Adobe's Semrush Gamble, BFCM Enters the Upside Down, & AI-Washed Earnings

"Adobe didn't just buy an SEO tool – it bought a negotiating position with the AI overlords of discovery." – JuanJacqueline and Juan unpack what "more human" marketing actually looks like when AI is mediating everything from search to Black Friday deals. They break down Adobe's acquisition of Semrush, quarterly Martech earnings, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shift toward mobile-plus-AI shopping, BNPL's surge, and ChatGPT's three-year impact on how people search, think, and buy. Timestamps00:04 – MWF NYC debrief and why this year felt like a turning point for Martech05:10 – Stranger Things and what "good" co-marketing actually looks like10:30 – Woo-Woo vs data: how much of marketing is still intuition dressed up in dashboards16:20 – Adobe buys Semrush: GEO data, media consolidation, and why Adobe blinked on AI search24:40 – Quarterly Martech earnings: mid-market outpaces the enterprise and AI narratives without ROI33:30 – BFCM early numbers: mobile-plus-AI shopping, BNPL growth, and fewer margin-killing discounts36:56 – ChatGPT's third anniversary: national rollbacks and the societal risks of AI42:15 – Subscriber question: How to drive change inside organizations when tooling and incentives clash?SponsorBrought to you by Hightouch — the leading composable CDP and decisioning platform trusted by brands like Domino's, Chime, and Aritzia. 90% of customers have a real use case live within their first week, delivering world-class personalization at scale. Learn more at www.hightouch.com/msom.Connect & SubscribeSubscribe to Making Sense of Martech wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on TikTok, LinkedIn, and don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube.