Welcome to the first edition of The Pulse, a quarterly brief for our clients and friends. No fluff, no filler. Just the signals worth your attention, curated for leaders navigating a business landscape that’s moving faster than most strategies can keep up with.

This quarter, one theme surfaced in every conversation we had with clients and peers: AI has shifted how consumers find brands, and most organizations haven’t caught up yet.

Also in this edition: we joined the For Better or Work podcast, to share what it takes to build a company together and make big decisions as a team. We hope you enjoy it, and maybe have a few laughs! Looking ahead, we’ll be sitting down with clients and friends for candid conversations on the trends shaping business today, so stay tuned!

— Gimena & Paul

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THE BIG IDEA

AI Already Chose Its Favorite Brands. Are You One of Them?

You know that feeling when things seem okay but somehow don’t feel okay? (Well, we’ve been having that feeling a LOT lately!) Turns out your instincts are ahead of your analytics.

The way consumers find brands has changed. Consumers now use AI-powered tools to guide purchasing decisions. They ask a question. They get a synthesized answer, and they act on it.

Here’s the uncomfortable part: the overlap between AI citations and Google’s top 10 organic results is only 12%. For ChatGPT, it drops to 8%. Years of SEO investment don’t guarantee you a seat at the AI table. GEO doesn’t replace SEO, it builds on it, ensuring your brand shows up accurately and positively across all the sources AI learns from. The brands working on this now are pulling ahead…those waiting will wake up invisible.

Read the full article

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BY THE NUMBERS

Five stats worth meditating on.

50%	of consumers already use AI-powered search to guide purchasing decisions, up from near zero three years ago.
75%	of Google searches are projected to surface an AI-generated summary by 2028, up from roughly half today.
$750B	in U.S. revenue estimated to flow through AI-powered search channels by 2028. This is a commerce shift, not just a marketing one.
89%	of B2B buyers have adopted generative AI as a central information source throughout the buying process.
20-50%	potential decline in traffic from traditional search for brands unprepared for AI-driven discovery. The window to act is now.

_{Sources: Forrester Research; McKinsey & Company; trend modeling on AI search adoption through 2028.}

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PRESS PLAY

Getting the Big Stuff Right — For Better or Work Podcast

Hosted by Lisa Tan & Martin Rawls-Meehan, Reverie

We had the pleasure of being the inaugural guests on For Better or Work, a podcast for leaders who know that who you build with matters as much as what you build. Tune in for a candid look at what it takes to grow a business, lead a team, and work in partnership, with plenty of laughs, lessons, and unexpected plot twists along the way.

Listen on Spotify

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WHAT WE'RE READING

AI Is Rewriting the Old Rules of Google Search and SEO

The Wall Street Journal

Search has shifted from a click-driven ranking system to an AI-driven answer system. Visibility no longer means ranking #1. It means being cited as a trusted source inside the answer. What’s driving that? Real reputation: reviews, discussions, and what people genuinely say about your organization. The brands winning are the ones focused on quality, true engagement, and showing up as the obvious choice when it matters.

Read the article