Season 3 kicks off by exploring marketing drift—the gradual (and often invisible) way businesses lose alignment with their customers over time.

As AI makes it easier to execute faster and at scale, many companies are unknowingly accelerating that drift—amplifying the wrong message, chasing tactics, and increasing complexity. The result is what Tom and Curtis call the chaos tax: more activity, more spend, and less impact.

This episode introduces a new framework for getting back on course, starting with a simple but critical shift: diagnosis before deployment.

N.B.:

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Takeaways:

• Warning: AI amplifies whatever you feed it—right or wrong.

• Marketing drift happens gradually, then suddenly—and most teams don’t recognize it.

• AI often accelerates that drift by scaling misaligned messaging and tactics.

• The chaos tax is the cost of drift: increased effort, spend, and complexity without results.

• Most brands rely on internal assumptions instead of real customer insights.

• Diagnosis before deployment helps realign marketing before scaling it.

• The path forward starts by reconnecting with the customer—not doubling down on tactics.

• The four principles for modern marketing that we will explore in Season 3:

→ Diagnosis before deployment

→ Coherence before creativity

→ Meaning before media

→ Revenue before reach

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• Learn more about Collideascope and Creative Mill at their respective websites.

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