Hey👋,
I'm Giacomo

This is how ChatGPT kills a small business.

It is a real story, and a warning for every online marketer and business owner.

Guide to Lofoten runs guided tours in the Lofoten Islands, northern Norway.

For years, they nailed SEO and digital marketing.
They brought traffic to their website and sold their tours.

Now, their business is collapsing before their eyes.

Their revenue came 50/50 from:

- Website content monetisation (display ads, paid articles etc)
- Guided tours

The first half is gone.
GPT took their website traffic.

Why visit a travel blog when a chatbot gives you the same answers instantly?

The second half is dying too.
Their tours barely show up online anymore.

💡 Because ChatGPT hardly mentions small websites for transactional conversations. There is growing academic evidence of this.

It prefers popular platforms, like GetYourGuide in this case.

Which take high commissions.
And that’s their small business' margin gone.

Two possible ways out:

1️⃣ Advertising
→ very expensive because competing against giants.

2️⃣ Becoming famous content creators (300k+ followers?)
→ possible, but brutal in the crowded travel niche.

No easy fix. Maybe no fix at all.
Their business model is simply becoming obsolete.

And that happens. It always has during technological shifts.

Bur for us marketers, two lessons stand out:

1️⃣ Info businesses are dead.
2️⃣ Aggregators thrive in the age of AI.

It's easy to see why.

Aggregators provide a large source of organised structured data, perfect to feed AI algorithms.

Of course, not all businesses are aggregators.
But they can look like one, or possibly work with one.

Think of SEO structured data, or retail media.

Adapt or die, as always.

Sunday thoughts: is our golden age ending? 🌍

A mandatory read if you want to understand our times.

Nothing to do with AI or Marketing. Yet, everything to do with all the rest.

It’s helped me put things into perspective… and realise how lucky I am to live right now, in Europe, in this moment of history.

Ours is a golden age,
no questions about it.

Comparable to Ancient Greece, the Roman Republic, or even Song China.

But cracks are starting to show.

Every golden age has three fundamental elements in common:

- Free and open society
- Rule of law
- Peace

That’s the foundation for individual inventiveness and innovation.
And it’s exactly social and technological innovation that sparks a golden age.

Ours, clearly, is driven by technology.

But there’s one more thing golden ages share.

They never last.

Today, open society, rule of law, and peace are being seriously tested.
Without them, our golden age won’t survive.

The trigger of decline is simple: fear.

When fear of decline outweighs belief in progress, decline becomes inevitable, like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But look at how far we’ve come in just a few decades.
And how much more we can still achieve.

Decline isn’t imminent.
And it’s definitely not inevitable.

Take one example:
the golden ages of the past produced some of humanity’s greatest minds, philosophers, artists, statesmen etc.

Yet none of them, over thousands of years, ever questioned the role of women in public life or the existence of slavery.

Now think of today.
And we still have a long way to go!

At this point it’s on us.

To choose between fear of decline or faith in progress and peace.
And if we choose the latter we need to protect it at all cost!

So in a sense yes, this post is also about AI.
Because this technology might just be the spark of an even better golden age.

If we want it to be. ⚡

While OpenAI flirts with erotic AI,

Anthropic is quietly raking in billions from enterprise clients.

The Claude’s maker is projected to hit $9 billion in revenue this year.

Not far from OpenAI’s $13 billion, despite having just a fraction of its active users.

In fact, Anthropic generates 80% of its revenue from around 300’000 enterprise customers.

A far cry from the 800 million weekly active users of OpenAI, which are mostly consumers.

Anthropic’s average revenue per user is off the charts! 🔥

Same AI, very different monetisation models.

In the end, both are backed by the same blend of Big Tech and VC money, so everyone will win regardless.

But as an AI user and enthusiast myself, I can’t help but wonder which model will actually prevail.

If I had to place a bet, I’d still go with ChatGPT + ads.

Because I still believe GPT is a new Google, plus social, plus personal companion.

Sure, enterprise AI is more profitable now, but also more niche in the long term.

And anyway more competitive.

Think of competitors like Google Cloud or AWS with their respective enterprise AI offerings.

But wait, Google and Amazon are also among the largest Anthropic’s shareholders 😅

In any case, what’s already clear now is that models will commoditise, both in B2B and B2C.

What matters is the ecosystem built around them.

Last week I was in Shanghai,

and I saw the future.

What I expected:

→ chaos and noise
→ grey skies and pollution
→ rubbish and smell

What I found instead:

→ quiet streets, even with heavy traffic
→ blue skies and crisp air
→ spotless roads, cleaner than Zurich

The main reason?
Electric vehicles. ⚡️

Nine out of ten cars are electric.
Nine out of ten brands you’ve probably never heard of.

The reality of an electric-first city hits you head-on.

This is what the future looks, sounds, and smells like.

I don’t own an electric car myself, and I’ve always been a bit skeptical.

But after Shanghai, I couldn’t have changed my mind faster!

Electric cars aren’t just the future of mobility.
They’re the future of cities, and society itself.

And the next logical step is autonomous driving.

This will solve that percentage of drivers still driving like crazy and putting everyone in danger.

This is going to be bigger than the smartphone or even AI.

It’s going to reshape how we live, move, and breathe on this planet.

For the first time in a while, I’m genuinely optimistic about the future and climate change.
It feels doable!

Still, there are caveats.
A huge one: where the electricity comes from.
China still relies heavily on coal.

But the more EVs take over, the stronger the incentive to invest in clean energy, even at a private level.

Remember Elon Musk’s old plan for a fully solar-powered household?
Ahead of its time, but now it makes perfect sense.

Another concern: the transition itself.
European car brands are under serious threat, along with countless jobs.

Because Chinese cars are beautiful, powerful, and most importantly cheap.

When I saw BMWs in Shanghai, they looked like relics of a smoky past.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi looked like Ferrari.

“Made in China” means innovation and quality at this point.

(I even bought a replica of Timberland boots from a Chinese brand, that are just better and cheaper)

I can’t wait for the electric future to arrive.

But we’d better move fast to make it sustainable for our economies.

At least 57% of social media content is AI.

That’s a lot.
Just a year ago, it was close to zero.

And now, Pinterest is the first major platform to do something about it.

They launched a “tuner” tool that lets users filter Gen AI content in/out by category.

Interesting how it’s not a simple yes or no.
As if they’re asking: “Are you really, really sure?” 😛

I think it’s brilliant.
And I hope others copy it.

Being that said, I gladly welcome AI “slop.”

We call Gen AI content “slop,” as if what we had before wasn’t.

What’s the difference between a “human” stupid prank and an AI kitten video?

Zero.

Might as well make everything with AI.

That 57% is actually still low.

It should be closer 90%.
Leave the remaining 10% to truly valuable stuff, professional comedians, expert commentary, real interviews, etc.

Basically, what good TV used to do.

To me, it’s far more shocking when something like the Hawk Tuah girl takes over our feeds than seeing an AI Trump parody.

At least those AI videos try to make a point.

“Spit on that thing” is just nothing.
And even launched a crypto scam!

So yes, long live AI slop.
But do give me the option to choose my flavor.

Personally, I’m just here for AI kittens escaping police blockades in sports cars.

I love that trend🐱🚓💨

Imagine managing every ad campaign directly through ChatGPT.

From Google Ads to TikTok and Programmatic. All by just asking “target sport enthusiasts with a 10k budget”.

That’s what the folks at AdCP are building.

An MCP connector designed to unify all ad platforms in one place.
From audience targeting and campaign activations, to reporting.

Not sure it will ever take off.
It seems the big players aren’t on board yet.

Still, the idea is intriguing.
One way or another, we’re heading there.

Since even AI chatbots will soon sell ads themselves, AI-driven buying will become the natural default.

Even now, tools like Google Search Ads 360 are bringing more platforms under one roof, soon including Meta and Criteo as well.

I gave a webinar about this last week.

Because despite few giants and budget concentration, the ad industry is still very fragmented and overly complex.

Maybe this is how we finally start to simplify it.

Taylor Swift built the biggest “niche” fan base in history.

There are two schools of thought in modern marketing:

1️⃣ Win your niche and build customer loyalty.
2️⃣ Go broad, chase reach and new customers over loyalty.

Normally, these two strategies are mutually exclusive.

Sure, a new brand can start with the first and then scale into the second.

💡 But Taylor Swift somehow does both at the same time!

She created a “niche” superfan base made of millions.

Swifties are in the millions but aren’t casual listeners.
They’re emotionally invested, fiercely loyal, and they buy repeatedly.

Take her latest album.
The same record was released in ~40 variations.

So her loyal fans could buy the exact same product up to 40 times!

And yet, her loyal “niche” fills stadiums worldwide.

This breaks every marketing textbook rule.

How does she pulls this off?
Nothing less than strategic evil genius. 😈

She positioned herself as a close and relatable female friend…

…while becoming the first billionaire musician in history.
(and being the blonde cheerleader who married the football team captain LOL)

The least relatable person imaginable 😂

The key is that she makes every fan feel seen, special, and unique;
even when there are 100 million other “unique” fans. 😅

Like I said last Sunday:
👉 Marketing is all about feelings.

Make people feel something they want to feel again.

Everything else doesn't matter as much.

OpenAI’s deal-making is out of this world.

Big Tech is all in.
Capital, credit, strategic partnerships, everyone wants a piece.

And yet…
OpenAI keeps losing money.

💸 For every $1 it earns, it spends about $2.20 (Financial Times).
🔥 It's burning cash like crazy -> $8 billion loss in H1 2025.

Still, Big Tech and Wall Street keep pouring in cash.

Bubble, or the biggest leveraged play in tech history?

I’d argue for the latter.

Because OpenAI is only getting started!

Right now:
→ Only 5% of its 800M+ users are monetised.
→ 70% of its $13B ARR still comes from ChatGPT subscriptions.

What’s next is ten times bigger:

→ More focus on enterprise + API sales (massive B2B upside).
→ Renting infrastructure, AWS-style.
→ Ads (nobody has better users data than GPT).
→ Shopping commissions (already in motion).
→ Sora social network and monetisation.
→ A hardware device designed by star Jony Ive (might launch next year).

The loans and large losses scream "bubble" left and right.

Except, it's not.

🚨 Just spotted on Google,

it seems you can hide ads now!

I'm sure many will overlook the button and struggle even more to tell ads from organic results.

But what if people do notice and keep hiding ads?

What's the point of selling ads if users can simply hide them?

I'm sure Google is just experimenting with it, probably trying to find a new compromise between organic results, ads and AI overviews.

But if now, this is huge!

Sunday thoughts:

What is marketing?

After 10 years in the industry, I still struggle to give a single, convincing answer.

But something dawned on me lately.

I might not know what marketing is,
but I know what marketing should do.

💡Marketing should make your prospective customers “feel” something.

Because great marketing is all about feelings.

It isn’t about what it communicates.
It’s about how it makes you feel when it does.

When I see an ad by Audemars Piguet, I feel wealthy.

Even though I’m not.
Even though I’ll never afford one.
Even though I’m not even into watches.
Even though my $80 Swatch makes me perfectly happy.

But feeling wealthy is a good feeling.
And I’ll always associate this brand with a good feeling.

That’s all that matters.

And If I ever become wealthy, indeed Audemars Piguet will be the first brand that comes to mind.

When I see marketing from The Economist, I feel smart.

That’s why I’m a customer.

Not because I am objectively smart, but because I like to “feel” smart.

Even better, I like to feel smarter than others.

The simple fact that the ad was served to me (and possibly not to someone else) already reinforces my feeling.

And again, that’s all that matters.

Some marketing makes you feel like sh*t.
On purpose.

The promise?
Buy, and you’ll stop feeling like sh*t.
Buy, and you’ll be happy again.

The classic “Buy now! tomorrow the price will double” just makes you feel FOMO, stress, and discomfort.

And that’s why you buy: to stop feeling like that.

It’s now proven that ChatGPT is increasingly used as a personal assistant, as a life coach or even as a friend.

Our interactions with consumer AI are highly emotional. Who hasn’t argued with their chatbot?

As marketing increasingly flows through AI conversations, its emotional side, not the technical one, will only grow in importance.