Category: drift

Holiday 2025: AI Joins the Shopping Spree

A Turning Point for Holiday Shopping This holiday season, generative AI became a personal shopping advisor for millions of Americans. U.S. consumers turned to ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) to plan gifts, research products, and hunt for deals – helping drive U.S. online spending to a record $11.8 billion on Black Friday (up 9.1% […]

First Things First: How to Build a GEO Strategy

The way people search for information is changing dramatically. We’ve entered the era of AI-driven search, where users ask questions to chatbots and voice assistants instead of typing keywords into a traditional search bar [ashishjaiman.medium.com]. In fact, 77% of ChatGPT’s U.S. users now treat it like a search engine, and nearly 28% of Gen Z […]

How oakpool Gives Back Through 1% For The Planet 

Our 2025 Environmental Partners Why We Give 1% Back oakpool has always been built around a simple idea: growth should leave things better than we found them. We work with brands that care about the long term. We tell stories rooted in real places and real communities. And we spend much of our own time […]

Search? Ads. Social? Ads. AI? Ads.

ChatGPT ads are coming. Is your brand ready?  For three years, ChatGPT has been an anomaly. A global consumer product without ads. No pre-roll, no sponsored blocks, no “promoted result.” It has felt like a throwback to a quieter internet, almost a sanctuary. That phase is ending. Not because people online like to predict monetization […]

Launching oakpool.ai

Why we’re building for the AI Search era Today, we’re introducing oakpool.ai, a sister company built to help brands understand how they show up inside generative search environments. This has been a long time coming. Link to Press Release Here. Over the past year, it became obvious that the ground under digital marketing was shifting […]

AI Search Rewards Proof, Not Promises

In the classic SEO era, brands could manufacture credibility by signaling it. You could write authoritative pages, stack backlinks, and present yourself as the expert. If the technical architecture was clean and the content looked confident, Google rewarded you. That world is shifting. AI search systems do not rely on signals you control. They rely […]

Pandion x oakpool: Dragon Mom

We are thrilled to share the trailer for a new short documentary from Pandion Creative and oakpool titled Dragon Mom. The film is directed by our good friend and partner Harrison Buck, and follows Laura Will and her son Alden Nicholson. Alden was born with polymicrogyria, a rare neurological condition. He does not speak, and […]

SEO, AEO, GEO, AISEO… WTF?

A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet But Will It Rank in AI Search? What’s in a Name? Search engine optimization isn’t dead, but it’s definitely wearing a new outfit. What we’ve long called SEO is evolving into something bigger, stranger, and more urgent. A name hasn’t quite stuck, but the contenders […]

Filmmaker Harrison Buck on “Meko” and What’s Next

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Filmmaker Harrison Buck of Pandion Creative. Harrison and Pandion are close friends, partners, and collaborators of the oakpool team. Our conversation covers topics ranging from Harrison’s film Meko which is now available streaming on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play – to his upcoming project Dragon […]

Generative Engine Optimization in the Agentic Shopping Era

The way consumers shop online is undergoing a fundamental shift. A stunning 60% of shoppers already use AI in their shopping journey (mirakl.com). Instead of scrolling through endless listings, people are beginning to rely on agentic shopping, delegating research, comparison, and even purchases to AI systems acting as personal shopping agents. This evolution means eCommerce […]

Does Every AI Model Have a Unique Audience?

How AI-model User Demographics Will Reshape Brand Visibility Strategies As generative AI platforms mature, they’re no longer just tools. They’re communities. Each model is attracting a distinct user base, and those differences matter. ChatGPT skews young and broad. Claude draws technical professionals. Microsoft Copilot thrives inside enterprise stacks. For brands aiming to stay visible in […]

Why Private Equity Needs Digital Agencies

The Cornerstone of Your Platform Team In the dynamic world of private equity and holding companies, generating value beyond the buyout is paramount. While private equity firms traditionally focus on financial engineering and cost-cutting measures, there is an increasing awareness of the value that can be unlocked through robust, effective digital marketing strategies. As such, […]