18 Coffees' Caleb Gardner Featured in Forbes: Why Agentic AI Is Marketing's Next Competitive Edge

Dec 22

Leading Strategy Consultant Shares Insights on Answer Engine Optimization and AI's Compounding Competitive Advantage

18 Coffees co-founder Caleb Gardner was featured in Forbes this week, contributing expert insights to the article "Why Agentic AI Will Be Marketing's Next Major Competitive Edge." The piece explores how agentic AI—autonomous systems that can plan, execute, and optimize workflows—is fundamentally reshaping marketing strategy and creating unprecedented competitive advantages for early adopters.

Caleb focuses on AI adoption and answer engine optimization (AEO). While most organizations are still catching up to traditional search engine optimization, forward-thinking marketers are already optimizing for AI agents like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews—the tools consumers increasingly use to make purchasing decisions.

"The advantage compounds," Caleb explains in the article. Organizations that optimize for AI-powered search today aren't just ahead—they're building self-reinforcing leads that competitors will struggle to close.[1]

Key Takeaways from the Forbes Article

The Forbes Communications Council piece features insights from ten AI strategy experts on where agentic AI will drive the biggest competitive advantages:

Answer Engine Optimization creates compounding advantages: Marketers who optimize for AI shopping assistants and answer engines gain visibility that multiplies over time, while competitors fall further behind with each campaign iteration.
Speed becomes the new moat: Organizations can now test and launch full campaigns in hours instead of weeks, accelerating learning cycles and market responsiveness beyond what human-only teams can achieve.
AI agents are reshaping the buyer journey: Consumers increasingly rely on AI assistants to find and buy products, meaning brands must ensure AI agents know to check them first—or risk becoming invisible to tomorrow's buyers.
Ten strategic applications emerge: From buyer intelligence and persona testing to conversion orchestration and brand loyalty, agentic AI is creating competitive edges across the entire marketing function.
Human oversight remains essential: The most successful implementations fuse automation with authenticity, delivering connection at scale without losing brand soul.

Caleb Gardner's Expert Perspective

In the article, Caleb highlights how answer engine optimization and campaign velocity combine to create advantages that multiply over time:

"Marketers can now test and launch full campaigns in hours, while AI shopping assistants help consumers find and buy faster. Combine that with optimizing for answer engine optimization so consumers' AI agents know to check you first, and it'll be hard for anyone to catch up. The advantage compounds: You're already on your nth campaign iteration while competitors are still in meetings."

—Caleb Gardner, Co-founder, 18 Coffees [1]

This insight captures what we see working with clients every day: AI adoption is about building self-reinforcing competitive positions that widen over time. Organizations that move now don't just get a head start; they create gaps that become increasingly difficult for competitors to close.

Why This Matters for Your Organization

If you're a business leader reading this and thinking "we need to get serious about AI strategy," you're not alone. But here's what most organizations miss: the challenge with AI is getting people to actually use them.

At 18 Coffees, we help organizations navigate digital transformation and implement AI strategy with a focus on what actually drives adoption. Our approach recognizes that AI is fundamentally a people and process challenge, with technology as the enabler—not the other way around.

From AI Experiments to Strategic Advantage

The compounding advantages Caleb describes in the Forbes article don't happen automatically. They require:

Zero-Based Purpose
Starting with workflow mapping and use case identification—understanding where AI creates genuine competitive advantage before selecting tools. Most organizations chase high-visibility applications without strategic fit, leading to expensive failures and eroded confidence.
Collaborative Governance
Establishing cross-functional alignment that enables innovation within guardrails. The organizations winning with AI aren't running faster—they're building systems that let them experiment safely while managing risk intelligently.
Human-Centered Implementation
Treating AI adoption as an organizational change challenge, not just a technology deployment. This means stakeholder engagement, transparent communication about workforce impact, role-based training, and feedback loops that help AI systems evolve with organizational capabilities.
Measurement That Matters
Building frameworks that capture both efficiency gains AND strategic outcomes—innovation, new capabilities, competitive positioning. Most organizations struggle to tie AI gains to business results, which undermines continued investment and adoption.

The Cost of Waiting

Here's the uncomfortable truth: the gap between AI leaders and laggards is widening faster than most realize.

While your organization debates AI strategy in committee meetings, competitors are already on their third or fourth iteration—learning what works, building proprietary intelligence moats, and optimizing for the AI-powered search engines that are reshaping how customers discover and evaluate solutions.

The question isn't whether to adopt AI. It's whether you'll lead the transformation intentionally or scramble to catch up later when the competitive disadvantage becomes undeniable.

How 18 Coffees Can Help

We help organizations implement human-centered AI through effective change management—so your team actually adopts it. Our AI Strategy & Integration services combine deep expertise in both technology and organizational change:

AI Strategy & Roadmap Development: Workflow mapping, use case prioritization, governance design, and implementation planning grounded in your organization's reality—not vendor hype
Organizational Change Management: Stakeholder analysis, communication planning, resistance management, and adoption measurement to ensure AI investments show up in performance
Training & Enablement: Role-based AI literacy programs that build confidence and capability across executive, manager, and frontline teams
Ongoing Advisory Support: Fractional AI leadership to guide implementation, troubleshoot challenges, and adapt strategy as your organization learns

Whether you're just beginning to explore AI applications or struggling to scale pilot projects into enterprise-wide capabilities, we bring the strategic clarity and change expertise to help you move from experimentation to competitive advantage.

Related Resources

AI Strategy & Implementation Services — Learn more about our approach to human-centered AI adoption
Organizational Change Consulting — Discover how we help organizations build resilience and navigate transformation
About Caleb Gardner — Meet our co-founder and AI strategy expert