What's driving Google and Meta's record earnings? Hint: it's AI, not traditional ads.
In this episode, Paul and Martin unpack the latest earnings calls, HubSpot's strategic acquisition of X Funnel, and then venture into scenario planning for marketing's future. From business-as-usual to AI agent swarms running entire organisations, we map out what you should watch for and what you should do right now.
Key Takeaways
- Meta's AI-powered advertising suite is now handling $60 billion in annualised ad spend. That's real money, real results: 5% more time on Facebook, 10% on Threads, 30% growth on Instagram video.
- Google posted its first $100 billion quarter, driven by AI features in Search and YouTube. YouTube Shorts now earn more per watch hour than traditional in-stream ads.
- HubSpot acquired X Funnel to double down on Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) — ensuring your brand shows up in AI chatbot answers. But don't chase FOMO. Focus on brand-building and content quality; those work across all search channels.
- Five plausible futures for marketing:
- Business as usual
- Niche AI agents handling specific tasks
- Hyper-personalisation at scale
- AI agents driving strategy
- Fully autonomous agent swarms Which scenario emerges depends on technology progress, regulation, and how quickly organisations can rethink workflows.
- The real bottleneck isn't technology — it's human change. AI-first startups will outcompete legacy organisations unless incumbents commit to wholesale rethinking. Disruption ahead.
- Customer preference trumps efficiency. If your audience values human interaction and human-crafted outputs, that changes everything. Personalisation won't win if customers prefer the human touch.
What to Do Now
- Invest in AI skills training for yourself and your team. The saying holds: marketers aren't replaced by AI; they're replaced by marketers who use AI.
- Get your customer data in order. Clean, structured, first-party data is essential — especially if privacy regulations tighten. If an AI agent needs to draw insights, it needs good data to work with.
- Establish an AI ethics and usage charter. Give customers confidence. Guide employees on responsible AI use.
- Build human-in-the-loop QA processes. Identify where you can safely automate and where humans must review. As niche agents emerge, you'll know exactly where to deploy them.
- Run scenario planning for your business. Use ChatGPT or Claude with your business context to model which scenario matters most to you. Don't just accept our five; build your own.
Mentioned in This Episode
- Meta: AI recommendations; Vibes (image generation); Advantage+.
- Google: AI Overviews; Performance Max; YouTube Shorts.
- HubSpot: X Funnel acquisition; Loop Marketing; GEO.
- Tools: Zapier; Claude; ChatGPT; Canva; HubSpot; Salesforce.
- Reference: The Last Economy by Emad Mauck.
New episodes every week on Artificially Intelligent Marketing. For questions, use cases, or scenario disagreements, find us on LinkedIn or reply to our latest episode post.
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