shift is profound. AI orchestrates across email, web, mobile, ads, and chat simultaneously. No more disjointed customer experiences. One customer. One story. Multiple touchpoints. But here's what matters most. This technology enables true one-to-one personalization at scale. Something marketers have dreamed about for decades. The challenge isn't technical capability anymore. It's balancing automation with human creativity. Managing data privacy. Avoiding algorithmic bias. As AI becomes more precise, the stakes get higher. We need to use this power responsibly. What concerns you most about AI-driven personalization? The privacy implications or the potential for manipulation? #AIMarketing #Personalization #MarTech 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞: https://lnkd.in/ga2uF6RC

🚨 How is AI transforming retail media? Check out the latest from SmartBrief's Mike Driehorst in which Ashwini Karandikar and Jeremy Lockhorn from the 4As weigh in: https://lnkd.in/eNuCU55e Spending is booming, growing from $30B in 2021 to $60.8B this year, and generative AI is driving the next wave of creative innovation. Ashwini and Jeremy highlight how AI is the new creative director, powering everything from Amazon’s lifestyle visuals to Walmart’s smart shopping lists, while noting the new challenge: advertising to the algorithm itself. 🤖 #RetailMedia #AI #MarketingInnovation #4As

🚗 Buying a car isn’t a cruise, and neither is understanding customer intent. carsales mediahouse is tapping into #AdobeRealTimeCDP to better understand their customers’ journey. By combining first-party data with predictive insights, they’re discovering hidden demand while helping advertisers connect with high-intent audiences at the right time. Since adopting Customer AI, they’ve seen a 20% uplift in defining purchase intent and a 23% increase in push engagement. 🔍 Read how #carsalesmediahouse is turning AI-powered customer intelligence into action: https://ow.ly/bJ8J30sQeEr #DigitalAdvertising #CDP #DataDriven

What Happens When Every Client Panics at Once? Seriously. There’s a low rumble rolling across the marketing world right now – faint, but growing louder every week. ChatGPT just surpassed 800 million weekly users. AI search is growing 165x faster than organic search. Buyers who used to start on Google or Amazon? They’re now starting inside AI chat tools. They’re getting one clear answer instead of ten messy links. They’re skipping the fluff, asking follow-ups in plain English, and getting vendor comparisons instantly. They’re finding what they need – faster than your site can load. The Thunder: When Clients Realize All at Once Soon, every CMO and brand leader will realize their visibility in AI answers directly determines revenue. And they’ll all call their agencies. At the same time. “We need to be showing up in ChatGPT!” “Why aren’t we in Perplexity?” “Can you rewrite everything for AI search?” Every inbox will light up – and most teams won’t have the capacity to respond. Because when everyone panics simultaneously, deadlines collapse, budgets buckle, and expectations go feral. When Agencies Turn to AI to Save Themselves Panic leads to shortcuts. Agencies will turn to AI to scale output, rewrite for AEO, and automate content. But when everyone uses the same tools, trained on the same data, everything starts to sound the same. AI can scale copy – not originality. It can replicate tone – not insight. The agencies that thrive will use AI as a partner, not a crutch: to analyze trends, not dictate them; to amplify creativity, not erase it. Because the moment every brand starts sounding identical, the audience tunes out – and so do the algorithms. Amazon, the Silent Casualty For years, Amazon has been the first stop for product discovery. But now, buyers can just ask, “What’s the best running shoe for flat feet?” and get a ranked, AI-summarized answer – no Amazon required. The purchase journey now starts in AI, not marketplaces. If your data, reviews, or descriptions aren’t structured and verifiable enough for AI to cite, you disappear before the search even begins. The Calm After the Panic The thunder is getting louder – and it’s not just Google shaking this time. It’s Amazon. It’s Yelp. It’s every old discovery habit we’ve relied on for twenty years. But there’s still time to adapt. Agencies who build AI literacy now, restructure content systems, and educate clients early will become the calm in the chaos. Because when everyone’s shouting “We need to show up in AI search NOW!”, the winners will be the ones who already did the work quietly, clearly, and strategically. If you’re not showing up now – how will you begin to show up then -- and the genie is already out of the bottle. Search Tactix: Bringing Actual Intelligence To AI™ (Image AI sourced.)

Adobe predicts AI-driven shopping traffic will increase 520% this holiday season. Most e-commerce stores aren't ready for it. The problem isn't traffic. It's that AI assistants like ChatGPT now decide which products to recommend before a customer ever sees your site. If your product data is messy or incomplete, the AI can't understand what you're selling. It picks the competitor with cleaner data instead. You don't get a second chance to be recommended. Is your product catalog built for AI to read, or just for humans to browse? https://lnkd.in/dkCHbAZ4 #Ecommerce #GEO #AISearch