The Barber's Brief - Playing on rented land, again.

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Marc and V are back with the Barber's Brief: the good, the bad, and the overhyped from the last couple of weeks, with data, a few strong opinions, and Great Creative getting the last word.

This week:

• "My CEO doesn't get brand." Nearly half of B2B marketers say they can't get brand budget signed off. But 40% admit brand isn't seen as delivering ROI inside their own company. V's take: that's not an education gap, it's a proof gap. Fix the proof and the understanding follows.
• Google AI Overviews are eating your website traffic. Studies put the click drop anywhere from 15% to 90%. Marc makes the case that we never owned our search rankings anyway. We've always been playing on rented land, and the landlord just changed.
• QR codes in ads. Andrew Tindall of System1 says if you're still using them, you're a moron. CTV scan rates have fallen to 0.004%. V argues the QR code isn't the disease, it's the symptom. It is measurement theater and a confession that you don't trust the ad to do its job. Marc pushes back, and it gets good.
• Nobody owns demand. A sharp post from Mats Georgson: who decides what you sell, to whom, at what price, and where. Rarely marketing. So what should marketing actually own?

Plus Ad of the Week: Tubi's funeral spot from "Find Any Feeling For Free," the funniest ad with the weakest branding you'll see all month.

Enjoy the show!

Chapters

00:00 Intro: welcome back to the Barber's Brief

01:11 Story 1: "My CEO doesn't get brand"

02:07 Education gap or proof gap?

04:05 The B2B Institute evidence: brand as the icebreaker

05:53 Story 2: Google AI Overviews are eating your traffic

07:23 Playing on rented land, again

09:34 Own your audience, or just change landlords?

12:12 Story 3: QR codes, Andrew Tindall, and measurement theater

15:07 Marc's rebuttal: signal vs noise

18:01 Last click is dumb, so why do we default to it?

20:04 Story 4: Nobody owns demand

22:54 You don't own the four Ps, but stay close to them

25:08 Ad of the Week: Tubi, "Find Any Feeling For Free"

27:06 The gag that outran the brand

29:31 Coming up: Who Killed the Click, and Target Canada

Links:

Title: ​ Lack of CEO understanding harming B2B brand building push

Link: https://www.marketingweek.com/brand-spend-b2b-ceo-cfo/

Title: Google AI Overviews Are Eating Your Website Traffic. Here’s How To Get That Traffic Back

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/terdawn-deboe/2026/05/18/google-ai-overviews-are-eating-your-website-traffic-fight-back/

Title: Andrew Tindall: If you’re still putting QR codes in your ads, sorry, you’re a moron

Link: https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/andrew-tindall-if-you-re-still-putting-qr-codes-in-your-ads-sorry-you-re-a-moron

Title: Nobody in your company owns demand.

Link: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/matsgeorgson_nobody-in-your-company-owns-demand-ask-activity-7505219391089983488-BoMM?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAASDjbUB2U9VXn6rXo3lEfvMAwrkF_01wlk

Ad of the Week

Title: Tubi Fakin' It 30s

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGklD2yU-3I&t=30s