Around a year ago, I began a quiet pivot into artificial intelligence.
Granted, AI has featured in my work as a futurist, speaker, and digital transformation specialist for quite a while. But when OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022, I recognized the start of something big — a major shift akin to the advent of the worldwide web or the emergence of social media; two among a string of technology-driven transformations I’ve had the opportunity to guide leaders through over the years.
I dove in. I earned a graduate-level certificate in AI strategy from Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business. And another in AI ethics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Fellow marketing veteran Geoff Livingston and I launched our podcast — No Brainer: An AI Podcast for Marketers — which has gone on to be ranked as one of the top marketing AI podcasts on the web. AI started to feature even more heavily in my keynotes. And I quietly launched an AI consulting practice, CognitivePath, through which I’ve been partnering with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) to create original reports about marketing AI and delivering hands-on AI workshops for enterprise clients.
Today, I’m excited to announce the next step in my AI journey.
Geoff Livingston (who’s been consulting in AI through his own firm, Generative Buzz) and I are merging our practices to form a new, more focused CognitivePath. The new company — officially CognitivePath Research, Inc. — is the first and only research and advisory firm (aka industry analyst firm) squarely focused on the intersection between marketing and artificial intelligence.
Through our independent work over the past year, Geoff and I both recognized that marketing decision-makers are hungry for the kind of independent and objective guidance only an analyst firm can offer — unencumbered by the pressure to sell-in strategy, technology, implementation, management, or agency-style execution.
Smart marketing decisions (and actions) require CMOs and their teams to cut through the hype, get to the truth, and understand what rapidfire developments in the world of AI really mean to them, their business, their brands, and their customers. The big analyst firms are too broad. The AI pundits, too biased.
That’s where we come in — 100% focused on AI, evaluated entirely through a marketing lens, with a commitment to true objectivity.
We’re excited to launch with three core services — a robust advisory membership, practical hands-on workshops, and original research. And a few early clients, including an ongoing relationship with the ANA.
Our new Substack newsletter — fittingly, The CognitivePath — compiles our AI-related thoughtleadership, dating back to 2016 — and will be the best place to stay on top of our perspectives. A free subscription will put new posts in your email and grant you access to the entire archive. A paid subscription will unlock timely, ongoing, clients-only analysis of key developments in marketing AI — our first paid research offering and a fantastic low-cost point of entry for marketers looking to take the next step on their own path toward AI maturity.
Hear it straight from Geoff and me in a short launch video. And don’t hesitate to get in touch if there’s any way we can help!
