RIP attention economy, meet connection economy · Oct 6

Your week of 10/6 AI + Marketing roundup is here! What’s on for this week?!...

Adweek published the take I've been waiting for: the real edge in AI marketing isn't the model…it's the judgment, taste, and problem framing around it.

Meanwhile, research shows AI aspirations are stuck in pilot purgatory because governance and handoffs aren't defined.

And what's up in LinkedIn thought leader la la land? Michael Leibovich declared the attention economy dead…we're now in the "connection economy" where trust is the scarce resource. Chantal Cox predicts that by 2027, AI shopping agents will drive over $200B in GMV. And Andrew Yeung argues Head of Growth is the new key role because AI made product development cheap.

Also covered: Unilever's smart approach to scaling creative without flattening the brand, why AI alone can't keep up with culture, and OpenAI's new Sora 2 video app that lets you generate branded content from prompts.

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Do you buy the "connection economy" idea? And are your AI projects stuck in pilot purgatory or actually shipping?

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Adweek | 6-minute read

Overview: Argues the differentiator isn’t the model…it’s the judgment, taste, and problem framing around it.

Key Points:

• Ideas improve when teams use AI to explore, then decide with context.

• Taste and strategy separate great work from fast work.

• Leaders should reward clear thinking over tool-count.

My take: Most teams don’t need another tool; they need better questions and clearer choices. Use AI to widen the option set, then let taste and context do the picking.

Exploding Topics | 8-minute read

Overview: A dense roundup of adoption, spend, and outcome stats across channels and use cases.

Key Points:

• Adoption is broad, but depth varies...lots of pilots, fewer durable workflows.

• Biggest wins: production speed, repurposing, and testing volume.

• Top concerns: quality drift, trust, and measurement.

My take: Pick two numbers you actually want to move before end of year and run a scrappy experiment to see if they budge.

Brands at Play | 6-minute read

Overview: Operator-level playbook on creative systems, consented data, and agent-ready workflow design.

Key Points:

• Modular creative + brand lexicons beat one-off assets.

• Permissions and provenance are becoming real differentiators.

• Agents are useful when the pipes (data, QA, routing) exist.

My take: Reusable building blocks beat one-off hero assets every time.

MarTech | 5-minute read

Overview: Research shows many teams stall after promising tests because governance and handoffs aren’t defined.

Key Points:

• Clear owners and success metrics predict what leaves the lab.

• Workflow mapping matters more than model shopping.

• Training and change management are the long pole.

My take: Pick a business metric and test and measure, plz!

CMSWire | 6-minute read

Overview: A candid look at leadership styles: wait-and-see vs. build-and-learn.

Key Points:

• The safest move is usually the smallest shippable one.

• Credibility comes from use, not memos.

• Your org copies your habits...good and bad.

My take: Leadership is a habit, not a memo. Ship one small loop, measure it, and let the org copy outcomes instead of slogans.

Unilever.com | 5-minute read

Overview: Inside Unilever’s approach to modular creative, local relevance, and rapid testing using AI.

Key Points:

• Templates + local nuance deliver speed without flattening the brand.

• Clear guardrails keep quality and compliance intact.

• Results are measured on lift and cycle time, not outputs.

My take: This is the good kind of boring: templates, guardrails, and proof. Automate the repeatable parts so humans can focus on the parts people actually notice.

Marketing Brew | 6-minute read

Overview: More teams are choosing AI imagery for speed and cost, but label and trust questions follow.

Key Points:

• Turnaround and budgets improve; consistency can suffer.

• Disclosure and credits reduce backlash.

• Hybrid workflows (real base, AI retouch) strike a balance.

My take: Time and budget matter..but people can spot “AI-gray” a mile away. I strongly recommend not using AI for the actual creative. Humans want to connect to real humans.

Ad Age Studio 30 | 5-minute read

Overview: Culture moves faster than prompts; human context keeps work from feeling generic.

Key Points:

• Trend-chasing without POV blends you into the feed.

• Real community input beats vibe-copying.

• Distinctive assets still do the long-term lifting.

My take: Culture moves faster than prompts. Talk to real people, keep your POV, and let AI help you execute...not impersonate.

Fast Company | 6-minute read

Overview: A founder talks about balancing concept, craft, and disclosure in an AI-heavy campaign.

Key Points:

• Story first, tools second...audiences can tell.

• Labeling doesn’t ruin the magic when the idea is strong.

• Good guardrails make room for bolder creative.

My take: Sorry to just ignore this whole article but I can't get past that we need REAL human friends, not a necklace to talk to...that won't solve the loneliness epidemic.

Value Added Resource | 4-minute read

Overview: Marketplace discovery is shifting to AI “shelves” via Perplexity and Google tie-ups.

Key Points:

• Structured catalogs and seller reputation feed assistant answers.

• Merchandising has to consider AI mentions alongside SEO.

• Measurement will include “assistant share of voice.”

My take: Treat AI assistants like new storefronts. Clean your product data and ask, “Would an agent pick us?”

Fast Company | 6-minute read

Overview: As assistants answer more questions, the homepage matters less than the data it exposes.

Key Points:

• Entity clarity and schema beat glossy hero videos.

• Content built as components travels further.

• Owned channels still convert when the bot sends traffic.

My take: The homepage isn’t the hero...your data is. Publish clear entities, reusable content blocks, and fast pages; assistants will do the routing.

MarTech | 6-minute read

Overview: Trust isn’t a poster...it's disclosures, provenance, and consistent outcomes you can point to.

Key Points:

• Label what’s AI-made and why; show the benefit.

• Track provenance like an ingredient list.

• Close the loop with human QA and rapid fixes.

My take: Trust is earned in the small things: a label, an apology, a fix that ships fast. Keep doing that and growth follows. Trust is the answer, always! :) (I am a trust marketer so maybe I'm a little biased, :) ).

After 13 years building marketplaces, Cox lays out four predictions: (1) shopping will move to trusted surfaces like video, chat and live streams...checkout layers collapse, so only platforms with deep engagement and trust will win; (2) by 2027, AI shopping agents (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity) will drive more than $200 B in GMV, flipping the funnel from retailers pushing products to agents pulling what’s best for you; (3) trust in the payment and fulfillment layer (think Stripe, Shop Pay) will matter more than brand websites; and (4) within five years, over 40 % of Gen Z purchases will happen without ever visiting a retailer’s site, as social feeds and AI become the new storefront. See Post

Leibovich argues that AI has flooded feeds with easy-to-make content, making attention alone a weak differentiator. The scarce resource now is trust. He outlines a shift from reach to relationships, clicks to commitment, and virality to credibility. In this “connection economy,” brands will win by cutting through the noise with credible work that makes people stop scrolling and lean in. See Post

Yeung predicts that at early-stage startups the Head of Growth will eclipse Head of Product or Engineering because AI and offshoring are making product development cheap. Differentiation will depend on making people care. He sees these growth leaders building cult-like brands, mastering virality, curating communities, creating zero-cost growth loops, hosting IRL events, and turning marketing into a profit center. They’ll combine brand strategy, performance marketing, data science and creator skills, operating with founder-level rigor. See Post

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

This Swiss “next‑generation marketing engine” blends AI‑powered SEO, automated conversion optimization and cross‑channel marketing. OMN dynamically personalizes pages, clusters keywords and generates content tailored for e‑commerce, promising smarter SEO and higher conversion rates. Best for: Growth Marketer • SEO Specialist • E‑commerce Operator

Yoast (the WordPress SEO pioneer) launched an “AI Visibility Tool” that assesses how your content will perform with generative engines like Google SGE and AI Overviews. It scans pages for AI‑friendly signals and suggests edits to help your posts appear in both traditional search results and AI‑powered summaries. Best for: SEO Strategist • WordPress Publisher • Content Marketer

OpenAI’s new feature lets users browse and purchase products directly within ChatGPT. “Buy it in ChatGPT” ties conversational search to shopping allowing you to discover items, get personalized recommendations and complete purchases without leaving the chat. Best for: E‑commerce Marketer • Social Commerce Strategist • Product Manager

Opera launched Neon, an AI-powered browser that can execute tasks, run code, and automate user actions within web pages. It supports “Neon Do” for autonomous navigation, plus “Tasks” and “Cards” to manage AI workflows locally. Why it matters: It blurs the line between browser and assistant, marketers can prototype interactive demos or guided user experiences directly inside the browser. Best for: Growth Hacker • UX Designer • Product Marketer

At IBC 2025, Dalet unveiled Dalia, an agentic AI integrated into its media stack (Flex, InStream, Amberfin). With it, users can “chat” to search assets, auto-clip video segments, transcode, manage media rights, and orchestrate workflows. Best for: Video Ops Lead • Broadcast Engineer • Media Production Manager

LiveRamp rolled out AI agent capabilities that orchestrate identity resolution, segmentation, activation, measurement, clean rooms, and partner networks. These governed agents let marketers delegate entire campaign cycles without manual intervention. Best for: Martech Architect • Growth Lead • Marketing Ops Manager

Meta introduced a “Business AI” assistant to support small and mid-sized advertisers, as well as generative tools for image, video and AI-music creation. These new capabilities help creators and brands produce ad creative faster and more affordably. Best for: Small Business Marketer • Social Media Lead • Creative Technologist

OpenAI launched Sora 2, a text-to-video generation app supporting audio and likeness (e.g. “cameos”) with remix capabilities for short video clips. Marketers can now generate branded video content from prompts. Best for: Video Marketer • Brand Creative Lead • Storyteller

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

October 22–23, 2025 - New York City

Enterprise-focused summit on AI adoption, networking, and infrastructure. Useful for marketers embedded in technical or operations-heavy organizations. Learn more

November 18–19, 2025 - New York City

High-level, strategic discussions for c-suite and board leaders. Covers implementation, organizational impact, and AI risk management, with insights for marketing leadership. Learn more

Payman - Head Of Marketing

Scale AI - Chief of Staff, Marketing

Okta - Director, Marketing AI Strategy

Cohere - Vice President, Marketing

Intuit - Head of Marketing Futures

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