If you're tired of marketing podcasts that waste your time with generic advice and hour-long interviews about someone's "journey," this episode cuts straight to what actually matters this week.

Matthew and Chris dissect a cautionary tale from the ad tech world - how a billion-dollar merger between Outbrain and Teeds imploded, losing 90% of its stock value. They reveal why marketers treating AI like a cheat code are getting destroyed by those rebuilding their systems around it (spoiler: doing the work still beats shortcuts). Plus, they explore how AI is turning PR into a multi-headed hydra - from fake Pope collabs to crisis communications chaos.

In Real Recognize Real, we break down why Facebook's Secret Santa ad is the first Meta campaign in years that doesn't make you want to delete the app, and Matthew nerds out over Gartner's Magic Quadrant - proof that even the most boring B2B ideas can become iconic with the right branding.

No fluff. No corporate speak. Just 10 minutes of marketing intelligence from two guys who've survived enough disasters to know what's real - and what's complete nonsense.

Tune in, get smarter, maybe chuckle once or twice, and get back to your day.

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Marketing, Machines & Mischief is produced by Chris Stone at https://CastAhead.net