This blog post is a decoy, but not in the way you think. It’s not clickbait. It’s a reflection on how attention works in the Brussels Bubble and why surprise, ambiguity and curiosity are underrated.

How influencers, lobbyists, NGOs, and institutions drive impact in the digital age

The reality is sobering: 90% of startups fail and nearly two-thirds don’t survive past 10 years - they are missing a key element! MARKETING!

For the past two decades, digital marketing has largely revolved around one rule: if it doesn’t rank on Google, it doesn’t exist. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) became gospel with keywords, backlinks, meta tags and content calendars ruled the marketing universe. But something is shifting. Quietly at first, now rapidly: users are skipping search engines altogether. Instead of Googling, people are asking ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and other AI assistants for direct answers.