AI is changing marketing faster than ever — from ad platforms and content creation to how we consume media.

In this episode, we dive into four major developments shaping digital marketing right now:

🤖 AI Disclosure Laws — New regulations are forcing marketers to disclose AI-generated content. Is this a threat for brands, or an opportunity for authentic creators to stand out?

🔎 Google AI Max — Google is pushing advertisers toward increasingly automated campaigns. What does AI Max mean for keyword targeting, control, and the future of Google Search advertising?

🏆 Netflix & Sports — Netflix is increasingly moving into sports and seeing major growth in sports-related ad sales. We discuss why sports could be the key to capturing more screen time — and whether Netflix is slowly turning back into traditional TV.

🧠 The AI Slop Backlash — As AI-generated content floods platforms like LinkedIn, users and algorithms are starting to push back. Is “AI slop” killing engagement, and could authentic human content become the next competitive advantage?

And, of course, we finish with the big question: Are we actually getting close to AGI — or is that just the biggest hype cycle in AI?

🎙️ Tune in for another week of marketing, AI, advertising and a little bit of speculation about whether we’ll still have jobs soon.

In this episode, we sit down with Professor Kishor Sridhar, a consultant and lecturer at the International School of Management (Munich), who combines engineering and psychology to help B2B businesses become more effective. Professor Sridhar, who once worked alongside Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman researching sunk cost effects in leadership, introduces the concept of 'emotional economics' — the idea that 80% of B2B decision-making is driven by emotions, not technical features.

We explore the four core emotional drivers behind every business decision: ego, fear, greed, and laziness. Professor Sridhar explains how understanding these motives enables marketers and salespeople to predict behaviour, tailor messaging, and close deals more effectively. From mapping emotions to product features, to overcoming loss aversion and uncovering hidden customer needs, this conversation challenges the assumption that B2B is purely rational.

Key Topics Covered

• Emotional economics: why 80% of B2B decisions are emotional
• The four emotional drivers: ego, fear, greed, and laziness
• How to map emotions to product features and value propositions
• Addressing multiple stakeholders in a buying committee with different emotional needs
• Loss aversion and the sunk cost effect in deal-making
• Uncovering hidden customer needs through better questioning
• The role of brand, pricing, and trust in B2B
• Why AI cannot replace human creativity in marketing

Guest Bio

Professor Kishor Sridhar is a consultant and part-time lecturer at ISM (International School of Management) in Munich. With a background in engineering and psychology, he specialises in helping B2B businesses integrate technical and emotional intelligence. He has worked with Daniel Kahneman on leadership decision-making research and now advises companies on emotional economics, pricing strategy, and behavioural insights.

What happens when customers prefer AI-generated content but are afraid to admit they use it? And how does virtual reality change the way B2B buyers form emotional connections with products they've never touched?

In this episode, we sit down with Professor David Finken, Professor of Marketing × Technology at TUM (Technical University of Munich), to explore the fascinating intersection of AI, virtual reality, and customer psychology.

David shares insights from his research on why professionals trust AI output yet hide their usage, how virtual product experiences create psychological ownership in B2B contexts, and why emotion matters more in enterprise buying than most marketers realize.

We discuss:

• The AI Disclosure Paradox: Why preference doesn't translate into transparency
• Psychological Ownership in B2B: How virtual configuration increases perceived product value
• The Virtual IKEA Effect: Why co-creating experiences drives engagement
• Emotion vs. ROI: The underestimated emotional side of enterprise purchasing
• Building an Open AI Culture: What transparency looks like beyond leadership statements
• Practical takeaways for marketers navigating AI and immersive experiences

Whether you're rethinking your go-to-market strategy, exploring AI-powered content, or considering VR/AR product demos, this conversation offers research-backed insights you can apply immediately.

Guest: Prof. Dr. David Finken, Professor of Marketing × Technology at TUM

Duration: 30–60 minutes

Follow us for more conversations at the intersection of marketing, technology, and human behavior.

Relevant Links & Insights into Prof. Dr. David Finkens' Work:

• Youtube-Link zu Clayton Christensons Milkeshape Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stc0beAxavY
• Publiziertes Paper im Journal of Retailing zu VR & IKEA Effect: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435925000302
• Publiziertes Paper zu Human-AI Collaboration: https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amd.2024.0285
• Working Paper zu Cognitive Surrender: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6097646
• AI Disclosure:

What happens when customers prefer AI-generated content but are afraid to admit they use it? And how does virtual reality change the way B2B buyers form emotional connections with products they've never touched?

In this episode, we sit down with Professor David Finken, Professor of Marketing × Technology at TUM (Technical University of Munich), to explore the fascinating intersection of AI, virtual reality, and customer psychology.

David shares insights from his research on why professionals trust AI output yet hide their usage, how virtual product experiences create psychological ownership in B2B contexts, and why emotion matters more in enterprise buying than most marketers realize.

We discuss:

• The AI Disclosure Paradox: Why preference doesn't translate into transparency
• Psychological Ownership in B2B: How virtual configuration increases perceived product value
• The Virtual IKEA Effect: Why co-creating experiences drives engagement
• Emotion vs. ROI: The underestimated emotional side of enterprise purchasing
• Building an Open AI Culture: What transparency looks like beyond leadership statements
• Practical takeaways for marketers navigating AI and immersive experiences

Whether you're rethinking your go-to-market strategy, exploring AI-powered content, or considering VR/AR product demos, this conversation offers research-backed insights you can apply immediately.

Guest: Prof. Dr. David Finken, Professor of Marketing × Technology at TUM

Duration: 30–60 minutes

Follow us for more conversations at the intersection of marketing, technology, and human behavior.

Valuable Links & Insights into Prof. Dr. David Finkens' Work:

• Youtube-Link zu Clayton Christensons Milkeshape Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stc0beAxavY
• Publiziertes Paper im Journal of Retailing zu VR & IKEA Effect: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435925000302
• Publiziertes Paper zu Human-AI Collaboration: https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amd.2024.0285
• Working Paper zu Cognitive Surrender: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6097646
• AI Disclosure:

Meta Agents, Salesforce Adoption, Google AI Search & the Post-Click Wake-Up CallIn this episode, Julius and Ben unpack four big shifts shaping marketing right now: Meta’s business agents as a practical way to boost customer engagement through in-chat support and lead pre-qualification; Salesforce’s agentic AI push and what its reported 30% adoption says about messy CRM data, operational readiness, and platform complexity; Google’s claim that AI Overviews are driving billions of weekly clicks despite alternative data suggesting organic traffic declines; and why marketers still underestimate the post-click experience.

ChatGPT Ads Miss the Mark, Pink Boots Go Viral, and Publishers Push Back on GoogleThis episode covers four fast-moving marketing shifts: early performance data suggests OpenAI’s ChatGPT ad business is underperforming because ads don’t feel native, require expensive high-ticket buys, and face strong alternatives—raising questions about pricing, self-serve viability, and potential agency affiliate incentives. They also review a new Google Search Console beta that lets brands add social/video profiles to better reflect fragmented journeys and reduced click behavior.

Zoom Buys Common Room, ChatGPT Referral Dominance, and Why Marketing Must Reconnect to the Boardroom: Julius and Ben discuss Zoom’s acquisition of Common Room and why Zoom is moving beyond commodity video calls into the revenue ops stack by combining data enrichment, meeting transcription, and CRM-connected workflows. They unpack a Search Engine Land report showing ChatGPT driving 92% of AI referral traffic from 6.7M sessions, questioning how this relates to broader AI usage and noting factors like Google AI Overviews classification and ChatGPT adding more links.

OpenAI Ads, Microsoft Copilot, and Google’s AI Search Shake-UpIn this episode, Julius and Tristan discuss two big shifts in AI and marketing: OpenAI’s stated ambition at Cannes Lions to become a new marketing channel and Microsoft’s push to lead in AI through Copilot. They unpack OpenAI’s plan to build native-feeling ads inside LLM responses, citing major financial pressure, a 19-week pilot, expansion plans to Mexico and Brazil, and claims of ~900M weekly active users—while questioning whether ad-heavy AI can really compete with ad-free rivals or replace entrenched Google habits.

World Cup Ads, Bing’s AI Reporting, Instagram on TV, and Reddit’s AI-Powered Ads. In this episode, Julius and Ben review standout 2026 football campaigns, starting with a Matthew McConaughey spot localized into 10 languages using ElevenLabs AI dubbing and where it still feels slightly synthetic. They discuss Bing Webmaster Tools expanding AI reporting with insights on intents, topics, citation share, and comparisons, and why first-party data beats third-party “agentic” SEO tools that simulate searches. They also unpack Reddit’s new advertiser AI tools that generate value-adding, thread-specific ad replies based on community conversations, and early results reported as strong.

This week Julius and Ben cover four stories shaping tech and marketing: SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO and the marketing machine behind it, including heavy storytelling, investor roadshows, Elon Musk’s personal brand on X, and scarcity from a small share float despite a sky-high revenue multiple. Next, they examine Salesforce’s acquisition of customer-service AI platform Fin as a sign of consolidation in agentic AI tooling. They then unpack European legal AI startup Legora doubling headcount and boosting visibility through a Jude Law campaign, while noting competitive pressure from Harvey and law firms building their own tools. Finally, they explore EA’s new platform to book ads inside its sports games and the opportunities and limits of in-game advertising.