Most leaders say brand matters, then kill the budget when performance ads dip. This piece gives you a simple game and a reverse engineering exercise you can run with your exec team to prove how brand really works, why certain names dominate every category, and how to move the conversation from “brand spend” to concrete, commercial impact.

AI isn’t just “the next big thing” here, it’s a looming fault line

This piece lays out where we really are with AI today, what happens when agents move from handy copilots to half-autonomous colleagues, and why trust, regulation, hacks and national security will define the next few years. From multi‑agent ecosystems to potential cyber conflicts, it shows both the upside for smart operators and the risks for those who sleepwalk into an agentic future.

Is Reddit worth the risk and are ChatGPT ads a smart bet for your brand? This CMO-focused guide from Marketing Unfiltered breaks down Reddit’s brand-safety trade-offs, the rise of “problem-state” ChatGPT ads, key watch-outs, and practical steps to test both channels without wasting budget.

Google is evolving into the AI-driven operating system of shopping, using Gemini and persistent agents across Search, Docs, and a Universal Cart.

This shift offers value (e.g., faster drafting, 'always-on digital staff') but creates major risks: reduced organic traffic via 'AEO', platform lock-in, and loss of customer data as Universal Cart intermediates transactions. CMOs must urgently diversify channels, tighten data governance, and redesign commerce playbooks to thrive in this AI-mediated environment where the Google agent is the new shopper.