Today's Digital Marketing Pulse
Consumer journeys go non‑linear, MiQ study finds
MiQ’s ‘From Funnel to Flexibility’ study, analyzing data from 53 million households and 700 trillion signals, shows 87 % of shoppers change digital activities at least hourly and 42 % describe their purchase path as random. The research, based on surveys of over 4,000 consumers and 600 marketers in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, challenges the traditional linear marketing funnel.
Also developing:
By the numbers: DOJO AI raises $6M Seed round
Meta Removes Ads that Encourage Litigation Against the Company
Meta has removed more than a dozen Facebook and Instagram advertisements placed by U.S. law firms that were recruiting plaintiffs alleging harm from social‑media use as minors. The ads, from firms such as Morgan & Morgan and Sokolove Law, were taken down after the California social‑media‑addiction trial affirmed that platforms can be addictive and cause health impacts. Meta cited a clause in its terms prohibiting content that could create adverse legal or regulatory impacts for the company. The move highlights a tension between Mark Zuckerberg’s public free‑speech rhetoric and the platform’s willingness to curb content that threatens its business interests.
Instagram Adds Comment Editing
Instagram announced a new comment‑editing feature that lets users revise their replies within a 15‑minute window. The edit option appears beneath each comment and can be used unlimited times during that period, with an "edited" label shown but no version...
RAIN Notes: April 9
AdsWizz is hosting a webinar on April 23 titled “Scaling Podcast Advertising: Unlocking Growth with Context and Confidence,” aimed at helping advertisers break through scale ceilings caused by over‑filtering and brand‑safety constraints. The session will cover where scale is lost, episode‑level...
CoinW Taps Luka Modrić as Global Brand Ambassador to Drive Crypto Adoption
CoinW announced that Croatian football legend Luka Modrić will serve as its global brand ambassador. The partnership, unveiled on April 9, 2026, aims to leverage the World Cup spotlight to attract new users to the platform, which already counts more...
Disney to Cut 1,000 Jobs in Marketing Overhaul Ahead of New CEO
Disney announced plans to eliminate roughly 1,000 marketing jobs, representing less than 1% of its 231,000‑strong workforce, as part of a broader restructuring called Project Imagine. The cuts come ahead of the appointment of a new chief executive officer and...
This Page Earns 4x More Backlinks Than Any Other B2B Content Format
Backlink acquisition remains a top priority for B2B marketers, yet many formats underperform. An analysis of 12,154 pages from 24 leading brands shows that statistics pages—data‑roundup resources—outshine all other formats, delivering an efficiency score 4.25 times their share of referring...
New Skill Drop: Lead Magnet Builder
Anthropic released a new Claude skill called Lead Magnet Builder that guides users through creating a complete, customized lead magnet from problem identification to final copy. The tool breaks a big customer pain point into 12‑15 micro‑problems, then suggests the...
Conductor Partners With Acquia to Focus on AI Content Optimization
Conductor has entered a partnership with Acquia to embed its AI‑powered Creator and optimization tools directly into Acquia’s digital experience platform. The integration allows enterprise marketers to research, draft, and refine content within the Acquia CMS, leveraging real‑time AI insights...
OnlyParks, Thirst Traps & The Shift No One Is Talking About
The episode explores the "only parks" trend, where creators pair stunning national park footage with sultry, ASMR‑style voiceovers that mimic thirst‑trap content. The host breaks down why this works—pattern interruption, emotional activation, low‑effort production, and insider humor—and shows how businesses...
Can the Trade Desk Remain ‘King’ of the Open Web?
The Trade Desk, the world’s largest independent DSP, posted 19% YoY revenue growth in Q4 2025, buoyed by AI‑driven product upgrades like Kokai and Audience Unlimited. Founder‑CEO Jeff Green bought $150 million of stock to underscore confidence, while the firm deepened joint‑business...
A Group of Seven-Figure Amazon Sellers Is Planning a One-Day Ad Boycott as Payment Changes Squeeze Cash Flow
Amazon’s Million Dollar Sellers community, representing over $11 billion in annual revenue, is organizing a one‑day ad boycott on April 15 to protest a new policy that will automatically deduct advertising costs from sellers’ proceeds, eliminating credit‑card financing. About 150 members have...
AEO Is Not SEO 2.0
The article argues that AI‑first entity optimization (AEO) is not a simple upgrade of traditional SEO but a fundamentally different paradigm. In large language model (LLM) responses, rankings and click‑throughs disappear, replacing them with brand‑level visibility that cannot be tracked...
Storyblok JoyConf Mainz 2026
Storyblok’s JoyConf 2026 will take place October 28‑29 in Mainz, Germany, gathering developers, marketers and digital innovators to explore AI‑driven content strategy. The two‑day conference will be held at the Rheingoldhalle near Frankfurt Airport and is open to senior leaders seeking...
AI Completes Full SEO Audit and Fixes Instantly
I've had "build out SEO content" on my to-do list for 2 years. Last week, I gave an AI agent my URL, and 15 minutes later, I had a full audit, a prioritized action plan, and every fix executed. Not...
High CTR ≠ Sales: Prioritize Intent Over Attention
CTR at 4%. Everyone felt good. But clicks weren’t buyers. Shifted messaging, ROAS moved to 3.9X. Are you attracting attention or intent?
Sport Wins over the Robots in New Campaign for Unibet
Paris agency La Maison Créative Justement launched Unibet’s new "Let sport win you over" campaign, depicting robots being pulled into a spontaneous game when a ball rolls in. The spot underscores sport’s irresistible pull, juxtaposing human emotion with a high‑tech...
CMO Builds AI‑powered Tools without Writing Code
I'm a CMO of a $100M+ ARR (boostrapped) company. And I have 7 parallel sessions of Claude Code running on my laptop right now. I've never written a line of code in my life. But in the past few months I've built: ▪️...
The Quiet Backbone of AI: Taxonomies in an Agentic World
The IAB Tech Lab’s Agentic Ad Management Protocols (AAMP) introduce taxonomy guardrails to solve the “agentic advertising problem,” where autonomous AI agents misinterpret natural‑language briefs. By swapping ambiguous text for deterministic taxonomy IDs—covering content, ad products, and audience—the framework ensures...
YouTube Denies Existence of 90‑second Unskippable Ads
YouTube says it does not have 90-second unskippable ads despite user reports YouTube denies its running 90-second unskippable ads despite widespread user reports Users have shared screenshots showing “skip in 90+ seconds” prompts on TV YouTube says the feature isn’t live or in...
WunderKIND Ads Partners with Attain
WunderKIND Ads and Attain announced a partnership to launch a commerce data solution that injects live, permissioned purchase information into digital advertising. The offering blends Attain’s verified transaction data with WunderKIND’s ad inventory, enabling precision segmentation, spend‑triggered activation, and real‑time...
While AI Is Building the Web Faster than Ever, Accessibility Can’t Be Left Behind
AI is enabling marketers to build landing pages and product content in minutes, dramatically accelerating web growth. However, the rapid pace is outpacing accessibility efforts, leaving an average page with 297 issues despite ongoing compliance investments. With 1.3 billion people worldwide...
NIQ Partners with Adsquare
NIQ has teamed up with Adsquare to embed its GeoPurchase audience segments into Adsquare’s location‑intelligence platform, covering Europe, Canada and the United States. The partnership lets advertisers activate anonymized, purchase‑based segments across programmatic, cross‑screen and digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) campaigns. Marketers...
Govt Opens OTT Financial Bids to Formalise Digital Ad Partnerships
The Indian government has opened financial bids for the empanelment of over‑the‑top (OTT) platforms, aiming to integrate streaming services into a formal advertising ecosystem. Led by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s Central Bureau of Communication, the bids were launched...
Google Ads Drops Display and Video Planning From Performance Planner
Google Ads has removed Display and Video campaign planning from its Performance Planner, ending support for impression‑share based forecasts. The change also eliminates metrics such as impression share, top impression share, and absolute top impression share from the tool. Advertisers...
OpenAI Targets $102 B in Ad Revenue by 2030.
$102B in ad revenue by 2030. We'll see -> Docs: OpenAI expects ads to generate ~$2.4B in 2026 revenue, to quadruple to nearly $11B in 2027, and to hit ~$102B in 2030, or 36% of its total revenue then "If it...
YouTube Says It Does Not Have 90-Second Unskippable Ads Despite User Reports
YouTube users streaming to televisions reported seeing 90‑second unskippable ad breaks, a possible extension of the platform’s 30‑second non‑skippable ads introduced last year. In response, Team YouTube confirmed that the service does not currently offer a 90‑second non‑skippable format and...
Show Up Daily: Consistency Beats Quality
Counterintuitive content truth: consistency beats quality in the short run. A good post published daily outperforms a great post published whenever you feel ready. Algorithms reward frequency. Audiences reward familiarity. You don't need to go viral. You need to show up.
Scheduling Posts Won’t Damage Instagram Reach, Says Mosseri
Adam Mosseri confirmed what I have been telling you for YEARS... scheduling your content does not hurt your reach on Instagram. 👏
Top Influencers’ Secret Weapon for Engagement Might Be Replaced by AI
Influencer marketing has leaned heavily on freelance video clippers who turn long‑form content into bite‑sized TikTok, Reels and Shorts clips. Last year, AI‑powered services such as Overlap and OpusClip began offering end‑to‑end clipping, editing and posting without human involvement. Major...
Link Every Post to a Launch, End Randomness
The fastest way to stop “random posting” as a solopreneur is to tie every piece of content to a specific launch. My simple Launch Content OS: - Pick 1 offer + 1 date - Map 3 buyer questions - Turn each into: a story,...
Build Your First AI Agent at Social Media Week
At ADWEEK’s Social Media Week on March 15, Code and Theory will run a hands‑on workshop teaching marketers how to build their first AI agents. Attendees will leave with three functional agents—a Trend Pulse Report, a Partnership Evaluator, and an Analytics...
EXCLUSIVE: Intuit Is Shutting Down Its Ad Network for Small Businesses
Intuit announced it will shut down SMB MediaLabs, the ad network launched in 2023 to let advertisers reach QuickBooks users. The platform was intended to create a new revenue stream by leveraging small‑business data. The closure comes less than three...
YouTube 90-Second Unskippable Ads on TVs Spotted
YouTube is testing 90‑second unskippable ads on TV devices, extending the previous 30‑second limit. The ads appear before any content and can exceed 90 seconds before a skip button becomes available. The move creates premium, TV‑style inventory with digital targeting,...
All Things Creator Marketing with Tiffany Rivers
Tiffany Rivers, VP of emerging media and influencer marketing at Media Cause, will speak at Marketing Brew’s "The Next Phase of Social and Creator Marketing" on May 12. She advises nonprofit clients such as the University of Florida, Parkinson’s Foundation,...
Discord Introduces Full‑Screen Hero Ads and Instant Play Quests
Discord is working on two new ad formats. 🖥️ Hero Ads: A full-screen takeover format. 🎮 Instant Play Quests: Stream/Play within Discord.
Jung Von Matt SPREE To Lead VW's Global Social Media
Jung von Matt SPREE has been named Volkswagen’s global social‑media lead agency, tasked with strategy, channel management and content creation across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Threads and Facebook. The partnership aims to make VW a culturally resonant, digitally‑first brand. In parallel,...
Googly Eyes, Zero Budget Energy, and the Art of Not Trying Too Hard
Half Batch Brewing, with creative agency Stereo Creative, launched the “100% Beer” campaign featuring beer cans with googly eyes. The low‑budget, DIY‑style production reportedly cost about $17 and was shot with simple craft‑store supplies. By using lo‑fi, character‑driven visuals, the...
Did Verification Catch It? Exploring Made for Advertising Sites and DV’s Measurement Standards
DoubleVerify (DV) has launched a proprietary solution to identify and classify Made for Advertising (MFA) sites using a blend of AI and human audits. The platform assigns sites to High, Medium, or Low MFA tiers, giving brands granular control over...
AI Automates Event Banner Creation, Saving Minutes
Successfully taught Antigravity (aka Gravy) to create an event banner in my community. I say to it, "Hey pls make a banner for our next event" and it opens up a browser, clicks around and makes the banner. First attempt it forgot...
7 Technical SEO Issues That Boost Rankings
Technical SEO is so so so booooorinnnggggg But after optimizing 100+ websites I've identified 7 technical issues that make a yugeee difference mai fren. I know 99.99999% of you won't do any of this, but the 0.00001% that do will see higher...
How to Humanize Your Mission to Drive Video Engagement
Video marketers in education‑heavy niches often see low engagement because content lacks an emotional hook. By putting a relatable human face on the brand, companies can build trust and drive viewer interaction. Short‑form, conversational videos outperform traditional lecture‑style formats, delivering...
Structure Content for Question Phrasing to Appear in AI Search
If your content isn’t structured for how people ask questions… it won’t show up in AI search. Alexis Pratsides shares what LLMs actually prioritize—and how to adjust without creating more content. 👉 https://t.co/YzlkH7b8Kq @FINNPartners #healthcaremarketing #hcmktg
March 2026 Digital & Email Marketing Highlights
The Last Word on March 2026: A roundup of #digitalmarketing and #emailmarketing articles, posts, and social buzz you might have missed last month… https://t.co/EXN9hn5eUm https://t.co/v4XcHOxTdu
How Abercrombie & Fitch Uses Geofencing for Customer Feedback
Abercrombie & Fitch is leveraging geofencing through its mobile app to capture feedback from shoppers who leave stores without purchasing. By detecting entry and exit from a store’s virtual perimeter, the retailer sends a push survey about an hour after...
New Amazon Bestseller Shows Power of Social Selling
Launched and straight into the Amazon best seller lists “Social Selling and Influence - Using Social Media for Cold Outreach and New Business Sales #sales #salestips #salesleader #socialselling #digitalselling https://t.co/4ZToQ3utXh https://t.co/Y3cudicjd6
Boost LinkedIn Engagement with AI-Powered Post Optimization
Trying to get more involved with the @LinkedIn community, but are finding that your posts don't get engagement? Use AI to make 'em more engaging. Here's how to give it a try: https://t.co/y53idal1Jb #linkedin #chatgpt #ai #socialmedia https://t.co/ZOLyMg2fJg
Most Marketers Skip Journey Mapping, Undermining ABM Success
Only 17% of marketers have fully mapped their customer journey. And yet… many are running ABM programs anyway. Saul Marquez explains why that disconnect is holding teams back—and how to fix it.👇 https://t.co/Nsm8MBJQ6A @OutcomesRocket #ABM #HITsm
Data‑Backed Traits of Sites Thriving After Google’s Traffic Shift
New Post: Google decimated traffic to legions of websites. But traffic to other websites rose What makes the winners different? To quantify it, I analyzed 400+ sites, and the answers became obvious 5 Data-Backed Features Of Websites Winning Google in 2026 (1/2) https://t.co/kFpQIWh8yB
10x AI Visibility Drives 50% SaaS Sign‑Ups
I helped a SaaS increase its sign-ups by 50%. How? By increasing their visibility in the AI results by 10x, and their Google search results by 354% I'm thinking about helping 2 founders do the same. Are you in? https://t.co/717oQGOuTd
Axios Profits From Meta Ads While Criticizing Platform
Solid example of difference between a news org and a social media platform. - Axios has been running endless Meta ad $$$ campaigns while its independent newsroom reports on Meta’s court losses for harming children - Axios reports Meta is removing...