Governance is everything: Simo Ahava on making GTM a bridge, not a back door

Tiankai Feng on why your AI strategy is failing (and what to do about it)

Tiankai Feng wrote Humanizing AI Strategy because almost no one else is talking about the human behaviors that determine whether AI implementations succeed or fail. Everyone's focused on architecture and capabilities while ignoring the organizational dysfunction that sinks these projects. We covered his five Cs framework and how it applies differently to AI than data strategy, why competence now means wise delegation rather than just adoption, and what happens when AI only learns from AI-generated output. He also explained why data analysts might end up doing more backend infrastructure work than they expect, and what human habit he'd delete from the codebase if he could. Full writeup and insights here: [blog post link] We're giving away five copies of the book. React to the LinkedIn post to enter. #AI #AIStrategy #DataStrategy #Martech #OrganizationalChange #CustomerDataPlatform #DataAnalytics

Aampe & DOJO AI co-founders on agentic AI and the future of marketing work

Paul Meinshausen is CEO and co-founder at Aampe [https://www.aampe.com], where he applies cognitive science and statistical methods to consumer technology. Duarte Garrido is co-founder at DOJO AI [https://www.dojoai.com/], an integrated marketing operating system for challenger brands. Both are building products that replace marketing processes with adaptive AI systems, and both are watching teams struggle with the mental shift required to use them effectively. We talked about why rule-based thinking breaks down when you introduce agentic systems, what "data generating processes" means in practice, and why knowing Google Ads inside and out won't matter if AI already knows it better than you do. Paul suggested some new roles worth considering: copy systems designers, agent handlers, context engineers. Duarte made the case that AI creates opportunities to bridge historically siloed functions like marketing and sales, opening up new roles at the intersections. Full writeup and analysis here: https://www.martechtherapy.com/when-ai-replaces-processes-not-people [https://www.martechtherapy.com/when-ai-replaces-processes-not-people] #Martech #AgenticAI #MarketingAutomation #CDP #DataStrategy #MarketingOps #AIinMarketing

Why Europe wants its own CDPs - ZEOTAP CEO Elad Simon explains

This episode of Couch Confidentials was pure fun from the moment we hit record. I sat down with Elad Simon, the newly crowned ZEO of Zeotap (yes… that happened in real time), and we covered everything from CDPs and data politics to German basketball and DMEXCO culture shocks.  Elad walked me through his winding path from consulting to Google to product startups, before finding his way back into the MarTech world. We also dug into Zeotap’s evolution from a data-first ad-tech player to a privacy-centric CDP that’s carving out real space in Europe and increasingly beyond.  Along the way, we got into: • Why German companies love local CDP partners • Why US vendors sometimes misread European expectations • How “audience boosting” became Zeotap’s calling card • The real story behind that LinkedIn rumor about Zeotap being acquired • What AI features are coming down the pipeline in 2026 • And why CDP implementations can feel like holding up a mirror you didn’t ask for This one had the perfect mix of jokes, honesty, and industry insight, a very human chat about a very technical field. If you work with CDPs, care about data sovereignty, or simply enjoy good stories from inside the MarTech bubble, you’ll enjoy this ride. Watch, subscribe, and stick around for the part where we accidentally create a new corporate title.

Lessons from two Martech worlds: Asia and Europe through Teik Chua’s eyes

When you move from consulting in Southeast Asia to leading Martech at one of the UK’s largest telcos, you notice things. Not just in how data flows or platforms integrate, but in how people work, collaborate, and make decisions. In this episode, Teik Chua from O2 Virgin Media shares his journey through those worlds, from early CDP adoption in Asia to the challenges of embedding Martech strategy in a legacy enterprise. We spoke about how regional context shapes Martech maturity, why humility helps more than hierarchy, and what still surprises him about the European approach to “data-driven” marketing. A calm, grounded conversation about the real work behind transformation, and how culture quietly defines it all. #martech #cdp #marketingtechnology #customerexperience #digitaltransformation #consulting #southasia #o2virginmedia #acceture #couchconfidentials

Governance is everything: Simo Ahava on making GTM a bridge, not a back door

I’ve wanted this conversation for years. Simo Ahava, co-founder of Simmer and partner at 8-bit-sheep, sits down with me to talk about the messy middle where marketing and engineering meet. We get honest about Google Tag Manager as a bridge, not a back door. We talk governance over clever hacks, and why that choice changes how teams work, not just how tags fire. We also get into where AI actually helps, structure, documentation, repetitive tasks, and where it does not, judgment, production code without review, or pretending to understand your data model. And yes, Simo explains why he now prefers to live in BigQuery instead of the GA UI, and how that shifts the work from dashboards to real analysis. If you care about reliability, consent, and outcomes more than chasing three percent more events, you will enjoy this one. Tell me what part you disagree with most, that is where the interesting stuff usually starts. #martech #technicalmarketing #googletagmanager #gtm #serversidetagging #bigquery #governance #privacy #consent #ai #analytics #cdp #ga4 #measurement #tagmanagement #simmer