Is the marketing funnel dead... or has it simply mutated into something far messier? In this episode of Techvibe's Mash Up Rewind, Jonathan Kersting of the Pittsburgh Technology Council and Cooper Munroe of the Motherhood unpack one of the biggest questions facing marketers today: has the traditional funnel collapsed into a maze of search, social, AI, Reddit, reviews, referrals, and word-of-mouth? What follows is a lively, candid conversation with marketers, founders, and business leaders wrestling with how people actually make decisions now.

From the rise of "shopping media" and the growing distrust of polished brand messaging to the surprising influence of Reddit, AI search, and niche community conversations, this episode explores how customer journeys have become more fragmented, less predictable, and much harder to measure. The group digs into why B2B buying paths are especially long and tangled, why attribution can feel almost impossible, and how buyers now arrive more "pre-educated" than ever, even if some of that education is incomplete or flat-out wrong.

Along the way, the discussion surfaces practical insights around content freshness, brand authenticity, schema tags, Google Ads, and why simply showing up in more places is no longer enough. If today's funnel feels more like Plinko than a straight path to conversion, this episode explains why, and what marketers can do about it.

The Pittsburgh Technology Council produces TechVibe to explore Pittsburgh's technology industry.