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.
Innovid Adds Measurement Capabilities
Innovid has introduced new measurement capabilities aimed at strengthening lower‑funnel outcomes and providing deeper attribution visibility. The suite adds purchase‑impact data, tracks both online and offline conversions, and uses control groups to calculate incremental lift. It also offers granular performance insights by creative, audience and placement, plus industry‑wide benchmarks for frequency and reach. These tools enable marketers to pinpoint what drives revenue and allocate spend more efficiently.
ContinuumGlobal Launches Campaign Optimizer
ContinuumGlobal introduced Campaign Optimizer, a new feature of its Smart Marketing Engine that lets marketers revamp existing content or adapt competitor material into brand‑compliant, production‑ready HTML in a single step. The tool integrates with Email Assistant, enabling AI‑driven draft generation...
Zoom Has a ‘SWAT Team’ to Stand Out on ChatGPT and Gemini
Zoom has assembled a cross‑functional SWAT team to dominate search results within large language models such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The effort, dubbed generative engine optimization, aims to turn Zoom’s 99% brand awareness into a stronger perception advantage across...
Maserati Marks 100-Year Trident Milestone with Stamp and New Model Rollouts
Maserati is celebrating the centenary of its Trident logo and its first Targa Florio win with a worldwide campaign, a limited‑edition Italian postage stamp and a series of new vehicle unveilings. The initiative blends historic branding with cutting‑edge digital storytelling,...
Generative AI Fuels Ad Revenue Surge as Marketers Grapple with Trust and Adoption
Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon disclosed that generative AI tools are driving double‑digit gains in ad conversion rates and AI service revenue, while executives warn that trust, regulatory scrutiny and infrastructure costs could curb adoption.
Sticker Mule Sues Google over Mislabelled Political Ads in Ads Transparency Center
Sticker Mule has sent a legal letter to Google demanding the removal of "Paid for by Constantino for Congress" labels that were attached to its business ads in the Ads Transparency Center. The company says the tags are erroneous, could...
AI‑crafted Summer Ad Keeps Soda Front‑and‑center
Made this with GPT Images 2.0 for a made-up sparkling soda brand called Solstice Spritz. I wanted this version to feel less like a standard product ad and more like a summer campaign. Male model, resort terrace, warm light, oversized hero can,...
Human Insight Powers AI-Driven Marketing Beyond Walled Gardens
AI, Human Intelligence, and the Open Garden Advantage Stephen Magli, Founder and CEO, and Mary Gabrielyan, Chief Strategy Officer at AI Digital, join @JeremyBloomHere at @PossibleEvent to share how AI Digital scaled from an early AI bet into a 500+...
Proton CEO Andy Yen Warns Age‑verification Laws Could End Online Anonymity
Proton chief Andy Yen cautioned that new age‑verification legislation in the UK, US and EU is "far too broad in scope" and could force ID checks for every internet user, ending anonymity. He warned that the resulting data hoarding would...
Chess.com Surpassed 250 Million Users And Is Launching a New Advertising Gambit
Chess.com announced it has surpassed 250 million registered users, a landmark for the freemium platform. The company, which generates $150 million in annual revenue, said advertising now accounts for about 10% of that total and is being positioned for rapid expansion. With...
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...
Three Takeaways From Meta and Google’s Earnings Calls
Meta and Alphabet (Google) disclosed massive AI‑infrastructure spending during their recent earnings calls, positioning AI as a core driver of future ad performance. Both firms reported mixed stock reactions—Alphabet surged 7% while Meta slipped 7%—reflecting investor split over short‑term cost...
Google Ads Adds “Association” Metric to Brand Lift Studies
Google Ads has introduced an "Association" metric to its Brand Lift studies, allowing advertisers to gauge whether audiences link their brand to a specific concept, category or attribute. The metric uses survey‑style questions that ask respondents which brands they associate...
Adobe Acquires Semrush to Extend Brand Visibility Into AI Search and Agentic Discovery Within CX Enterprise
Adobe completed its acquisition of Semrush Holdings, the SEO platform serving over 28 million marketers. The deal integrates Semrush’s tools into Adobe’s CX Enterprise agentic AI suite unveiled at Adobe Summit 2026. Combined offering blends SEO data with Adobe’s generative engine...
![ChatGPT Vs. Perplexity Vs. Gemini: Which LLMs Are Driving Real Conversions? [Expert Panel] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/post-featured-3-56.png)
ChatGPT Vs. Perplexity Vs. Gemini: Which LLMs Are Driving Real Conversions? [Expert Panel] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
Search Engine Journal hosted an on‑demand webinar where experts compared ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini on conversion performance. The panel presented data showing ChatGPT delivering the highest conversion rates in e‑commerce and finance, while Perplexity attracts high‑intent traffic but lags on...
PR Firm News: Upspring Launches AI Authority Audit
UpSpring, a PR and growth partner for the built environment, launched its AI Authority Audit to help architecture, interior design, product manufacturing and construction firms improve visibility on generative AI search platforms. The service starts with a discovery call and...
Meta and Google Ad Revenues Soar Thanks to AI, but Big Picture Is Blurry
Google and Meta posted strong Q1 ad revenue, beating forecasts. Google’s ad revenue rose 15% to $77.25 billion, driven by 19% search growth and 11% YouTube growth. Meta’s ad revenue jumped 33% to $55 billion, sparking talk it could overtake Google. Both...
X Announces a Rebuilt Ad Platform Powered by AI
Elon Musk’s X has begun a phased rollout of a completely rebuilt advertising platform powered by artificial intelligence. The new stack introduces modern retrieval and ranking systems designed to give marketers tighter targeting and easier campaign creation. Industry forecasts from...
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...
![How Brands Are Increasing AI Visibility By Up To 2,000% [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1-1-860.png)
How Brands Are Increasing AI Visibility By Up To 2,000% [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
The Search Engine Journal webinar reveals that a focused Reddit strategy can lift AI‑driven brand visibility by as much as 2,000% within a 90‑day window. It showcases OGS Media’s 5‑stage framework that turned a single brand’s Reddit presence into massive...
The Influencer Tasked with Reviving Frasers Group’s Slazenger Brand
Frasers Group has enlisted digital creator Alexei Hamblin to spearhead a revival of its legacy tennis brand, Slazenger. Hamblin will craft a content‑driven strategy aimed at younger, socially‑savvy consumers while leveraging the retailer’s extensive distribution network. The partnership signals Mike...
X Revamps Its Ads Manager, Folding in New AI Performance Tools
X has overhauled its Ads Manager, embedding AI-driven contextual and semantic signals to improve ad targeting and delivery. The company touts the update as its most ambitious platform revamp in two decades. New tools automate campaign creation, audience segmentation, and...
New Meta‑Higgsfield Loop Sparks Ad Volatility
Both Meta and Higgsfield MCP's launched this week. Meta -> Claude -> Higgsfield -> Claude -> Meta is now suuuuuper easy 😅😬 Great for both automations and for one-shotting new ads. I think advertisers are about to see a ton of volatility, especially...
AI Keyword Research: How It Works and 9 Prompts to Start
AI keyword research combines large language models with live search data to automate idea generation, clustering, and gap analysis. Ahrefs’ Agent A, powered by the Model Context Protocol, connects a general AI directly to Ahrefs’ keyword database, delivering real‑time volume, difficulty...
Harnessing AI to Orchestrate Customer Experiences at Scale – Interviews with Luc Dammann, Nina Caruso & Vivek Pandya of Adobe
Adobe executives highlighted an inflection point where AI agents and humans co‑operate, demanding brands achieve visibility across both. They unveiled the CX Enterprise suite, featuring an AI "bodyguard" for brand safety and a CX Co‑worker that orchestrates agents, data, and...
X Kicks Off Global Overhaul of Ad Platform
X, the rebranded Twitter platform, announced a worldwide redesign of its advertising infrastructure. The overhaul aims to simplify campaign creation, improve targeting accuracy, and restore trust after a year of strained relationships with major brands. X will roll out new...
How Nestlé Turns Creator Content Into Brand-Suitable Ads at Scale
Nestlé has launched an integration between CreatorIQ and CreativeX that uses AI to grade influencer content for paid‑media suitability. The system streams creator submissions from CreatorIQ to CreativeX, scores them against Nestlé’s branding, storytelling and effectiveness criteria, and feeds the...
Ad Intelligence Powers Quality, Multi‑Channel Media Outcomes
Advertising Intelligence, Outcomes, and Better Media @RemcoWestermann the CEO of Verve joins @JeremyBloomHere and @sam_khoury1 from Marketecture Media at @PossibleEvent to share how Verve is using advertising intelligence, intent signals, and deeper partnerships to help make media...
From Paid Clicks to Answer Equity: Your New 2026 Search Strategy
The article warns that AI‑driven search results are eroding paid‑click value, with click‑through rates falling 58‑68% when AI Overviews appear. It introduces the concept of "answer equity"—owning the factual content that AI cites rather than renting impressions through PPC. To...
L’Oréal Romania Taps SAMY to Manage Creator Marketing Across All 21 Group Brands
L’Oréal Romania announced a partnership with global social‑first agency SAMY to run influencer marketing for its entire portfolio of 21 brands, starting in June 2026. SAMY already handles L’Oréal’s creator relationships in Italy, Spain, the UK, the Nordics, Latin America...
POSSIBLE 2026: Can AI Help Agencies Finally Break Down Those Silos?
At POSSIBLE 2026, Horizon Media’s chief product and data officer Domenic Venuto explained how the agency is using artificial intelligence to fuse audience planning, targeting, measurement and strategy into a single platform. The AI‑driven hub eliminates the lag between client questions and...
POSSIBLE 2026: Can AI Help Agencies Finally Break Down Those Silos?
At POSSIBLE 2026, Horizon Media’s chief product and data officer Domenic Venuto explained how the agency is using artificial intelligence to centralize media‑buying functions—from audience planning to measurement—so teams can collaborate on a single platform. By eliminating the lag between...
7 Best PPC Agencies for 2026: My Top Picks
The article lists seven top PPC agencies for 2026, each matched to specific business needs such as full‑service management, multi‑channel integration, data‑driven revenue tracking, conversion optimization, creative‑focused accounts, white‑label fulfillment, and HubSpot‑aligned inbound strategies. It draws on G2’s Winter Grid®...
Tales From The Lab: Social Media Myth Busting with Dor Dotson
Dor Dotson, an organic‑social specialist for Oscar‑contending documentaries, led a session at the 8 Above Distribution Lab debunking five common social‑media myths. She emphasized that email lists are a stable, algorithm‑proof channel that owners control, and that posting consistently without...
Match Your H2s to Queries for ChatGPT Visibility
Want ChatGPT to mention you? Well, fix your headers. If you're writing 4,000-word "comprehensive guides" with H2s like "Introduction" and "Final Thoughts."... ngmi. LOL In a study by AirOps, pages with headings that match the user's query get cited 41% of the time....
AI Tracking Errors Distort Attribution, Misguide Budgets
Flawed AI tracking methods are beginning to skew attribution models, creating false signals that influence budget and strategy. https://t.co/vvaMMZ6Y07 via @TaylorDanRW, @sejournal
AI Gives You The Vocabulary. It Doesn’t Give You The Expertise via @Sejournal, @DuaneForrester
Hiring managers are noticing that candidates equipped with AI‑generated vocabularies often stumble when asked to reason through problems live. Independent research from Microsoft, the Swiss Business School and TestGorilla links heavy AI reliance to a measurable drop in critical‑thinking, especially...
AI Scales Campaigns; Tech Leaders Must Guard Brand Consistency
AI agents can now scale marketing campaigns across dozens of channels. But who's enforcing brand consistency? That's a technology leadership problem, not a marketing one. #CIO #AIAgents #MarTech https://t.co/Vjv8aDlma4
Secrets Behind All Healthy’s 52% Open Rate
All Healthy has 1.3 million subscribers and a 52% open rate. In this episode, Sean Devlin shares how he's running it, plus: - Making your audience addicted to your emails - The right approach to sponsorships - Tips for newsletter design Search "Nathan Barry...
What Blog Posts Should You Write to Be Mentioned in ChatGPT?
ChatGPT often expands user prompts into multiple live web searches, a behavior known as query fan‑out. In a test of 90 prompts across beauty, legaltech, and IT, commercial‑intent prompts triggered fan‑out 78.3% of the time, whereas informational prompts did so...
User Adopts My Roborank Tool Daily
I made it guys. A person is using Roborank, a tool I built, on a daily basis. https://t.co/i6DbE3R6DF
AI Teammates Boost 5-Star Social Selling Scale
Beyond the Average: Scaling 5-Star Social Selling with AI Teammates by @Timothy_Hughes https://t.co/Qdnj2dVMU9 @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Sales #SalesTips #SalesLeader #SalesEnablement #RevOps #Marketing #MarketingStrategy #AI #MarketingSuccess https://t.co/Syp6GW3xPH
X Upgrades Its Ad Platform in Long Overdue Overhaul
X announced the largest overhaul of its advertising tools, positioning the upgrade as AI‑powered and rolling it out globally. The revamp introduces contextual and semantic ad delivery, with full deployment expected later in 2026. X claims its top 100 advertisers...
Roku's New Home Screen Boosts Ads and Subscriptions
Roku’s content forward home screen will drive ads and subscriptions $ROKU The LightShed Podcast, Ep. 311. With @BrandoLightShed and @WaltLightShed https://t.co/IzuCFFHsaP
YouTube: The Untapped B2B Education Powerhouse
The most underrated distribution channel in B2B right now is YouTube. Long form. Tutorial driven. Talking heads. Educational. Searchable forever. Few B2B brands owns it yet. That is wild to me. We are going to fix that.
What Winning Brands Do Differently on Social in 2026
Social ad spend is set to reach $277 billion in 2025 and $280 billion in 2026, while video dominates every major platform and audiences fragment across channels. At the same time, programmatic ad waste has surged 34%, exposing brands to higher risk....
TTD Slowdown Misread; Fundamentals Remain Solid
$TTD slowdown is misunderstood - Dominant independent DSP for open internet ads - Growth slowed in '25, stock crushed - Amazon/AI fears overblown - Advertisers still need independent DSP platforms - No scaled comps ~$10B mkt cap, $1.3B net cash, ~$1B FCF Pitch by Saga Partners https://t.co/EyIxIZoKfB
Free AI SEO Audit for Two Lucky Winners
Who wants a FREE SEO audit that shows exactly what you need to do on to rank on AI and SEO? DM the word "AUDIT", and I'll send you a quick loom. Only 2 people.
AI Search Clicks Often Go To Local Domains: Report via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Aleyda Solis analyzed 87 million AI‑search visits across ten markets and found that clicks overwhelmingly favor local domains rather than global giants. Using SimilarWeb data, she identified a "click‑producing layer" where users select citations or links in AI‑generated answers, revealing that...
Netflix Adopts TikTok‑style Tactics, Stays Distinct
Netflix is trying to take a page from TikTok - without becoming TikTok. A top exec explains: https://t.co/ut0xElf6xR