Half of retail brands now use AI weekly · Sept 16

Your weekly AI + Marketing roundup is here!....

Half of retail brands are now using AI weekly for pricing, merchandising, and content. Meanwhile, Ralph Lauren launched an AI shopping app that actually helps you find stuff instead of just being flashy.

The big shift I'm seeing: metrics are changing. As AI agents do more of the clicking, we're moving from vanity metrics to task completion and "assistant share." Plus there's growing talk that domains are becoming the new trust signal since synthetic content is everywhere.

Fast Company made the point that earned media is king and content is queen in the AI era...performance works best as an amplifier, not the engine. And there were solid LinkedIn posts this week on everything from handling bad content requests to why "brand relations" is replacing traditional PR.

Every week I walk through:

Are you tracking assistant share yet? And what metrics matter most as agents handle more of the customer journey?

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Newsweek | 6-minute read

Overview: Retail’s using AI weekly for pricing, merchandising, content, and forecasting...not just “innovation theater.”

Key Points:

• Adoption skews toward copy variants, demand sensing, and dynamic pricing.

• Biggest blockers: data quality and cross-team change management.

• Early adopters report faster test cycles and cleaner inventory bets.

My take: Pick one bottleneck, see if you can fix it with AI, measure it, and repeat!

MediaCat | 7-minute read

Overview: People scan; algorithms ingest...your brand now has to speak to both. :/

Key Points:

• Structured data and clear IA matter as much as clever copy.

• “Answer-first” pages win for assistants and human skimmers.

• Consistent PDPs, FAQs, and help centers lift AI visibility.

My take: Write for skimmers and scrapers: answer first, cuselean structure.. and also make sure it's in a real, human voice.

CMSWire | 5-minute read

Overview: Experiments + AI are converging into testable, data-fed loops across content, product, and CRM.

Key Points:

• GenAI feeds variant generation; experimentation picks winners.

• Clean event data beats adding yet another “AI tool.”

• Governance and guardrails are becoming a feature, not an afterthought.

My take: If you can’t test it, don’t ship it. Fix event data, run small bets, let results beat slides.

MarTech | 6-minute read

Overview: Product, price, place, promotion shift from static plans to continuous, AI-assisted orchestration.

Key Points:

• Product: rapid feedback loops into roadmaps.

• Price: dynamic with elasticity signals.

• Place/Promotion: assistants and retail media reshape distribution and spend.

My take: Same Ps, faster clock....ugh why is everything moving so fast.

Fast Company | 5-minute read

Overview: Trust is scarce; third-party credibility plus owned content outperforms pure performance spend.

Key Points:

• Press coverage and creator advocacy compound across AI surfaces.

• Owned content fuels assistants, newsletters, and search.

• Performance works best as the amplifier, not the engine.

My take: Earn coverage and creator love, then use paid to echo, not replace, it.

CMSWire | 6-minute read

Overview: Not every needle-mover needs “AI” on the label...distribution, partnerships, and community still convert.

Key Points:

• Owned channels, co-marketing, and live formats are durable.

• Packaging and retail collabs can outrun digital tweaks.

• Ops hygiene beats adding yet another tool.

My take: Don't forget there are non-AI innovations changing the marketing game, too!

Fast Company | 4-minute read

Overview: AI-assisted styling and discovery bridge brand heritage with modern commerce.

Key Points:

• Guided discovery reduces browse fatigue.

• Session data feeds merchandising and creative briefs.

• Luxury UX bar = useful and beautiful.

My take: Helpful beats flashy. Style me faster and smarter and I’ll use it; sell me harder and I won’t, bb!

Entrepreneur | 5-minute read

Overview: With synthetic content rising, verified domains and clear brand signals become the shortcut for credibility.

Key Points:

• Clear authorship, provenance pages, and policy docs build trust fast.

• Consistent design and language help humans and assistants verify you.

• Third-party validations (certs, press, reviews) still matter.

My take: Clear authorship, real policies, and consistent design make it easy to trust you.

MarTech | 11-minute read

Overview: Weekly roundup: product launches and partnerships across agents, personalization, event tools, CDPs, and AI-search visibility metrics.

Key Points:

• Adobe made AI Agents generally available across creative, marketing, and enterprise workflows.

• New tools span AI revenue agents (Terret), event personalization (Goldcast), compliance and brand-intelligence suites, and LLM Scout’s tracking of brand mentions across AI surfaces.

• Integrations and M&A continue (e.g., Webflow ↔ Marketo, Magnite buys Streamr.AI), signaling stacks shifting toward modular, agent-ready architectures.

My take: Lots of shiny, but a clear pattern: agents + clean data + orchestration. Pilot one workflow end-to-end (creation → experiment → CRM trigger) and measure the cycle each time.

Jack advises social pros to pick their battles when executives push cringe content. One weak post won’t ruin your metrics; focus your energy on strategic projects. If you do push back, check your bandwidth, use polite language (“I can’t recommend this, but if you’d like me to post it…”), and use analytics to show why that content underperformed. See Post

Mandy shares her fractional CMO playbook: use a prioritization matrix to rank segments by business vision fit, margin, market growth, buyer friction and existing proof points; align with the CEO; publish the trade‑offs; and commit to a 12‑month focus so you don’t chase the loudest request. See Post

Isabella writes that press releases are obsolete; audiences care more about process than polish. Brands gain credibility by building in public, sharing their journey openly and forming genuine connections. She calls for shifting from controlling the narrative to crafting an identity so clear and transparent that it’s resilient to outside interpretations. See Post

Lenny highlights Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), which drives higher conversion than Google and lets startups win quickly. He discusses tactics from Ethan Smith, like citing Reddit threads and YouTube videos, to get your product recommended by AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Claude, and notes help‑center content can suddenly become your highest‑ROI asset. See Post

Edgar shares ten core skills for future‑proof marketers: strategic thinking, organic SEO, AI proficiency, content repurposing, copywriting, funnel design, analytics fluency, partnership building, personal branding, and delegation/systemization. He reminds readers that AI won’t replace marketers, but those who use it effectively will outpace those who don’t. See Post

All tools covered continue to be added to the 200+ AI + Marketing tool directory!

Generative synthetic user research. Evidenza uses AI to create digital clones of hard-to-reach B2B buyers so marketers can test messaging, positioning and pricing without running costly surveys. The company reports more than 60 validation studies and a double‑blind experiment with EY showing that synthetic personas produced results 95% similar to real surveys. The platform also helps teams estimate financial impact and ROI from campaign decisions. Best for: Market Researcher • Content Strategist • Product Marketer

AI marketing platform that combines PhotoG for high‑quality creative generation, DataG for insights and VoyaAI for multi‑channel publishing. PhotoG turns product data into images and videos, while VoyaAI pushes creative to the right channels. Best for: Content Marketer • Brand Manager • Social Media Manager

Adobe’s Experience Platform now includes a suite of AI agents:

These agents plug into an Agent Orchestrator that coordinates actions across Adobe and third‑party platforms, and an upcoming Agent Composer will let brands build custom agents with governance and compliance policies. Best for: Brand Strategist • Marketing Ops • Enterprise Marketer

Ahead of the holiday rush, Google rolled out new tools across Merchant Center, Product Studio, Asset Studio and campaign management. Highlights include:

At Meta’s Brand Building Summit, the company rolled out AI‑driven Reels trending ads to all advertisers and expanded ad formats for Threads. Best for: Brand Marketer • Social Video Planner • Paid Social Strategist

The connected‑TV company expanded its AI-powered TV ad platform, adding advanced targeting and optimization for CTV campaigns. Best for: TV Advertiser • Media Buyer

This new tool checks and fixes inconsistent business data across directories while tracking how often AI search engines surface your brand. Best for: Local SEO Specialist • Reputation Manager

Event‑marketing platform Goldcast unveiled its “Agentic AI” vision to deliver personalized audience engagement using AI agents. Best for: Event Marketer • Webinar Producer

Kojo introduced an AI-powered content planner that predicts performance and helps marketing teams plan campaigns likely to go viral. Best for: Social Media Marketer • Content Planner

Lyzr rolled out 10 AI agents focused on marketing operations, designed to automate tasks and boost enterprise productivity. Best for: Marketing Ops Leader • Enterprise Marketer

A newly launched platform tackling performance marketing and AI‑driven shopping experiences, positioning itself as an all‑in‑one solution for campaign optimization and commerce. Best for: Performance Marketer • Ecommerce Strategist

Below is another interesting event added this week to the full AI + Marketing Events blog post!

November 4, 2025, New York City

A hands-on forum for marketers, technologists, and agency leaders to test, experiment, and build real AI strategies. Focuses on AI-powered creativity, search disruption, and practical ways to connect with consumers, less hype, more working session. Register →

Scale AI - Director of Product Marketing (please message me if you are interested, warm lead!)

Vercel - Head of Product Marketing

Keystone AI - Head of Marketing

Google - Creative AI 3P Lead, Creative Works

Weber Shandwick - Senior Associate, AI Acceleration

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