Episode #
Is China Running the World’s Biggest Marketing Test on You?
September 01, 2026

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/
Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire

Neil and Eric react to the report that Chinese institutions turned 171 million public X posts into a million-account digital twin of the American electorate — and are testing political messages on it. They unpack the marketing angle behind cognitive-domain warfare, why the data asymmetry between open and closed internets matters, the Paul Graham chart showing LinkedIn users adding AI and deleting DEI from their profiles, and why following trends is usually the losing move. A sobering look at what happens when audience modeling gets weaponized.

Key takeaways
◾Audience modeling at nation-state scale is here — and it’s a marketing system
◾Open platforms hand their behavioral data to anyone, including adversaries
◾Profile trends follow incentives: AI in, DEI out

Chapters
00:00 China’s AI models of American voters
02:04 Privacy and platform rules
04:06 The LinkedIn graph: AI in, DEI out
07:12 Think for yourself, don’t chase trends


Discover Latest Episodes

Episode
The Rule of 7 Is Dead: Why You Need 28 Touches Now
October 22, 2026

Eric and Neil say the rule of 7 has grown toward the rule of 28, and that buyers touch a brand 8 times for a sub-$100 B2C buy and 23 times at $10K-plus. A gelato shop stranger who knew them from diffe...

Episode
Do NOT Sleep on X Money!
October 20, 2026

Eric and Neil start with X Money, which pays 3% cash back and 6% interest, and argue that the offer is under marketed and would get more people investing. They test an AI-written blog post on a client...