Perplexity went straight for Google’s jugular last week with a cinematic ad starring Squid Game sensation Lee Jung-jae.

The concept 👇

Jung-jae finds himself trapped in a life-or-death scenario where survival hinges on his ability to quickly find answers to everyday questions. 

“Poogle” delivers him a wall of useless blue links while voice-activated Perplexity offers instant, accurate answers.

The ad even references Google’s widely mocked “glue on pizza” AI mishap – before cutting to its punchline:

“When you need to get it right, ask Perplexity.”

The Bigger Story

Perplexity is on a mission to break into mainstream consciousness, and they’re doing it by directly positioning against Google.

It’s a smart move. 

Rather than trying to educate a general audience on a complex new category (AI search), Perplexity is anchoring against a household name – and letting the contrast speak for itself

Backed by a multi-million dollar budget, the campaign is now rolling out across the U.S., Korea, Japan, and Europe, and will likely succeed at pulling non-techy users into the fold.

It’s also the ultimate momentum builder, perfectly complementing a string of Perplexity’s recent headline-grabbing moves:

• Raising $500 million at a massive $9 billion valuation

• Teasing Comet, their new AI-native browser

• Making a wild public proposal to acquire TikTok and open-source its algorithm

Safe to say the company’s generating plenty of buzz – and they need to.

Despite growing enthusiasm for new AI-driven search platforms, Google remains comfortably dominant, handling around 14 billion daily queries compared to Perplexity’s 20 million.

For the first time, however, there’s visible cracking in Google’s armor.

And Perplexity is exploiting it by gunning for two of the company’s most notable weak points: its increasingly cluttered user interface and its recent high-profile AI missteps.

Why You Should Care

For starters, this is a standout competitive ad – it’s genuinely worth the 90 seconds of your day to watch and analyze.

Second, it’s worth looking closely at how Perplexity targets specific Google user pain points. Instead of broadly criticizing the platform, they zero in on something familiar and increasingly frustrating: the wall of blue links. Those links – once a symbol of Google’s utility – are starting to feel like clutter. If Perplexity continues beating this drum, they could seriously chip away at Google’s perceived authority.

Third, it’s no accident that this ad focuses on voice-driven search. Perplexity is signaling where it believes AI interfaces are headed, and staking its claim early. As someone who now uses AI dictation apps like Superwhisper throughout my day, I’m also quite bullish on this direction.

Nicely played, Perplexity 👏 

Imagine you could create the content your sellers need for every one of their competitive deals – without lifting a finger. 

With Klue, now you can.

Introducing Deal Tips!

Deal Tips proactively support sellers in their most competitive deals by sending them personalized, actionable content to their inbox with recommendations on what they should do next.

No spam.

No endless emails triggered every time a competitor was mentioned on a call.

Just a Deal Tip for your most competitive situations.

Klue just dropped its 2025 Win-Loss Trends Report!

The team surveyed 300+ market leaders to get to the bottom of how companies are running win-loss today. 

If you’re looking for the TL;DR, here are my top takeaways 👇 

Win-loss has caught the C-suite’s attention:

• 98% of programs now have executive visibility
• 76% of organizations use these insights to drive GTM messaging
• 76% leverage win-loss for competitive strategy

Enterprise orgs are doubling down:

• 59% supplement internal data with external research sources
• 57% dedicate at least one full-time employee exclusively to win-loss
• 36% invest over $50,000 annually in their programs

The ROI of win-loss is clear

C-level executives who participated credit win-loss analysis for:

• 56% higher win rates
• 53% more effective sales cycles
• 70% clearer messaging and positioning

One more interesting stat?

94% (!!) of companies running win-loss are maintaining or increasing their program budgets in 2025.

📌 Go Deeper: Check out the full report below for all the data, including a detailed breakdown of how execs are investing this year. 

Guess what?

You can now read the first chapter of Ryan Sorley’s new book here.

You can also get special access by joining the waitlist below 👇

(reminder: it drops this Wednesday!)

Not interested in Ryan Sorley’s new book?

Prefer to see him get roasted by J – a cocky seller with no lose rate?

Well, you’re in luck. 👇

Coffee & Compete Pod | How to Scale Win-Loss with Surveys w/ Kevin McLean

In this episode, Kevin breaks down everything you need to know about win-loss surveys – i.e., the key to scaling your program. 

Community Poll | Where Does CI Sit In Your Org

We asked the Compete Community where CI belongs. Curious how your structure stacks up? Check the link above (and weigh in!). 

UPCOMING: Power (Half) Hour | How to Launch a Win-Loss Program w/ Ryan Sorley

Register for our next LIVE event (April 4, 12:30 PM EDT) where win-loss expert Ryan Sorley will break down how to launch a win-loss program step-by-step! 

EVENT:  Two Win-Loss Masterclasses

Ryan Sorley, author of Blindspots, is hosting two Win-Loss Masterclass Workshops this April!

One in London (April 10th)
One in Boston (April 15th)