Likely Marketing

Hosted by Shivendra Lal

Business Marketing

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Episodes

159

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Exploring possibilities in Marketing.

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60 recent

October 27, 2026Episode 16018 min

#160: LinkedIn’s new features in 2026: From connection to business

LinkedIn’s new features in 2026 point to a bigger shift: turning professional connections into business opportunities. From the Network Feed and digital business cards to creator monetization and paid consultations, LinkedIn is trying to connect content discovery, professional relationships and transactions. But what does this mean for creators, brands and marketers? Creators have new ways to monetize their expertise, while brands may need to rethink the role of company pages and the people behind them. As LinkedIn balances interest-led discovery with professional trust, can it become more than a content platform without losing what makes it different? Explore LinkedIn’s latest updates and what they reveal about the future of professional networking, B2B marketing and the journey from connection to business. (00:00) Intro (00:36) What did LinkedIn announce recently? (03:58) Where do these features sit on a funnel? (07:46) What does the LinkedIn update means for creators, brands and company pages? (11:39) Is it interest-graph or social graph? (14:11) What is LinkedIn becoming - a professional network, social network or interest media? (16:24) From handshake to transaction

October 20, 2026Episode 15918 min

#159: Performance marketing captures demand. But what creates it?

Marketing has more data, dashboards, and performance metrics than ever before. Yet, are we becoming better marketers, or simply getting better at measuring what happens today? Performance marketing captures demand. Brand building creates it by making brands distinctive, memorable, and trusted. From Nike’s reality check to Airbnb’s brand resilience and Cadbury’s creative use of AI, this episode explores the real challenge of brand building vs performance marketing. The problem isn't digital marketing or data. It's allowing dashboards, clicks, and conversions to dictate marketing strategy. Discover why sustainable growth demands a balance between short-term sales and long-term brand building, and why creativity, customer relationships, and trust matter as much as measurable results. Because data and technology should strengthen marketing thinking, not replace it. (00:00) Intro (00:44) Digital changed marketing priorities (02:23) When dashboard becomes the strategy (05:21) What disappears when performance takes over? (10:11) Is digital marketing the real problem? (13:24) What should marketers re-think? (16:22) The part is not the whole

October 13, 2026Episode 15821 min

#158: The AI Label Paradox: How AI disclosure labels influence shopper decisions

What happens when shoppers discover that a product image they liked was created using AI? Do they lose interest, trust the brand less, or become more willing to buy? In this episode, we explore the surprising research behind AI disclosure labels and reveal why an “AI-generated” tag can make a product image feel less human while nudging purchase intent in the opposite direction. Discover when brands should use AI-generated product visuals, when real photographs and human evidence matter more, and how to disclose AI use without undermining brand appeal. Because AI disclosure labels aren't just about compliance. They're a marketing decision that can shape customer perception and purchase intent. (00:00) Intro (01:32) AI disclosure labeling is the new reality of AI content (06:09) What does the recent research say about AI disclosure labels? (11:37) Why does an AI disclosure label have two competing effects on shoppers? (16:12) What this means for brands and creators (18:23) The AI disclosure label paradox

October 6, 2026Episode 15720 min

#157: Will your customers name your brand to their AI shopping agent?

I’m a coffee lover, and Starbucks is a brand I’d probably name if my AI shopping agent asked, “Which coffee should I always buy?” That simple question may become a new test of brand loyalty. AI shopping agents are learning our preferences, comparing products, remembering past choices and increasingly helping us buy. But when an agent can find the “best” option for us, will customers still name a brand they genuinely prefer, or simply ask AI to find a good deal? From Amazon Rufus and Alibaba’s Qwen to ChatGPT, Gemini, Shopify, Nykaa, Zalando and Myntra, AI shopping is reshaping how products are discovered and bought. For D2C brands, AI may make discovery easier while making genuine loyalty harder to earn. The question is no longer just whether AI can find your brand. It’s whether your customer will remember to name you. (00:00) Intro (01:08) Five markets, and where AI shopping agents' memory is forming (08:00) AI agents are splitting the buyer's journey in two, and changing loyalty (11:27) D2C brands and the race to be named by customers (16:15) Testing the hypothesis (19:14) Would your customers name you?

September 29, 2026Episode 15618 min

#156: AI comedy is revealing what audiences really want from marketing

AI comedy is revealing something marketers may be missing about how audiences really feel about AI. As comedians mock overconfident chatbots, use AI to create material, or bring it into live performances, AI has become a shared cultural reference point. But the audience response isn't simply pro-AI or anti-AI. People are curious, skeptical, entertained and increasingly comfortable with AI, while still valuing human judgment, personality and authenticity. This episode explores the emerging world of AI comedy marketing through three roles AI plays in comedy: the target of the joke, a creative assistant and a performance partner. Across all three, the human remains central. For marketers, AI-aware comedy offers a way to listen to cultural sentiment, understand where audiences welcome automation and where they still expect a human hand. The opportunity isn't to chase AI comedy as a trend, but to understand what it reveals: AI can generate the material, but human judgment decides what is worth saying. (00:00) Intro (01:10) The audience as a position on AI (04:27) AI plays three roles in comedy (10:00) What this pattern reveals about the audience (12:37) Where does opportunity sit for brands and marketers? What strategies can they adopt? (16:24) The actual product being sold in AI-aware comedy is judgment

September 22, 2026Episode 15514 min

#155: Why collectibles are changing the way brands think about marketing

A Starbucks bear-shaped cup sells out in hours. A Labubu blind box turns opening a package into a ritual. LEGO brings adults back to childhood. What looks like a toy or Gen Z trend reveals something deeper: people collect to express identity, find belonging, reconnect with nostalgia and participate in a story. This episode explores collectible marketing and how brands turn ordinary products into objects of identity, community and social currency. From Starbucks and Pop Mart to LEGO and trading cards, we look at how story, scarcity, technology, channels and communities come together to create a collectible ecosystem. But the lesson isn't to make products scarce. Technology doesn't create the desire to collect. It simply makes participation faster and more visible. The real question is whether a brand is serving a genuine human need or manufacturing hype. (00:00) Intro (01:05) The behaviour shift behind collectibles (03:52) How brands have built a strategy around them? (06:49) The tech layer needed to execute the collectibles strategy (10:46) Choosing the right channel and community strategy is important (12:27) Recollecting it all

September 15, 2026Episode 15414 min

#154: AI natives have a head start. But, Marketing demands more.

AI natives are entering marketing with a head start. They move fast, experiment freely, adapt to new AI tools and know how to collaborate with machines. But is AI fluency enough to become a great marketer? As AI removes friction from work, a different challenge is emerging: weaker recall, less effortful thinking, and gaps in judgement, communication and human interaction. For marketing, where trust, empathy, taste and differentiation matter, that gap could become significant. In this episode, we look at who AI natives really are, what research tells us about their relationship with AI, the skills marketers will need in the future, and why AI fluency should never be confused with marketing ability. AI natives have the technology advantage. Their real advantage will come from pairing it with the human skills AI cannot replace. (00:00) Intro (00:53) Who are AI natives, really? (02:05) What kind of traits AI natives are exhibiting? (03:16) What does the research say about AI natives? (05:23) What skills marketers are expected to have today? (07:01) What skills do marketers need in the future? (08:56) Where do AI natives fill the gaps, and what more do they need to do? (11:48) One quick question before I let you go…

September 8, 2026Episode 15315 min

#153: AI watermarking: The trust shift marketers can’t ignore

AI is making content faster than ever. But as the internet fills with AI-generated images, videos, audio and text, a bigger question is emerging: what can we trust? That’s where AI watermarking for marketers enters the picture. In this episode of Likely Marketing, we explore how AI watermarking works, from C2PA’s digital provenance to invisible markers such as SynthID, and why AI companies, search engines and social platforms are moving toward greater transparency. But will watermarking affect SEO, AEO, GEO or social reach? And should marketers see it as a threat? We look at AI slop, deepfakes, model collapse, disclosure rules and the future of content discovery, before asking the bigger question: can marketers use AI for speed while preserving human judgment, experience and original perspectives? AI watermarking may not determine content quality, but it could make transparency a critical part of how brands build trust. (00:00) Intro (00:44) What is AI watermarking? (05:08) Why is AI watermarking suddenly important? (07:37) Does AI watermarking impact AEO, SEO and social media marketing? (10:26) Get ahead of AI watermarking, not caught out by it (12:42) Finding the right mix of human-AI strategy

September 1, 2026Episode 15215 min

#152: AI anthropomorphism: From mascots to human-AI relationships

What happens when technology stops merely looking human and starts feeling like someone we know? AI anthropomorphism has evolved from ELIZA and friendly mascots to AI that can speak with warmth, remember us, personalize interactions, apologize, collaborate and even act on our behalf. Advances in language models, voice synthesis, memory, avatars and AI agents are moving anthropomorphism from branding into the product experience. And as a result, they’re changing how people relate to technology. But the more human AI feels, the greater the expectations and risks. A warm voice can build trust. Memory can create continuity. An AI “companion” can suggest a relationship. Yet behind these experiences is still a machine generating responses. This episode explores what AI anthropomorphism means for marketers, and why the future of human-AI relationships will depend on balancing relatability and authenticity with transparency, responsibility and human judgment. (00:00) Intro (00:57) Early AI that tried to look human (02:34) The tech that built up on previous knowledge (04:52) AI is taking anthropomorphism from mascots to relationships, in layers (12:51) Striking the fine balance between anthropomorphism and human judgment

August 25, 2026Episode 15111 min

#151: How anthropomorphism in branding makes brands human

Why do we talk to our cars, thank machines, or feel guilty interrupting a robot vacuum? We know they aren't human. Yet, for a moment, we treat them as if they are. That instinct is called anthropomorphism. It is our tendency to give human traits, emotions and intentions to things that aren't human. And long before AI, brands had already learned how powerful it could be. From the Michelin Man and Mr. Peanut to Tony the Tiger, Hello Kitty and GEICO's gecko, brands turned ordinary products and abstract categories into characters people could recognize, relate to and remember. Technology brands followed, using smiling computer faces, friendly voices and characters like Clippy to make intimidating machines feel more approachable. But here's the fascinating part: these brands didn't need AI to make machines and products feel human. They only needed the right human cues. We supplied the rest. Explore the psychology, history and power of anthropomorphism in branding, and how brands learned to make the inhuman feel human. (00:00) Intro (01:13) What is anthropomorphism? (02:38) The psychology behind anthropomorphism (04:57) A few 20th century examples of anthropomorphism (07:42) How early tech brands adopted this playbook (10:06) Faces without minds…