Hey👋,
I'm Giacomo

The reality of the AI race.

ChatGPT ads don’t change advertising.
They change what performance marketing even means!

OpenAI just confirmed it will experiment with ads inside ChatGPT.

What we know so far:
- US only.
- Free and Go tiers only (Go = new $8/month, US-only plan).
- Ads clearly labelled, fully separated from organic answers.
- No native sponsored mentions (for now).

So far, so reasonable.
But the philosophy behind it, is where things get interesting. 🤔

OpenAI says ads are simply a way to make AI accessible to everyone.
Mission > profit.

They also claim they will never optimise for time spent on ChatGPT, prioritising user experience over revenue.

If this sounds familiar, it should.
That’s exactly how Google talked in its early days:
Get users to the best answer, as fast as possible. Then get out of the way.
But we all know how that ended. Google barely sends clicks away now.

So here’s the real shift 👇

Conversational ads!

After seeing an ad, users will be able to chat directly with the advertiser inside ChatGPT.

And let’s be honest:
That is optimising for time spent, LoL😅

And it changes everything for marketers:
- Landing page is no longer the goal.
- Conversations come first.
- Traffic comes second.

Clicks and traffic were easy to track and optimise for.
But conversations? Good luck!

The basic rules of performance marketing are being rewritten.
And once again, it's day one!

I thought tradition and progress couldn’t coexist.
Then I visited Bahrain. 🇧🇭

A few weeks ago, I barely knew where it sat on the map.
Now, I’m back with my whole world perspective challenged.

Bahrain is a modern, wealthy economy, similar to its neighbours, like the UAE.
Skyscrapers, artificial islands, the full package.

But, unlike them, it still preserves a strong Arabic and Islamic identity.

In the Western mindset, those two things are often seen as incompatible.

I hardly saw any Westerners around.
Most women wore full-length black robes, with face coverings, driving luxury cars or browsing fancy shops.

Men wore traditional white robes and headscarves.

Even in high-end shopping malls, background music would stop to make space for live prayers sung from nearby mosques.

Geographically, it’s mostly desert.
From my hotel window 👇.

Sand, few buildings, and a lot of construction!
It feels like a country still expanding, still becoming. Optimism is in the air.

What surprised me even more is that Bahrain’s wealth is not a new phenomenon.

Unlike Qatar or the UAE, it has been a trade and financial hub for millennia!

The great Dilmun civilisation settled there over 5,000 years ago with forts and burial sites still standing.

Not so different from how ancient Roman history lives on in Italy.

This trip helped me put things into perspective.

Traditional, non-Western societies can be modern, wealthy, and forward-looking, without giving up who they are.

Progress isn’t about abandoning tradition to become someone else. It’s about building on it.

You’re not getting hired because ChatGPT doesn’t know you exist.

It became clear to me while sourcing candidates for a new role in our team.

We decided to do active search, but scanning through hundreds of LinkedIn profiles randomly didn't look like a strategy.

So, I turned to ChatGPT.
I asked to map companies in our space and find relevant profiles employed there.

In 16 minutes 🤯, ChatGPT gave me relevant people I would have hardly found otherwise.

And that’s when it really hit me.

What if I was looking for a new job and other hiring managers were doing the same? Would I show up?

What if I was a consultant? This could make or break my business.
And the exact same logic applies to brands.

So, would ChatGPT recommend your profile today, yes or no?

I bought my girlfriend’s Christmas presents on ChatGPT.

Turns out, I wasn’t alone 😅.

Because shopping is now the second most common AI use case.

Which means people are discovering and purchasing products inside AI tools, instead of traditional channels like organic search or social media.

This scares the hell out of retailers!
So here's how they're reacting:

1️⃣ Block AI tools.
Amazon blocked OpenAI crawlers and sued Perplexity.
Fair enough. When you’re the default destination already, you don’t need intermediaries.

2️⃣ Collaborate.
Walmart is bringing its products to ChatGPT checkout.
Instacart already launched a GPT shopping app.
They’re treating AI like what it actually is: a new distribution channel.

3️⃣ Build your own chatbot.
Amazon launched Rufus.
Zalando launched Zalando Assistant.
“If users want a chat interface, we’ll build it ourselves.”

It’ll be fascinating to see which strategy wins in 2026.

But I have an idea already.
For everyone who isn’t Amazon, option two is the winner.

We’ve already seen this with Google Shopping.
What initially looked like a tax for visibility is now the largest retail acquisition channel.

Today, not being on Google Shopping is unthinkable.
Next year, not being purchasable via AI will be the same.

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🔔 Everyday I try to make sense of the AI Marketing revolution with posts just like this. If you liked it, consider following me for more!

The richer you are, the less lonely you are.

Over the holidays I kept thinking about biases and how hard it is to see the world from a different angle.

And I saw a chart that flipped my assumptions.

Common knowledge goes like this:
Poorer societies are less individualistic and more community-driven, hence less lonely. What we think of Africa, for example.

Maybe this belief comes from a Catholic general dislike of wealth.
Maybe it comes from somewhere else, I don't know.

Either way, it's just wrong.

The data tells a different story.
The wealthier you are, the less lonely you are.

Madagascar is the loneliest place on earth.
India is more lonely than the US.

Honestly, it makes logical sense.
With money you outsource chores and gain more time for friends and family.

So, as a marketer and business person, that's a great reminder:
Look at the data before you fall for a narrative!

I spent the holidays between Naples and the Sorrento/Amalfi Coast.
My first time there. Before leaving, I was warned about everything:
Chaos, scams, micro-criminality, garbage and all other common clichés on southern Italy.
And the idea of going by train from Zurich genuinely scared colleagues and friends: “You’ll never make it.” they said.

What I found instead was…

No chaos.
Yes, there are lot of tourists. Yes, traffic is heavy.
But just one street away from the main roads and I found silence and calm. I had beautiful walks in romantic narrow lanes.

Clean streets.
Of course Naples is not cleaner than Zurich.
But is it dirtier than Milan or other Northern Italian cities? Absolutely not.
I was very positively surprised.

(Un)surprisingly, everything worked.
I used public transport, boats and taxis daily. Always on time, fair prices, zero issues.

People were elegant and polite.
Fur coats and fancy suits were a common sight.
I was warned of their tough dialect, but I've just heard clean and polite Italian.

The train journey was flawless.
Zurich → Milan → Parma → Naples.
Then boats to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.
Every single connection was on time. Sometimes even early.
Ironically, the only delay was on the Swiss train back to Zurich.
Five minutes late. 😅

All of this, paired with some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.
And I say this as an Italian, used to beauty.
Some Naples neighbourhoods and the Amalfi Coast are easily among the most stunning places on earth.

This is a reminder for the next time you believe clichés.

When you’re celebrating this Christmas don’t be too hard with yourself. Remember that even our monkey ancestors 10 million years ago liked booze.

They discovered that fallen, rotten fruit was not only tasty but also rich in calories and evergy. It helped them survive climate change and the disappearance of tropical forests where they used to live.

For millions of years alchol has shaped human societies, mostly for the better actually. It helped socialise and keep communities cohesive in the face of adversities.

Obviously, there’s a far cry between this and getting absolutely hammered at the pub. 😅

Happy Christmas everyone!

Repeat with me:

ChatGPT is not an AI model.
ChatGPT is not an AI chatbot.
ChatGPT is not a search engine.

ChatGPT is becoming something much bigger.
A whole new marketing ecosystem.

This week, OpenAI launched Apps, open to everyone.
Yes, even in the EU & CH 😀

Any developer can now build an app for ChatGPT.
Apps can be triggered manually in normal conversations, by typing @ + AppName. But OpenAI is already “experimenting with ways to surface relevant, helpful apps directly within conversations—using signals like conversational context, app usage patterns, and user preferences.”

Translation 👇
Apps will seamlessly activate in conversations without users even realising it.

You’re discussing options for a ski vacation?
ChatGPT triggers Booking[.]com and TripAdvisor to improve the answer and link to hotels and packages.

You’re looking for Christmas recipes?
ChatGPT triggers Instacart and seamlessly suggests ingredients to buy 🛒

Now the real question for marketers:
How do I make sure my app is triggered instead of a competitor’s?

That question is worth $$$.
And right now, nobody knows the answer.

But one thing is certain: sponsored placements are coming.

OpenAI is already “exploring additional monetization options over time, including digital goods.”

Meaning -> one way to get triggered will be to pay OpenAI.
Déjà vu of the Apple App Store? 😅

The marketing world is being completely rewired.
The only question left:

Are we ready for it?

AI didn’t replace humans…
It multiplied HR. 🤯

A paradox.

AI-related layoffs are at an all-time high.
And layoffs require… a lot of HR! 😅

Jokes aside, AI isn’t just shrinking the workforce. It’s reshaping it.

New roles and workflows that trigger large organisational change.
And that’s where HR steps in.

Take Moderna.
They merged IT and HR under the Chief Human Resources Officer.

Sounds bizarre, until you think about it:
Today, corporate AI is mostly about work processes. IT manages the tech. HR manages the human system around it.
They are two sides of the same transformation.

Being that said,
HR itself has become a major target of AI-related layoffs.
Yes, layoffs require HR. But fewer hires mean fewer HR roles too.

That likely explains why HR growth started slowing in 2023–2024.

A paradox, again. 😅

So what’s the takeaway here?
We’re living in damn strange times!

Did you also find this chart surprising?