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AI promises massive productivity gainsthat is if employees are willing to use it and can figure out how to integrate it into their workflows. In the rush to reap the benefits of AI, KPMG one of the “big four” accounting firms, headquartered in London, just launched a new incentive program for its US advisory division. Per a new Business Insider report, the program, called “AI Spark Innovation”, is offering cash prizes for consultants who excel in AI innovation. The payouts will be hefty. US Vice Chair Rob Fisher told BI that the “outsize” cash awards will be “materially larger than an end-of-year compensation award.” Fisher continued, Its really intended to be a pretty exciting amount of money, especially for our more junior staff, because theyre fixed dollar amounts. The upside relative to salary is more for our less tenured folks. The goal of KPMG’s cash awards isn’t just to increase productivity, however. The program incentivizes employees to change the way they think about their success and focus on innovation rather than billable hours. Fisher said the cash awards will be offered for those who can “show off the incredible thing they’ve done with AI”, and those ideas should aim to inspire adoptable change throughout the company. Fisher added, Were trying to figure out how we get all that grassroots innovation unlocked by trying to bring some more carrots forward to our folks. While KPMG’s cash awards announcement feels like a new wave of incentivizing AI integration, companies have already been ramping up their efforts to get employees excited about using the technology more broadly. According to a 2025 Lightcast study, job postings that mentioned at least one AI skill offered salaries of 28% higher than those that did not mention any. For jobs that mentioned two AI skills, pay was 43% higher. Despite the salary gains that AI offers, integrating it into a daily work routine is still a hard sell for some employees. According to one 2025 report from enterprise technology services firm Kyndryl, 45% of CEOs say their employees are actively resistant to the technology. From that lens, KPMG’s incentive plan makes sense. In fact, Akhil Verghese, founder and CEO of AI engineering firm Krazimo, tells Fast Company it’s “a brilliant move” explaining that it’s essential for leaders who want to get their employees to embrace AI to get their input on ideas. “It makes your employees part of your company’s AI adoption journey,” the CEO explains. Likewise, Verghese says the push for new ideas can help employees begin to utilize the technology while also helping to dispel some fear around AI. “Many early stage AI deployments fail because the technology is still nascent” and that the “most valuable part” about moving towards integration is “less about the results and more about building an AI-literate employee pool.” From that lens, KPMG is being innovative, and Verghese believes that other companies will follow suit “if they’re smart.” He adds that doing so only “encourages experimentation” and “builds the kind of workforce that will be incredibly valuable for the future.”
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E-Commerce
Though President Donald Trumps vice grip on right-wing culture helped push him to the presidency not once but twice, his war in Iran may have pushed away some of the most powerful voices in the so-called MAGA media, including podcaster Joe Rogan. Rogan is among the growing list of conservative political pundits who have taken a stance against the war in Iran. On the March 10 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan and his guest, journalist Michael Shellenberger, discussed Trumps motivations for the war, with Rogan calling out the presidents hypocrisy. It just seems so insane based on what he ran on, Rogan said. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on No more wars, end these stupid, senseless wars, and then we have one that we cant even really clearly define why we did it. When Shellenberger pushed back, saying Trump specifically ran on the promise of no endless wars, Rogan replied, Theyre all endless. Though Rogan endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, hes since been a frequent critic of the president. The war in Iran has specifically been a sticking point for several right-wing media moguls: Tucker Carlson reportedly personally lobbied Trump against going to war. Ann Coulter posted on X, saying the war does not make one American safer. Matt Walsh said on social media that the conflicts messaging is to put it mildly, confused. Megyn Kelly spoke out against the war on her own show, saying, Weve got seven U.S. personnel dead. Weve got a girls school175 young girls dead, in Iran. Trump has a simple counterargument for Republican voices turning against him: those people, he says, are not truly MAGA. MAGA wants to see our country thrive and be safe, Trump said in a recent interview with independent journalist Rachel Bade. And MAGA loves what Im doingevery aspect of it . . . This is a detour that we have to take in order to keep our country safe and keep other countries safe, frankly. About Kelly specifically, Trump said, She was critical of me for years and I didnt lose. I won all three times by a lot. But the controversy may not be as bad for Trump as it looks on paper. As a Republican political operative told The Hill, conflict with pundits can make for a great political antenna. [Trump] loves taking the fight back to people who say things about him in the media, the operative said. Tucker has probably lost a lot of credibility in the White House, but I think Megyn Kelly will eventually find another issue to pair up with him on pretty clearly. Meanwhile, Trumps diehard fans dont seem swayed by the backlash. A recent poll from YouGov showed that 91% of MAGA supporters approve of Trumps handling of the war in Iran, with Republicans in general not far behind with 83% approving. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling situation in Iran?MAGA Supporters Approve: 91% Disapprove: 6%Republicans Approve: 83% Disapprove: 11%YouGov/Economist | 3/5-9 https://t.co/1V2jnLCOxO pic.twitter.com/QX1lY2mnb5— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) March 10, 2026
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E-Commerce
For years, B2B marketers have chased a familiar formula: more leads equal more opportunities. Build the list, blast the message, and chase the pipeline. Yet despite better data, smarter tools, and growing investment in performance marketing, many organizations are still challenged when it comes to driving measurable revenue impact. The problem isnt reachits relevance. Most performance strategies were built for individuals, not buying groups. Modern B2B decisions are made by large, diverse groups of stakeholders spanning departments, seniority levels, priorities, and generations. And while most marketers now acknowledge this reality in theory, their engagement strategies havent yet evolved to match it. Instead of orchestrating personalized, multi-channel experiences across the entire buying group, too many organizations still treat demand generation like a numbers gameemailing long lists of contacts with one-size-fits-all messaging and hoping something sticks. But it rarely does, and its quietly undermining performance marketing results. Buying groups are bigger and more diverse The rapid evolution of enterprise technology, from AI-driven platforms to automated systems and cloud-based infrastructures, has increased both the cost and complexity of purchasing decisions. As solutions become more strategic and more integrated across the business, leaders are bringing more voices into the room. According to Gartner, B2B purchases now involve five to 16 people across as many as four functions all coming to the table with different perspectives, needs, and pain points. Finance evaluates risk and ROI. IT scrutinizes security and integrations. Operations focuses on implementation. Executives assess strategic impact. End users care about usability and experience. There is no single buying group member with unilateral authority. And the more expensive and transformative the purchase, the larger the committee and the longer the sales cycle. Research consistently shows that consensus-driven buying is the norm and that deals stall when buying groups cant align internally. Yet many campaigns still revolve around a single decision maker persona, as if everyone else is merely observing. When marketers ignore the diversity of stakeholders, their individual behaviors, and group alignment needed, they dont simplify the journey; they create friction. Next generation decision-makers are changing the game Layer in generational change and buying group complexity multiplies. Millennials and Generation Z now account for the majority of B2B buyers. Forrester research indicates that together they make up 71% of the buying group. While this generational transition has always been inevitable, its impact on B2B purchasing is now impossible to ignore. These buyers were raised in a fully digital environment and approach evaluation, trust, and decision-making differently than their predecessors. Technology is part of the equation, but the shift runs deeper than platform preference; its about mindset. Unlike previous generations who relied heavily on analyst briefings and direct sales interactions, Millennial and Gen Z buyers gather information across streaming platforms, podcasts, online communities, Slack groups, review sites, and AI-powered tools. These less obvious channels are increasingly shaping decisions long before buyers ever visit a brand site or fill out a form. Millennials and Gen Zers are also more collaborative. Decisions are rarely top-down mandates, but instead consensus-driven conversations happening across group chats, internal threads, and cross-functional working sessions. For marketers, this fundamentally changes performance strategy. You cant rely on gated content and outbound email alone or optimize solely for qualified lead volume. You can no longer assume that the economic buyer is the only one shaping the outcome. Modern account-based marketing (ABM) strategies must reflect the way professionals now discover, validate, and champion solutions. You must meet them across channels, deliver value without friction, and build credibility long before a sales conversation begins. Performance marketing must orchestrate, not blast In this current reality of expanded buying committees and invisible influence networks, performance marketing can no longer afford to optimize for isolated lead capture. It must optimize for buying group momentum. This requires a fundamental shift from channel execution to orchestration, from campaign bursts to sustained, coordinated engagement, and from single-touch attribution to account-level impact. Orchestrating personalized, synchronized experiences across entire accounts means aligning messaging by role, channel, and stage to ensure every stakeholder receives the information they need, when they need it. A modern, multi-channel performance strategy blends intent data-driven targeting across known stakeholders, always-on digital engagement that sustains visibility, emerging ABM channels like connected TV and audio to reach decision-makers beyond traditional feeds, role-specific content journeys tailored to stakeholder priorities, and real-time optimization informed by account-level buying signals. This coordinated presence ensures that influence spreads across the buying groupnot just to one contactaccelerating alignment and reducing deal friction. Stakeholders dont just see your brand; they experience it as relevant, credible, and aligned to their specific role in the decision. This is how performance marketing evolves from chasing contacts to driving consensus. Success is no longer measured by how many leads enter the funnel, but by how effectively engagement spreads across the buying group. The question performance marketers must answer As B2B purchases are further shaped by cross-functional committees, digitally native stakeholders, and influence networks, the real question is whether your strategies have adapted. If your focus still revolves around generating as many individual leads as possible, youre optimizing for a version of the buyer that no longer exists and measuring activity at the edges of a decision while ignoring the group dynamics that determine whether a deal moves forward. Buying groups dont convert because one person clicked. They convert when multiple stakeholders build shared confidence. The shift B2B performance marketers must make isnt tacticalits philosophical. Driving that kind of momentum demands coordinated relevance across roles, sustained presence in the channels where influence takes shape long before a sales conversation, and measurement models built around how consensus formsnot simply how many forms are completed. The brands that outperform in this environment wont have the largest databases or the lowest cost per lead. Thell understand a simple truth: Performance isnt driven by individuals. Its driven by buying group alignment that only happens when you create clarity and confidence across the entire ecosystem of decision-makers shaping a deal. Keith Turco is CEO of Madison Logic.
Category:
E-Commerce
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