Today's Digital Marketing Pulse
Accenture Song Acquires Whalar to Bolster Influencer Marketing
Accenture Song announced the acquisition of Whalar, adding a 170‑person global creator agency and keeping co‑CEOs Emma Harman and Jo Cronk in place. The deal also includes a three‑year strategic partnership that gives Accenture access to Whalar’s talent‑management, technology and venture assets, integrating the creator network with Accenture’s data and AI capabilities.
Bupa UK Picks Ace of Hearts to Work on Creative and Strategy
UK health insurer Bupa has selected the creative agency Ace of Hearts to lead its new advertising and strategic initiatives. The agency was chosen after a competitive pitch process coordinated by Ingenuity+, a specialist agency network. The partnership is expected to revamp Bupa’s brand messaging and digital experience across the UK market. Executives anticipate the collaboration will strengthen Bupa’s position amid intensifying competition in health insurance.
The One Centre Group Creates and Scales the Brands of Tomorrow with ‘Zephyr One’ Launch
The One Centre Group has rebranded its 2019 investment Zephyr Social as Zephyr One, joining its constellation of specialist branding firms. The 12‑person agency now offers commercial strategy, performance media, and creative services through its proprietary System One model. Founders...
WTF Is Meta’s Manus Tool?
Meta has embedded an AI agent suite called Manus into its Ads Manager, following a $2 billion acquisition of the Singapore‑based startup Butterfly Effect. The tool promises automated competitor analysis, audience research, campaign measurement and reporting across Facebook and Instagram. Early...
OpenAI’s Ad Push Begins, and The Knot Is Co-Piloting
OpenAI has launched a trial ad platform inside ChatGPT, enlisting The Knot Worldwide as one of its first brand partners. The wedding‑planning service is testing ad performance, brand‑safety protocols, and data insights while also debuting its own app within the...
OpenAI's Ad Push Begins, and The Knot Is Co-Piloting
In this Digiday episode, hosts Kamiko McCoy and Tim Peterson discuss OpenAI's recent moves, including a controversial Pentagon partnership and the launch of its first ad‑tech deal with Criteo, signaling the start of ads on ChatGPT's free tier. They interview...
AI SEO Bot Turns Slack Into Full‑Time Optimizer
I have an OpenClaw SEO agent that sits in my team Slack for helping us with our internal SEO. It's connected to GSC, GA4, and our content creation product, ClickFlow + our CMS WordPress. When you insert a bot armed with...
Agent99 and Born to Host Free Senior Marketer Webinar ‘Bravery, Budget & Bullsh*t: What Actually Drives Impact’ at 12pm, March...
Agent99 PR and Born are hosting a free webinar titled “Bravery, Budget & Bullsh*t: What Actually Drives Impact” on March 12 at noon, aimed at senior marketers. The session will dissect where brands overspend and pinpoint tactics that deliver genuine commercial...
Google's AI Landing Page Patent Targets Low‑conversion Feeds
😺📢That Google patent about AI Generated Landing pages? It only applies to low-conversion product feeds, shopping pages, and advertisements. https://t.co/NyMwj1zBys
Alphabet Vs. The Trade Desk: Which Is a Better Buy?
Alphabet posted an 18% revenue jump to $113.8 billion in Q4, with Google Cloud surging 48% and net income rising 30%, underscoring strong AI‑driven growth and operating leverage. The Trade Desk reported $847 million in revenue, up 14% YoY, but its growth...
Stories that Sell: The Marketing Strategy Algorithms Can’t Kill
In this episode of SaaS Stories, host interviews Henry DeVries, publisher of Indie Books International, about the power of storytelling in business. DeVries outlines eight core story archetypes—monster, underdog, comic solution, tragic solution, mystery, quest, comeback, and "escape from crazy...
Scale Winning Ads to Transform Your Brand
Finding winning ads that can scale and change a brands entire trajectory 🫡
Concerns with Third-Party Partner Could Derail LinkedIn’s Verification Push
LinkedIn is rolling out broader identity verification, adding company confirmation and executive‑level title checks that require a corporate email address. The move aims to curb recruiter scams and misrepresentation on the platform. However, the rollout relies on third‑party verification partner...
Google AI Overview Citations From Top-Ranking Pages Drop Sharply via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Ahrefs’ latest analysis of 4 million AI Overview URLs shows a sharp decline in top‑10 ranking pages being cited, dropping from 76% in July 2025 to 38% now. The study attributes the shift to improved citation detection and Google’s expanding query...
Segment Pages by Traffic Intent, Not One-Size CVR
Stop comparing your PDP's CVR against your landing pages. Your landing page only gets paid traffic. Your PDP gets organic, email, Google, direct... all of it. Those sources have completely different intent levels, and that changes everything. High intent sources like Google,...
Inside a TikTok Outage: A Practical Playbook for PR and Social Teams
In late January TikTok experienced a nationwide outage after a power failure at a U.S. data center disrupted video uploads, comments and personalized feeds. The glitch coincided with a controversial Terms of Service update, amplifying user distrust and prompting many...
Podcast Advertising – The Safest Bet
Tom Webster’s June 2024 article introduces the research report “Podcast Advertising – The Safest Bet,” which compiles recent studies on podcast ad performance. The report challenges common objections from traditional marketers by showing podcasting’s low‑risk, high‑return characteristics. Findings highlight strong brand...
How Voice Search Ads Are Changing The Search Term Report in 2026
Voice search has reshaped Google Ads’ Search Term Report, turning short keyword lists into lengthy conversational transcripts. Average spoken queries have jumped from 2.8 words in 2022 to around nine words today, blurring intent and inflating low‑confidence matches. Advertisers now...
VRC Non-Skip Ads Are Now Generally Available, Allowing Brands to Reach TV Audiences with Google AI.
Google has made its VRC Non‑Skip ad format generally available worldwide through Google Ads and Display & Video 360. The offering targets connected‑TV inventory, delivering 6‑second bumpers, 15‑second standard and 30‑second non‑skippable spots that play in full. Google’s AI dynamically selects...
Embrace AEO Now for Upstream Growth Advantage
Twenty years ago, I chose the channel I could measure over the one that could compound. Paid search felt clean. SEO felt messy. Looking back, avoiding SEO early was one of my biggest growth regrets. Today feels similar. AEO is...
Google Uses Both schema.org Markup and Og:image Meta Tag for Thumbnails in Google Search and Discover
Google updated its image SEO guidance, confirming that both schema.org markup (such as primaryImageOfPage, mainEntity, and mainEntityOfPage) and the og:image meta tag are consulted when selecting thumbnail images for Google Search and Discover. The new documentation outlines how publishers can...
Generate Every Gmail Dot Variation for Free
We built a free Gmail generator. Most people don't know about the Gmail dot trick. Gmail ignores dots. So j.ohnsmith and jo.hnsmith both land in the same inbox. This tool generates every version of your Gmail so you can test email flows...
DFS Partners with ITV to Deliver an Integrated Marketing Campaign with Britain’s Got Talent
DFS has partnered with ITV to embed its brand into the 19th season of Britain’s Got Talent, featuring 10‑second TV commercials and bespoke sofas on set. The campaign includes an Amanda Holden‑branded sofa collection, social media sponsorship, and a competition...
Why Multilingual Content Conversion Is the Missing Link in Retail Growth
Retailers aiming for 2026 growth are realizing that multilingual discovery alone does not translate into sales. AI‑driven search engines now treat simple translations as low‑authority, reducing visibility in key markets. At the same time, poorly adapted product pages, checkout flows,...
Replace SaaS with Claude, Save Thousands in One Day
As a brand owner you should be using claude to save $1000s on costs by building AI tools to replace all the different SaaS products you’re using. Here's 6 tools that you can easily build in one day. 1. Organic...
Profit‑First Strategy Beats Campaign Management in 2026
Two years ago, targeting expertise was a job that Meta now offers for free. The best agencies today are helping brands understand their true profitability, build offers that actually resonate, and create content that supports both. The button pushing comes in...
India’s Ad Watchdog Deploys Influencers to Combat Greenwashing, Dark Patterns
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has rolled out its first influencer‑led consumer awareness campaign targeting greenwashing and dark‑pattern advertising. Eight prominent Indian creators, including Shraddha Jain and Aisha Ahmed, will disseminate educational content on evaluating sustainability claims and...
Brand Fuels Performance; Performance Rarely Builds Brand
It's often said that "brand drives performance, and performance builds brand", but in many cases only the first half of that statement is true. Which is problematic when you have a program whose budget heavily favors performance marketing. Brand definitely...
New ClickFlow AI Visibility Tracks Brand Presence Across Platforms
Happy to announce that we just added our AI Brand Visibility feature in ClickFlow. It tracks how brands appear across AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity: ranking position, mention type, sentiment, and competitor comparison. ClickFlow is our *quality* content generator and...
Creator-Led Agency The Now Agency Launches, Secures BJ’s Restaurants, MLSE Among Early Clients
The Now Agency, a creator‑led social‑native firm founded by Gabe Feldman and Jonathan Chanti, officially launched in June 2025 under the Reign Maker Group. Within its first year it landed marquee clients including BJ’s Restaurants, Les Mills, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment,...
From Dubai to Miami Beach, Creator Economy Conferences Fill April 2026 Calendar
April 2026 will host a packed lineup of creator‑economy conferences across Dubai, New York, London, Lisbon, Los Angeles and more. Events such as the Dubai Creator Summit, Social Media Week, NAB Show and Canva Create bring together nano‑to‑macro influencers, brands, marketers and...
Inside Mercedes-Benz’s Custom Amazon Prime Video Ads Push Around the NBA
Mercedes‑Benz USA teamed with Amazon Ads to launch a series of custom creative spots that aired during Prime Video’s NBA broadcasts in January and February, featuring Dirk Nowitzki showcasing GLS features. The campaign targets younger, diversified luxury buyers by leveraging live‑sports...
AiMCO Recognizes Top Creators, Brands, And Agencies At Inaugural Sydney Summit And Awards
Australia’s Influencer Marketing Council (AiMCO) held its first summit and the 2025 AiMCO Awards in Sydney, celebrating creators, brands, agencies and technology partners. The event highlighted the “Creator Era” theme and featured keynotes from major players such as MECCA, Tourism...
What Salesforce’s Consumption-Based Pricing Means for Martech
Salesforce’s Data 360 is moving to a consumption‑based pricing model, replacing the traditional seat‑and‑channel fees that have dominated Martech. The new approach charges customers only for actual data ingestion, profile unification, segmentation and activation events, making costs directly tied to...
Smartly Announces Amazon DSP Integration to Extend Intelligent Creative and Campaign Management to Connected TV
Smartly announced an integration with Amazon DSP that lets advertisers extend their video campaigns to Amazon’s premium connected‑TV inventory, including Prime Video, Fire TV, and third‑party publishers. The partnership embeds AI‑driven creative optimization and personalization directly into Smartly’s platform, eliminating...
Aligned Marketing Creates Predictable Revenue Through Clear Messaging
If your sales aren’t consistent, your marketing isn’t aligned. You don’t need more content. You need clarity. One message. One transformation. One cohesive customer journey. When your marketing systems works together, your audience feels confident buying and that’s when revenue becomes predictable. 👇 Comment TRAINING and I’ll...
Meta Forces One‑click Upsell for New Campaign Budgets
Meta is really pushing these one-click upsells. Launching a brand new campaign and Meta says it needs more budget. https://t.co/qnK7Xxz5sa
YouTube’s AI Slop Problem And How Marketers Can Compete via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
YouTube’s platform is being flooded by low‑quality, mass‑produced AI videos, dubbed “AI slop,” which now appear in roughly one‑in‑five Shorts recommendations to new users. A Kapwing analysis identified 278 dedicated AI slop channels that together generated 63 billion views, 221 million subscribers...
Meta Forces Monthly Invoicing for Ad Spend.
Meta wants you to change your credit card Meta ad spend to monthly invoicing by 1970. https://t.co/lYg0yVpaBO
Google Pulls Both Markup and Og:image for Thumbnails
Google uses both https://t.co/gU44DpGD2b markup and og:image meta tag for thumbnails in Google Search and Discover https://t.co/LiL2uDFGdk
From ACR Pioneer to Agentic Ad Ops: Zeev Neumeier’s Next Act: Gray Swan
Zeev Neumeier, the co‑founder of the ACR pioneer Inscape, launched Gray Swan to bring agentic AI to the chaotic world of CTV ad operations. The platform ingests massive ad‑tech datasets, builds contextual models, and automates decisions that previously required hours...
Mobile Apps Boost Conversion and AOV; Ignore at Your Peril
The Oodie launched a mobile app and saw a 135% higher conversion rate and 37% higher AOV vs their website. 75% were net new customers. Meanwhile you're ignoring mobile apps entirely. That's the gap.
Google Clamps Down on Spammy SEO Agency Sites
The crackdown on SEO agency sites continues... These sites used lots of self-promoting listicles, service area pages for many cities (without physical offices there), excessive industry pages, and other scaled tactics that can eventually cause major SEO problems. https://t.co/7yQn2hMq1p
![Why SEO Now Depends on Citation-Worthy Content [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell](https://hixhlmpcokxhartfkpyi.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/images/thumbnails/0e7a6e922f23c0e0633be05c5fd71eaa.webp)
Why SEO Now Depends on Citation-Worthy Content [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
Large language models now power AI‑driven search experiences such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, shifting visibility from traditional blue‑link results to answer snippets that cite trusted sources. Marketers must create citation‑worthy content—research, educational, comparison, and expert contributions—to be...
Enable ChatGPT Ads via Shopify: Choose “Ads on Other Platforms”
How to enable ChatGPT ads with @Shopify Step 1: Select 'Ads on other platforms' when you create a Shop Campaign. That's it.
Ahrefs Report Builder Gains Higher Limits and New Features
We heard your feedback. @ahrefs Report Builder is now more accessible, with higher limits to make reporting easier for everyone. 📈 -More reports & widgets for Lite+ -Scheduling now on Standard+ https://t.co/bLKyBCrL3w
AI Bots Don’t Need Markdown Pages
Publishers are experimenting with serving Markdown‑only versions of pages to generative AI bots, hoping to reduce crawl load and boost bot traffic. Early tests show modest increases in bot visits but no measurable lift in search visibility. Google and Bing...
Recipe Site Gains Momentum After 2023 HCU Launch
Wow, this is a recipe site I worked on after the 2023 HCU... cool to see its visibility growing so much now. https://t.co/tHwxnVrRKs
Google Discover Gets Major Profile Updates – New Article
Nice new article on Google Discover and the latest Discover profile changes by my teammate @JohnnyHerge https://t.co/iQap8dufeJ
Criteo Joins OpenAI Advertising Pilot in ChatGPT
Criteo has become the first advertising‑technology partner in OpenAI’s ChatGPT Free and Go advertising pilot in the United States. The integration lets brands run Criteo‑powered ads directly within the ChatGPT interface, leveraging the platform’s commerce‑focused AI decisioning. Early data shows...
Weekly SEO Recap: Google Updates, Bugs, AI Risks
Catch up on last week with the SEO Video Recap covering the Google Discover core update being done, Google volatility, search serving bug, AI prompt injection, Google Ads, local, Bing guidelines and more https://t.co/yRf42eN8G0