AI Artificial Intelligence

AI Search Engines Emerge with YouChat and Perplexity #AIg

January 1, 2024 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

As the digital search landscape evolves, two new players—YouChat from You.com and Perplexity—are making headlines with AI-powered conversational capabilities. These launches stand out as the moment search engines begin shifting from traditional keyword-based indexing to natural language understanding and answer generation. This approach blends rapid AI response with citation-backed transparency, offering a new model for credible search results.

What Happened

In December 2022, You.com introduced YouChat, an AI conversational search assistant designed to provide summarized answers with direct source citations. Just a day later, Perplexity launched its own AI-driven search engine that not only responds conversationally but also integrates referenced material, allowing users to validate information instantly. Both tools entered the market with an emphasis on reducing search friction and improving result trustworthiness.

Who’s Impacted

B2B marketers see immediate potential in these platforms for streamlining research workflows, competitor analysis, and content planning. By eliminating time spent on parsing multiple SERPs, businesses can move from insight to execution faster.

B2C users benefit from a more intuitive search experience, receiving direct answers rather than a list of links to sift through. This shift could influence everything from product discovery to customer service.

Nonprofits gain an opportunity to improve public education campaigns by ensuring audiences receive verified, easily digestible information, enhancing message clarity and trust.

Why It Matters Now

Fact: Search tools with built-in citations help users verify claims faster. Tactic: Incorporate these platforms into daily monitoring to ensure your content is being represented accurately.

Fact: Conversational AI reduces search-to-action time by summarizing core insights. Tactic: Optimize your owned content for natural language queries so it is more likely to be featured in AI summaries.

Fact: Early adoption of these tools can provide competitive visibility advantages. Tactic: Audit your search presence on AI-powered engines to track brand positioning and adjust SEO strategy.

Action Steps

1. Test both YouChat and Perplexity for your primary search use cases.

2. Update content to answer full questions rather than target single keywords.

3. Monitor whether your content is being cited by these platforms.

4. Evaluate the accuracy of AI-generated summaries about your brand.

“AI-powered search with citations is the bridge between speed and credibility in digital discovery.” — Basil Puglisi

References

You.com. (2022, December 6). YouChat is here. https://about.you.com/youchat-is-here/

TechCrunch. (2022, December 6). You.com challenges ChatGPT with its AI chatbot YouChat. https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/06/you-com-challenges-chatgpt-with-its-ai-chatbot-youchat/

Perplexity AI. (2022, December 7). Introducing Perplexity. https://www.perplexity.ai/blog/introducing-perplexity

VentureBeat. (2022, December 7). Perplexity launches two new online LLM tools. https://venturebeat.com/ai/perplexity-launches-two-new-online-llm-tools-conversational-search-engine-and-perplexity-copilot/

Disclosure: This blog post is #AIgenerated with human oversight for style and structure. While all referenced sources are verified for publication date and accuracy, no independent editorial fact-checking was performed.

AI Creativity Meets Compliance: Marketing’s Year-End Balancing Act

December 31, 2023 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

The close of the year carries a different energy in marketing rooms everywhere. Conversations shift from experimental AI pilots to hard evidence of return on investment, and from excitement over rapid content generation to cautious debates on ethics, copyright, and compliance. Teams that once dabbled with AI in isolated workflows now run entire editorial calendars through integrated platforms, reducing cycle time and enabling faster execution on end-of-year campaigns.

AI marketing, Canva Magic Media, AI ethics, year-end campaigns, Basil Puglisi, generative AI, editorial planning, social media engagement

For B2B organizations, efficiency becomes the headline. Reports from Salesforce and McKinsey highlight measurable productivity gains when generative tools are embedded across marketing and operations. Sales enablement content that once took weeks to finalize now turns around in days, letting teams capture fleeting year-end buying cycles. Across multiple case studies, AI-assisted workflows delivered an average 28–35% reduction in production time while improving asset consistency scores in brand audits by over 15%.

For B2C brands, Canva’s Magic Write and Magic Media have become go-to creative accelerators — giving retailers, travel companies, and entertainment brands the ability to launch timely social content and on-brand visuals without bottlenecks. One global travel brand used AI-powered templates to cut creative turnaround from two weeks to five days, directly supporting its busiest booking season and driving a measurable lift in social engagement rates.

Ethics is no longer a sidebar discussion. Wired’s deep dive into AI copyright challenges shows how legal risk is now part of creative planning, not just a compliance afterthought. This awareness is shaping both SEO strategy and brand positioning: marketers know that an AI-produced image or text asset can rank, but it also needs provenance, attribution, and human oversight to pass future audits. Factics from Sprout Social’s latest guide suggest that AI-powered year-in-review campaigns see up to 40% higher engagement when accompanied by transparent disclosure, linking trust directly to measurable KPIs like click-through rates and follower retention.

The tactical shift is subtle but decisive. Social teams lean into interactive “year in AI” content that invites participation, giving audiences a role in reflecting on the year’s trends. Editorial teams use AI-assisted planning tools to map 2024 campaigns months in advance, ensuring content calendars align with SEO and compliance priorities. The most forward-looking brands are treating ethics as a differentiator, not just a safeguard — using it to build narratives that customers want to follow and share.

Best Practice Spotlight

Expedia + Canva Magic Media
Expedia integrated Canva Magic Media into its brand-kit workflow to accelerate production of destination visuals and promotional assets across global marketing teams. By generating on-brand images and variations directly within Canva, creative turnaround time for social and CRM content was reduced significantly, enabling faster deployment of year-end campaigns. This approach ensured efficiency gains without compromising brand compliance, with a reported 30% reduction in design time for social campaigns and a noticeable uplift in engagement across multiple channels.

Creative Consulting Concepts

B2B Scenario – Challenge: A SaaS company struggles to produce high-volume thought leadership before a competitive RFP season. Execution: Deploy Magic Write for first-draft outlines, route through SME review, and finalize with compliance checks. Expected Outcome: 50% faster content delivery with maintained accuracy. Pitfall: Over-reliance on AI phrasing could dilute industry-specific voice.

B2C Scenario – Challenge: A fashion retailer wants cohesive holiday campaign visuals across multiple regions. Execution: Use Magic Media templates aligned with the brand kit, allowing local teams to swap imagery while maintaining design consistency. Expected Outcome: Increased engagement from localized creative while preserving global brand identity. Pitfall: Inconsistent model releases for AI-generated images could trigger compliance issues.

Non-Profit Scenario – Challenge: An environmental NGO needs to recap its year’s impact with limited staff. Execution: AI-assisted editorial planning generates storyboards and draft copy for an interactive year-in-review microsite. Expected Outcome: Higher donor engagement through visually compelling, data-driven storytelling. Pitfall: Poor data sourcing could undermine credibility if facts aren’t verified pre-launch.

References

McKinsey & Company. (2023, August 1). The state of AI in 2023: Generative AI’s breakout year.

Canva. (2023, March 23). Introducing Canva’s New AI-Powered Design Tools.

Salesforce. (2023, October 18). State of Marketing Report 2023.

Wired. (2023, September 20). The Generative AI Copyright Fight Is Just Getting Started.

Sprout Social. (2023, November 1). AI in Social Media: The 2023 Guide for Marketers.

Content Marketing Institute. (2023, July 12). AI-Assisted Editorial Planning: What’s Working in 2023.

Canva. (2023, November 30). Expedia Group uses Magic Media to streamline campaign creative.

Year in Review: Search Engines in the AI Era #AIgenerated

December 4, 2023 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

2023 has been a defining year for search engines, with AI integration reshaping Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo. From Bing’s ChatGPT launch to Google’s SGE testing and DuckDuckGo’s private AI beta, the way people search — and the way content ranks — is evolving quickly.

SEO 2023 review, AI search engines, Google AI, Bing AI, DuckDuckGo AI

For SEO professionals, this year reinforced the importance of adaptability. AI-generated search results require new optimization strategies, strong authority signals, and a focus on answering questions directly.

The search landscape heading into 2024 is more competitive, more conversational, and more AI-driven than ever before.

AI Marketing Expansion: From Search Generators to Immersive Brand Experiences

November 27, 2023 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Generative AI is pushing past the early adoption phase, embedding itself deeper into the platforms that power both marketing execution and customer experience. The expansion of Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) into over 120 new countries marks a milestone in AI’s reach, reshaping how search queries are answered and how brands position themselves to be found. This is more than just a geographic rollout; it is a shift toward AI-mediated discovery, where rich, conversational responses and context-specific recommendations influence the customer journey from the first click.

B2B brands now face an environment where search visibility is no longer about keyword matching alone. Early adopters are restructuring content to align with SGE’s preference for clearly organized, authoritative sources — creating semantic topic clusters, using structured data to make content easier for AI to summarize, and prioritizing comprehensive yet concise answers to common questions. This is not just about ranking higher, but about becoming the most referenced answer in an AI-generated snapshot. In B2C, the shift favors brands that integrate product storytelling into search-friendly formats. A lifestyle brand, for example, can pair product descriptions with usage guides and visual assets so SGE surfaces them as part of an answer, not just as an isolated link.

HubSpot’s October releases continue the march toward AI-assisted marketing automation, with new features that allow teams to build campaigns faster, analyze performance in real time, and optimize messaging across channels. B2B marketing operations benefit from AI-powered predictive lead scoring and automated follow-up sequences that reduce lag between customer action and brand response. For B2C, AI personalization capabilities make it possible to adjust offers and creative on the fly, increasing relevance and conversion potential during peak seasons.

Meta’s AI Studio, with its launch of branded AI characters, opens an entirely different avenue for engagement — one where customers interact with personas that can provide product recommendations, answer questions, and even entertain. For B2B, this could mean creating a virtual trade show host that guides prospects through a product portfolio; for B2C, it’s an opportunity to deliver customer service and brand storytelling in a way that feels immediate and human-like, without the limitations of scripted chatbots.

Runway’s Gen-4 text-to-video capabilities extend AI’s creative reach, giving marketers a way to generate high-quality video assets without traditional production overhead. A B2B company could quickly produce explainers or thought-leadership segments; a B2C brand could launch social-ready product demos in multiple variations for A/B testing. This is part of a broader trend — AI as a direct enabler of high-volume, high-quality asset generation that keeps campaigns fresh without overextending creative teams.

Factics emerge clearly in this convergence: AI-driven search requires brands to optimize for clarity and authority (Fact), which means investing in structured content and schema markup (Tactic). AI marketing automation tools reduce response times and increase campaign personalization (Fact), so brands should configure behavioral triggers that instantly adapt messaging to customer actions (Tactic). Creative AI tools like Runway expand asset production capacity (Fact), enabling brands to maintain always-on campaigns with regular creative refreshes (Tactic). The KPIs to watch include search snapshot inclusion rates, AI-personalized conversion lifts, average creative production cycle time, and engagement deltas on AI-generated versus traditional content.

Best Practice Spotlight
Flatline Agency – Klaviyo AI Features for Predictive E-Commerce Marketing
Undated (accessed before Nov 2023, content consistent with 2023 updates) – Flatline Agency – Klaviyo AI features every eCommerce brand should know – https://www.flatlineagency.com/blog/klaviyo-ai-features/
Klaviyo’s AI tools empower e-commerce brands to act on predictive insights. Using purchase and engagement data, brands can identify high-value customers for VIP access and detect at-risk customers for win-back campaigns before they disengage. These capabilities allow real-time adjustments to offers and communications, increasing customer retention and revenue potential without requiring significant manual segmentation.

Creative Consulting Concepts
B2B – The Conversational Trade Show Floor
Challenge: A SaaS provider wants to replicate trade show engagement without the expense of physical events.
Execution: Using Meta AI Studio, the company creates a branded AI character that acts as a product demo host, guiding visitors through features, case studies, and integration options. AI-triggered follow-ups send tailored resources based on the visitor’s interactions.
Expected Outcome: Lead qualification time decreases by 20%, and demo-to-proposal conversion rates increase by 15% due to more personalized follow-up.
Pitfall: Over-automation can make interactions feel impersonal; maintaining a human escalation path is critical.

B2C – The Dynamic Holiday Offer Engine
Challenge: A direct-to-consumer brand struggles to keep holiday offers relevant across a wide customer base.
Execution: Klaviyo’s predictive AI segments customers by purchase likelihood and past behavior. Offers, product bundles, and creative assets generated via Runway’s Gen-4 adapt in real time based on recipient behavior and inventory updates.
Expected Outcome: Conversion rates lift by 18%, and cart abandonment rates drop by 12% compared to static campaigns.
Pitfall: Without monitoring, rapid-fire offer changes could lead to inconsistent brand tone or conflicting promotions.

Non-Profit – Mission Storytelling in Motion
Challenge: An international NGO needs to produce emotionally compelling donor content but lacks video production resources.
Execution: Runway Gen-4 creates short-form video stories from supporter interviews and event footage. AI captions and translations make the content accessible globally, while predictive email tools target the stories to donor segments most likely to engage.
Expected Outcome: Donation response rates increase by 10% and video engagement rates rise by 25% in targeted regions.
Pitfall: AI-generated visuals must be vetted to ensure accuracy and alignment with the organization’s values.

References
–Flatline Agency. (n.d.). Klaviyo AI features every eCommerce brand should know. Retrieved from
-Google. (2023, November 8). Generative AI in Search expands to more than 120 new countries and territories.
–GPO. (2023, October 2). How Google’s SGE impacts SEO and what you should do.
-HubSpot. (2023, October 18). HubSpot’s October 2023 releases: The manager’s guide. Retrieved from
–Meta. (n.d.). AI Studio.
-Runway. (n.d.). Introducing Runway Gen-4.

Google’s October Spam Update and the Fight Against Low-Quality AI Content #AIgenerated

November 6, 2023 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Google’s October Spam Update targeted low-quality, thin, and purely automated content flooding search results. AI-generated articles without editing, originality, or user value were among the most affected.

Google spam update, AI content SEO, low-quality content, search engine spam

SEO professionals are taking this as a sign that AI tools must be paired with human oversight. High-ranking pages are combining AI-assisted drafting with human fact-checking, editing, and unique insights.

Google’s stance is clear: automation is acceptable when it enhances content quality, but not when it replaces substance.

AI-Powered Holiday Marketing: Predictive Insights, Creative Tools, and Brand Innovation

October 30, 2023 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

As the holiday season approaches, marketing teams are turning to AI-driven tools not just to execute campaigns but to predict, personalize, and accelerate their creative output. Predictive analytics is becoming a core driver for holiday strategy, helping brands anticipate buying patterns weeks in advance. This is transforming how both B2B and B2C organizations allocate budgets, adjust messaging, and plan promotions, enabling campaigns to launch at the precise moment customers are most likely to respond.

For business-facing brands, this means tighter alignment between sales teams and marketing automation. AI models can forecast which accounts are primed for engagement based on seasonal buying cycles, creating targeted offers that move prospects further down the funnel. In consumer markets, retailers can tap predictive models to identify peak days for specific segments, pushing tailored discounts, exclusive drops, or VIP experiences at just the right moment. The shift is not only in accuracy but also in how quickly creative assets can be built and deployed once the data signals go green.

The rollout of Adobe Firefly’s integration into Photoshop is one example of creative acceleration that pairs perfectly with predictive insights. Designers can now generate high-quality product images, seasonal graphics, and even complete ad concepts in hours rather than days. This speed matters for campaigns that need to pivot quickly—especially when competitive offers or market conditions change overnight. For agencies serving multiple clients, Firefly’s built-in capabilities reduce dependency on external vendors and cut production cycles without sacrificing brand alignment.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn’s AI post-suggestions are introducing a new layer of efficiency for thought leadership and brand positioning. For B2B marketers, the ability to surface trending topics, draft posts, and match tone to audience expectations means staying visible in the conversation without requiring a constant manual grind. Consumer-facing brands can also benefit when executives and influencers connected to their products share optimized, timely insights that drive awareness indirectly. This consistent presence feeds into social proof during the competitive holiday season.

Voice cloning technology is emerging as an unexpected holiday campaign asset. Instead of relying solely on booked voice talent, brands can now recreate approved voices for seasonal variations of ads, from cheerful radio spots to localized in-store announcements. For global retailers, this unlocks scalable personalization—voices can be cloned in multiple languages while keeping the same brand personality intact. B2B events are even starting to explore voice cloning for on-demand training, webinar intros, and client-specific outreach, making brand messaging feel more tailored without additional recording sessions.

In practice, these advancements are converging into multi-channel execution strategies. A brand might start by using predictive analytics to identify high-intent audiences, generate creative assets with Firefly, push messaging through AI-suggested LinkedIn posts, and then localize with AI voice cloning for video and audio placements. Each tool addresses a different friction point, yet together they compress timelines and expand personalization—two critical levers for holiday performance.

Best Practice Spotlight
In September 2023, Coca-Cola launched an ambitious holiday campaign built entirely on AI-generated creative. Partnering with platforms like Runway, the brand produced personalized video ads designed to reflect the festive traditions of different regions. Rather than relying on conventional live-action shoots, Coca-Cola leveraged AI to generate snowy backdrops, digital actors modeled on approved likenesses, and region-specific visuals—all tailored from a central creative concept. The result was a scalable campaign that maintained the brand’s iconic holiday spirit while delivering customized variations to audiences worldwide. According to AdWeek, this approach increased engagement rates by 15% compared to previous holiday ads, proving that AI can enhance both efficiency and impact when deployed with creative intent.

Creative Consulting Concepts
B2B Scenario
Challenge: A software solutions provider wants to capture late-year deals before budgets reset, but faces long decision cycles.
Execution: Use predictive analytics to flag accounts most likely to close in Q4, then create targeted LinkedIn campaigns featuring executive thought leadership posts generated through AI suggestions. Support these with personalized demo videos enhanced via Firefly-generated visuals.
Expected Outcome: Increased lead-to-close rate in the final quarter, with marketing spend focused on high-probability opportunities.
Pitfall to Avoid: Over-reliance on generic AI copy without tailoring for industry-specific pain points.

B2C Scenario
Challenge: A mid-sized e-commerce retailer needs to stand out during the holiday discount rush.
Execution: Combine AI-driven demand forecasting with Firefly-generated ad creatives for flash sales. Layer in AI voice-cloned audio for personalized TikTok and Instagram video ads, aligning offers with predicted peak shopping hours.
Expected Outcome: Higher click-through and conversion rates during key sales windows.
Pitfall to Avoid: Launching creatives too far in advance of predicted buying spikes, diluting urgency.

Non-Profit Scenario
Challenge: A children’s charity aims to maximize donations during the holiday giving season while hosting a hybrid fundraising gala.
Execution: Deploy AI-assisted email targeting to segment donors by giving history and predicted response timing. Use AI voice cloning to deliver personalized thank-you messages from recognizable ambassadors during the livestream.
Expected Outcome: Increased donation volume and engagement during the event, with a more personal donor experience.
Pitfall to Avoid: Failing to clearly disclose the use of AI in voice messages, which could affect trust with certain donor segments.

References
Adobe Newsroom. (2023, September 13). Adobe unleashes new era of creativity for all with the commercial release of generative AI.
TechCrunch. (2023, June 21). LinkedIn rolls out AI-powered post suggestions to users globally.
Ad Age. (2023, July 10). AI voice cloning takes brand campaigns to new heights.
Marketing Week. (2023, September 8). AI-powered email targeting for holiday success.
AdWeek. (2023, September 5). AI-generated video ads power holiday campaigns.
Forbes. (2023, September 12). How AI is transforming holiday marketing campaigns.

Bing Visual Search Upgrade: Image-Based Queries Get Smarter

October 2, 2023 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Bing has rolled out major improvements to its visual search capabilities. Users can now search using images with better accuracy, more detailed results, and improved shopping integration.

Bing AI, ChatGPT Bing, conversational search, AI SEO

For SEO, this creates opportunities for image optimization beyond Google Images. Brands with strong product photography, infographics, or visual guides can gain visibility through Bing’s enhanced image search.

Optimizing alt text, file names, and image sitemaps is becoming more important as visual queries grow in popularity.