Episodes
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#161: Instagram is bringing back long-form video. What has changed?
Short videos have changed how we discover content. But what happens when we want to watch more? Instagram is bringing long-form video back with Features, connecting Reels to videos up to 90 minutes long. Unlike IGTV, which failed to build a lasting viewing habit, this time Instagram wants to turn...
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#160: LinkedIn’s new features in 2026: From connection to business
LinkedIn’s new features in 2026 point to a bigger shift: turning professional connections into business opportunities. From the Network Feed and digital business cards to creator monetization and paid consultations, LinkedIn is trying to connect content discovery, professional relationships and...
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#159: Performance marketing captures demand. But what creates it?
Marketing has more data, dashboards, and performance metrics than ever before. Yet, are we becoming better marketers, or simply getting better at measuring what happens today? Performance marketing captures demand. Brand building creates it by making brands distinctive, memorable, and trusted.…
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#158: The AI Label Paradox: How AI disclosure labels influence shopper decisions
What happens when shoppers discover that a product image they liked was created using AI? Do they lose interest, trust the brand less, or become more willing to buy? In this episode, we explore the surprising research behind AI disclosure labels and reveal why an “AI-generated” tag can make a...
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#157: Will your customers name your brand to their AI shopping agent?
I’m a coffee lover, and Starbucks is a brand I’d probably name if my AI shopping agent asked, “Which coffee should I always buy?” That simple question may become a new test of brand loyalty. AI shopping agents are learning our preferences, comparing products, remembering past choices and...
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#156: AI comedy is revealing what audiences really want from marketing
AI comedy is revealing something marketers may be missing about how audiences really feel about AI. As comedians mock overconfident chatbots, use AI to create material, or bring it into live performances, AI has become a shared cultural reference point. But the audience response isn't simply…
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#155: Why collectibles are changing the way brands think about marketing
A Starbucks bear-shaped cup sells out in hours. A Labubu blind box turns opening a package into a ritual. LEGO brings adults back to childhood. What looks like a toy or Gen Z trend reveals something deeper: people collect to express identity, find belonging, reconnect with nostalgia and…
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#154: AI natives have a head start. But, Marketing demands more.
AI natives are entering marketing with a head start. They move fast, experiment freely, adapt to new AI tools and know how to collaborate with machines. But is AI fluency enough to become a great marketer? As AI removes friction from work, a different challenge is emerging: weaker recall, less...
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#153: AI watermarking: The trust shift marketers can’t ignore
AI is making content faster than ever. But as the internet fills with AI-generated images, videos, audio and text, a bigger question is emerging: what can we trust? That’s where AI watermarking for marketers enters the picture. In this episode of Likely Marketing, we explore how AI watermarking...
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#152: AI anthropomorphism: From mascots to human-AI relationships
What happens when technology stops merely looking human and starts feeling like someone we know? AI anthropomorphism has evolved from ELIZA and friendly mascots to AI that can speak with warmth, remember us, personalize interactions, apologize, collaborate and even act on our behalf. Advances in...
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#151: How anthropomorphism in branding makes brands human
Why do we talk to our cars, thank machines, or feel guilty interrupting a robot vacuum? We know they aren't human. Yet, for a moment, we treat them as if they are. That instinct is called anthropomorphism. It is our tendency to give human traits, emotions and intentions to things that aren't…
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#150: The martech stack is being re-written by AI agents
What if your martech stack stopped looking like a stack? CRM, CDP, automation, content, analytics and sales tools have long defined how marketers work. Now, agentic AI is beginning to blur the boundaries between them. AI agents can increasingly plan, execute and optimize multi-step marketing…
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#149: AI Agents for Marketing: AI doesn't just answer anymore
Marketing AI has quietly entered a new chapter. AI no longer just answers questions, it takes action. From researching competitors and analyzing campaigns to drafting content, managing workflows, and connecting your marketing tools, AI agents are changing what marketers spend their time on. In…
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#148: Luxury retail experience trends: Why belonging is the future of luxury
Luxury retail experience trends are changing what it means to own something extraordinary. A customer walks into a luxury store expecting products but discovers art, culture, hospitality and stories that linger long after the visit ends. That's the future of luxury. In this episode, we explore…
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#147: Open source LLMs for Marketing: Why AI infrastructure could be your next competitive edge
What if the biggest AI advantage in marketing isn't the chatbot you subscribe to—but the AI infrastructure you own? While most marketers compete to write better prompts with ChatGPT or Claude, another AI revolution is unfolding through open source (open-weight) LLMs. In this episode, we explore…
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#146: Creator TV could be re-writing who owns the audience
What happens when the audience stops belonging to platforms and starts belonging to creators? Creator TV may look like creators making longer videos for bigger screens, but the real story runs much deeper. As connected TVs, streaming and long-form content reshape viewing habits, creators are...
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#145: Creator Economy growth isn't organic. It's being Built.
The creator economy isn't simply growing. It's being built. What started as a side hustle for a few has become a global economic system shaped by four powerful forces: changing audience behavior, platform monetization, lower barriers to content creation, and growing institutional support from...
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#144: Nostalgia Marketing isn't about the past. It's about connection.
Nostalgia marketing isn't about bringing back the past. It's about reconnecting people with emotions they already trust and making those emotions relevant again in today's world. In this episode, we explore why campaigns from McDonald's, White Rabbit, Frankie & Benny's and other brands succeeded…
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#143: The Influencer Marketing strategy that turns trust into growth
Every brand begins its influencer marketing strategy by looking for reach. Bigger creators. Bigger audiences. Bigger numbers. But what if growth doesn't begin with followers at all? This episode reveals why the most successful influencer partnerships are built on something far more valuable…
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#142: When your brand has a body: Marketing in the age of humanoid robots
For decades, brands have obsessed over how they look and sound. Soon, they'll need to decide how they move. As humanoid robots enter stores, hotels, banks, and customer service environments, marketing faces a challenge it has never encountered before: designing a brand's physical behavior. A...
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#141: Why thoughtful marketing wins in a tiered social media world
For years, brands could win on social media by publishing more content, chasing algorithms, and buying reach. But that era is fading. Subscription models, declining organic reach, stricter regulations, platform fragmentation, and audience fatigue are creating a new reality: a tiered social media...
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#140: Vibe design makes everything faster. That's the problem.
A marketer has an idea—a landing page, a campaign, a new brand direction. Not long ago, turning that idea into reality meant weeks of briefs, revisions, approvals, and waiting. Today, a prompt can generate it in minutes. Welcome to the era of Vibe Design. In this episode, we explore how…
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#139: RCS marketing is solving a problem social media created
For years, marketers chased audiences across social media feeds, battled changing algorithms, watched email open rates decline, and begged users to download yet another app. Then, an old technology quietly evolved. In this episode, we explore how RCS Marketing is solving a problem social media...
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#138: RAG for AI search visibility: Why good content still gets ignored
A brand invested in great content, strong SEO, and a consistent online presence. By traditional search standards, everything looked right. Yet when AI search tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity generated answers, the brand kept disappearing. Why? Because AI search has changed the rules. AI...
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#137: AI visibility isn’t built on content alone - It’s built on citations
In a world obsessed with publishing more content, brands are learning a hard truth: AI doesn’t trust what brands say about themselves as much as what others say about them. In this episode of Likely **Marketing, we explore why AI visibility is no longer built on content alone, but on citations,...
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#136: AI search can’t trust a brand it doesn’t understand. Here’s what to do
In the age of AI search, brands are no longer competing only for rankings. They’re competing to be understood. When someone asks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, or Perplexity about a company, the machine first asks: “Who exactly is this brand?” In this episode, Shivendra explores Entity SEO — the...
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#135: AI browsers are re-writing Marketing - From clicks to decisions
The first version of the web gave us clicks. This one quietly takes them away. In this episode, we explore how AI browsers like Dia Browser, Comet Browser, Opera Neon, Atlas Browser, and Google Chrome are turning the internet into an intent-driven system where decisions happen before clicks. What...
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#134: From ads to entertainment: Why brands using music videos are re-writing marketing
It starts as a pattern you almost ignore—until it repeats. A clothing brand releases a music video. Then a fintech app. Then an airline. Not ads or placements, but full-scale productions with original songs, choreography, and stories. This episode explores the rise of brands using music videos to...
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#133: Do brands still need a website in the AI search era? The answer has changed
AI didn’t kill websites, it made them invisible. There was a time when platforms like Google defined discovery, and ranking meant relevance. Websites were the internet’s home. But today, AI search, social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and voice assistants intercept intent before…
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#132: From booth traffic to brand immersion: The new power of VR in events marketing
A quiet trade show aisle changes in seconds: one ordinary booth becomes a portal, and curious passersby step into branded worlds they can see, touch, and remember. In this episode, “From booth traffic to brand immersion: The new power of VR in events marketing,” we explore how VR for events...
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#131: Instagram caption links for marketing are coming…and “organic” may never be the same
It began with a small shift inside Instagram, a simple “Add link” button that marketers had waited years for. But this wasn’t just a feature update. It was a signal. For a decade, “link in bio” shaped how traffic flowed, powering tools like Linktree and defining what organic growth looked like....
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#130: Why horror genre fans are marketing gold (and how to reach them right)
A flicker. A shadow. A heartbeat that isn’t yours. Millions press play not just to watch horror, but to feel something deeper. Horror fans aren’t passive viewers—they seek intensity, remember what moves them, and reward what earns their attention. In this episode, we explore the psychology behind...
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#129: What horror movies reveal about attention, emotion, and audience behavior
You open your analytics dashboard, searching for the next big content bet—sports, food, drama but nothing sticks. Then you notice a pattern: horror. Not jump scares or gore, but something deeper. Since 2015, horror movies have evolved into a global attention engine with low budgets, massive ROI,...
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#128: Should your content train AI or protect your brand? The Google AI opt-out dilemma
AI search is quietly rewriting the rules of discovery. With Google AI Overviews, users increasingly get answers directly on the search page without clicking a website. Convenient for users—but disruptive for publishers, creators, and brands whose content powers those answers. Now Google is...
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#127: AI for branding and marketing: In a world of AI noise, human stories win
We are living in an age of information overload where AI can generate content faster than ever. Feeds are full of polished posts, perfect visuals, and algorithm-friendly messages—yet most of it disappears from memory within seconds. This episode explores the growing tension in AI for branding and...
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#126: Google Scenario Planner: The CFO-proof engine for smarter marketing decisions
The room goes silent. The CFO asks: “If we move budget, what happens to revenue?” In today’s privacy-first, AI-driven chaos, guesswork fails. This episode explores how Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) is becoming a strategic edge through Google Meridian and Google Scenario Planner. Meridian analyzes...
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#125: Is curated advertising ending the era of cheap digital ads?
For years, digital advertising chased cheap scale. Programmatic buying promised low CPMs and limitless reach, but brands lost control of context. Ads appeared beside misinformation, low-value content, and misaligned audiences. Privacy laws tightened, cookies faded, CAC rose, and trust declined....
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#124: Digital equity in M&A: The asset exec boards forget, until the traffic disappears
The deal closes. Headlines celebrate synergy. Valuations look strong. From the $5T M&A peak of 2021 to regulator-blocked moves like Adobe’s attempted acquisition of Figma, boards focus on balance sheets. But between signing and rebranding, a quieter loss unfolds. A high-ranking domain is...
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#123: 400 million users later — why isn’t Threads a marketing priority yet?
At the start of the year, you open your marketing plan and wonder: is Threads worth the effort, or just another platform to maintain? When Meta launched it in 2023, 100 million users signed up in a week. Today, it sits at nearly 400 million monthly active users with strong engagement and Gen Z...
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#122: Is in-game advertising the most undervalued growth engine in marketing?
I clear a puzzle level on my phone. Fireworks flash. A choice appears: watch 30 seconds, earn extra coins. I tap yes. That’s in-game advertising — opt-in, rewarded, seamless. In this episode, we explore why in-game advertising is becoming a core growth engine. Gaming is a $124B+ industry with 3B...
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#121: How brand collaborations (not so) quietly became the new marketing system
Two brands meet. Not on a billboard. Not in an ad break. But quietly—where trust already lives. Over the last five years, brand collaboration marketing has stopped being a flashy stunt and started behaving like a system. A new operating model for growth. One where brands borrow credibility, share...
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#120: The real power of Google Labs tools for marketing (and why most marketers will miss it)
Late one weekend, a marketer falls down a quiet rabbit hole called Google Labs—and realizes something important is happening in plain sight. This episode explores how Google Labs tools for marketing aren’t random AI experiments, but early signals of how Google is rebuilding its entire advertising...
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#119: What OpenAI really wants from Pinterest — Why marketers should care
What if OpenAI’s biggest missing piece isn’t better models—but better intent? This episode begins with a rumor: OpenAI might acquire Pinterest. But quickly, it becomes a story about where AI, search, and marketing are actually headed. Pinterest isn’t just a visual platform. It’s where humans…
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#118: GDPR and EU AI Act impact on marketing in practice: What changes for email, AI content, cookies, and ads
On a quiet January morning, over coffee, a single sentence captured the mood of modern marketing: “It feels like the rules keep changing, but no one tells us what the new rules are.” This episode is about those rules. As GDPR tightens enforcement and the EU AI Act comes into force, marketing…
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#117: What I Hope for Marketing in 2026 When AI Meets Trust and Community
Standing at the edge of 2025, this episode begins like a quiet realization rather than a breaking news alert. Marketing didn’t collapse under AI. It was clarified. In What I Hope for Marketing in 2026 When AI Meets Trust and Community, this story walks through a year where AI-powered search…
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#116: Visibility Broke. Conversion Changed. Creation Exploded. Marketing Tech in 2026 I’m Excited About
Boy, did 2025 fly by. As the year winds down, marketing finds itself at a strange, electric crossroads. Visibility broke. Conversion changed. Creation exploded. And in the quiet before 2026, everything suddenly makes sense. This episode is a short story about that convergence moment—when search...
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#115: From Feeds to Inner Circles: Why Micro-Communities Are the Future of Marketing
In 2025, the social web is quietly shifting. Feeds are fading, and “inner circles” are rising. When TikTok launched Bulletin Boards, it seemed like just another feature—until creators realized it unlocked something the algorithm never could: direct, intimate community. Suddenly, platforms...
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#114: The Adobe & SEMRush Deal Is a Signal — Your Brand’s Online Visibility Is About to Change
When Adobe bought SEMRush for $1.9bn, it wasn’t just another tech acquisition—it was a signal. A signal that traditional SEO, Google-first thinking, and old visibility playbooks are collapsing faster than marketers expected. In this episode, we break down why Adobe made this move, what SEMRush...
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#113: Brands Are Making You Binge Scripted Social Series — Without Knowing It’s Marketing
Social media isn’t just for posts anymore — it’s a binge-worthy streaming platform, and brands are turning into mini studios. In this episode, we dive into the rise of scripted social media series: entertaining, episodic content created by brands like Bilt, Alexis Bittar, Nike, and RedBull. From...
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#112: Nobody Is Talking About Live Translation Tech — And It Could Change Everything About Marketing
We’ve quietly entered a new era of communication—one that could change everything about marketing. Google, Meta, and Apple have all launched live translation technology, turning phones, glasses, and earbuds into real-time language bridges. And nobody is talking about what this means for…
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