PPPPostcards - Four Ps #263
Signals, Shifts & Soul-Traits: Meet me on the Dance Floor
Last week was loud. This week, it echoed.
Sleeping in my bed after 8 nights away… the rosé has worn off, the panels have quieted, and the yachts are docked, and now the real signals are easier to hear, again.
📈 AI keeps surging. 📉 Trust questioned.
🎥 B2B took the main stage in Cannes as SEO became AEO.
🎓 Graduations... and kids are growing up.
❌🔴⚪🔵 As for America… well, let’s just say the international reviews weren’t glowing.
Yes, Cannes was brilliant. But also bittersweet. So what do we do now?
We listen. We build better. We keep dancing. And we definitely keep writing.
THE PERSONAL: Wanna Dance With Somebody
Cannes Lions is my favorite professional week of the year...But this week is replete with the really important stuff.
Even though I missed Father's Day (again), this week we celebrate not one, not two, but three graduations: our daughter's 5th grade moving up from elementary school, my son's 8th grade graduation en route to high school (!!), and my niece's High School graduation. Not to mention my son's birthday today and my birthday tomorrow.
Among the many standout memories from last week in Cannes will be dancing. Yes, dancing. Dancing at a table in the garden of the Carlton Hotel. Dancing on a yacht to a great DJ. Dancing with Wyclef Jean at his impromptu performance at the LVMH villa. No, my hips don't lie.
I first discovered I could dance (like really dance) on a family vacation as a kid. Picture a discoteque in a Caribbean hotel, the right groove on the speakers, and a small human with oversized confidence and freshly discovered rhythm. Adults applauded. Strangers high-fived. It was one of my origin stories.
Through the sacred circuit of bar and bat mitzvahs, sometimes as many as 3 a weekend in my early teenage years, I honed my craft. Polished my moonwalk. I could breakdance, even drop into a split…
By adulthood, I wasn’t just dancing... I was seducing. Smooth moves, steady eye contact. Dancing was a strength. Fortunately I fell in love with someone who loved it as much as I did, and could not only keep up, but help choreograph. Yes, our wedding first dance was rehearsed and performed. And we haven't slowed (or sat) down at any party ever since.
Including this past weekend, back stateside for my niece’s high school graduation. A backyard garden party with 100 or so family and their friends. The DJ? The legendary DJ Mo, master of the 1s and 2s. The dancefloor? An empty patch of grass until my wife and I stepped in, eager and fearless.
That’s when it happened.
My son, 14, looked at me as if I’d broken some unspoken law. “Dad, I don’t know how to dance. I don’t want to dance.”
My daughter, equally appalled, delivered the death blow: “Our generation doesn’t dance.”
I blinked. Didn't dance? Was this a generational rebellion or a personal betrayal? How could my own children... mine, the ones I helped create, in every sense... be rhythm-averse... or perhaps spotlight averse?
We expect our kids to carve their own paths, sure. But secretly, we hope they’ll pick up a few breadcrumbs we’ve left behind. Like a love for early Sunday morning pancakes. Or, say, dancing.
Instead, I’m left as the caboose of this soul-train. My parents danced. I know for a fact that my maternal grandmother won trophies for her Charleston. Now, a once-proud dance dynasty, now met with eye-rolls and polite refusals.
Still, I won’t stop dancing. I’ll two-step through their teenage apathy. I'll electric slide through their indifference. Because one day, maybe, just maybe, they’ll hear a beat they can’t ignore. And they’ll remember their dad, dancing like nobody was watching... even though I sincerely hope someone was.
Now, onto the less important stuff...
THE PROFESSIONAL: The Real Creative is Shifting Focus to B2B Marketing
Cannes Lions wasn't just a B2C showcase this year... Actually one of the loudest themes was the rise and resilience of B2B marketing. From creator stars to emerging AI-powered platforms, the business-focused arena was front and center, I felt seen! From LinkedIn to Microsoft, the B2B + B2C mash-up is happening.
LinkedIn had a premium spot this year, with a studio for B2B creators, though I didn't see or hear much about what was happening inside... or see any results. Hopefully that's still coming. Stagwell's Sport Beach studios churned out a massive amount of content in real-time, including some with me!
With AI Adoption, B2B content creation and curation is still early, mostly ad-hoc... but already booming in terms of revenue generation. According to Stacked Marketer, under 20% of B2B firms have AI integrated into their systems.
Another ~20% aren’t formally using it. Yet employees experiment individually. And a majority (54%) are using AI case by case, without strategy, structure, or measurement.
The fix? Move from chaotic experimentation to systematization:
Select a repeatable use case -- e.g., drafting LinkedIn posts or briefing content.
Write a clear guideline.
Train your team to follow it.
This isn’t about building a separate AI strategy. It’s about finding the right partner and embedding AI into your current workflows, so AI becomes less tool, more teammate.
What's not a shock to anyone... B2B Creators are multiplying. Rob Mayhew, “the unofficial B2B celebrity of Cannes,” embodies this shift. Ex-agency creative turned B2B creator, he's making hilarious, spot-on videos for LinkedIn and TikTok. He reminds us:
“LinkedIn is the channel that everyone's sleeping on [for creator marketing], and it's got huge opportunity.”
At Cannes, B2B creator content was everywhere... proof that entertaining, relatable business storytelling can be as engaging as consumer ads. Video + creator content is a powerful B2B combo.
LinkedIn reports that 82% of B2B buyers say creator content influences them, and video drives engagement and conversions.
Networks like LinkedIn are doubling down, rolling out creator tools, Thought Leader Ads, and CTV placements. These let brands reach CFOs at home, and firmly in their decision-making moments.
Group Buying: Trust over Awareness
B2B isn’t a solo sport. It’s a team decision. LinkedIn’s research shows that group buying dynamics mean content must:
Speak to multiple roles: finance, operations, leadership.
Build trust, not just awareness.
Address shared pain points and foster collective confidence.
AI isn’t just about chatbots... it’s remaking the entire B2B marketing stack. The martech & adtech fusion is now a thing: unified data, full-funnel attribution, revenue-aligned KPIs. B2B players:
Connect LinkedIn ad data to CRM systems.
Use AI-driven attribution to track pipeline and deal value, not just clicks.
Today, 85% of B2B marketers use generative AI; and 76% are happy with the results. But without integrated data, trust and ROI tracking fall apart.
The playbook is as follows:
Pick one repeatable AI use (e.g. brief-writing or campaign copy).
Draft a simple process and train your team to execute.
Tap creator power: partner with agency converts like Rob, or invest in internal talent.
Prioritize video: lean into LinkedIn’s tools and formats.
Unify your tech stack: connect ad, CRM, and martech under AI-driven attribution.
Measure what matters: shift from vanity metrics to pipeline, deal size, cycle time.
Cannes showcased one clear lesson: B2B is no longer background noise. It’s front-and-center creative theater. With AI-powered systems, creative voices, and integrated stacks, B2B marketers aren't just participating, they’re performing. So what else did we learn?
AI isn’t the future. It’s the present. But most B2B firms still lack structure and systems.
Creators aren’t just influencers. They’re trusted voices. Especially in professional ecosystems.
Video + trust = results. B2B video content on LinkedIn is a goldmine.
Buying is collective. Your stories need to resonate across roles and build shared belief.
Stack integration is crucial. From lead to revenue, AI connects the dots.
Time to step out of the wings and into the spotlight.
THE PRACTICAL: AI Is Changing How You Search: From SEO to AEO
Google, Meta, and Microsoft had massive beach presences again in Cannes. Perplexity did not. Significant? I think not.
Once upon a time, marketing meant mastering the rulebook of search + social. You optimized your site, built backlinks, and played by Google’s SEO guidelines. Social ad buys were the cherry on top.
But that world has officially been usurped by the age of artificial intelligence.
We’re not just tweaking keywords anymore... we’re navigating a complete rethinking of how people ask and find information. And Google is offering employee buyouts...
Enter: AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
SEO gave us visibility on page one. AEO? It’s all about visibility in the answer. AI-powered engines like Perplexity and ChatGPT (with its browsing cap turned on) don’t just list links, they answer questions with synthesized, sourced, conversational responses. Think of it as SEO’s smarter, sassier sister who pops up with the answer before you realize you had the question.
Less clicking, more consuming: Users used to click through results. Now, they get instant answers.
Source transparency: Perplexity AI, for example, lists its sources alongside the answer, making it feel more trustworthy... no more endless click hunts.
Discoverability isn’t just keywords anymore: Content must be structured to be “AI-ready” = clear, concise, and easily parsed by machine brains.
Why This Flip Matters
Brands need to become answer-first: The web used to reward backlinks. Now it rewards clarity. The goal is to craft content that answers queries directly, complete with structure, citations, and context.
Content is still king, but presentation is emperor: You can have the smartest ideas, but if you don’t present them in bite-sized, AI-digestible formats, you’ll vanish in the shuffle.
SERP is evolving into a conversational canvas: Instead of orchestrating a click-through journey, you need to engineer an experience that pops answers, sparks follow-up engagement, and lands you in that coveted AI summary.
Despite the AEO uprising, most professionals are still exploring AI through a couple of familiar tools:
ChatGPT: Great for brainstorming copy, refining emails, generating code snippets, and whipping up blog outlines. Its strength lies in creative collaboration, but not real-time data.
Co‑Pilot / Gemini: Seamlessly built into productivity apps, it's your sidekick for email drafts, spreadsheet logic, and light data analysis.
That’s it. That’s the AI toolkit most marketers rely on every day: a combo of conversational creativity and in‑app assistance.
Why Perplexity AI May Actually Be Different
With AEO becoming the shorthand for this new era, Perplexity AI is leading the charge, not as a chatbot, but as a true AI search engine:
Real-time, source-backed answers: Instead of generating plausible content, it fetches the latest info, summarizing from live sources and linking to each citation.
Classic search engine UI, but evolved: Autocomplete suggestions, image integration, and context-rich related topics make it feel familiar, but smarter.
Discover feed for today's headlines: Want a snapshot of the latest in tech, health, or politics? Perplexity AI compiles it, AI-style, with citations already baked in.
Taboola unveiled a GenAI answer engine... Then there's Dia, reshaping the browser experience all over again with an AI-first platform with a built-in chatbot that can write drafts, compile research, even build new productivity tools from scratch.
In contrast, ChatGPT remains a conversation-driven assistant. Incredible at generating prose, code, and ideas, but less equipped to pull real-time info unless it’s connected to the web browsing plugin. Or unless you prompt it to.
For marketers:
Content audits are overdue: Are your pages formatted for clickbait, or AI-readiness? Are your headers, summaries, and structured data scannable?
AEO is analytics, plus intuition: Optimize not just for rankings, but for answerability. Think FAQ boxes, bulleted lists, and succinct TL;DRs.
Embrace "sourceability:" AI rewards trust. Cite your data, link reputable sources, and layer in context, so future AI tools will see you as the answer.
Test new experiences: Add AI-powered search to your site. Build conversational bots that highlight your knowledge. Get ahead of the curve.
For now, SEO still matters. But yes, the game has changed. It’s no longer enough to show up in search. You need to show up in answers. As AI refocuses search on response rather than results, marketers must pivot from keyword obsession to crafting content designed to be answered... clearly, authoritatively, and contextually. The AEO era is here, and it’s rewriting how information and intent meet.
THE POLITICAL: AI Needs Guardrails, Not Just Gas Pedals
There's so much I could say and write here in this space... from L.A. to Israel, the unsettling bombing of Iran, tariffs and dictatorial military parades, a resplendent Gavin Newsom… but THE common theme from so many conversations with colleagues, friends, even strangers in Cannes last week is that America has become an international joke again. Zero respect.
And there is nothing I can do about that at the moment.
So instead, let's talk about preventative and important measures that must be considered and planned as AI adoption sprints ahead.
Unfortunately, the guardrails haven’t kept pace, and many believe we’re teetering on the edge of repeating the mistakes made during the early days of social media. You know, the "move fast and break things" era that left society scrambling to patch up trust, privacy, and safety gaps years too late.
AI’s power is undeniable, but so are the risks. And as marketers and platforms eagerly deploy tools that create, automate, and amplify at scale, a crucial question looms: Are we building AI responsibly, or just building it quickly?
The Trust Gap Is Real
A recent survey found that 83% of users want clear labeling of AI-generated content. Not because they dislike AI, but because they value transparency. Another 80% support stricter control over how their data is used to train these models. The message? People want AI... but they want it ethically.
It’s not a tech issue. It’s a trust issue. Fail to disclose how AI is used in your brand’s content or decision-making, and you risk eroding that trust in real time. Consumers are already skeptical... not just of what AI can do, but of how you’re using it. Misinformation, deepfakes, privacy breaches? Those aren’t just hypothetical. They’re threats to your reputation. We must plan to:
Disclose AI usage clearly.
Prioritize human storytelling where emotion and authenticity matter.
Audit your data practices before regulators or watchdogs do it for you.
The Regulatory Reckoning
AI doesn’t just need ethics, we now need laws. But lawmakers are sending mixed signals. A controversial proposal currently sitting in the U.S. Senate aims to ban all state-level AI laws for ten years. A decade of inaction, leaving regulation solely in federal hands (which, if you’ve followed Congress lately, isn’t exactly known for its agility). More broadly, public reaction is not great.
93% of voters, across both parties, are deeply concerned about kids encountering harmful AI content.
81% oppose the state law ban, believing states should remain empowered to protect citizens.
Only 7% support delaying regulation in favor of unbridled innovation.
Even Republicans, often cautious about regulation, aren’t buying it. Most say the provision makes them less likely to support the broader budget bill it’s tucked into. It's so dumb that even MJT is upset about clauses snuck into the latest U.S. spending bill preventing any involvement in AI regulation... (the fact that she didn't read the bill is another issue entirely).
What This Means for Brands and Builders
Americans don’t fear AI innovation. They fear an innovation vacuum without safety nets. So if you’re building or using AI tools, you’re not just part of a technological shift, we're part of a societal one. The best way to future-proof your strategy:
Lead with transparency. Don’t wait for regulation to force your hand.
Align with public values. Ethics isn't just good behavior; It’s good branding.
Support smart policy. Push for responsible AI legislation, not regulatory blind spots.
No, we don’t need to ban progress. But we do need to plan for it. With foresight, structure, and empathy, we can make it a force for good, not another cautionary tale.
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