This Old Marketing - News Podcast Weekly with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose

The Biggest Marketing Stories Coming In 2026 (513)

20 snips

Jan 2, 2026

Dive into the tangled world of TikTok's questionable sale and what it means for marketers. Explore the potential of AI in marketing, debating if the bubble will ever burst or simply evolve. Discover how AI might change headcount dynamics and challenge the role of brand websites. Plus, hear rants about the end of Denmark's postal service and the marketing community's tendency to declare established practices obsolete. This conversation sets the stage for the major marketing discussions of 2026!

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INSIGHT

TikTok Deal Was Mostly Theater

The TikTok divestiture was mostly corporate theater with minimal operational change.
The deal created a precedent for cosmetic restructures instead of real national-security solutions.

INSIGHT

A Dangerous Precedent For Future Apps

The TikTok outcome sets a template for future foreign apps to restructure rather than truly divest.
That precedent makes regulation and platform risk more confusing for policymakers and marketers.

ADVICE

Keep Executing On Effective TikTok Plans

If your TikTok strategy works, keep investing because day-to-day marketing won't materially change.
Treat TikTok as rented land and avoid over-reliance on any single platform.

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Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose kick off this week's episode by unpacking the TikTok "sale" and what actually happened behind the headlines. Was it really a sale? Why was a true divestiture nearly impossible? And what does the outcome tell us about platform risk, regulation, and the future of rented audiences.

From there, Joe and Robert shift into what they believe will be the most important marketing, content, and AI stories of 2026. Not predictions, but the conversations marketers will be having once the year is underway.

They dig into whether the long-awaited AI bubble ever actually bursts in marketing, how AI changes headcount and team structures, and what happens to the brand website when search and discovery are increasingly mediated by AI systems instead of humans.

The episode wraps with rants and raves. Robert rants about marketers' obsession with declaring everything dead, while Joe rants about Denmark's decision to shut down its postal service and what that signals for the future of physical letters and communication.

In this episode, you'll learn:

What really happened with the TikTok deal and why it was never a traditional sale
Why the AI "bubble" may never pop in marketing the way people expect
How AI could lead to fewer marketing jobs, or more leverage for the right roles
Why the role of the website is changing for brands and creators
What Denmark ending postal service delivery says about the future of letters

Rants and raves:

Robert's rant: Marketers love predicting the death of everything
Joe's rant: Denmark shuts down postal service delivery and the slow disappearance of letters

Subscribe and Follow: Follow Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose on LinkedIn for insights, hot takes, and weekly updates from the world of content and marketing.

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Get all the show notes: https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/

Get Joe's new book, Burn the Playbook, at http://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/ Subscribe to Joe's Newsletter at https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/.

Get Robert Rose's new book, Valuable Friction, at https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/ Subscribe to Robert's Newsletter at https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/

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