Sinch Mailgun Report: Companies Are Leaving Email Performance on the Table
Sinch Mailgun’s Email Impact Report 2026, based on 400 billion emails and a survey of 1,200+ senders, reveals that 18% of messages fail to reach inboxes, jeopardizing up to a fifth of potential ROI. While 78% of respondents deem email critical, only 49% see year‑over‑year performance gains and less than half can confidently measure ROI. The study highlights a widening gap between email performance and execution, especially around deliverability and AI utilization. Companies that apply AI to optimization and segmentation report markedly better results.
#ThisWeek on MarkLives MEDIA: Nick Grubb on Kagiso Connect • #NextWeek: WhatsApp in the Media Mix
Kagiso Connect CEO Nick Grubb announced the company’s strategic move beyond its radio roots into insurance, lifestyle services, and data analytics. The shift reflects broader ad‑spend migration toward diversified, performance‑driven channels. Grubb highlighted that these new verticals will leverage the firm’s...
IAB Hunts Down Speakers For MeasureUP 2026
IAB Australia has opened speaker submissions for MeasureUp 2026, its 10th‑year media measurement conference scheduled for 2 September 2026 in Sydney. The event will showcase the first wave of findings from the Future of Measurement project and feature ten curated sessions plus new...
When Everything Looks Like AI, Being Real Becomes the Advantage
Brands are confronting a flood of AI‑generated content, which now accounts for roughly 57% of online material. A Gartner survey shows 68% of U.S. consumers frequently question whether digital ads are real, and half prefer brands that avoid generative AI....
Belong Turns Reddit Hacks Into National Media Campaign via OMD and Pembleton
Belong, an Australian telecom brand, launched the “Simple Solutions” national campaign with OMD and Pembleton, converting Reddit conversations into a media‑led showcase of its “Just BE” platform. The activation curates authentic community‑sourced advice and amplifies it across Reddit, out‑of‑home billboards...
JCDecaux Lands At Western Sydney Airport
JCDecaux has won a ten‑year advertising contract for the new Western Sydney International (WSI) Airport, taking charge of 27 fully digitised out‑of‑home assets across the terminal and surrounding roadways. The airport, designed by Zaha Hadid and partners, is slated to open...
YouTube Tests 90-Second Unskippable Ads on CTV
YouTube is piloting 90‑second unskippable ads for content streamed on connected‑TV (CTV) devices. The test follows earlier experiments with hour‑long ad blocks that only appear when ad‑blockers are detected. YouTube’s CTV audience now exceeds a billion hours per day, putting...
GrowthRise Mastermind Recap Apr 7, 2026
The GrowthRise Mastermind call on April 7, 2026 tackled five core B2B marketing challenges. Participants learned to treat LinkedIn thought leadership as a demand‑generation tactic measured with view‑through and API‑based conversion tracking. The panel outlined a cost‑effective media mix—leveraging Meta for cheap...
TikTok Launches Updated Integration for Wix Users
TikTok has released an updated integration for Wix, now available through the Wix App Market, that lets merchants connect their sites directly to TikTok for Business. The upgrade simplifies adding the TikTok Pixel and Events API, enabling real‑time visitor data...
Snapchat Makes a Push for Snapcodes as a Marketing Tool
Snapchat is promoting its Snapcodes—a branded QR‑code format that embeds logos and links to interactive experiences—as a core tool for advertisers. Available since 2017, Snapcodes now support AR lenses, instant coupons, and detailed performance analytics. The company argues that these...
Canva Acquires Simtheory and Ortto in a Twin Deal Aimed at Turning a Design Tool Into an End-to-End Work Platform
Canva announced the simultaneous acquisition of Simtheory, an agentic AI collaboration platform, and Ortto, a customer‑data and marketing‑automation suite. Both firms were founded by Australian brothers Chris and Mike Sharkey, who will now lead Canva’s AI and marketing‑technology groups. The...
Top 7 Local Businesses That Need SEO Services
Local service firms—from cleaners to lawyers—are losing leads because they aren’t visible in Google’s local results. The article explains how local SEO places businesses in front of high‑intent customers at the exact moment they search, turning organic rankings into a...
JCDecaux Wins Advertising Tender for Western Sydney International Airport, Sydney’s New 24-Hour Airport
JCDecaux has been awarded the advertising contract for Western Sydney International Airport, slated to open in October 2026. The long‑term deal will see the French out‑of‑home leader install a premium digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) network across the airport’s internal and external...
Whitney Leavitt Says This Utah Company Is the New Stanley Cup
HydroJug, a Utah‑based water‑bottle maker, is being hailed as the new Stanley cup after a design tweak—flexible, lock‑able straws—won over celebrity Whitney Leavitt and Gen Z consumers. The brand surged 9,032% since its 2017 launch, hitting over $10 million in revenue within...
Disney, Google Seek Dismissal Of Children's Privacy Claims
Disney and Google are asking a California federal judge to dismiss a class‑action lawsuit that accuses them of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by failing to label child‑directed YouTube videos as “Made for Kids,” which allegedly enabled targeted...
‘Influencer Marketing Is Replacing The Role TV Once Played’
Influencer marketing is rapidly eclipsing traditional television as the primary channel for brand building, a trend highlighted at a recent gathering of digital creators hosted by Sunshine Socials. Two young marketers shared data showing that influencer‑driven campaigns deliver higher engagement...
What Most Brands Get Wrong Measuring Influencer Marketing ROI
Influencer marketing ROI should be measured by engagement, user‑generated content, intent signals, and retail impact rather than mere impressions. Brands that focus on engagement rates above 1% and total interaction volume capture genuine consumer interest. Leveraging UGC not only reduces...
Current TikTok Trends to Try in 2026
TikTok now serves as the primary discovery engine for 61% of its users, a rate 1.5 × higher than other platforms. The 2026 trend forecast reframes trends as early signals of shifting consumer behavior, emphasizing real‑process videos, search‑led answer content, comment‑driven...
AI Bot Traffic Surged 300%, Hitting Publishers Hardest: Report
Akamai’s latest report reveals AI‑bot traffic surged 300 % in 2025, with publishers hit hardest. Users increasingly rely on AI chat interfaces, generating zero‑click experiences that divert traffic from organic search. The shift has slashed pageviews, raised infrastructure costs, and weakened...
Leveraging Google Ads for Local Businesses: Tactics to Dominate Your Market
Local businesses need a different Google Ads strategy than national brands because search intent is immediate and budgets are tight. The article outlines six tactical levers—geo‑bid layering, hyper‑local RLSA structures, call‑only ad scheduling with conversion thresholds, asset‑level creative pruning, time‑based...
“The Rate of Change Is Exponential”: Nick Fletcher on Consumer Journeys, Tracking and Industry Convergence
Nick Fletcher, SVP EMEA at Rakuten Advertising, warned that the pace of change in digital marketing is now exponential, driven by AI‑powered consumer tools and fragmented journeys. Marketers are struggling with unclear signals as traditional deterministic tracking falters, prompting a...
Google Tests Swipeable Location Carousel in Search Ads
Google is piloting a swipeable carousel within search ads that consolidates multiple business locations into a single, scrollable unit. The carousel displays key details such as ratings and proximity, letting users swipe through options without leaving the results page. Early...
Google Launches Developer Hub for Ads and Measurement Tools
Google unveiled an Advertising and Measurement Developers Hub, a single portal that aggregates documentation, tools, and support for its ad‑tech suite. The hub brings together resources for the Google Ads API, Google Analytics, AdMob, and Google Ad Manager, organized by...
Google Rolls Out Onboarding Guide for Universal Commerce Protocol
Google has released an onboarding guide for its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) within Merchant Center, enabling merchants to embed checkout directly into AI‑driven search experiences like Gemini. The guide walks merchants through technical integration, interest‑form submission, and sandbox testing before...
Meta Simplifies Pixel Setup with Official Google Tag Manager Template
Meta Platforms introduced an official Google Tag Manager (GTM) template for the Meta Pixel, eliminating the need for third‑party workarounds. The template leverages existing GA4 dataLayer events and automatically maps key e‑commerce actions, streamlining cross‑platform tracking. By reducing duplicate tagging...
Is Adobe Bringing AI-Driven Automation to Marketo?
Adobe is expected to announce a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Marketo Engage at its upcoming Summit in Las Vegas. An MCP server acts as a bridge between AI tools and data, allowing marketers to issue natural‑language prompts to create...
Quantilope Launches ‘Ad Optimizer’: Leveraging AI to Bridge the Gap Between Creative Intuition and Brand Strategy
Quantilope has introduced Ad Optimizer, an AI‑driven research tool that evaluates advertising creatives frame‑by‑frame against Category Entry Points. The platform analyzes visual and audio elements, delivering actionable recommendations and intuitive dashboards within hours. By integrating this capability into its Consumer...
Refining an Audience Can Sometimes Lead to Decreased ROI. Audience Expansion Can Help to Mitigate the Problem
Marketers often assume that tightening audience criteria improves lead‑generation performance, but excessive refinement inflates cost‑per‑lead and erodes long‑term ROI. Charlie Swift argues that the real lever is expanding to like‑minded, adjacent audiences while anchoring decisions to dollar‑based outcomes rather than...
Well Spirit Collective Bets That Trust Outlasts Scale in the Wellness Creator Market
Well Spirit Collective, a women‑owned, BIPOC‑led Los Angeles agency, prioritizes selective partnerships over volume, believing trust outweighs scale in the wellness creator market. COO Haley Oberon, who joined in 2021, has grown the firm by refusing misaligned deals, even when...
Publicis, Microsoft Partner On Agentic Marketing
Microsoft and Publicis Groupe have deepened their alliance to create a full‑stack marketing platform that unites legacy software, AI agents and identity‑based data. Leveraging Microsoft Azure AI, Office 365 and Copilot tools, the solution will run on Publicis’ cloud‑native Slingshot...
The Living Room’s Front Page: Why Home Screen Ads Matter
Home screen advertising is becoming the new front page of television, offering advertisers a high‑attention, native environment. Studies from LG, Omnicom and Telly show double‑digit attention gains, lower media waste and up to a 250% lift in brand recall versus...
Google Confirms March 2026 Core Update Is Complete via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google confirmed that its March 2026 core update finished rolling out on April 8 after a 12‑day rollout that met its two‑week target and was faster than the December 2025 update. The update followed a rapid 20‑hour spam update and a Discover‑only core...
GEO Was Invented On Sand Hill Road
The article exposes Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) as a venture‑capital‑driven hype rather than a genuine technological shift. Andreessen Horowitz’s May 2025 blog post seeded the term to promote portfolio tools, while fabricated memos and inflated statistics were amplified by engagement farmers....
Podscribe Announces SiriusXM Radio Airchecks, Podcaster Logins, and Automated Pixel Email Scheduling to Enhance Audio Attribution and Reporting
Podscribe unveiled three major upgrades—SiriusXM Radio Airchecks, automated pixel email scheduling, and podcaster‑specific logins—to tighten audio ad attribution and streamline reporting. The SiriusXM aircheck feature delivers verified, timestamped proof of ads on satellite radio, closing a long‑standing measurement gap. Automated...
Ausha Expands Its Growth Suite with Paid Visibility Ads on Spotify and YouTube – Open to All
Ausha announced the beta launch of Ausha Visibility Ads, a paid promotion tool that lets podcasters run campaigns directly on Spotify and YouTube. The solution builds on Ausha’s existing Podcast Search Optimization technology and incorporates Base for Creators’ ad‑tech platform....
AI Is Changing Retail. Here’s How Businesses Can Keep Up.
Retailers must ensure their Google Merchant Center data is clean and complete to unlock AI-driven shopping experiences such as conversational commerce, virtual try‑ons, and shoppable CTV. In a recent Ads Decoded Podcast, Google’s retail product leaders highlighted that messy feeds...
The 10 Fastest-Growing U.S. Instagram Accounts of March 2026
March 2026 saw a surge of Instagram follower gains among U.S. celebrities and brands, led by Megan Fox’s 2.8 million new followers after a high‑profile comeback. Event‑driven accounts such as Jason Derulo, Alysa Liu, and “The Tonight Show” each added over a million followers,...
Matter of Fact: The Two Audience Problem
Brands targeting Gen Alpha now face a dual‑gatekeeping challenge: they must appeal to kids while satisfying parental safety concerns. Only 25% of Gen Alpha trust social‑media ads, yet 95% of parents first encounter new brands through their children. Gen Alpha directly controls about...
Tired of Targeted Ads? This Simple iPhone Fix Stops App Tracking in Seconds.
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) lets iPhone users block apps from accessing the advertising identifier (IDFA) and other tracking data unless they explicitly grant permission. Users can disable tracking globally or per‑app via Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking, turning targeted ads into generic ones....
Why Product Feeds Shouldn’t Be The Most Ignored SEO System In Ecommerce
Many ecommerce brands focus on category pages and backlinks while neglecting product feeds, which have traditionally been managed by PPC teams. Recent changes—Google Search Console’s Shopping report enhancements and OpenAI’s product‑feed specification—bring feed data into the core SEO ecosystem. Optimizing...
Silverpush’s Paul Briggs on Navigating YouTube and Using Contextual to Regain Visibility and Control
Silverpush’s Paul Briggs emphasizes that video now accounts for over 80% of internet traffic, making it a full‑funnel performance driver. He argues that contextual intelligence can map real‑time content intent to deliver ads at the precise moment of user engagement,...
Samba TV and TiVo Strike UK CTV Advertising Partnership
Samba TV and TiVo have launched a strategic partnership in the United Kingdom, effective April 1, to combine Samba's cross‑platform audience intelligence with TiVo's owned‑and‑operated CTV inventory. The deal makes TiVo Samba's preferred managed‑service advertising partner and positions Samba as the...
Sleepyhead Highlights Durability in BITE Sofa with Creator-Led Campaign
Sleepyhead introduced the BITE sofa, a compact, stain‑ and water‑repellent piece built with high‑resilience foam for everyday durability. The launch is supported by a creator‑led campaign featuring a music video starring artist Gandhar and dancer Piyush Gurbhele. Influencers extend the narrative...
Google Testing Jumping To AI Mode Directly From AIOs ON DESKTOP
Google is piloting a desktop version of its AI Mode that launches directly from the “Show more” button in AI‑generated overview (AIO) cards. The feature, previously limited to mobile, pulls users out of the classic SERP into an AI‑driven answer...
ÂJarvis Approachingâ: Google's Sundar Pichai Signals an Agentic, Multi-Threaded Future for Search
Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the Cheeky Pint podcast that Search will evolve into a Jarvis‑like, agent‑centric platform where multiple AI threads operate simultaneously to complete user tasks. He described future Search as an "agent manager" that orchestrates personal assistants...
Teads Expands Commitment to Inventory Quality & Safety Through Partnership with NewsGuard
Teads announced an expanded partnership with NewsGuard to apply the latter’s human‑vetted reliability ratings across its global ad marketplace. The move covers English, French, German and Italian‑language sites in key markets such as the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany and...
Major Brands Back Tesco Premium Video Ad Placements
Diageo and PepsiCo have endorsed Tesco Media's new premium video ad placements after successful trials, highlighting the formats' ability to drive brand awareness at a crucial consideration stage. The Grocery Homepage slot reaches over 12 million unique monthly visitors, while the...
Stensul’s 2026 MarTech Outlook on AI and Agency Spend: The Demand Gen Report Interview with Rachel Meranus
Stensul’s 2026 MarTech Outlook, shared in a Demand Gen Report interview with Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer Rachel Meranus, highlights a rapid AI‑driven transformation of B2B marketing. The report finds B2B firms are 64% more likely to increase automation spend...
Google Says It Can Handle Multiple URLs To The Same Content via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
Google’s John Mueller clarified that having multiple URLs point to the same content does not trigger a penalty or ranking demotion. The search engine will automatically choose a canonical version, but site owners can influence that choice with proper technical...
Tipping the Balance: Conquering the Ad Tech Ecosystem with Content Ignite
Content Ignite, founded by James Hanslip and Ben Spencer in 2014, offers the Fusion platform that lets publishers control their entire ad stack with a single tag. The agnostic marketplace aggregates multiple ad‑tech vendors, reducing integration costs and enabling direct‑sale...