This episode is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts In this week's Contrarian Marketing Podcast episode, we discussed several timely topics in the world of marketing and technology. We talked about Twitter's controversial rebranding to "X" under new owner Elon Musk. We debated whether this rebrand would significantly hurt Twitter's user base and engagement. While the platform has already lost some users, we disagreed on whether a core community will remain loyal to Twitter regardless of the name. Next, we explored the launch of Meta's new texting app Threads as a potential rival to Twitter. We had differing views on whether Threads can gain traction and find an engaged user base. While some marketers may join, we questioned whether Threads offers enough unique value to attract the masses away from Twitter. We also addressed concerns about a potential recession and its impact on marketing budgets. We discussed the difference between "growth" budgets being cut and "fear of missing out" budgets still allocated to things like AI. While business is slowing, we considered whether companies have already squeezed budgets as far as they can go. In addition, we discussed Google's new Search Experience called SGE. We felt it still needs improvement but may be better received by non-SEO users. We debated whether Google is overstating SGE's capabilities for now. Finally, we previewed our upcoming interview with renowned consultant Alan Weiss 🎆. We highlighted insights he shared on consulting best practices and "value-based" pricing models. It promises to be a great episode for anyone interested in consulting. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.contrarianmarketingpodcast.com