Tim Peter's Blog

The "Search Bar" isn’t dying; it’s evolving into an expensive gated community.

In this episode of Digital Reset with Tim Peter (formerly Thinks Out Loud), Tim breaks down the economic reality of Google’s bananas $400 billion year. Despite the hype surrounding AI as a "search killer," Google’s 17% growth in search ads proves that the 800-lb. gorilla still dominates the discovery landscape.

We are also witnessing a structural shift from the “Age of the Card Catalog” to the “Age of the Concierge.” ...

Summary: In this episode, Tim Peter explores why we need to stop asking if AI is a replacement for social or search, and start seeing it for what it truly is: The Context Engine for your customers. As Tim explains in the episode, AI doesn’t just find links. It’s not a social site where your customers hang out. AI is a Context Engine that synthesizes your website, your social signals, your content, and your reviews to create a context that guests and agents trust.

The discussion outlines why soc...

I’ve never seen a single person with a tattoo for Marriott Bonvoy, the hotel brand’s “loyalty” program. Or, for that matter, for Hilton Honors (its loyalty program) or Wyndham Rewards (its loyalty program). Hell, I don’t have a tattoo for United Airlines MileagePlus, and I fly roughly 80,000 miles with the company every year.

But I’ve see a ton of folks with tattoos for Harley Davidson. And Fender guitars. And Disney. And Lego. And Nike.

Wouldn’t you think that more “loyal” customers would hav...

As I’ve mentioned in the past, last year was not about incremental change. Nope. It was all about dramatic change. We all started off last year “playing with AI.” Today? The question is if and when AI assistants and agents will be the norm for every interaction we have with our customers.

What do we need to do to act accordingly? How do we create experiences that work whether we’re talking with human beings or with machines acting on behalf of those human beings? Most importantly, how do we bu...

We’ve all known it was coming, but OpenAI finally announced its long-awaited introduction of ads into ChatGPT. Now, you can buy your way into ChatGPT’s chats so your brand can be seen by potential customers when they’re having conversations relevant to your business.

This is great, right? I mean, don’t you want to be the first company to sign up?

Maybe. But, maybe there’s a bigger picture that we need to look at too.

In this episode of The Digital Reset Show with Tim Peter, Tim looks at:

Wha...

Apple just signed a billion-dollar deal to have Google’s AI power Siri and other AI experiences on its devices. This is a huge blow to OpenAI. It’s also fairly meaningful for your business too.

Why is that? What does the Apple/Google AI deal mean for your business?

In this episode of The Digital Reset Show with Tim Peter, Tim looks at:

Why the Apple/Google AI deal is another sign that gatekeepers gonna gateWhat this deal means for OpenAI and ChatGPTWhat the deal also means for your business...

ChatGPT has opened up its app platforms to all businesses. In general terms, that’s a Good Thing. Seriously. The question is whether this general good thing is specifically good for your and your business.

In this episode of the podcast, host Tim Peter looks at ChatGPT’s apps and addresses the following questions:

Are ChatGPT apps good for your business or not?What are the risks of using ChatGPT apps for your business?How can you minimize those risks and get the long-term benefit for your bus...

Anyone who’s read my writing or listened to the show knows that I’m generally bullish on the potential benefits of AI for customers and brands. Where I’m far less bullish is when “experts” tell you that AI will prevent you from building meaningful connections between your brand and your customers. Whether they mean to or not, they’re describing a world where every brand becomes a commodity. And, frankly, I simply refuse to go along. That view is simply nonsense. Brands exist so that customers c...

The holidays are a great time to catch up on some of the big ideas we’ve covered on the podcast this year. And one of the biggest is the notion that “Your brand is the prompt.” That idea is even more important now that ChatGPT has opened access for any business to release their own app on the ChatGPT platform.

Once businesses start taking advantage, your biggest problem won’t be getting ChatGPT to find you. It will be getting them to show you instead of the millions of other businesses who als...

2025 has not been a year of incremental change. We’re living through dramatic changes. Most marketers and e-commerce folks started the year “playing with AI.” Now we’re considering when it will replace everyday interactions with our customers.

This much change, this fast, requires us to take a moment and reflect on what we’ve learned in the last year, why it matters for our businesses, and what we need to do to deal with whatever comes next. That’s what this episode of the podcast is all about....