Ep 173: Why can’t consumer brands turn AI hype into meaningful value? with Luke Hodgson, co founder of Commerce Thinking & High Cohesion

In this episode, I sit down with Luke to unpack why consumer brands are still struggling to turn AI hype into real value.

We break down the big myths, including the widely shared idea that most AI projects fail and whether that was ever true for this industry.

Luke shares insights from more than thirty brand interviews, revealing the same pattern everywhere. Leaders believe AI will reshape operations, but most don’t know where to start, feel overwhelmed by the pace of change, and lack a practical playbook. Public case studies are thin because real experiments are happening quietly inside teams with no time to share them.

We dig into the blockers too: vendor over-promising, fragmented tech stacks, unclear budgets, and rising pressure from shareholders to show progress.

A straight, honest conversation about where brands really are and what it will take to make AI actually deliver.

This podcast is brought to you by Glara.ai - the Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) platform helping ecommerce brands grow through AI search visibility.

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