Hey👋,
I'm Giacomo

Sunday reminder:

The fertility crisis is not a global problem.
It’s a rich-world problem.

Yes, fertility rates are declining more or less everywhere.
But how much “more” or “less” makes all the difference.
And so does the starting point.

Most developed countries now sit below the 2.1 replacement rate.

Meanwhile, many other countries, especially in Africa, still have fertility rates above 5 or even 6.

This matters.
Because while Italy or Japan shrink, Nigeria already counts 100M+ people and has already surpassed many Western nations.

No serious immigration discussion can ignore this.

Declining population is not a problem in itself.

Governments and economies have many tools to adapt. Even several opportunities exist.

But world population is NOT declining.
Only the West’s is.

Global population is projected to peak in no less than 50 years.

Plenty of time for more drama around immigration debates.

AI is meant to replace retiring workers, boost productivity, and solve demographic challenges in Western countries.

But will it?

Or will history repeat itself with another great reshuffle of who lives where, just like it has for thousands of years?

Switzerland is consistently at the top of the world’s most innovative countries.

Essentially, it’s the place to be!

US only third place despite AI breakthrough, crazy!

Oh, and among the top 15 countries, 8 are in Europe. More than half 😏.

Just to add some data to the never-ending Europe vs US discussion.

Over half (57%) of Google clicks never leave Google!

Let that sink in.

That means less than half of all clicks actually land on other websites.

Websites run by businesses like mine and yours.

What’s interesting is that this hasn’t shifted much with the launch of AI Overviews at the end of 2024.

External clicks are down slightly year-over-year, but nothing dramatic.

This is because the “death of clicks” started long before AI:

-> Knowledge boxes
-> Featured snippets
-> Social platforms punishing external links

AI isn’t the beginning.
It’s just the continuation.

The trend is clear and marketers need to adapt.

Whether it fits their legacy beliefs or not.

Couldn't agree more with this post.

A new era of marketing is here,
whether we like it or not.

Yet, many technical marketers are still in denial.

Their "hacks" just don't work anymore.

👉 Channel attribution?
Dead ⚰️
Killed by privacy regulations, death of cookies and death of clicks.

👉 Granular targeting?
Dead ⚰️
Killed by AI media buying and privacy regulations.

👉 SEO hacks?
Dead ⚰️
Killed by AI search.

👉 Funnel?
Dead ⚰️
Killed by the Messy Middle and the new AI-mediated consumer journey.

So what's left?

The FUNDAMENTALS of brand building.
Just like in the pre-internet era.

Bold ideas.
Creativity.
Strong PR.
Quality Content.
Broad reach.

These are the marketing elements that will define successful brands going forward.

Sunday thoughts:

Working in marketing doesn’t feel like work.

This week I was talking to friends in different industries, and I was struck by how much “boring” work fills their days:

• Daily 9am standups
• Structured “agile” routines
• Clearly defined tasks
• Endless slides
• Jira updates
• Annoying clients

For me, it’s the opposite.

No rigid tasks, no daily meetings.
Every day looks different.

One day I might spend hours on Slack and meetings. The next I’m deep-diving into a new AI trend.

Almost every week there’s something new in digital marketing that I need to explore.

And that’s what I love.

It reminds me of my music days:
hours spent experimenting with sounds, learning new riffs, chasing inspiration etc.

I loved it,
but I had no clear structure, and maybe that’s why I never became good enough.

Is it the same happening now in my marketing career?

Hard to say.

But here’s what I know for sure:

Waking up not knowing how the day will unfold gives me motivation.

It keeps my passion alive.

And considering I now get paid for what feels like play...

whatever I’m doing seems not to be that wrong. ☺️

Curious,
are there other marketers who feel the same way?

🚀 Just show up.

That’s it. That’s the game.

Google’s landmark Messy Middle research found something unexpected:

👉 30% of consumers will pick you over their favorite brand…
Simply because you showed up, as a possible alternative.

That was back in 2020. An eternity ago.
Yet in the age of AI, it’s more relevant than ever.

Why?
Because when people chat with AI bots, they’re shown options.

And the moment your brand gets mentioned, you suddenly have a 30% chance of being chosen.

Even if the consumer was thinking of someone else!

That’s the power of showing up.

Where?
Everywhere!

Across forums. Socials. Reviews. Search. Industry publications.

Because the more you show up, the more likely AI will recall you.

💡that recall alone is enough to swing 30% of consumers.

Forget backlinks!

SEO in the age of AI is not about links.
It’s about mentions!

Ahrefs found that referrals and backlinks, the backbone of traditional SEO, barely move the needle for LLMs.

So what matters?
Your brand being mentioned online.
Unsolicited.

That means outside of a marketing context:
- a Reddit user recommending you.
- a comment thread dropping your name.

Even someone Googling your brand directly is good enough!

Not shady backlinks. Not hacks. Not shortcuts.

We’ve “nerdified” marketing for too long.

Now it’s time to get back to fundamentals:

👉 Real PR.
👉 Real brand building.
👉 Real conversations.

That’s what LLMs actually pick up.

Yet,
way too many marketers, even here on LinkedIn, are still in denial.

When they'll finally get it, it'll be too late.

ChatGPT will sell ads.

No, there’s no official announcement.
But I’m 100% sure it’s coming. And soon.

Why?
Because AI chatbots don’t need to send traffic anywhere else.
Users stay inside the walls of the bot.

The better the answers, the less need to click out, the better the user experience.

What I think it'll happen:
👉 GPT stops sending free traffic to outside websites.
👉 Unless you pay for it.

Think about it: agents can already handle tasks end-to-end.
No clicks. No browsing.

But…
if advertisers step in, you can bet the agent will “recommend” their sources. 😅

Sort of influencer marketing in the age of AI 😂.

Also,
only 4% of ChatGPT users pay for a subscription.

Do you really think OpenAI will pass on monetising the other 96%?

Sorry Perplexity, Chrome is not on sale anymore 😅

The landmark antitrust trial against Google is wrapping up.

And guess what?

They likely won’t have to:

- Sell Chrome
- Stop paying Apple billions to remain the default search engine on Safari

The judge pointed to the rise of AI chatbots as proof that Google isn’t really a monopoly anymore.

Which is ironic.

Because yes, AI chatbots are threatening Google’s core business model…
…except Google built one AI Chatbot itself 😅

And a pretty good one, too!

What’s next?
Google paying Apple even more billions to make Gemini the default AI assistant on iPhones 😂

The AI wars just got a new twist.

Time to rewatch Mad Men.

Because marketing is back to the 1960s. 🍸

Rand Fishkin saw it coming over a year ago,
and his piece is even more relevant today.

Marketing is undergoing a massive reshuffle.
In many ways, it’s going back to the old glory days.

Yet a lot of “modern” marketers are still in denial.
They can’t accept the shift.

I started my career nearly 10 years ago, right in the peak of the technical marketing era.

Back then, ROAS was the mantra.

But now…

Attribution is dead.
Clicks are dead.
Keywords in search are dead too.

That hyper-granular campaign structure I mastered for years? Irrelevant now.

Targeting specific user groups or positioning single products is now virtually impossible.

Broad Ai-driven campaigns like Google Performance Max are greatly over-performing any traditional campaign.

If you disagree with this statement, sorry but you're in denial too.

So where does this leave us?

Back to what the Mad Men did best!

Bold creative ideas.
Broad reach.
Simple, yet effective lift experiments.

That’s going to be the new (old) mantra of the Ai age.

Because everything else, the tech stack, the targeting, the mechanics, has already become a commodity.