HubSpot Tapped Kyle Cooke to Spotlight Its New AEO Tool
Adam Harrie — June 10, 2026 — Pop Culture
References: drinkloverboy & hubspot
HubSpot enlisted reality TV personality and Loverboy founder Kyle Cooke to front a campaign introducing its new HubSpot AEO tool, designed to help brands monitor and improve their visibility in AI-generated search results. The self-referential spot leaned into Cooke's well-documented public struggles with his sparkling hard tea and canned cocktail brand, positioning the tool as the outside perspective he never knew he needed.
The campaign positioned AEO, or Answer Engine Optimization, as the next frontier for brand visibility, distinct from traditional SEO. By tapping a figure whose brand challenges had played out publicly, HubSpot grounded the product's value in a relatable and comedic narrative.
HubSpot shows how B2B technology companies can use culturally relevant storytelling to make emerging digital marketing tools feel more accessible and immediately relevant.
Image Credit: Shutterstock/JHVEPhoto
The campaign positioned AEO, or Answer Engine Optimization, as the next frontier for brand visibility, distinct from traditional SEO. By tapping a figure whose brand challenges had played out publicly, HubSpot grounded the product's value in a relatable and comedic narrative.
HubSpot shows how B2B technology companies can use culturally relevant storytelling to make emerging digital marketing tools feel more accessible and immediately relevant.
Image Credit: Shutterstock/JHVEPhoto
B2B ads with celebrities: does it work?
Informs decisions on whether to use a public figure in B2B marketing, what style of creative to run, and how to position new marketing tools so more readers would try them.
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When was the last time a B2B ad made you look up the product?
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If a B2B tool used a celebrity in its ads, how likely would you be to try it?
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Which B2B ad style would be most likely to make you try a new tool?
Trend Themes
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Answer-engine Optimization — AI-generated search results are creating a new visibility layer where brands can compete through structured authority signals, reputation monitoring, and content designed for machine-generated recommendations.
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Celebrity-led B2B Campaigns — Familiar public figures are helping technical business tools feel more culturally relevant, opening space for enterprise software brands to translate complex products through entertainment-driven narratives.
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AI Visibility Analytics — Brands increasingly need measurement systems that track how they appear across answer engines, chatbots, and generative discovery platforms beyond conventional search rankings.
Industry Implications
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Marketing Technology — AEO platforms are expanding the marketing software stack with tools that monitor brand representation inside AI interfaces and reshape how performance teams define discoverability.
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Public Relations — Reputation management is moving into AI-mediated channels where public narratives, earned media, and brand sentiment influence the answers consumers receive from generative systems.
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Creator Marketing — Personality-driven campaigns are giving creators and founders new roles as interpreters of emerging technology, blending authenticity, humor, and product education for business audiences.
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