Life360 acquires Nativo and Fantix AI unit for $120M to launch family‑focused ad platform
Life360 accelerated its entry into advertising by acquiring Fantix’s AI‑driven ad unit and the native‑ad platform Nativo for $120 million. Nativo generated $63 million in revenue in 2023, and its white‑label ad server now powers Life360’s family‑focused ad stack, enabling location‑based, privacy‑safe targeting.
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Ipsos’ February 2026 Consumer Tracker of 1,085 U.S. adults shows a nuanced shift in attitudes toward corporate political engagement. While a solid majority—57% on social issues and 56% on political issues—still prefer brands to stay neutral, the share that endorses brand activism is climbing, especially on racial‑justice topics (48%) and LGBTQ+ visibility (31%). Purchase intent reflects this split: 49% say they’re more likely to buy from a company that opposes racism, yet 56% would avoid brands whose political stance conflicts with their views. The poll also reveals that only 13% support government penalties for controversial corporate statements.

Cendyn was honored with three Adrian Awards at the 69th HSMAI ceremony, winning a silver for its multi‑channel campaign with The Watergate Hotel and bronze awards for a paid‑media campaign for Royalton Resorts and a website redesign for The Maven....
Google Labs launched Photoshoot, a new feature in its free Pomelli platform that transforms basic product photos into studio‑grade marketing images. The tool leverages Business DNA and the Nano Banana image‑generation model to apply brand‑specific aesthetics automatically. Users select a...

Retailers are abandoning the outdated notion of seasonal peak‑sales windows and adopting a year‑round growth‑readiness mindset. Unexpected demand spikes—from TikTok trends to surprise influencer drops—can now rival traditional events like Prime Day, exposing fragile point‑to‑point integrations. Mark Simon of Celigo...
Distribution and the human attention premium That marketing and distribution become the principal challenges of scaling content in an attention landscape awash in it seems like an obvious outcome as production costs collapse. But it has not yet emerged as a...
You’re deluding yourself into thinking you’re organized by staring at a dashboard with 50 metrics... … and somehow, you're completely missing the only 4 that actually matter: MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio): This is your early-warning alarm. If MER dips 10-15% below target, something's leaking....

Caroline Orange‑Northey, newly appointed Managing Director for Pinterest UK & Ireland, outlines her first 6‑12 month priorities, emphasizing accelerated advertiser adoption and AI‑driven product enhancements. She explains why Pinterest remains a compelling platform for 2026, highlighting its visual discovery engine,...

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry has been appointed U.S. agency of record for Pendulum, an AI‑driven social listening platform that captures brand mentions across text, audio, video and images. Marino will serve as the U.S. agency for Italian food icons Pasta...
Hightouch unveiled Content Assembly, an AI‑driven tool that repurposes existing brand‑approved assets into new campaign materials. Marketers describe desired outputs in plain language and AI agents scour DAMs, Figma, Adobe, Google Drive and other repositories to assemble on‑brand emails, ads,...

NetLine’s senior demand manager Josh Baez hosted a webinar titled “The Hidden Moments of the Buying Journey,” revealing why traditional linear funnels are obsolete. He explained how privacy regulations have crippled identifier‑based tracking, forcing marketers to shift toward proactive, programmatic...
Sports advertising continues to capture massive audiences, but only 1% of viewers make an immediate purchase while 43% express interest. The gap reflects modern, multi‑screen consumer behavior, positioning sports slots as demand‑creation engines rather than direct‑response channels. Brands are responding...
Butterball, the leading U.S. turkey producer, has named Carmichael Lynch its new agency of record for creative, social, and media planning. The partnership aims to shift the brand from a holiday‑centric image to year‑round cultural relevance, emphasizing its purpose of “helping...

Large language models exhibit a "dog‑bone" weakness, performing well on the opening and closing sections of long texts while struggling with the middle. Research from Stanford and recent papers such as ATACompressor confirm that attention bias and aggressive context compression...
Upstream, formerly TheViewPoint, launched an automated platform that handles direct‑sold CTV campaigns at the ad‑server level, deliberately avoiding programmatic intermediaries. The solution integrates directly with publishers, bypassing SSPs and DSPs, and is already used by NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Paramount and...

In a recent interview, 35‑year SEO veteran Grant Simmons clarified that great SEO and generative‑engine optimization (GEO) are fundamentally the same when executed holistically, emphasizing topical authority and brand consistency. He explained that LLMs evaluate content at the passage level,...

Serviceplan Group announced a strategic partnership with Luma AI to embed generative‑AI tools across its global creative operations. The collaboration introduces a "House of AI" digital twin that mirrors the agency’s entire marketing‑communication value chain, covering strategy, development, production and delivery....

Harrods has launched a Ramadan and Eid campaign running from 20 January to 20 March, aimed at luxury‑focused customers in the UK and GCC markets. The initiative partners with Dubai‑based studio Bigsea.tv, photographer Mazen Abusrour, art director Serge Asaad and local stylists to blend...
I was asked how to make sure Sales will actually use Marketing content. Here is the short answer I gave. Stop reviewing content by Marketing standards and view it from the perspective of someone trying to sell you product or service. Before anything...
7 Key Takeaways from Stensul’s 2026 MarTech Outlook Report - https://t.co/58rLpJuLMz "#AI is no longer treated as a side experiment; instead, organizations are increasing martech budgets, investing directly in AI-powered tools, and reshaping teams and workflows to bring more execution...
Sharon Price John, former CMO, has become President and CEO of Build‑A‑Bear, steering the 30‑year‑old retailer into an IP‑driven, multi‑vertical business. Under her leadership, digital commerce now accounts for 40% of sales and the brand is expanding globally. In a...
The advertising industry is moving away from a "good enough" data mindset toward defensible performance, where outcomes must be explainable and resilient. Accountability now begins with identity verification, not downstream reporting, as identity decay and fraudulent signals erode model reliability....

Budgets on auction‑based platforms are averaged over roughly 30.4 days, not enforced as strict daily caps. When a target ROAS or CPA is applied, the algorithm treats these as optimization signals and may spend beyond the nominal daily limit to...

The article argues that the creator economy is moving PR beyond generic influencers toward multicultural creators who bring authentic cultural insight. These creators act as strategic partners, not merely message amplifiers, and their influence is measured by deep community engagement...

Google announced that its AI Mode now supports 53 additional languages, bringing the total to just under 100. The expansion covers languages spoken by more than a billion people worldwide, ranging from major tongues like Hindi and Arabic to regional...

Google’s John Mueller clarified that there is no blacklist or filter that penalizes sites solely for having poorly written title tags. He explained that the title displayed in search results is often generated automatically from a variety of signals, not...
Neal Schaffer outlines how link building has shifted from a volume‑driven practice to a relationship‑focused strategy essential for small businesses in 2026. He emphasizes that high‑authority, contextually relevant backlinks now outweigh dozens of low‑quality links, while internal linking provides immediate,...

In this brief episode of Voices of Search, host Tyson Stockton and Ahrefs expert Patrick Stokes discuss the biggest upcoming challenge for SEOs: proving their value and protecting budgets amid a shift toward geo‑targeted strategies. They highlight the tension between...

The article explains that social‑media engagement—likes, comments, shares, and saves—is rooted in human psychology, especially dopamine‑driven reward loops. It breaks down what each interaction type signals and why algorithms prioritize content with higher engagement. Practical tactics are offered, such as...

The article explains how bloggers can leverage Facebook and Instagram Stories to humanize their brand and boost visibility. It outlines technical specifications, placement, and the unique advantage of stories appearing at the top of followers’ feeds. Practical tactics include creating...

EQ Dry partnered with global media platform Teads and agency UM to launch an omnichannel, attention‑driven campaign for its diaper line. The initiative leveraged Teads’ contextual targeting, inRead video and connected TV formats to reach parents across mobile and big‑screen...

In a FixEd podcast episode, newsletter veteran Dan Oshinsky outlines how AI, quality content, and strategic partnerships will shape newsletters in 2026. He warns that AI‑powered inbox tools could either elevate newsletters into curated feeds or diminish engagement if they...

UK ad‑tech firm 59A announced the appointment of Jon Nash as US CEO and Danny Moggs as SVP of Sales to spearhead its North American launch from a new Venice Beach hub. Nash, a longtime collaborator with founder Adam Ray, will...

In a Q&A with Clinch CEO Oz Etzioni, the interview highlights how AI has exposed deep fractures in traditional advertising workflows built on siloed point solutions. The surge in creative permutations and real‑time media demands has turned these fragmented systems...

In this episode, host Michael Stelzner talks with YouTube strategist Liron Segev about the platform’s newest AI-driven video creation and targeting tools and how they can be leveraged by businesses. Segev breaks down which content formats—especially short-form and searchable long‑form...
Walmart’s advertising arm surged 46% in 2025, generating nearly $6.4 billion, while the broader company posted $713.2 billion in revenue. Walmart Connect alone grew 41% in Q4, and the Vizio acquisition added high‑minimum‑price inventory. AI chatbot Sparky, now tested with ads, drives...

A new Institute of Alcohol Studies report reveals that UK alcohol producers and pub operators exaggerated economic threats to block proposed advertising restrictions, leading to the removal of the measures from the Government's 10‑Year Health Plan. The report, based on...
Two former Omnicom executives, James Sparano and Kevin O’Sullivan, are launching JK, an AI‑native creative and strategy shop that promises to shrink traditional planning cycles from months to days. The boutique is self‑funded and begins operations on Feb. 19. Hitachi has...

In large organizations SEO recommendations often sit idle because developers view them as low‑priority maintenance. The article argues the root cause is a translation gap: SEOs speak traffic and rankings, while engineers prioritize user experience, technical debt, and feature delivery....

Zapier now offers eight pre‑built Zaps that automate key X (formerly Twitter) workflows for businesses, from archiving brand mentions to turning tweets into support tickets. The templates let marketers log every mention in a spreadsheet, push real‑time alerts to Slack,...

The Negotiator article urges estate agencies to integrate pay‑per‑click (PPC) advertising with search engine optimisation (SEO), arguing that combined data and testing can sharpen messaging, boost keyword intelligence, and stretch limited budgets. It highlights rapid ad‑copy testing via PPC, leveraging...

South African startup Naritive has launched an ad‑tech platform that turns static display ads into interactive “Ad Stories” and “Ad Social” formats. The platform, now used by more than 100 brands and agencies across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia...

Brands are increasingly pulling media strategy and buying in‑house, a trend dubbed “conscious uncoupling.” Executives cite greater accountability, faster decision‑making, and tighter budget control as primary drivers. Agencies are no longer full‑service partners but are retained for niche expertise, audits,...

South Africa’s top ad strategists warn that while AI can accelerate data collection and pattern detection, the true strategic advantage remains human deep thinking and cultural insight. Leaders such as Pepe Marais and Neo Makhele stress that only a small minority who...

The article warns that AI‑driven content saturation and the rise of fabricated experts are eroding trust in both media and brand communications. Over 50 non‑existent "experts" have been quoted in UK outlets, illustrating how cheap synthetic voices infiltrate reputable sources....
Most firms still rely on manual follow‑up after marketing emails, causing delays and missed opportunities. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys centralizes interaction data in Dataverse and automates lead scoring using custom triggers linked to Power Automate. By mapping email opens, clicks, form submissions, and event...
The future of agentic AI in B2B marketing is finally coming into focus. The B2B marketing org structure has to change, with fewer layers and more shared accountability across a unified data layer. The human role will shift to something more...

ChatGPT Search rewrites user prompts into multiple “fan‑out” queries for its search partners. An analysis of 10 million prompts and 20 million fan‑out queries found that 43 % of those sub‑queries run in English, even when the original prompt is non‑English. Overall, 78 %...
The article outlines ten essential PR KPIs that have evolved for 2026, integrating AI-driven metrics such as Share of Search Influence and Emotion‑Weighted Sentiment. Traditional measures like Share of Voice remain core, but new dimensions assess message semantics, outlet authority,...
PepsiCo Foods unveiled its first creator‑led "Flavor Swap" snack line, teaming influencers Madison Beer, iShowSpeed and Dude Perfect with new chip‑flavor mash‑ups. The products launched exclusively on TikTok Shop with a nationwide rollout slated for March, aligning the launch with...

The Influencer Marketing Hub has identified the five leading creator affiliate marketing agencies for 2026, highlighting Hamster Garage, Acceleration Partners, PartnerCentric, Peekabo and Sociablestack. The report underscores a 171% rise in creator acquisition budgets and notes that affiliate marketing now...