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February 1, 2026 | Nikki Bisel
Last month we flagged that AI visibility was becoming a real performance metric. In February, it's becoming a category. A new discipline called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is emerging alongside traditional SEO, focused on earning citations inside AI-generated answers rather than ranking in link-based results.
The numbers are accelerating. Gartner's prediction of a 25% drop in traditional search volume by the end of 2026 is looking conservative. AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews now process billions of queries monthly, and the behavior shift is clear: users are getting their answers from summaries, not clicking through to sources. Early data shows that content optimized for AI citation achieves 43% higher mention rates in generative responses.
A handful of GEO-specific tools have entered the market — Goodie AI, Profound, Rankscale.ai, Bluefish, and others — offering AI citation tracking, sentiment monitoring, and share-of-voice measurement across multiple language models. These aren't theoretical. They're tracking how your brand gets described by machines when a potential customer asks a question you should be answering.
What works for GEO overlaps with good marketing fundamentals: structured data, clear claims backed by evidence, semantic HTML, and FAQ content that mirrors real prompts. E-E-A-T signals matter here, too — AI engines want trustworthy sources with verifiable authority. The brands getting cited are the ones producing content ecosystems, not just pages. They're building a reputation that machines can parse and humans can trust.
On January 28, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed new rules requiring Google to let publishers opt out of AI Overviews without losing their position in traditional search results. This is the first concrete regulatory move against the practice of scraping publisher content for AI-generated summaries, and it carries implications well beyond Britain.
The background: Google controls over 90% of search queries in the UK. Since AI Overviews launched, news publishers have seen referral traffic drop by roughly 33%, according to Chartbeat data covering more than 2,500 outlets. The current tools — robots.txt and nosnippet — force an all-or-nothing choice: block AI scraping, but lose visibility in regular search too. The CMA wants a cleaner split.
Google's response has been measured. Ron Eden, principal of product management, wrote that the company is exploring controls that would let sites specifically opt out of AI search features. But the language is telling — "exploring," not "implementing." Internal documents from as recently as May 2025 showed Google had deliberately decided against giving publishers granular control. Regulatory pressure changed the calculus.
The consultation closes February 25. For marketers, this isn't just a UK story. It sets precedent for how AI-generated search results will coexist with the content ecosystem that feeds them. If regulators force meaningful opt-out rights, the value of being a willing, high-quality source for AI citation goes up — because the pool of available content shrinks while demand for AI answers grows. It's another reason to invest in becoming the source AI wants to reference, rather than waiting to see what happens.
The cookie phase-out story keeps maturing. By mid-2026, third-party cookies will be functionally extinct in Chrome. But the more interesting development in February is what the companies that prepared early are now reporting.
Organizations with first-party data strategies are achieving 2.9x better customer retention and 1.5x higher marketing ROI. Server-side tracking — adopted by 67% of B2B companies — delivers an average 41% improvement in data quality. Google's Consent Mode v2 has become the industry standard, with implementations showing 84% higher acceptance rates for zero-party data collection when users see a clear value exchange.
Privacy-enhancing technologies are growing fast. The global market for tools like homomorphic encryption, secure multi-party computation, and differential privacy sits between $3–4 billion now and is projected to reach $12–28 billion by the early 2030s. Data clean rooms — encrypted environments where brands and media partners can collaborate without exposing raw data — are becoming standard.
The companies pulling ahead aren't treating privacy as a compliance burden. They're treating consent flows as brand experiences. Transparent data use as a trust signal. First-party data as core infrastructure rather than a workaround. The philosophical shift is complete for the leaders. For everyone else, the clock is ticking.
Super Bowl LX lands on February 8, with the Seattle Seahawks facing the New England Patriots at Levi's Stadium. The advertising stakes are at an all-time high: 30-second spots are reaching $8–10 million, with NBCUniversal selling out its entire inventory across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo.
The creative trends this year lean heavily toward emotional resonance and celebrity star power. Budweiser's "American Icons" celebrates 150 years with a Clydesdale foal befriending a bald eagle — a classic Budweiser format that Forbes is already predicting as the most popular spot of the game. Dunkin' is back with Ben Affleck, this time joined by Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, and Jason Alexander. Instacart enlisted Spike Jonze to direct Ben Stiller and Benson Boone in a retro disco-themed spot. Xfinity reunited the original Jurassic Park trio with Taika Waititi directing. And Ro is making its Big Game debut with Serena Williams anchoring a campaign to destigmatize GLP-1 medications.
Two developments are worth watching beyond the spots themselves.
First, ADWEEK is debuting the first-ever Real-Time AI Influence Index during the game, built in partnership with AI visibility startup Emberos. It will measure which Super Bowl advertisers are breaking through in AI-generated responses across five generative search engines — in real time. This is the moment where "how does AI describe your brand?" becomes a measurable, public performance benchmark. For marketers, it's a signal that AI visibility metrics are moving from niche concern to mainstream expectation.
Second, the gap between brands with a Super Bowl spot and brands with a Super Bowl strategy is widening. Nike is skipping an in-game ad entirely, leaning instead on its role as the NFL's exclusive uniform supplier and redirecting spend toward the 2026 World Cup. Skittles replaced its traditional commercial with a real-world activation starring Elijah Wood, amplified through digital and social channels. Meanwhile, Svedka is debuting the first primarily AI-generated Super Bowl commercial, a move that's already drawing backlash from consumers who see it as sidelining human creativity. These aren't just creative choices — they're strategic bets on where cultural relevance actually lives.
The broader takeaway: the Super Bowl is evolving from a media buy into a cultural strategy decision. Brands with $8 million to spend still need a story that compounds beyond the broadcast.
The creator economy continues to mature, and February's developments suggest the "Wild West" phase is ending. Three shifts are worth noting.
Employee influencers are rising. Companies like Clay and Ahrefs are deploying their own internal teams as credible content creators — people with genuine expertise who build trust through substance rather than celebrity. For mid-market companies, this is a more sustainable model than chasing external influencer partnerships.
Affiliate is becoming the default payment structure. As brands tighten budgets and demand clearer ROI, the shift from flat-fee sponsorships to performance-based compensation is accelerating. Creators who can drive measurable results are being treated less like ad slots and more like business partners.
And the B2B creator space is expanding. With tech driving economic conversations, professional audiences are increasingly reachable through trusted individual voices rather than brand channels. The most forward-thinking companies are building what one industry observer called "creator loyalty infrastructure" — concierge access, priority status, economic upside, and churn prevention for their highest-value creator relationships.
The thread connecting all three: the creator economy is professionalizing. The brands and creators who build real infrastructure around these partnerships will compound their returns. Everyone else will keep chasing one-off posts.
2026 is shaping up as the year functional AR glasses finally reach everyday consumers. Snapchat's AR Specs — the consumer version of its Spectacles — are expected to launch this year, making Snap the first major platform to put AR in a form factor people would actually wear in public. Meta isn't far behind with its own AR glasses, and it's already using the Super Bowl to push its Oakley Meta AI glasses for athletes.
For marketers, the implications are early but real. Location-based notifications, product information overlays, and contextual pop-ups shown directly in a wearer's field of view open entirely new channels for brand interaction. We're not there yet for mass-market campaigns, but the infrastructure is being built. Brands that start thinking about spatial, context-aware content strategies now will have a head start when the hardware reaches scale.
Every trend in this month's roundup points toward the same underlying shift: the gap between what your brand says and what your brand does is becoming machine-readable.
AI doesn't just index your content. It evaluates your reputation across reviews, forums, social mentions, and structured data — then decides how to describe you to the next person who asks. Privacy-first marketing only works if your consent experience matches your brand promise. Creator partnerships only compound if the relationship is real. Super Bowl spots only pay off if the story holds up beyond the broadcast.
This is what we mean when we say "fine is dangerous." A brand that looks good on paper but delivers a mediocre customer experience will increasingly get exposed — not by a competitor, but by an algorithm that noticed the gap.
The companies winning right now aren't chasing tactics. They're aligning what they promise with what they deliver, making that alignment visible to both humans and machines, and building the infrastructure to sustain it. That's not a marketing strategy. It's a business strategy. And in 2026, the market is starting to enforce the difference.
Feb 8 | Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, CA
The Seattle Seahawks vs. the New England Patriots, with Bad Bunny headlining the Apple Music halftime show. Beyond the game, the week-long activations across the Bay Area and the advertising spectacle make this the single biggest cultural marketing moment of the year.
https://www.nfl.com/super-bowl
Feb 10–11 | InterContinental O2, London
If you market financial software, payment platforms, or enterprise finance tools, this is your conference. Over 30 live seven-minute demos, 100+ expert speakers, and an audience of 1,000+ attendees — roughly 60% C-suite from banks and financial institutions. This year's themes include AI in financial services, embedded finance, platform banking, and cybersecurity.
https://informaconnect.com/finovateeurope
Feb 10–13 | San Diego, CA
The Advertising and Marketing International Network brings together 68 independently owned agencies from 31 countries. The 2026 agenda focuses on AI-driven creative production, cross-border collaboration, and emerging market opportunities. If you're an agency leader looking for international partnerships, this is one of the stronger networking events on the calendar.
https://www.aminworldwide.com/events
Feb 13–15 | Madrid, Spain (Hybrid)
For the first time ever, AMA's Winter Academic Conference moves outside the US. The 2026 theme — "Bridging at the Frontiers" — explores research-backed marketing under the pressures of AI proliferation, environmental concerns, and shifting cultural contexts. Virtual passes start at $50; in-person registration runs $739–$1,039.
https://www.ama.org/events/academic/2026-ama-winter-academic-conference/
Feb 23–25 | Four Seasons Hotel, Las Vegas
Presented by Pinterest, this is the leading event for the creator economy — connecting top brands, agencies, platforms, and creators over three days. Sessions cover partnership strategy, ROI measurement, rate negotiation, and content that actually converts. If you're scaling influencer programs or building creator partnerships, this is where the real conversations happen.
https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/ms-infl-feb26
Feb 24–25 | Hilton Austin, TX
Focused on product marketing as a growth lever, with speakers from SAP, PayPal, Dell, J.P. Morgan, and HPE. Sessions cover go-to-market strategies, AI optimization for PMMs, measuring marketing ROI, and future-proofing your product marketing career. Expect 200+ product marketing professionals and highly tactical content.
https://world.productmarketingalliance.com/location/austin
Feb 24–26 | Cleveland, OH
Themed "EXPLORE: A New Era for Destination Storytelling," this summit covers AI in tourism, advocacy strategy, and creative approaches for limited budgets. Keynote from Allison Howard of Cleveland's WNBA franchise and Rock Entertainment Group. Attendees can earn up to 10 CDME continuing education credits.
https://destinationsinternational.org/2026-marketing-and-communications-summit
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