How I’d Charge $5k–$10k Selling AI Voice + AI Ads To Local Businesses
A new tutorial video outlines how to sell AI‑powered voice callers bundled with paid advertising to local service businesses. The creator proposes charging $5,000‑$10,000 per client by delivering a complete lead‑generation system that captures prospects, calls them instantly, qualifies them, and books appointments. The approach targets niches such as HVAC, roofing, real estate, med‑spas, and clinics, emphasizing outcomes over the novelty of AI. By positioning the service as a revenue‑driving engine rather than a standalone tool, agencies can command premium fees.
OpenAI Is Opening the Window on Its Ad Ambitions
OpenAI has begun beta‑testing a full‑featured Ads Manager in the United States, giving marketers the ability to create, budget, launch and track ChatGPT ad campaigns. The rollout adds CPC bidding, a conversions API and pixel‑based measurement, bringing the platform in...
Omar Oakes: Advertising Has Reached Peak Self-Delusion
The UK advertising market reported a 6.4% increase last year, reaching £46.7 bn (about $58 bn). However, two‑thirds of that spend now flows to three Big‑Tech platforms—Alphabet, Meta and Amazon—leaving roughly £15 bn ($18.6 bn) for the rest of the industry. Growth is concentrated...
Comparative Advertising: How To Use Comparative Ads
Comparative advertising lets brands pit their products against rivals, highlighting differences in features, price, or performance to accelerate purchase decisions. When executed well—such as Dixie’s side‑by‑side plate test, Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign (which drove about a 39 % sales lift),...
The $100 Billion Problem Lurking Inside Digital Video Ads
The digital video ad market has morphed from a transparent, relationship‑driven TV model into a sprawling programmatic ecosystem riddled with hidden fees and fraud. Industry estimates suggest tens of billions—potentially up to $100 billion—are siphoned each year, with some insiders claiming...
TikTok Partners with Vistar Media to Expand Out of Phone Ad Campaigns to over 1M Digital Out-of-Home Placements
TikTok has teamed with programmatic out‑of‑home platform Vistar Media to extend its Out of Phone ad product to more than 1.1 million digital OOH placements, including high‑visibility sites such as Times Square. The partnership builds on the October 2023 launch that originally...
Principal Media and F.A.S.T: Agencies Are Rewriting the Economics of Advertising
The Myers Report argues that advertising agencies are abandoning the traditional media‑buying role and becoming principals that own, package, and monetize Free‑Advertising‑Supported Streaming Television (FAST) assets. This shift turns agencies into balance‑sheet businesses that generate profit through financial arbitrage rather...
AI-Ready CMO Live with Ammann Badlani
In a recent AI‑Ready CMO interview, Ammann Badlani argues that the agency model is morphing from a creative‑service shop into a software‑grade orchestration platform. He stresses that merely adopting AI tools is no longer a differentiator; the real moat lies...
How Fintech Startups Use a Meta Ads Agency to Reach Accredited Investors
Fintech startups are turning to specialist Meta ads agencies to reach accredited investors more quickly and cheaply than traditional channels. By leveraging Meta’s sophisticated behavioral targeting—professional titles, investment interests, and look‑alike audiences—agencies can assemble compliant audiences that meet the accredited...
Why Paid Ads Fail Without Brand Foundations
Paid advertising can boost visibility, but without solid brand foundations it quickly becomes inefficient. Weak positioning, low trust, and inconsistent experiences cause clicks to lack conviction, driving rising acquisition costs and falling conversion rates. Performance marketing merely amplifies existing brand...
Google Ads Launches Beta Tool that Uses AI to Scan Websites and Automatically Add Products to Campaigns
Google Ads rolled out a beta feature called “Use AI to add products” that scans a merchant’s website and automatically populates product listings into ad campaigns. The tool performs a one‑time crawl, aiming to cut manual entry errors and speed...
The CTV Journey Starts Before You Think It Does
The article argues that the true CTV journey begins the moment a TV is turned on, not when a stream starts. A TiVo Ads survey shows only 31% of marketers recognize this, while 67% plan to increase home‑screen spend. Home‑screen...
App Store Search Ads and the Slippery Slope
Apple has added a second paid ad slot to App Store search results, turning the interface into an ad‑dominated experience. The change pushes organic listings down one position for any query that isn’t already #1, and analysts estimate that about...
Data And The Other Walled Gardens Shine At Possible
The Possible 2026 conference highlighted how AI is reshaping marketing while emphasizing that solid data and audience insight remain the true drivers of outcomes. Panels showed brand affinity now eclipses pure ROAS as the most valuable KPI, and vendors like...
Get Ready for AI Agents Now, Before Buyer Agents Scale
AI‑driven buyer agents are already influencing how advertising inventory is evaluated, moving the decision‑making process into the current RFP and direct‑sales workflow. Publishers that make their data, audience segments, and inventory packaging machine‑readable can capture immediate ROI and avoid being...
Pub.Call: BSI Publisher Quality Utility (April 21, 2026)
The Brand Safety Institute unveiled its Publisher Quality Utility, a diagnostic platform that reveals how ad‑tech vendors, block lists, and browsers score publisher sites. Hearst Magazines has adopted the tool as an early‑warning system, flagging domains that are mistakenly labeled...
What 18 Years as an Advertiser Taught Me that Publishers Can Use Today
Shai Almagor, a former senior advertiser now leading Kueez’s SSP client team, shares why brands still buy on the open web and how publishers can capture that spend. He identifies three advertiser motivations—cost‑effective reach beyond walled gardens, brand adjacency with...
OpenAI Updates U.S. Privacy Policy to Formalize Data-Sharing with Advertisers and Marketing Partners
OpenAI revised its U.S. privacy policy on April 30, adding language that it will share limited user identifiers, such as cookie and device IDs, with advertisers and marketing partners to gauge ad effectiveness and enable third‑party targeting. The update replaces the...
Adidas Tries Out a Sports–Anime Crossover
Adidas has unveiled its Mundial apparel and footwear collection using anime‑style imagery, featuring Brazilian forward Raphinha and Colombian winger Luis Díaz. The campaign was co‑created with Hong Kong fashion entrepreneur Edison Chen and animated by California‑based digital artist Annie Choi, who boasts over...
The Science of Ad Intelligence: How Data-Driven Brands Reverse-Engineer Winning Campaigns
The article argues that paid‑media success now hinges on ad intelligence rather than gut instinct. By reverse‑engineering creatives that demonstrate longevity and stable spend, brands can compress testing cycles, lower customer‑acquisition cost (CAC) and avoid creative fatigue. Automated tools—especially Instagram...
Meta’s AI Ad Engine Delivers 33% Revenue Growth
Meta reported Q1 2026 revenue of $56.3 billion, a 33% year‑over‑year jump driven almost entirely by AI‑enhanced ad ranking models. The upgrades—doubling user‑sequence length, accelerating same‑day post indexing, and richer content embeddings—lifted ad impressions 19% and raised average CPM 12%, adding roughly...
Adthena Launches Free “AdBridge” Tool Letting Advertisers Migrate Google Ads Campaigns Into ChatGPT Ads
Adthena, a paid‑search intelligence firm, introduced AdBridge, a free tool that migrates Google Ads campaigns into the emerging ChatGPT Ads format. The platform automatically generates keyword lists, negative keywords and competitive insights ready for use on ChatGPT’s ad service. Several...
What if YouTube Opened Up Its Ad Inventory?
YouTube’s ad inventory is currently locked behind Google’s DV360 exchange, a restriction that dates back to Google’s 2015 shutdown of third‑party platforms like TubeMogul. The Department of Justice’s recent antitrust ruling against Google has revived speculation that the company could...
David Patton: In-Housing Creativity Won’t Make Brands More Creative
Brands are increasingly building in‑house creative studios, assuming internal talent and AI tools will automatically generate better ideas. David Patton argues that while these studios improve speed, cost control, and brand consistency, they rarely enhance originality, which depends on culture...
Why Snap Launched Their AI Ad Format With a Credit Bureau
Snap introduced an AI‑powered ad format that embeds branded chat agents directly into its Chat tab, debuting with credit‑bureau Experian. The promoted snaps appear as labeled ads; users tap to ask the Experian bot about scores, loans, or credit‑card options....
Why the Upfront Is Finally, Actually, Really Broken. (But Still Functions.)
The blog argues that the traditional Nielsen‑driven measurement system that anchored the TV Upfront is disappearing, replaced by a patchwork of competing metrics. This fragmentation creates multiple “currencies,” higher operational costs for sellers, and a pricing reset that erodes differentiation....
Tube Trends: Now Creators Are Taking Over The NFL Draft
The NFL is leaning heavily into creator‑driven coverage, with YouTube emerging as the primary platform for the Draft. Tubular Labs data shows creators accounted for 58% of YouTube views from April 23‑29, and 21 individual creators each surpassed one million views....
Can Media Companies Ever Claw Back Advertising Revenue From Big Tech?
Publishers have long hoped that better targeting and programmatic tools could reclaim ad dollars siphoned by Google, Meta and now Amazon. Rick Erwin, CEO of Adstra, argues that the dominant platforms’ advantage stems from far superior, unified consumer data and...
Advertising Gets Absurd: VCCP and Joint Serve up Strange Solutions
Advertising agency Joint and VCCP have each rolled out off‑beat campaigns that prioritize absurdity over product logic. Joint’s new spot for Fridge Raiders snacks depicts hapless arctic explorers, while VCCP’s collaboration with Müller FRijj features a moo‑ing dinosaur. Both pieces...
FTC and States Target Alleged Collusion in Digital Ad Agency Market
The Federal Trade Commission, together with a coalition of state attorneys general, filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging that major digital‑advertising agencies coordinated pricing, placement and information‑sharing practices. The complaint targets the intermediary ad‑agency layer, expanding enforcement beyond dominant platforms like...
Upfront 2026–27: Who Has Pricing Power in a Commodity Market?
The Myers Report warns that the 2026‑27 Upfront will reward firms that can demonstrate measurable outcomes, integrate technology stacks, and lower buyer uncertainty. Traditional levers such as inventory volume, reach, and content alone will be repriced as the market shifts...
An Interview with Jillian Wheeler
Jillian Wheeler, a former creative director at CASETiFY and Sweetgreen, discusses her shift to freelance work in the latest "Conversations Behind The Campaign" interview. She shares how her business‑school marketing background informs her creative direction and brand strategy. Wheeler emphasizes...
Cracking the Creativity Code: How to Win at The Art of Outdoor®
Ocean Outdoor UK’s marketing director outlines how premium digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) transforms brand storytelling through immersive formats like DeepScreen® and Ocean Creator. The piece highlights measurable successes—40 plays per hour on interactive billboards and a 21% lift on social for...
Pub.Call: Need Revenue Now? Make Q2 Your New Q4
Publishers facing immediate revenue pressure are being urged to execute fast‑track monetization ideas that can launch in days, not months. The Pub.Call highlighted shifting from page‑level RPM to revenue‑per‑session metrics, using AI, web‑push, and refresh‑economics to extract more value from...
The Upfront Has Mutated. And Most of the Market Missed It.
The traditional TV Upfront has fundamentally shifted from selling premium inventory to selling proven business outcomes. By 2026, media buyers demand closed‑loop measurement, with retail media becoming the yardstick for performance across linear, streaming, and digital channels. Programmatic platforms now...
What Is Marketing Data Integration? How To Use Marketing Data
Marketing data integration consolidates information from social, web, and ad platforms into a single source of truth, letting marketers see what happens after a click. By unifying first‑, second‑, third‑, and zero‑party data, businesses can compare channel performance, identify cross‑sell...
You Probably Wouldn’t Notice if an AI Chatbot Slipped Ads Into Its Responses
Researchers at the University of Michigan demonstrated that AI chatbots can embed covert product ads into their replies, influencing user choices without detection. In a controlled study of 179 participants, about 50 % failed to notice the advertising language, even though...
TikTok Expanded IAS and Zefr Brand Safety Tools to More Ad Formats While DoubleVerify Earned Its First Video Viewability Accreditation
TikTok has broadened its partnership with Integral Ad Science and Zefr, extending brand‑safety, media‑quality and invalid‑traffic tools to four additional ad formats, including search ads, brand‑campaign creation tools, TikTok Lite and GMV Max. The move follows the platform’s U.S. spinoff...
Agency Industry Forecast and Overview, Why Ad Revenue Is Growing So Fast, New Apple CEO and More
The latest Madison & Wall agency forecast shows U.S. advertising agencies growing only about 1.5% in 2025, down from the 4‑6% pre‑pandemic pace and a 2% rise in 2024. The slowdown reflects a shift toward “working” spend on paid‑media and...
Future Guarantees Advertisers Its New Audience Intelligence Platform Will Boost CTR
Future plc has introduced Helix, a new audience intelligence platform that replaces Aperture and uses first‑party purchase data to match advertisers with high‑intent audiences. The company is guaranteeing advertisers a minimum click‑through‑rate uplift, citing test results showing up to a...
MAA Ad of the Week: David Beckham’s ‘Football Nation’ for Pepsi
Pepsi's latest television spot, titled “Football Nation,” features soccer legend David Beckham and is produced by Big Time Creative. The ad frames the endless debates surrounding football as a narrative device, pairing fast‑cut visuals with the star’s presence to capture...
Is Diet Coke a Win or a Defend for Ogilvy?
Coca‑Cola has handed its UK and EMEA Diet Coke account to Ogilvy, reviving a long‑standing WPP‑Coca‑Cola partnership that now competes with Publicis and other bidders. The deal emphasizes social and influencer marketing, a shift from traditional media that Coke moved to...
Tube Trends: How TurboTax Owns Tax Season On YouTube
TurboTax has turned tax season into a multi‑month media blitz, extending from early football‑season TV spots in 2024 to a dominant YouTube presence in 2025. Tubular Labs reports the brand captured 505.7 million YouTube watch minutes from January through March, outpacing...
Farewell, Twitter
Long‑time market commentator Barry Ritholtz announced his departure from X, formerly Twitter, citing a steep decline in genuine engagement and a surge of bots and scams. He blames the platform’s 2022 ownership change, paid‑verification model, and AI‑driven fraud for eroding...
No More Wrestling Ad Campaign Features A Lot More Wrestling
Chupa Chups has rolled out a new easy‑to‑open lollipop wrapper, accompanied by BBH’s “No More Wrestling” out‑of‑home campaign that pairs the packaging upgrade with vibrant Lucha Libre imagery. The campaign showcases authentic Mexican wrestling masks crafted by veteran designer Arturo...
New Agencies Restless and Impatient Ideas Set Out to Ride the AI Wave
Former Jungle Creations executives Jamie Bolding and Nat Poulter have launched Restless, an agency billed as AI‑powered through its proprietary Antenna platform. At the same time, ex‑BBH and Wunderman Thompson leaders Tom Drew and Sid McGrath are debuting Impatient Ideas, a...
How Hotels Can Drive More Direct Bookings with TikTok Ads
TikTok has transformed from a short‑form entertainment app into a primary travel discovery engine, blending inspiration, search and booking functions. Hotels can capitalize by creating discovery‑driven organic videos that spark desire and then repurposing the highest‑performing clips as Spark Ads....
Omar Oakes: A Culture War Against Mainstream Media
On April 15 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed permanent consent decrees against the five largest ad‑holding groups—WPP, Publicis, Dentsu, Omnicom and IPG—prohibiting any coordinated brand‑safety standards. The FTC framed the case as a Sherman‑Act antitrust violation, arguing the firms...
Google Added Agentic Features to Ads Advisor that Automate Ad Policy Violation Troubleshooting, Security Monitoring, and Certification
Google rolled out three agentic safety features inside its Ads Advisor platform, automating policy compliance, security monitoring, and certification processes. The system now proactively scans ad campaigns for policy violations, offers real‑time reviews as marketers edit ads, and conducts daily...
Netflix Is Building the Pipes Its Future Competitors Will Use
Netflix’s Q1 2026 shareholder letter highlights a “more dynamic” media landscape driven by rising video supply from both human creators and generative‑AI tools. The company projects ad‑supported streaming revenue to double year‑over‑year, reaching roughly $3 billion in 2026, while subscription revenue...