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.
The ROI Problem With AI Traffic Nobody Is Measuring Correctly via @Sejournal, @DuaneForrester
The article argues that measuring ROI of AI‑driven traffic with traditional click‑through metrics is flawed because large language models provide answers in place rather than routing users. While AI referral traffic hovers around 1% of total visits, overall organic search traffic has dropped by over 600 million visits in the past year, shrinking the denominator. Meanwhile, the largest U.S. cloud and AI infrastructure providers are committing $660‑$690 billion to AI capex in 2026, nearly doubling 2025 spend. Brands therefore must shift toward being cited within AI answers and develop new measurement frameworks.
Claude Agents End Programmatic’s Black‑box Era
30 years of the “Black Box” era of programmatic are over. Remember when buying ads meant normalizing everything to the lowest common denominator? Trapped in sandboxes. Rigid formats. No first-party data. Those days are gone. Why “buy efficiently” through programmatic… When you can buy intimately using Claude-powered...
R&B Fashion Launches an AI Fashion Runway with Takumi AI
R&B Fashion has launched an AI‑powered runway campaign in partnership with Dubai‑based Takumi AI. The “Fashion Walk” video showcases 94 distinct looks across men, women and teen collections, displayed on LED screens in 135 R&B stores. Takumi’s proprietary AI system...
Pubstack’s Q1 2026 State of Programmatic Benchmark Shows UK Publishers Facing Sharp Volume Pressure, While eCPM Holds
Pubstack’s Q1 2026 State of Programmatic Benchmark reveals UK publishers endured an 18.6% YoY revenue decline as impression volumes fell sharply, yet eCPM modestly rose 0.9% to £1.30 (≈$1.65). The report frames the downturn as a volume‑pressure issue rather than a...
OpenAI Unveils Self‑Serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT with CPC Bidding
OpenAI has launched a beta self‑serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT, letting U.S. advertisers buy ads with cost‑per‑click (CPC) bids and track conversions. The move expands access beyond agency‑managed pilots and adds familiar performance tools to the AI chat environment.
Platforms Poised to Capture $16.1B in Influencer Boosts by 2028
Brands are set to spend $16.1 billion on paid amplification of creator posts by 2028, edging out the $15.71 billion they currently allocate to creator‑produced sponsored content. The shift reflects a growing preference for platform‑driven boosting, especially on TikTok and Instagram, and...
KPMG India Partners with CleverTap to Embed AI‑driven Engagement in Enterprise Transformations
KPMG India and CleverTap have formed a strategic alliance to embed the latter’s AI‑powered engagement platform into KPMG‑led enterprise transformation projects. The partnership targets banking, financial services, retail and consumer sectors, aiming to cut churn and boost customer lifetime value...
How Claude Built a Full Video Marketing Campaign in Under 24 Hours
Claude, Anthropic’s advanced language model, assembled a full‑scale video marketing campaign for a fictional headphone brand in under 24 hours. The AI produced hero visuals, motion‑design animations, ad copy, and a landing‑page layout, iterating on each element to meet predefined creative...
Proximity Beyond Audiences Reimagines Performance Metric For TV
Blockgraph and the 4As released a report urging advertisers to replace audience‑first TV buying with proximity‑based targeting. The study shows 93% of shoppers travel less than 20 minutes to a store, and households within a brand’s conversion radius respond far...
SEO Stays #1 ROI; Email Outperforms,
30 distribution insights for 2026: 1. Website/blog/SEO remains the #1 ROI-generating channel for marketers, followed by paid social media at 26%. 2. 40.65% of website traffic still comes from organic search in 2026, compared to just 0.26% from AI-referred traffic. 3. 50% of...
Rightmove Unpacks ‘Glow’ to Promote Range of Services
Rightmove has launched “Glow,” an integrated multi‑channel campaign designed to showcase its suite of tools and services beyond the traditional property‑search function. Developed with agency Neverland, the campaign features a brand‑led film shot in Manchester and Liverpool, augmented with AI...
From Mocked Creator to Sought‑After Advisor
People called me "whack" and "lame" for creating videos on social media... until it worked, and now those same people ask for advice.
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,...
Criteo Shares Plunge 20% as Q1 Revenue Falls 6% Despite $1B Ad Spend
Criteo reported first‑quarter revenue of $425 million, a 6% year‑on‑year decline, even as advertisers spent more than $1 billion on its platform. The company also cut its 2026 revenue guidance, prompting a 20% slide in its share price.
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...
Google Revises Spam Policy to Dodge EU Antitrust Fine
Wait, what? Google might change its 'Site reputation abuse' spam policy for this? -> Google offers changes to spam policy to avert EU antitrust fine "Google has proposed changes to comply with the DMA, the document said, giving interested parties until...
Google’s Quality Threshold Is Quietly Killing Scaled AI Content via @Sejournal, @TaylorDanRW
Google’s evolving Quality Threshold is curbing the long‑term success of large‑scale AI‑generated content. While AI can deliver a quick traffic surge thanks to Google’s freshness boost, the boost fades as the algorithm evaluates deeper quality signals. Sites that flood the...
8 GEO Metrics to Track in 2026
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is emerging as the next evolution of search visibility as AI‑driven answers replace traditional click‑throughs. The article outlines eight core GEO metrics—AI citation frequency, Share of Model Voice, answer inclusion rate, entity recognition, sentiment, prompt coverage,...
Digital Video Spend Surges Past $80 Billion, Leaving Linear Behind
The Interactive Advertising Bureau reports U.S. digital video ad spend will surpass $80 billion in 2026, outpacing traditional linear television for the first time. Growth is driven by programmatic buying, higher CPMs on streaming platforms, and advertisers’ shift toward audience‑centric formats....
Fewer Stories, More Views: Quality Beats Quantity
Output down, page views up. Good lesson here -> Axios' total Q1 content output was down 22% YoY, but page views rose 30% and page views per visitor rose 22%, as the outlet shifts away from chasing traffic “Write...
Magnite Says It’s Not Afraid Of The Agentic Era – Or Of Google
Magnite reported first‑quarter revenue of $164.4 million, up 6% year‑over‑year, driven primarily by CTV and an 80% surge in March Madness ad spend. Its DV+ exchange posted a 5% decline, though mobile and app revenue grew 8%. The company is embedding AI...
Kargo Announces Integration with ChatGPT, Unlocking Access to Emerging AI-Native Advertising Opportunities
Kargo has become an OpenAI technology partner, integrating its adtech platform with ChatGPT to deliver AI‑native advertising formats. The move lets brands place adaptive, localized creative directly within conversational AI experiences, extending Kargo’s Creative Science® engine to this emerging surface....
Audit Calls: Conversational Data Reviews, Not Sales Decks
I tell people on audit calls that’s a conversation; not a sales pitch. I’ll pull up their ad accounts and walk through the actual data, findings and concerns with them. It’s just people talking through what’s currently happening and what “could” happen. Where...
Google's Passage Ranking Debuted 2020; Bing Now Follows
Remember, Google rolled out passage-based ranking in 2020. Maybe Bing is just catching up now. :) "Passage ranking is an AI system we use to identify individual sections or "passages" of a web page to better understand how relevant a...
Crushed by the Algorithm
The essay argues that X (formerly Twitter) has evolved from a human‑curated social town square into an algorithm‑driven reaction engine. While Twitter let users choose who to follow and rewarded depth, X’s machine learning predicts engagement and decides what appears...
Marin’s Meta Ads Tips You Must Hear
Marin shared so much sauce here. You need to listen if you run meta ads.
Amazon Sees Strong Upfront Market, Launches LinkedIn Ad Pact
NEW: Amazon projects 'strong' upfront market, though many cautious signals abound. Streamer also unveils new programmatic ad pact with LinkedIn... https://t.co/jQvAiiZlpT
Is Trend-Jacking Actually Driving Results, Or Just Making Brands Look Late?
Brands are increasingly turning to TikTok trendjacking to ride viral moments and align with youth culture, but the tactic’s effectiveness hinges on speed and authenticity. Early adopters that partner with creators see amplified reach and higher engagement, while late‑comers risk...
Marketers Fail on Reddit by Ignoring Its Unique Culture
Most marketers suck at Reddit marketing because they’re obsess with treating it like traditional marketing.. https://t.co/48vBH1jdeI
Don't Kill Campaigns, Fix High CPA, Low ROAS
Sooooooo you wanna turn off ads because the CPA is too high or ROAS is too low? Welp...
How To Leverage AI Ad Placements And Are They Worth It? – Ask A PPC via @Sejournal, @Navahf
Advertisers can access AI ad inventory either by buying directly on AI‑first platforms or by integrating AI surfaces into existing campaign types such as Performance Max. Metrics for these placements differ from classic search ads, with internal Microsoft data showing...
How Anyone Can Make $1,000,000 in 24 Months: How to Start Live Shopping in 2026
In this episode of the Gary Vee Audio Experience, Gary Vaynerchuk urges listeners to tap into the booming live social shopping market—now a half‑trillion‑dollar industry in China and rapidly growing in the U.S. via platforms like TikTok Shop and Whatnot....
Amazon, LinkedIn Help Advertisers Reach Professionals via CTV Ads
Amazon Ads and LinkedIn have launched a collaboration that integrates LinkedIn’s first‑party audience data into Amazon’s demand‑side platform for connected‑TV inventory. Through Microsoft’s Monetize SSP, advertisers on Amazon DSP can now target LinkedIn’s 1 billion‑plus members by job title, industry and...
Most Travel Influencers Failing to Disclose Paid-For Posts
An Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigation of 531 Instagram and TikTok posts found that only 20% of travel influencer ads were properly disclosed, with 69% offering no indication they were paid content. The probe, prompted by the ASA’s 2024 Influencer...
5 Content Marketing Ideas for June 2026
June 2026 presents a rich tapestry of cultural and seasonal moments that ecommerce marketers can turn into high‑impact content. The article outlines five ideas: capitalizing on the North American FIFA World Cup, the lucrative wedding season, historic anniversaries such as...
NYT Hits 13 Million Digital Subscribers, Adds 310,000 in Q1 as Video Push Gains Momentum
The New York Times announced it surpassed 13 million digital‑only subscribers in the first quarter, adding 310,000 new users. The milestone came with a 12% rise in revenue to $712.2 million and a 31.6% jump in digital ad sales, underscoring the paper’s shift toward...
Google Ads AI Max Adds Account‑level Content Exclusions
Google will be bringing content and titles related exclusions to the account level to Google Ads AI Max later this year says @adsliaison https://t.co/u8zCVVGJtv https://t.co/TmGatjzuZE
Google Ads AI Max Content & Titles Exclusions On Account Level Coming
Google announced that its AI‑driven campaign type, Ads AI Max, will gain account‑level exclusions for content and titles later this year, likely within six months. The new setting lets advertisers block any undesired page elements across all campaigns, extending the platform’s...
Five Guys UK Hires Spin as Retained Social Agency
Five Guys UK has appointed Spin as its retained social media agency, bypassing the traditional pitch process. The decision was made directly by the burger chain’s UK marketing team, signaling confidence in Spin’s existing portfolio. Spin will now handle both...
InMobi Acquires MobileAction to Strengthen iOS Advertising Business
InMobi announced the acquisition of MobileAction, an AI‑powered iOS app growth and analytics platform, to bolster its advertising capabilities across the iOS ecosystem. While the purchase price was not disclosed, the deal adds MobileAction’s extensive data set—covering more than 90 million...
Google Ads Auto-Enables Call Recording Unless You Opt Out
Google Ads to default call recording to YES/ON if you do not select an option yourself https://t.co/PhHEcTEFm9 via @AnthonyHigman https://t.co/XOgAaiTgun
Demandbase Launches Premier+ Partner Tier, Names Marketbridge Inaugural Partner
Demandbase unveiled a Premier+ Service Delivery Partner tier, appointing Marketbridge as its first certified partner. The tier bundles onboarding, strategy, analytics and managed services to help B2B firms operationalize AI insights. Marketbridge brings a decade of joint experience and deep...
Digital Marketing Optimization: 10 Best Strategies to Increase Marketing ROI
The article outlines a system‑first approach to digital‑marketing optimization, presenting ten actionable strategies that shift focus from isolated campaigns to a unified, data‑driven process. It emphasizes shared KPIs, continuous testing programs, and the integration of first‑party data to connect every...
AI SEO Punishes Lazy Marketing Strategies by Brick Marketing
Brick Marketing warns that AI‑driven SEO is exposing lazy, siloed marketing tactics. The article explains that AI search pulls brand signals from a wide array of online sources—social media, directories, press releases, and more—making a website just one piece of...
AI SEO Punishes Lazy Marketing Strategies by Brick Marketing
Brick Marketing warns that AI‑driven SEO is reshaping digital marketing by rewarding brands with a cohesive, cross‑channel presence. Traditional tactics that focus solely on website optimization are losing ground as AI pulls data from social media, directories, press releases, and...
From Shoot to Strategy: Hotel Content That Actually Works
The article argues that hotel photography must start with a clear strategy, not just a shot list. It stresses matching visual assets to the platform—hero images for booking pages, vertical videos for social feeds—to maximize engagement. By auditing existing content,...
The Truth About State Farm
State Farm spent $1.139 billion on advertising in 2025, including a Super Bowl spot that pits the insurer against a fictional rival. A California Department of Insurance (CDI) enforcement action this week found the company mishandled more than half of 220...
Snap Launches Promoted Places, Transforming the Snap Map Into Real-World Discovery
Snap Inc. introduced Promoted Places, a new ad product that embeds sponsored locations directly into the Snap Map. The feature debuted in Saudi Arabia, where brands like Almarai and Starbucks used it in Ramadan campaigns to drive in‑store visits. Promoted...
Influ2 Unveils Contact-Level GTM Orchestration Platform with 99% Accuracy
Influ2 announced a new omni‑channel, contact‑level go‑to‑market orchestration platform for account‑based marketers, debuting a beta website‑visitor identification tool and claiming 99% accuracy on individual intent signals. The launch targets mid‑market and enterprise B2B revenue teams seeking precision beyond traditional account‑level...
The Science of Attention: Creating Short-Form Videos People Won't Skip
In this episode, Michael Stelzner talks with Hilary Billings, a psychology‑trained content strategist and founder of Attentioneers, about the science behind short‑form video that captures attention. Hilary shares how she moved from a failed PhD pursuit to viral video success...