10 Influencer Marketing Tips From the Minds Behind the Internet's Biggest Campaigns
Duolingo’s influencer team outlines ten actionable tactics for scaling creator marketing. They emphasize treating creator relationships as long‑term investments, extending outreach to talent managers, and applying “story fitting” to align narratives rather than demographics. The framework also leverages internal passions, burner accounts, open briefs, and unique brand access to spark organic moments. Finally, they advise pitching ideas as hypotheses and embracing “yes‑and” improvisation to turn unexpected content into high‑impact campaigns.
Simply Social Reels in Princes Group Digital Overhaul
Princes Group, the owner of brands such as Branston, Napolina and Crosse & Blackwell, has hired digital agency Simply Social to overhaul its UK organic social strategy, content creation and community engagement. The agency won a competitive pitch to become...
‘Brands Can’t Guide Culture’: Creators and Marketers on Ditching Skin-Deep Allyship
At Social Media Week 2026, experts warned that brands cannot own culture and must instead immerse themselves in the communities they wish to serve. Alejandra Salazar of Croing urged marketers to rely on cultural experts and listen deeply. Deaf creator...
What Dove, Netflix, and Nike Didn’t Do on Reddit Is Why They’re Winning
Brands are abandoning high‑frequency posting on Reddit in favor of authentic, low‑volume engagement. Research from Reddit’s insights team shows sentiment drops sharply after three weekly posts, prompting marketers to focus on community contribution rather than follower counts. Companies like Netflix,...
Google Is Now Targeting Bad Ads over Bad Actors
Google reported blocking a record 8.3 billion ads worldwide in 2025, up from 5.1 billion in 2024. The surge was driven by its Gemini AI models, which the company says caught more than 99% of policy‑violating ads before they reached users. Despite...
Gemini Is Stopping Harmful Ads Before People Ever See Them
Google’s Gemini AI is now powering its ad‑safety engine, catching more than 99% of policy‑violating ads before they ever appear. In 2025 the system blocked or removed over 8.3 billion ads and suspended 24.9 million accounts, including 602 million scam‑related ads. Gemini’s intent‑focused...
ESPN Reveals Football-Focused Creator Program Ahead of 2027 Super Bowl
Disney’s ESPN announced the fourth edition of its Creator Network will be football‑centric, timed to the lead‑up to the 2027 Super Bowl. The year‑long program will embed creators at Monday Night Football, college games and culminate in a week‑long VIP...
Instagram Re-Enters Creator Affiliate Commerce Years After Rivals Built Lead
Instagram announced in March 2026 that creators can now tag up to 30 affiliate products directly in Reels and earn commissions on sales. The move ends a four‑year hiatus after the platform shut down its 2022 affiliate program and removed...
PR Firm News: Highwire Launches AcroAI
Highwire introduced AcroAI, an agentic AI platform that equips marketing and communications leaders with real‑time strategic insights drawn from over 100 data sources. The platform extends Highwire’s AI suite, promising secure, scalable campaign execution while preserving brand voice. In parallel,...
SAMY Debuts Proprietary AI Platform to Consolidate Social Media, Influencer Marketing Data
Global social‑media agency SAMY launched Maia, an AI‑powered platform that consolidates paid social, influencer activities, and owned media into a single management environment. The solution delivers a real‑time campaign dashboard, influencer approval hub, streamlined content‑approval workflows, brand‑safety screening, spoken‑word analysis,...
Metro Hit 4 Million TikTok Followers. Should Affiliate Publishers Follow?
Metro grew from 8,000 to over 4 million TikTok followers by April 2026, launching four vertical channels—news, sport, entertainment and gaming. The publication spent ten months producing platform‑native, presenter‑led videos without any commercial intent, then began monetising through brand partnerships rather than...
How The Daily Show Is Outsmarting the Social Media Algorithm
The Daily Show posted its strongest 18‑49 ratings in eight years while its digital footprint surged to 2.5 billion views in 2026, a 56% jump from the prior year. Producers explained that a dedicated digital team creates content that flows between...
Your AI Visibility Strategy Doesn’t Work Outside English via @Sejournal, @DuaneForrester
Duane Forrester argues that AI visibility strategies built around English‑centric benchmarks are increasingly ineffective as multilingual large language models dominate regional markets. A 2024 study shows over 75% of LLM benchmarks favor English, leaving translation‑first approaches blind to platforms like...
Why Brand Safety on Social Is No Longer Enough
Social media ad spend is projected to top $317 billion in 2026, making it the world’s largest advertising channel. Yet more than half of U.S. marketers consider social the greatest brand‑safety risk as shoppers increasingly decide purchases on these platforms. Integral...
How Amika’s Marketing Aims to Make Prestige Hair Care More Approachable
Amika launched the "On Your Wavelength" campaign on April 3, centering stylists instead of celebrities to showcase its top hair‑treatment line. The initiative coincides with the brand’s rapid growth after its Ulta debut, where it quickly became the retailer’s No. 2 prestige...
Macro Influencers Explained: Definition, Follower Count, and When to Use Them
Macro influencers, typically boasting 100,000 to 1 million followers, sit between micro and mega tiers, offering a blend of broad reach and higher engagement. Their audience is large enough for brand awareness yet niche enough for authentic connections, making them attractive...
Paramount’s Upfront Pitch Is About Three Things
Paramount’s upfront pitch centers on three marketer priorities—streaming, programmatic and live sports. The company will merge the ad‑tech stacks behind Paramount+ and Pluto TV this summer, launch a new performance tool called Precision+, and push streaming fixed units that give...
IAB: Digital Audio Grew 10% In 2025 as Podcasts Near $3B
The IAB/PwC 2025 Internet Advertising Revenue Report shows digital audio reaching $8.4 billion, a 10.2% year‑over‑year increase. Podcast advertising grew 17.6% to $2.86 billion, maintaining double‑digit growth after a slowdown from earlier spikes. Despite the gains, audio’s share of total internet ad...
Viaccess-Orca Supports MasOrange TV Expansion and Ad Rollout
Viaccess‑Orca has been chosen by MasOrange to underpin a major expansion of its multi‑brand TV portfolio and to launch targeted advertising across both IPTV and OTT services. The operator will use VO’s client‑side and server‑side ad technology, Secure Video Player...
Digital Ad Revenue Climbs to Nearly $300B as IAB Celebrates 30 Year Anniversary
The IAB’s 2025 Internet Advertising Revenue Report shows digital ad spend hit $294.6 billion, up 13.9% year‑over‑year. Social media led with $117.7 billion (32.6% growth), followed by search, video and commerce media. Programmatic advertising rose 20.5% to $162.4 billion, while creator advertising reached...
Search Ad Growth Slows As Social & Video Gain Faster via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
The IAB’s 2025 report shows digital ad revenue hitting $294 billion, up 13 percent year‑over‑year. Search advertising, still the largest segment at $114 billion, slowed to 11 percent growth, while social media ads surged 32 percent to $117 billion and digital video rose 25 percent to $78 billion....
Roku’s Platform Crosses 100 Million Users, Fueling Ad Business
Roku Inc. announced its streaming platform now serves more than 100 million U.S. households, cementing its position as a leading TV‑connected ecosystem. The company says its devices are installed in over half of all broadband homes, and user growth continues in...
The Gambling Industry Is Spending $3.9B the Wrong Way
In 2025 U.S. sports betting and online gaming spent $3.9 billion on marketing, with 36% allocated to TV ads and only 2.3% to earned media and PR. The 5WPR Gaming Trust Index shows that the bulk of spend still targets awareness,...
Urban Company Says ‘We’re Here for You’ with Stories From the People of the UAE
Urban Company launched the ‘UC Heroes’ campaign in the UAE, featuring video testimonials from its service professionals and adding personalized thank‑you cards and fridge magnets to each appointment. The initiative also awards a ‘UC Heroes’ badge to workers, highlighting their...
Wizz App & AppHarbr by GeoEdge Set a New Standard for Ad Safety
GeoEdge’s AppHarbr platform partnered with Gen Z social app Wizz App to launch a year‑long ad safety program. Over the past 12 months the system examined more than 4 billion ads, automatically blocking roughly 0.17% that violated the app’s community standards. The...
Can AI Read Your Homepage?
Adobe reports AI chat platforms drove a 269% year‑over‑year surge in referral traffic to U.S. retail sites in March 2026, with overall AI‑generated traffic up 393% for Q1. Its AI Content Visibility Checker found that 75% of retailer homepages are...
The Identity Crisis Coming for News SEO
Google is experimenting with AI‑generated headlines and summaries that rewrite or replace news publishers' original titles, as seen in a recent test on The Verge. The move extends to Google Discover, which now auto‑summarizes headlines, sometimes producing inaccurate or misleading...
The World’s Largest Ad Holding Company Just Bet Its AI Future on One Vendor
Publicis Groupe has deepened its partnership with Microsoft, creating a full‑stack agentic marketing platform that combines Azure cloud, Copilot tools, and Publicis’ Epsilon data and Sapient consultancy. The deal makes Azure the preferred cloud for Publicis and rolls out Microsoft...
Google’s Patent On Autonomous Search Results via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
Google has filed a continuation patent that enables its search engine and AI assistants to monitor unanswered queries and automatically deliver answers once satisfactory information becomes available. The invention defines quality, authority and completeness standards, stores the query, and pushes...
WPP Media Wins Strategic Media Mandate for KFC and Pizza Hut Singapore
WPP Media has been selected as the integrated media agency for KFC Singapore and Pizza Hut Singapore after a competitive pitch. The agency will handle media strategy, planning and buying, using its AI‑driven WPP Open platform to turn consumer insights...
Inside United Airlines’ ‘Mean Girls Day’ Campaign and the Pivot that Made It Work
United Airlines' social team built a Mean Girls Day campaign for Oct. 3, featuring actor Jonathan Bennett. When Taylor Swift announced a new album release on the same day, the team quickly re‑engineered the concept, weaving Swift’s buzz into the video...
Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) and the Future of Streaming
Server‑guided ad insertion (SGAI) is a hybrid approach that gives publishers server‑side control over ad break timing while allowing the player to manage the actual ad rendering. It bridges the resource‑heavy client‑side insertion (CSAI) and the less flexible server‑side insertion...
AEO, GEO, SEO: Who, What & Why
Reza Moaiandin of SALT.agency explains that SEO, AEO and GEO are interconnected facets of AI‑driven search, not separate silos. He highlights a 20% adoption tipping point for generative AI that is compressing discovery, comparison and purchase into a single interaction....
Digest: Netflix to Refocus on Ads and Content After Warner Bid; IAB Sets AI Commerce Media Guidelines; WPP in Talks...
Netflix is set to report its first earnings since abandoning the Warner Bros. Discovery deal, highlighting a renewed emphasis on advertising and original content. The company projects Q1 revenue of $12.18 billion, up 15.5%, with ad‑supported tiers expected to generate about $634 million. Meanwhile,...
How to Safely Manage Multiple Facebook Accounts Without Getting Restricted
Marketers and growth operators often need several Facebook profiles to run campaigns, but Facebook’s policy permits only one personal account per individual. Restrictions arise not from the number of accounts but from shared device identifiers, IP overlap, and repetitive behavior...
AI Answer Engine Drive More Effective Advertisng at Reach and Independent
Taboola’s AI‑powered answer engine, Deeper Dive, is now live on dozens of publisher sites including Reach, The Independent and Huffpost UK. The tool draws about seven million monthly users, with roughly one in six visitors asking questions, and delivers ad conversion...
How Meshki Is Winning over Americans with SEO and Storytelling
Australian‑born fashion label Meshki has leveraged SEO, storytelling and a strong social presence to accelerate its U.S. growth. The brand posted FY24/25 revenue of AUD 183 million (≈$131 million), up from AUD 121 million (≈$87 million) a year earlier. Celebrity endorsements and a dedicated "Trending" section...
While Adtech Builds the Homescreen Pipes, Advertisers Can Still Tap Into the Opportunity
The CTV homescreen has become the primary gateway for viewers, consolidating fragmented streaming audiences into a premium advertising surface. However, each OEM—Samsung, LG, Roku, Google TV—imposes its own creative specifications, creating operational friction for advertisers. The IAB’s Ad Format Hero...
Audience Data Enrichment: Keep B2B Data Campaign-Ready
Audience data enrichment—updating contact and account records to stay current—is essential for B2B marketers because roughly 30% of contact information changes each year. Stale data inflates bounce rates, breaks segmentation, misroutes leads, and skews AI‑driven scoring models, costing firms an...
Expedia Courts Non-Travel Brands With New Adtech Deal
Expedia Group has partnered with ad‑tech platform Magnite to monetize its vast first‑party data set. The deal gives brands and agencies access to roughly 200 petabytes of traveler data for targeting across streaming TV, video, display and audio. Expedia’s travel media...
Measurement Biggest Barrier to DOOH Investment, Azerion Finds; It’s Partly a Perception Problem
Azerian’s February‑March 2026 study of 128 UK media planners reveals that while 68% have increased out‑of‑home (OOH) usage and 93% consider it vital to omnichannel strategies, 58% view measurement and attribution uncertainty as the primary barrier to further investment. The...
Hard Truths For Retail Media At The IAB Connected Commerce Summit
At the IAB’s 2026 Connected Commerce Summit, industry leaders warned that retail media is at a crossroads, noting the market cannot sustain hundreds of undifferentiated commerce media networks. The new IAB report stresses that future growth will come from tapping...
Hard Truths For Retail Media At The IAB Connected Commerce Summit
At the IAB’s 2026 Connected Commerce Summit, IAB VP Collin Colburn warned that retail media is entering a painful growth phase, likening it to a child’s potty‑training. He stressed that the market cannot support hundreds of undifferentiated commerce media networks...
As RFPs Shrink, Multicultural Publishers Fight For Dollars With First-Party Data
Multicultural publishers are seeing RFP volumes shrink and referral traffic dry up, pressuring them to prove scale for advertisers. To counteract the reach gap, firms like Q Digital and AURN are adopting AdGrid’s Audience Accelerator, a first‑party data platform that...
Wonderskin CEO Michael Malinsky on Turning a Viral Product Into a Thriving Beauty Brand
Wonderskin, founded by Michael Malinsky in 2020, turned a TikTok‑viral metallic blue lip‑stain into a multi‑category beauty brand. The $22 Wonder Blading Lip Stain Peel‑Off Mask has sold over 6 million units, fueling a 300% revenue surge that hit roughly $125 million...
Agencies Compete for SEO Talent as Client Demand for Zero-Click Expertise Surges
Ad agencies are racing to fill senior SEO positions as brands clamor for zero‑click and AI‑driven search expertise. Eight firms, from indie shops to large holding companies, posted roles with salaries ranging from $100,000 to $260,000. The hiring focus extends...
How Portland Leather Goods Did $1M in Sales in 20 Days on TikTok Shop Thanks to an Affiliate Blitz
Portland Leather Goods catapulted its TikTok Shop sales from roughly $1,200 a day to a $100,000 peak after launching a seven‑day affiliate blitz in March. By recruiting about 500 creators who posted 3,800 videos and amassed 13 million views, the brand...
Ogilvy APAC and Quad China Launch Tuborg’s New Global Campaign “You Don’t Have To”
Ogilvy APAC and Quad China have launched Tuborg's new global campaign “You Don’t Have To,” aimed at young people overwhelmed by social‑media pressure and performance anxiety. The rollout features two global films directed by Cannes Lions Grand Prix‑winning director Terence Neale,...
The AI Marketing Tools You’re Using Were Trained on Your Competitor’s Customer, Not Yours
Most AI‑powered marketing platforms used by APAC startups are built on datasets that reflect Western, English‑speaking consumers. As a result, the algorithms prioritize urban, smartphone‑native audiences that competitors already chase, driving higher customer‑acquisition costs for founders. The article argues that...
Pinterest’s New Ad Asks: When Did Watching Life Online Become Enough?
Pinterest unveiled a 60‑second in‑house film titled “How did they do it?” that stitches together employee home movies to argue the best thing found online is a reason to go offline. The ad, part of a broader brand campaign against...