<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;"Adobe didn't just buy an SEO tool – it bought a negotiating position with the AI overlords of discovery." – Juan&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Jacqueline and Juan unpack what "more human" marketing actually looks like when AI is mediating everything from search to Black Friday deals. They break down Adobe's acquisition of Semrush, quarterly Martech earnings, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shift toward mobile-plus-AI shopping, BNPL's surge, and ChatGPT's three-year impact on how people search, think, and buy. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Brought to you by Hightouch — the leading composable CDP and decisioning platform trusted by brands like Domino's, Chime, and Aritzia. 90% of customers have a real use case live within their first week, delivering world-class personalization at scale. Learn more at &lt;a href= "http://www.hightouch.com/msom"&gt;www.hightouch.com/msom&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Timestamps&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;00:04 – MWF NYC debrief and why this year felt like a turning point for Martech&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;05:10 – Stranger Things and what "good" co-marketing actually looks like&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;10:30 – Woo-Woo vs data: how much of marketing is still intuition dressed up in dashboards&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;16:20 – Adobe buys Semrush: GEO data, media consolidation, and why Adobe blinked on AI search&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;24:40 – Quarterly Martech earnings: mid-market outpaces the enterprise and AI narratives without ROI&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;33:30 – BFCM early numbers: mobile-plus-AI shopping, BNPL growth, and fewer margin-killing discounts&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;36:56 – ChatGPT's third anniversary: national rollbacks and the societal risks of AI&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;42:15 – Subscriber question: How to drive change inside organizations when tooling and incentives clash?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Connect &amp; Subscribe&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Subscribe to Making Sense of Martech wherever you get your podcasts. Engage with the community on Reddit and follow Making Sense of Martech on LinkedIn, and don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;Leave a review, share with your team, and send us your questions and confessions.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;We may feature you in an upcoming episode!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href= "https://themartechweekly.com/podcast/question/"&gt;https://theMartechweekly.com/podcast/question/&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href= "https://themartechweekly.com/podcast/confession-corner/"&gt;https://theMartechweekly.com/podcast/confession-corner/&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href= "https://www.reddit.com/r/MSoMPodcast/comments/1morng8/office_hours_questions/"&gt; https://www.reddit.com/r/MSoMPodcast/comments/1morng8/office_hours_questions/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Making Sense of Martech

Juan Mendoza + Jacqueline Freedman

Adobe's Semrush Gamble, BFCM Enters the Upside Down, & AI-Washed Earnings

DEC 3, 202550 MIN
Making Sense of Martech

Adobe's Semrush Gamble, BFCM Enters the Upside Down, & AI-Washed Earnings

DEC 3, 202550 MIN

Description

"Adobe didn't just buy an SEO tool – it bought a negotiating position with the AI overlords of discovery." – Juan

Jacqueline and Juan unpack what "more human" marketing actually looks like when AI is mediating everything from search to Black Friday deals. They break down Adobe's acquisition of Semrush, quarterly Martech earnings, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shift toward mobile-plus-AI shopping, BNPL's surge, and ChatGPT's three-year impact on how people search, think, and buy.

Brought to you by Hightouch — the leading composable CDP and decisioning platform trusted by brands like Domino's, Chime, and Aritzia. 90% of customers have a real use case live within their first week, delivering world-class personalization at scale. Learn more at www.hightouch.com/msom.

Timestamps

00:04 – MWF NYC debrief and why this year felt like a turning point for Martech

05:10 – Stranger Things and what "good" co-marketing actually looks like

10:30 – Woo-Woo vs data: how much of marketing is still intuition dressed up in dashboards

16:20 – Adobe buys Semrush: GEO data, media consolidation, and why Adobe blinked on AI search

24:40 – Quarterly Martech earnings: mid-market outpaces the enterprise and AI narratives without ROI

33:30 – BFCM early numbers: mobile-plus-AI shopping, BNPL growth, and fewer margin-killing discounts

36:56 – ChatGPT's third anniversary: national rollbacks and the societal risks of AI

42:15 – Subscriber question: How to drive change inside organizations when tooling and incentives clash?

Connect & Subscribe

Subscribe to Making Sense of Martech wherever you get your podcasts. Engage with the community on Reddit and follow Making Sense of Martech on LinkedIn, and don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube.

Leave a review, share with your team, and send us your questions and confessions.

We may feature you in an upcoming episode!

https://theMartechweekly.com/podcast/question/ https://theMartechweekly.com/podcast/confession-corner/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MSoMPodcast/comments/1morng8/office_hours_questions/