The
Aperture
Lens
Our latest thinking on brand-building, consumer behavior, marketing strategy, and the forces shaping what comes next.
The Skill Set of an AI-Powered Shopper Marketer.
Part 1 of a three-part series from Aperture. AI is changing what makes a commerce marketer valuable. The upstream skill set starts before the prompt: curiosity to ask better questions, context to guide AI with commercial reality, and problem framing to diagnose the real purchase barrier. Part 1 of a three-part series from Aperture.
The Most Highly Valued AI Edge: Knowing Which Answer to Trust
Part 2 of a three-part series from Aperture. AI will never leave marketers with too few answers. It will leave them with too many. The downstream skill set covers the judgment calls that happen after the prompt: discernment to spot real insight, taste to recognize ideas with energy, test-and-learn discipline to validate, and commercial judgment to decide what scales.
The Most Highly Valued AI Edge: Building a Highly Valued Marketing Department
Part 3 of a three-part series from Aperture. If every marketer uses AI in their own way, the result is fragmentation, not transformation. This leadership playbook lays out seven plays for building an AI-empowered marketing department: defining where AI should be used, where human judgment is required, what “good” looks like, and how to coach, reward, and train for capability over capacity.
Decision Friction: The Hidden Reason Strong Sell-In Stories Don’t Convert
Most sell-in presentations do not fail in an obvious way. They lose momentum at the point where a decision should be made. Learn the unlock to getting to YES more consistently—and it is not a better template or more data.
The New Value of the Commerce Marketer
AI is not just changing what marketers do. It is changing where marketers create value. Learn how to ensure you and your team make better marketing decisions in an AI-enabled environment.
How is AI changing commerce marketing capabilities?
AI is accelerating content production, but the bigger opportunity is using it to sharpen upstream thinking: better briefs, stronger strategies, and faster insight development. The risk is becoming AI-enabled faster than you become strategically sharper. Aperture’s approach treats AI as a capability accelerator, not a replacement for commercial judgment.
What is decision friction and why does it affect sell-in?
Decision friction is the gap between what a retailer says they need and what their unconscious filters actually evaluate. Even when the conscious criteria look good, friction from perceived risk, complexity, or unfamiliarity can stall a decision. Understanding this dynamic changes how teams build and present sell-in stories.