Steelers Strip Back to ‘Officially Unsponsored’ Kits in Bold Sponsorship Play via Ogilvy
The Australian Steelers wheelchair rugby team has unveiled an “Officially Unsponsored” campaign, stripping its green‑and‑gold kit to all‑white uniforms with QR codes where sponsor logos would sit. The QR codes direct fans to SponsorSHOP, a digital marketplace that showcases naming‑rights, apparel and event partnership options for potential corporate backers. Despite being defending world champions and ranked #2 globally, the team enters the 2026 Santos Wheelchair Rugby World Challenge without a primary sponsor. The initiative, created with Ogilvy Australia, aims to attract a long‑term partner by leveraging the sport’s rising viewership and inclusive appeal.
The Economics Of Retention: How MoEngage Built A Defensible Moat In A Crowded Market
MoEngage has turned the high cost of user retention—estimated at five to twenty‑five times acquisition expense—into a core SaaS proposition. After raising $280 million in a Series F round, the company reported close to $100 million in ARR and achieved profitability in the...
Canela Media Partners with LiveRamp
Canela Media has teamed up with LiveRamp to let advertisers use LiveRamp’s interoperable RampID for seamless access to Canela’s over‑the‑top (OTT) inventory and broader digital destinations. The partnership opens a LiveRamp Data Marketplace offering more than 1,000 audience segments that...
Microsoft: ‘Summarize With AI’ Buttons Used To Poison AI Recommendations via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Microsoft’s Defender Security Research team unveiled a new threat called “AI Recommendation Poisoning,” where website buttons labeled “Summarize with AI” embed hidden prompt‑injection instructions. Clicking these buttons feeds AI assistants a URL‑encoded command that tells the model to remember the...
Subscription Exodus: Consumers Are Fleeing 'Digital Overload'
Consumers are increasingly abandoning digital subscriptions, with email leading the exodus, according to Profit Engine’s analysis of the most Googled “how to unsubscribe” queries. The top ten services—ranging from Amazon Prime and Disney Plus to ChatGPT and HelloFresh—are cited for fee...
Google Ads Surfaces PMax Search Partner Domains In Placement Report via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google Ads now displays Performance Max (PMax) placement data, revealing Search Partner domains, network types, placement types, and impression counts that were previously hidden. The change, documented to start in March 2024, converts an empty report into a tangible inventory of...
Gold Medal CTV
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan is drawing about 20 million U.S. viewers each day, with NBC’s Peacock platform delivering more streaming hours than the last two Games combined. Advertisers are abandoning traditional “Be Right Back” filler and deploying real‑time, native...
Merchant Center Flags Feeds Disruption
Google Merchant Center announced a service disruption affecting product feeds, which began on February 4, 2026 at 14:00 UTC. The public status dashboard still lists the issue as under investigation with no estimated resolution time. Feeds power Shopping ads and free listings, so...
Trio of Lloyds Ads Highlights the Realisation of "Long-Held Dreams"
Lloyds Bank has rolled out a new series of advertisements under its "Bank on Lloyds" brand platform. The creative work was produced by Publicis Go, a bespoke agency team assembled for the project. The campaign highlights the realisation of long‑held...
What’s Next for PPC: AI, Visual Creative and New Ad Surfaces
PPC is moving past traditional search as AI‑first ad formats like Microsoft’s showroom ads and immersive gaming placements gain traction. Visual creative is becoming a staple throughout the funnel, with brands needing richer asset libraries to feed AI‑driven optimization. Experts...
14 GEO Conferences to Attend in 2026
The 2026 GEO and AI‑Search conference circuit now features 14 dedicated events worldwide, from AEO Conf in San Francisco to GEO KNOW HOW in Berlin. These gatherings blend traditional SEO programming with new AI‑search tracks, showcasing speakers from OpenAI, Ahrefs, Moz, and HubSpot....
Roku Remains Top CTV Open Ad Platform With 32% Share
Roku retained its position as the leading connected‑TV (CTV) platform for open programmatic ads in Q4 2025, commanding a 32% share of impressions. Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV followed with 16% and 15% respectively, while LG surged 79% quarter‑over‑quarter to reach 10%...
The New Performance Metric: Curiosity
A study by Audio Visual Nation examined Google search activity for all 67 Super Bowl advertisers and found that curiosity‑driven ads generated the highest return on attention. AI search startup Genspark led the pack with a 5,852% search spike, far...
Night in the Woods Publisher Finji Accuses TikTok of Creating "Racist, Sexist" And Uneditable GenAI Ads for Its Games
Microsoft announced that longtime Xbox head Phil Spencer and president Sarah Bond are departing the division. Asha Sharma, previously Microsoft’s CoreAI product president, will take over as Xbox CEO, while Matt Booty moves into the chief content officer role. The...
Why Ethical Shopping Intentions Fail at Checkout
Canadians express strong support for ethically produced goods, yet rising food prices push cost to the forefront of purchase decisions. Researchers found that framing the ethical premium as a price increase discourages buying, while offering the same price with a...
Meta To Host Virtual Marketing Summit On March 11 To Address AI-Driven Advertising Strategies
Meta will host its Marketing Summit Online 2026 on March 11, a virtual event spanning three continents for marketers, brand executives, and creators. The agenda includes Meta’s 2026 product roadmap, AI‑driven advertising tactics, and performance measurement sessions led by senior...
Daily Search Forum Recap: February 20, 2026
Google’s John Mueller publicly discouraged large sites from force‑indexing pages, emphasizing reliance on natural crawling. The company also refreshed its Google Business Profiles review policies, tightening prohibited content rules. Google Ads announced new budget‑pacing mechanics for ad scheduling that take...
Connected TV and Latinos: An Intertwined Growth Story
LG Ad Solutions’ February‑May 2024 study of 1,435 Connected TV users shows that 94% of Hispanic Americans can access Connected TV, and most favor streaming over traditional broadcast. The primary drivers are greater control and broader content choices, with the...
Brand Marketers Can’t See Where Their Influencer Budgets Go. And They’re Running Out Of Patience
An ANA survey of 84 brand marketers reveals that only half have full visibility into influencer agency payments, with up to 61% potentially facing opaque compensation structures. More than half of respondents intend to revise their compensation models within the...
The American Public’s Not Keen on Ads in AI Search Results
A recent survey shows that most American internet users find ads embedded in AI‑generated search results intrusive, preferring organic answers. The finding coincides with broader ad fatigue on streaming platforms and signals a shift in how marketers must approach AI‑driven...
Emina Demiri Talks Surviving Firing Your Biggest Client
Emina Demiri Watson, head of digital at Vixen Digital, revealed that the agency deliberately terminated a client that generated roughly 70% of its revenue after a three‑month toxic relationship deteriorated. The move exposed a severe customer‑concentration risk that the firm...
Hargreaves Lansdown Ad Focuses on the Value of Experience in Changing Times
UK investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown launched a new television advertisement created by Wonderhood Studios that emphasizes the value of experience in today’s rapidly changing financial landscape. The spot portrays seasoned advisors guiding clients through market turbulence, positioning experience as a competitive...
Google Now Attributes App Conversions to the Install Date
Google Ads is changing app‑campaign conversion attribution from the click date to the actual install date. This aligns Google’s reporting with Mobile Measurement Partners such as AppsFlyer and Adjust. The shift eliminates the default 30‑day lag that often delayed conversion...
New Meridian Tool, Performance Max Learning Path – PPC Pulse via @Sejournal, @Brookeosmundson
Google unveiled a Scenario Planner inside its Meridian Marketing Mix Modeling platform, enabling marketers to model budget‑allocation shifts and forecast outcomes without coding. Microsoft introduced a scenario‑based Performance Max learning path that guides advertisers through realistic campaign situations, from setup...
Tools :: Plates
Music‑marketing startup Plates captured the top prize at Music Ally’s SI:X startup contest. The platform offers a unified dashboard that aggregates artist streams, followers, and growth metrics across a label’s entire roster. Built‑in AI features, including a chatbot, deliver instant...
Research: 69% of Restaurants Are Adopting AI While 81% Increase Digital Marketing Investment
Research by Popmenu of 328 restaurant leaders shows 44% already use AI and another 25% plan adoption, while 78% are optimizing sites for AI‑driven search. Consumer spending dropped to $90 weekly, a $25 decline, prompting operators to lean on digital...
Google Ads Shows How Landing Page Images Power PMax Ads
Google Ads now shows advertisers how landing‑page images can be turned into Performance Max (PMax) creatives. By opting in, brands allow Google to pull visual assets directly from their webpages and automatically generate ad variations. The platform previews these automated...
Google Ads Updates Budget Pacing For Ad Scheduling
Google Ads announced a change to budget pacing for campaigns that use ad scheduling, rolling out on March 1, 2026. The update ensures the system will proactively spend up to the monthly limit of 30.4 times the average daily budget,...
This Press Release Strategy Actually Earns Media Coverage
Press releases alone no longer guarantee coverage, but a data‑driven, journalist‑centric approach can revive their impact. By researching recent relevant stories, citing journalists in the release, and then pitching them directly with tailored messages, practitioners can secure multiple organic features....
OtterlyAI Unveils Groundbreaking Data: AI Search Engines Depend 95% on Third-Party Sources
OtterlyAI released a study of over 1 million AI‑generated citations from ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, finding that roughly 95% of AI answers draw on third‑party sites rather than brand‑owned domains. The report, titled “The AI Citation Economy,” maps citation...
Coca-Cola Turns to AI Marketing as Price-Led Growth Slows
Coca‑Cola is pivoting from price‑driven growth to AI‑enabled persuasion, testing generative AI across its marketing pipeline. The company is using AI to draft scripts, create images, and tailor campaign messaging in near real‑time as inflation eases. This shift positions AI...
AuthorityStack.ai Launches to Help Brands Track and Improve Visibility in AI-Generated Search Results
AuthorityStack.ai launched an AI visibility tracking platform that monitors how large language models cite and summarize brand content. The service covers major LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, providing real‑time citation alerts and traffic attribution....
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[Industry News] Second Stage Brings Innovation in Wishlist Forecasting, Attribution, and More to the Games Industry
Second Stage has launched the TRACKS platform to give PC and console game marketers precise attribution of ad spend to wishlist adds and purchases. The solution consolidates over 65 data integrations, turning fragmented reporting into a single, real‑time dashboard. Backed...
Meet The People Launches MTP Intelligence, A Proprietary AI-Enabled Platform Unifying Creative, Media and Commerce
Meet The People (MTP) has launched MTP Intelligence, a proprietary AI‑enabled platform that consolidates creative, media, commerce and analytics into a single environment for its ten agency brands. Powered by its own data firm RADaR Analytics, the platform orchestrates end‑to‑end...
KNOREX Launches Agentic AI-Ready Ads API to Power Cross-Channel Advertising Automation
KNOREX announced the launch of its agentic AI‑ready Ads API, a unified infrastructure layer designed to automate cross‑channel advertising workflows. The API, compatible with Amazon Ads MCP and the open Advertising Common Protocol, enables AI agents to manage campaigns on...
One Chatbot’s Journey To Introducing Ads That Don’t Suck
Luzia, a Latin‑American AI assistant, moved from generic Google Display ads to Koah’s generative‑AI ad network to deliver native, context‑aware ads within its chat interface. Koah’s flexible formats—color, size, interactive polls—and hybrid CPC/CPM/CPE pricing let Luzia experiment with placement before...
Hakuhodo Bangkok Brings Humour to Utilities with PEA “Quick Click. Life Slick.” Campaign
Hakuhodo Bangkok unveiled the “Quick Click. Life Slick.” campaign to promote the Provincial Electricity Authority’s new digital hub, PEA Sabuy Service, which bundles five electricity‑related functions into a single online portal. The effort uses humor and the Thai notion of...
The Lean AI Marketing Stack Every Startup Should Build First
Early‑stage startups often drown in fragmented marketing tools, wasting precious runway on dashboard management instead of growth. The article outlines a lean AI‑powered stack built around five core jobs: customer research, content creation, search/AI visibility, distribution, and measurement. By mapping...
Tinder & Netflix Bring Back ‘Yearning’ With ‘Let Thy Swipe Season Begin’ Campaign
Tinder has teamed with Netflix to roll out the “Let Thy Swipe Season Begin” campaign, leveraging the popularity of Bridgerton’s Regency romance to re‑energize Australia’s dating market. The partnership is anchored by Tinder’s new Yearn Index, which shows more than...
The Best Social Platforms for Businesses in 2026, And How to Choose With Intent
Later’s 2026 guide argues that social‑media success hinges on intent, not platform hype. Brands should select a single "home base" platform for authority and one supporting channel for reach, avoiding the performance leak of platform sprawl. The article provides a...
Gen Z Perspectives: Our Favourite CNY Campaigns and Huat’s the Deal with Mahjong Sets
Marketing‑Interactive’s Gen Z Perspectives highlights three standout Chinese New Year campaigns in Singapore and Malaysia. Australian Pork’s CNY initiative reframes prosperity around trust and quality, featuring MasterChef judge Audra Morrice. The Singapore Kindness Movement released a cheeky short film, “Pineapple...
CeraVe Launches Haircare Range with Athlete-Led ‘Game-Changing Hydration’ Campaign via 2045
CeraVe has entered the Australian hair‑care market with a dermatologist‑developed Anti‑Dandruff and Gentle Hydrating line. The launch is supported by creative agency 2045 and a "Game‑Changing Hydration" campaign that positions scalp health as a performance issue. Australian athletes Thanasi Kokkinakis...
Walmart Holds Shoppable Livestream at Winter Olympics in Milan
Retail giant Walmart expanded its shoppable video strategy by hosting a 25‑minute livestream from the Milan Olympic Village during the Winter Games. The event, titled “Her Day Made Easy,” featured Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez and showcased Procter & Gamble...
The 4 Essentials to Live Shopping: A Complete Guide to Successful Video Commerce
Live Shopping—also called video commerce—combines real‑time video, interactive chat, and instant checkout to turn product demos into sales. Success hinges on four essentials: attracting viewers through pre‑event promotion and multi‑streaming, offering exclusive incentives that compel purchase, keeping audiences engaged with...
HSMAI Celebrates 69th Annual Adrian Awards
Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) hosted its 69th Adrian Awards on February 18 in New York, honoring the year’s most innovative travel and hospitality campaigns. The ceremony introduced a refreshed structure with 30 categories split across Paid, Earned,...
Date Brand Joolies Ignites Growth in ‘Sleepy’ Category With Vibrant Packaging, Micro-Influencers
Joolies, a California‑grown Medjool date brand, revamped the sleepy dried‑fruit category with vibrant mint‑green stand‑up pouches and clear tubs, targeting younger shoppers. Leveraging nano‑influencers under 5,000 followers, the brand emphasized authentic lifestyle messaging rather than clinical claims. The strategy propelled...
Is It Hypocritical for News Publishers to Complain About Tech Companies’ Platforms — but Still Be on Them?
Academic research by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen argues that news publishers continue to rely on tech platforms despite vocal criticism because audience reach and incremental revenue outweigh the desire for platform independence. The study cites that only about 4 % of traffic...
SalientMG, Hivekind AI Team Up to Drive Pipeline for Startups
SalientMG announced a strategic partnership with Hivekind AI to combine its B2B go‑to‑market (GTM) advisory services with Hivekind’s pre‑pipeline decision engine. The joint offering promises startups a unified system that aligns ideal customer profile (ICP) definition, account prioritization, and buyer‑group...
The Creator Autonomy Paradox
The article argues that influencer campaigns deliver higher ROI when brands give creators genuine autonomy rather than rigid scripts. Data shows Gen Z audiences distrust brands that micromanage creators, and only 10 % of creators feel they have creative control despite 53 %...
IAB Tech Lab Opens Public Comment on Live Event Ad Playbook
IAB Tech Lab has opened a public comment period for the Live Event Ad Playbook (LEAP) Forecasting API, a new standard designed to make live streaming inventory visible and actionable for programmatic buying. The API lets broadcasters share structured metadata—schedules,...