Gen Z Is Rewriting the Rules of Brand Discovery, SOCi’s 2025 CBI Finds

The buyer’s journey is no longer linear—especially for Gen Z. According to SOCi’s newly released 2025 Consumer Behavior Index (CBI), younger consumers are ditching traditional search funnels in favor of a chaotic, cross-platform journey that favors authenticity, peer content, and visual validation over brand loyalty or legacy trust.

“Legacy marketing models weren’t built for today’s buyer,” said Monica Ho, CMO of SOCi. “Gen Z doesn’t follow a path—they create one.”

A New Model of Local Discovery

Forget the traditional Google-first approach. For Gen Z, local discovery might start on TikTok, detour through Reddit, cross-reference on Yelp, and finalize with Google Maps—a tangled path that brands can’t afford to ignore.

Key Gen Z discovery trends from the CBI include:

• Platform Hopping: Buyers use multiple sources before making a decision—each one influencing brand perception.

• Peer-Powered Validation: Reviews, Reddit threads, and TikTok videos rank higher than brand-originated content.

• Visual Content Wins: Visuals (images and video) carry more weight than text when assessing trust and quality.

The Trust Shuffle: AI vs. UGC

The data suggests trust is fluid and increasingly decentralized. While traditional tools like search engines still hold credibility, AI-driven platforms are being tested cautiously, and user-generated content (UGC) is emerging as a major trust-builder.

“There’s no single source of truth anymore,” added Ho. “Consumers are assembling the full picture themselves—platform by platform.”

Brand Loyalty in Decline

Among the most striking findings: brand loyalty is eroding, especially among younger demographics:

• 32% of consumers aged 18–24 say they’re less loyal to brands than just a year ago.

• 35% of 25–34-year-olds report the same.

• For Gen Z, brand reputation ranks ninth in purchase decision-making—well below price, quality, convenience, and customer reviews.

In short: your legacy brand equity won’t save you if your presence and content aren’t credible across the platforms that matter.

What Brands Must Do

The 2025 CBI is a clear signal: if brands want to earn the trust—and business—of younger consumers, they need to show up everywhere with proof, not promises. That means:

• Investing in authentic, platform-native content

• Encouraging peer reviews and UGC

• Maintaining real-time relevance across multiple platforms

• Treating each platform as a front door, not a secondary touchpoint

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Zegmenta Launches, Offering Location-Based Marketing Intelligence That Outperforms Clicks and Searches

Zegmenta, a new global marketing data and creative firm, is making its debut with a bold promise: forget cookies, clicks, and search history—real-world behavior is the new gold standard in consumer data.

Led by a powerhouse international team of marketing and PR veterans—including Mike Holtzman, Greg Calejo, and Jaime Eduardo Aleman—Zegmenta is already working with a portfolio of major clients and deploying a proprietary platform that harnesses anonymized location data to connect brands with high-intent audiences based on where they actually go.

From Search to Sidewalk: The Rise of Real-World Targeting

“Search shows curiosity. Location shows commitment,” said Calejo, co-founder of Amplify Partners. And that’s the core of Zegmenta’s strategy: while many marketers still rely on digital breadcrumbs, Zegmenta taps into geospatial insights to paint a more accurate picture of who customers really are—based on their physical movements, not just their browsing behavior.

“Imagine knowing your ideal guests—not based on what they Google, but where they actually go,” said Holtzman, former PR Professional of the Year (PR Week). “That’s a game-changer for brands with real-world touchpoints.”

Turning Footprints Into Funnels

Whether it's attendees of Broadway’s Hamilton or visitors to luxury hotels, Zegmenta helps clients build campaigns around verified patterns of behavior. One example? The Island of Nevis is tapping Zegmenta to identify and target people who’ve attended Hamilton productions globally—leveraging the island’s historical tie as Alexander Hamilton’s birthplace.

Other potential use cases include:

• Hospitality: Targeting travelers who frequent competitor hotels or nearby attractions

• Sports & Entertainment: Reaching fans who attend live events, not just stream them

• Retail & QSR: Geofencing competitor locations to win back foot traffic

• Cultural Brands: Connecting with visitors to museums, heritage sites, or festivals

Zegmenta’s creative services team then converts these insights into compelling campaigns, seamlessly aligning marketing messages with real-world consumer journeys.

Why This Matters Now

As marketers scramble for alternatives to cookies and grapple with tightening privacy regulations, location intelligence—when anonymized and responsibly sourced—offers a privacy-safe, opt-in-friendly path forward. Zegmenta’s platform ensures no PII is used, while still allowing granular targeting across digital, social, and OOH channels.

“Consumers might search for ‘boxing matches,’” Holtzman added, “but attending a UFC event is a true indicator of passion. That’s the moment to engage.”

The Zegmenta Edge

Zegmenta enters a crowded marketing data space, but its proposition is clear—and differentiated:

• Superior Data Quality: Location-based signals rooted in real-world behavior

• End-to-End Execution: Strategy, targeting, and creative under one roof

• Cultural Insight: A global leadership team with deep ties to both Western and emerging markets

• Zero-Guess Targeting: Campaigns driven by verified intent, not assumptions

As third-party data becomes increasingly unreliable, Zegmenta is betting that the best customer signal isn’t on a screen—it’s on a map.

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Guidesly Unleashes Jack AI, the First Vertical AI for Outdoor Recreation

The software arms race in vertical SaaS just paddled into new territory. Guidesly, the platform powering thousands of outdoor adventure guides, has launched Jack AI™, a first-of-its-kind AI assistant built specifically for the outdoor recreation industry. Its mission? Free up guides from the modern digital grind and let them focus on what they do best: delivering unforgettable outdoor experiences.

Fresh off a $10 million Series A raise in January, Guidesly is turning that capital into product firepower—starting with Jack AI.

The New MVP of the Outdoors: Jack AI™

Whether they’re leading fly-fishing trips or backcountry hikes, today's guides aren’t just wilderness experts—they’re also expected to double as content creators, SEO specialists, and social media managers. Jack AI aims to automate those extra hats.

Guides upload a few photos and notes after a trip, and Jack AI does the rest—generating a trip summary for clients, fresh SEO-friendly website content, and social-ready posts. All automatically. All editable. And all done in minutes.

“The beauty of Jack AI is that in a couple of minutes, the computer is doing what used to take me an hour,” says Rich Adler of Tuna Wahoo Charters in West Palm Beach. “Time is money—and this saves both.”

Built for Guides, by Guides

Jack AI wasn’t dreamed up in a boardroom. It’s the product of five years of real-world feedback from thousands of working guides and the personal experience of David Lord, Guidesly's founder and a lifelong angler himself.

“We built Jack AI to solve the pain points no one else was touching,” Lord explains. “It’s not just AI—it’s Vertical AI designed specifically for the realities of guiding.”

Unlike generic marketing tools, Jack AI is tightly integrated with Guidesly’s proprietary platform. That means the system gets smarter with each trip booked, enhancing personalization, local search visibility, and client re-engagement. Think of it as your marketing intern who also knows how to fish.

Results That Matter

While many companies talk about “AI-powered growth,” Guidesly has the data to back it up:

• 3x increase in bookings for top guides using Jack AI

• Significant boosts in website traffic and social reach

• Hours saved per week, translating into real-world revenue

• $0 cost—Jack AI is free for all registered Guidesly Guides

Why This Matters

The launch of Jack AI signals a broader trend in AI: the rise of verticalized solutions that don’t just offer automation, but deep, domain-specific value. In this case, Guidesly is tapping into a market that’s traditionally been underserved by tech: the $1 trillion outdoor recreation industry, where small operators are the norm.

And in an industry where trust, authenticity, and customer experience are everything, Jack AI’s ability to amplify a guide’s voice without replacing it is key. This isn’t ChatGPT for fishing trips—it’s AI with boots on the ground and reels in the water.

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Popl Taps into HubSpot to Turn Handshakes into CRM Gold

Popl, the company best known for bringing digital business cards into the modern sales stack, has officially joined the HubSpot App Partner Program, marking a major step forward in making in-person marketing measurable—and scalable.

Its certified integration is now live on the HubSpot App Marketplace, positioning Popl as a serious tool for teams looking to bridge the increasingly narrow gap between physical meetings and digital pipelines.

From Conversation to Conversion

HubSpot users often face the same challenge: you’ve set up your CRM, you’re ready to grow… now what?

Enter Popl. The platform is designed for exactly this moment—when marketing automation meets the real world. With features like event badge scanning, AI-powered contact enrichment, and customizable digital business cards, Popl turns casual chats at conferences into qualified CRM leads.

And with its new HubSpot integration, that process is nearly instant.

“Their certified integration helps customers streamline in-person lead capture and automate sales readiness,” said Scott Brinker, VP of Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot. “It makes it easier to turn conversations into conversions.”

In short, Popl solves the "last mile" problem of lead generation—ensuring that no contact made in person gets lost in the post-event shuffle.

The Numbers Behind the Integration

Popl’s early traction with HubSpot speaks for itself:

• 2,000+ HubSpot app installs

• 1M+ contacts exported from Popl to HubSpot

• 130M+ digital business card interactions

• #1 ranking on HubSpot for both “Digital Business Card” and “Lead Capture”

That makes it more than just a nice add-on—it’s arguably the category leader for physical-to-digital contact capture in the HubSpot ecosystem.

Why This Matters for Sales and Marketing Teams

The rise of hybrid work and event fatigue has created a new reality for B2B teams: in-person interactions are more valuable than ever—but only if they’re captured effectively.

Popl’s integration helps solve this with a frictionless workflow:

1. Capture contacts at events via badge scanning or digital business card taps

2. Instantly sync those contacts into HubSpot

3. Enrich contact data automatically using Popl’s AI engine

4. Trigger follow-up workflows and sequences within HubSpot

It’s CRM hygiene meets lead gen velocity—and in a world where sales cycles are lengthening, that’s exactly what scaling companies need.

“With Popl + HubSpot, we’re closing that gap,” said Jason Alvarez-Cohen, CEO of Popl. “We’re making sure every handshake turns into measurable growth.”

More Than Just a Card Replacement

While Popl’s origin story began with slick NFC-enabled digital business cards, the platform has grown into a full-fledged in-person marketing suite. The partnership with HubSpot only accelerates that trajectory, embedding Popl into the workflows of thousands of marketing and sales teams who live and die by CRM data.

It’s a smart play: HubSpot’s ecosystem has become the go-to marketplace for tools that align with a more agile, integrated approach to marketing. And as in-person events rebound, solutions like Popl are positioned to become essential infrastructure.

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Mew.Design Gives Small Businesses a Fast, Affordable Way to Create On-Brand Visuals with AI

If you’ve ever struggled to make a flyer that doesn’t look like it was built in PowerPoint 2003, you’re not alone—and a new AI startup wants to help. Mew.Design, an AI-powered design platform, officially launched this week with a clear mission: make quality graphic design accessible to small businesses, startups, and solo entrepreneurs who don’t have the time, tools, or talent to do it themselves.

The hook? Users can generate polished, brand-aligned visuals just by typing what they need. Think: “a modern Instagram post for a July sale” or “a clean business card for a yoga instructor.” Mew.Design takes care of the layout, branding, and polish—no Canva templates or awkward editing software required.

Meet the “Meow Designers”

At the heart of the platform are AI-driven creative agents called Meow Designers. Each one is trained with input from professional designers and specializes in distinct visual styles—think minimalist, bold, vintage, or corporate.

But unlike generic design tools that serve up one-size-fits-all templates, Meow Designers can be customized to reflect your brand’s identity. Businesses can “train” their Meow Designer with specific fonts, logos, colors, and tone preferences, allowing for consistent, personalized output across marketing materials.

Mew.Design’s workflow is intentionally frictionless. Type your request in plain English. Want to tweak the design? Type instructions like “make the background teal” or “move the logo to the top-right.” The platform’s text-to-design editing interprets and executes those changes instantly—like a design intern who actually listens.

Breaking the Template Trap

While tools like Canva and Adobe Express offer accessible design for non-creatives, they’re still largely template-driven, which often leaves brands with visuals that look cookie-cutter—or worse, off-brand.

Mew.Design challenges that approach with five core innovations:

1. Text-to-Design Creation: Generate editable designs from a simple prompt.

2. Instruction-Based Editing: Make changes by typing commands.

3. Custom Brand Agents: Your Meow Designer learns and applies your brand style.

4. Hybrid Inputs: Add images or documents to guide layout and tone.

5. Community Hub: Browse, share, and collaborate on designs with other users.

The result is a tool that’s more flexible than templates, less expensive than freelance design work, and significantly faster than doing it manually.

Built for Real-World Hustle

Already, small businesses are using Mew.Design to generate flyers, menus, pitch decks, social posts, brochures, and more—without hiring a designer or slogging through Photoshop tutorials.

Current users include:

• Cafés and boutiques creating quick-turn posters and menus

• E-commerce sellers building product highlight graphics for marketplaces and Instagram

• Freelancers and coaches designing slick invites and promo materials

• Small marketing teams producing on-brand assets across campaigns

In short, Mew.Design is targeting the huge swath of the business world that doesn’t have an in-house design team—but still needs good design, fast.

The Democratization of Design

“We created Mew.Design to give small business owners more creative control without the learning curve of traditional design tools,” the company said in a statement. “Our AI designers help turn your ideas into ready-to-use graphics—fast, flexible, and on-brand.”

The launch taps into a larger trend: AI is rapidly closing the gap between idea and execution, especially for resource-strapped teams. Platforms like Mew.Design are part of a growing ecosystem of tools reshaping creative work for SMBs—alongside others like Looka (branding), Copy.ai (content), and Runway (video).

Where Mew.Design sets itself apart is in marrying creativity and control—something most template-based tools struggle to balance.

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B2B Gets Its Social Spotlight as Oktopost Unveils 'Rising 30' Power Players on LinkedIn

It’s official: B2B social is no longer the sleepy side of marketing. Oktopost, the social media management and intelligence platform built for B2B, just dropped its inaugural list of the “B2B Social’s Rising 30”—a group of in-house marketers shaking up LinkedIn with punchy content, strategic storytelling, and actual community building.

The winners aren’t just pushing buttons on a corporate account. They’re brand architects, shaping how B2B companies show up online—often with more flair than their B2C counterparts.

From Behind-the-Scenes to Center Stage

Historically, B2B social has been the underdog of marketing: underfunded, understaffed, and often underappreciated. But the Rising 30 award aims to change that narrative, recognizing the people who are quietly rewriting the rules of how professional brands connect with real people online.

“We launched the Rising 30 to give credit to the social pros who work behind the scenes—those who grow their company’s voice and community while delivering tangible results,” said Adi Krysler, VP of Marketing at Oktopost. “The sheer volume of nominations we received shows just how much talent and impact exists in B2B social right now.”

Out of hundreds of submissions, a panel of B2B social media experts selected 30 marketers whose influence is hard to ignore.

These winners didn’t just show up—they stood out by:

• Building vibrant LinkedIn communities

• Balancing content strategy with originality

• Sparking industry-shaping conversations

• Using personal branding as a tool for career growth

Personality Meets Professionalism

Among the honorees are social media leads who inject humor, trend-savviness, and human storytelling into otherwise technical, buttoned-up industries.

Ryan Quindlen from Zapier, for instance, brings an almost sketch-comedy edge to his brand’s LinkedIn presence—proving you can be fun and professional. Meanwhile, Carmen Vicente at Gorgias keeps B2B content culturally relevant, translating complex product messaging into trend-driven posts that resonate far beyond SaaS circles.

This is where the line between personal and corporate branding gets beautifully blurred. These marketers aren’t just amplifying company content—they’re the content. Their voices, style, and consistency are turning LinkedIn feeds into spaces of conversation, not just conversion.

Why This Matters (Now More Than Ever)

As B2B buying journeys grow longer and more complex, trust and connection are the new conversion metrics—and social media is often the first (and last) touchpoint. The marketers honored by Oktopost aren’t just boosting vanity metrics. They’re making brand relevance a full-time job, often without a blueprint.

They’re also helping rewrite the rules for what B2B social can be: not boring, not invisible, and definitely not optional.

“B2B social often lives in the background, overlooked and undervalued,” said Chloe Maguire, Brand and Social Media Lead at Leapsome and one of this year’s Rising 30. “Being named a Rising 30 is more than a personal win. It’s a win for everyone trying to make B2B social seen.”

The B2B Social Era Is Here

If there's a takeaway for brands, it’s this: invest in your social team—especially the ones who understand the difference between posting and building. The industry is moving beyond clicks and impressions to relationships, relevance, and reach—and that shift is being led by people like the Rising 30.

Whether through video, storytelling, or culture-first campaigns, these marketers are proving that B2B doesn’t have to be boring. It just has to be human.

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Fandom, Experian, and Audigent Join Forces to Deliver Precision Marketing at the Intersection of Pop Culture and AI

In a bold move to arm marketers with sharper tools for reaching Gen Z and pop culture superfans, Fandom has expanded its partnership with Experian and Audigent, bringing over 2,400 pre-built Experian audience segments directly into its FanDNA Helix platform—Fandom’s proprietary, AI-powered ad solution.

The pitch? Smarter, faster, and more contextually relevant audience targeting—right at the moment fans are most engaged.

What’s New (and Why It Matters)

At its core, this collaboration brings Experian’s rich syndicated audience data—demographics, lifestyle, behavioral, and purchase intent—into FanDNA Helix, enabling real-time targeting across programmatic, social, CTV, mobile, and more. It’s also privacy-safe and plug-and-play for marketers looking to activate campaigns at speed and scale.

The integration promises three major benefits:

• AI-Driven Precision: Combining Experian’s deterministic data with Fandom’s massive first-party fan insights gives brands a leg up in pinpointing hard-to-reach audiences—especially Gen Z.

• Contextual Relevance: Helix uses AI to detect fan “moments” and align campaigns with trending entertainment and gaming content across Fandom’s vast network.

• Proven Performance: Fandom claims brands using Helix have seen 50% lifts in brand awareness and up to a 72% boost in purchase intent.

That’s not just vanity metrics. In a fragmented digital ad market where third-party cookies are crumbling and consumer attention is elusive, these kinds of returns are hard to ignore.

The Bigger Picture

With over 350 million monthly unique users, Fandom is the undisputed king of fan platforms—housing content for everything from Call of Duty to Stranger Things. But as audiences become more ad-averse and privacy regulations tighten, targeting users in meaningful, compliant ways is increasingly complex.

That's where this trio’s combined strength comes in.

• Fandom brings real-time context and cultural insight.

• Experian delivers scalable audience segments built from verified consumer data.

• Audigent, acting as the data tech backbone, ensures the entire system is privacy-first and interoperable across platforms.

“FanDNA Helix is the largest AI-powered ad platform in entertainment,” said Jeremy Steinberg, Fandom’s CRO. “Teaming up with Experian creates a powerhouse combo for brands looking to meet fans in the moment.”

Competitors, Take Note

This move raises the stakes for rival platforms like Reddit, TikTok, or even Spotify, which are also eyeing Gen Z with laser focus. But unlike walled gardens that require brands to play by platform-specific rules, Helix aims to offer more flexibility and cross-channel reach—all while rooted in fandom behavior.

While TikTok leverages short-form video and Reddit leans on community discourse, Fandom’s strength lies in long-tail fan engagement. A fan reading lore for Elden Ring or theories on House of the Dragon isn’t just browsing—they’re invested. That’s the sweet spot marketers want.

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Cien.ai Taps Former EY Partner Eric Buchen to Strengthen Global Growth and AI Strategy

AI-powered data analytics firm Cien.ai is expanding its global ambitions with a key strategic hire. The company announced the appointment of Eric Buchen, former Senior Partner and Global Business Development Leader at EY, to its Advisory Board—a move signaling a deeper push into enterprise markets and professional services.

Buchen, whose career spans more than 30 countries and some of EY’s most high-impact roles, brings a unique vantage point: deep experience helping businesses unlock growth amid disruptive change. That perspective is becoming increasingly critical as AI shifts from hype to reality in boardrooms worldwide, especially among large consulting and advisory firms navigating pricing model shake-ups and delivery overhauls.

“Eric understands the mindset of the consulting giants as AI becomes the No. 1 topic for their clients,” said Robert Kall, CEO of Cien.ai. “His insight will help us better serve our growing professional services customer base and scale globally.”

Marrying Global Reach with AI-Driven CRM Intelligence

Buchen’s expertise dovetails with Cien.ai’s mission: transforming CRM data into revenue-driving intelligence using advanced AI. The platform—SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and cloud-native—integrates with major CRM systems and uses proprietary models to clean, interpret, and deliver actionable insights within five business days.

In an era where CRM systems are overflowing with underutilized or poorly structured data, Cien.ai is filling a critical RevOps gap by providing:

• Immediate revenue insights

• Risk mitigation tools during M&A

• AI-led opportunity scoring

• Operational synergy identification post-close

“Companies today aren’t just talking about AI—they’re racing to apply it,” said Margot Carter, Co-founder of Cien.ai. “Eric’s global leadership and transaction experience will sharpen our go-to-market approach and expand strategic relationships.”

AI for Growth, Not Just Automation

While many AI vendors focus on automating workflows or enhancing customer service, Cien.ai positions itself at the intersection of growth and governance—helping companies use AI to uncover revenue potential, reduce operational waste, and streamline integration during critical change events like mergers or global expansion.

The company has already made a name for itself with mid-market and publicly traded clients, particularly those navigating complex CRM ecosystems and RevOps bottlenecks. With Eric Buchen now on board, Cien.ai is clearly gearing up to take that value proposition further—into more boardrooms, across more geographies, and with stronger ties to professional services ecosystems.