Today's Marketing Pulse
McKinsey predicts agentic AI will power two‑thirds of marketing activities
McKinsey’s new report forecasts that agentic AI could drive up to two‑thirds of marketing activities, shifting AI from a productivity add‑on to a core campaign engine. Early adopters are already using generative tools, while the next wave will involve autonomous agents that coordinate decisions across workflows. The firm outlines a five‑step roadmap for implementation.
How Ally Hit Its Target for Sponsoring Women's Sports
Ally Financial announced it achieved gender‑parity in sports sponsorship a full year ahead of its five‑year pledge, shifting its spend from a 90‑10 split to an even 50‑50 balance between 2022 and 2025. The bank’s accelerated investment landed its logo on WNBA, NWSL, the U.S. Women’s Open and ACC women’s championships, while maintaining steady spending on men’s events. The move boosted Ally’s brand perception, with marketers noting a clear goodwill lift from aligning with women’s leagues. Ally now aims to tilt the balance further to a 60‑40 women‑favor split by year‑end.
Automate with AI: Work Less, Scale More
You’re working too hard to scale. If you're still doing tasks AI can do… you’re aren’t just backsliding. You’re killing your momentum entirely. Marketing copy. Sales follow-ups. SOPs. They’re all manual tasks that can be automated with a system you build ONCE...
Optional Product Pricing Best Practices + Benefits
Optional product pricing lets firms sell a low‑priced core item while monetizing add‑ons, upgrades, or custom features. The model, exemplified by airlines, Leatherology, and car manufacturers, boosts average order value and widens market appeal. Best practices include anchoring a fair...
Retention, Not Acquisition, Is the Real Growth Engine
Everyone is chasing new users… but the real growth is hidden in the users you already have. Introducing @siriusai — an AI retention model built around trust, not friction. Instead of forcing conversions, it builds relationships that actually last. That’s how companies like Promova...
AI Features Will Untrackably Shift Search Traffic
Added a bunch of AI related changes to the algo update (and AI changes) list. Things like Gemini in Chrome, skills in Gemini in Chrome, the new Windows Google app and searches jumping straight to AI Mode when the AIO is...
The 79 Percent Rule: Why Honest Brands Win
The article argues that honest, transparent branding outperforms polished messaging, citing a 2025 BBB study where 79% of U.S. consumers trust authentic reviews. It details Big Spaceship’s brutally honest rebrand after a confusing name change, which generated two million impressions...
“Too Dangerous To Release” Is Becoming The New AI Marketing Strategy
Anthropic has placed its latest model, Mythos, behind a restricted access program called Project Glasswing, echoing earlier warnings from OpenAI about AI’s existential risk. The company frames the model as "too dangerous to release," a narrative that serves both safety...
Gmail Is Now Letting Users Change Their Email Addresses: What It Means for Senders
Google now lets U.S. Gmail users change the part before @gmail.com once a year, up to three times total. The original address remains active, so mail sent to either address lands in the same inbox. For marketers, the change is...
The New Demand Engine: Why Peer Proof Is Reshaping the B2B Buying Journey
The B2B buying journey is moving from the traditional top‑of‑funnel to a network of peer‑generated proof. Hidden stakeholders—finance, legal, procurement—now shape vendor selection, and 79% of buyers favor thought leadership over product sheets. AI‑driven search and third‑party review platforms boost...
The Most Popular Brand Archetypes for Nonprofits
The Nonprofit Marketing Guide identified the seven brand archetypes that best fit charitable organizations and revealed which of them are most prevalent. A 2024 survey of nonprofit communicators showed the Caregiver, Sage, Hero and Everyperson dominate, accounting for 83% of...
Bosch May Launch AC Brand in India; Hitachi Label to Stay
Bosch Home Comfort India is assessing the launch of Bosch‑branded air conditioners, marking a potential first AC entry for the brand in Asia. The company will retain sales of Hitachi‑branded units under a long‑term licence after acquiring a controlling stake...
Respondology Launches Respond to Turn Comments Into Competitive Advantage
Respondology introduced Respond, an AI‑powered platform that automatically engages with social‑media comments across X, TikTok and Instagram. The company says 97% of comments go unanswered, yet 68% of shoppers read them before buying, making comment response a competitive advantage. Respond’s...
How AI Is Democratizing Content and Creating Today’s ‘Access Era’
Higgsfield AI, described as an AI studio built by creators for creators, is democratizing multimedia content creation with a drag‑and‑drop platform that handles images, audio and video. Co‑founder Mahi de Silva highlighted a case where Eight Sleep reduced a three‑week, $30,000...
Why Brands Are Turning to Video Games for Creative Inspiration
Brands are increasingly borrowing retro video‑game aesthetics to make ads more emotionally resonant. Coinbase’s Oscar‑season spot uses early PlayStation graphics to illustrate financial freedom, while Met‑Rx, Skittles and Jack in the Box have launched Nintendo‑style videos and even a playable game. With over...
X Cuts Clickbait Payouts and Exposes a Creator Program Problem
X announced it will cut payouts for accounts that post clickbait, keeping the content live but reducing creator earnings. The move follows a similar penalty for undisclosed AI‑generated conflict footage, showing X prefers monetization sanctions over content removal. The Creator...
Marketing Ops Now Build on AI Infrastructure, Not Apps
For most of the SaaS era, martech platforms won by shipping applications. That era is ending. The most sophisticated marketing ops leaders I've talked to recently don't live inside their MAPs anymore. They're building their own AI apps and agents...
Pluribus Boosts Light Viewer Engagement Over The Morning Show
When it comes to understanding the value of programming on streaming, Netflix wrote the manual. One of their key metrics is "Adjusted View Share". Do at-risk subscribers overindex as viewers of a given title? If yes, adjust the value of...
First Impressions Are Forever: Sonos's Rachel Dudley on Getting Customer Onboarding Right
Sonos senior director Rachel Dudley says onboarding is an enterprise responsibility, not just a marketing task. She describes the company’s “First 30 Days” program that integrates CRM, packaging, and software to ensure new owners learn the product and receive help...
Create a Full AI Marketing System in 2 Hours
i'm running a live claude cowork workshop for non-technical people on april 22 by the end of the 2 hours, you'll have a fully set up marketing system on your computer that: > produces a full week of content in one sitting,...
How AI Search Is Reshaping Foodservice Marketing
Foodservice buyers now start supplier research with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI, bypassing traditional search and direct outreach. Recent data shows 86% of Gen Z professionals use AI daily for B2B purchasing, and AI citations are...
Introducing CFX – A Note From Our Editor
Cablefax announced it is rebranding as CFX, a name that reflects the broader, convergent media landscape it now covers. The change signals a shift from a cable‑centric identity to a focus on connectivity, streaming, AI, ad tech, sports rights and...
Introducing CFX – A Note From Our Editor
Cablefax announced a rebrand to CFX, positioning itself as a business journal for convergent media. The new name drops the legacy "cable" reference and embraces a broader focus on connectivity, streaming, AI‑driven ad tech, sports rights, and distribution economics. The...
Gen Z Grows Up, Keeps Scrolling, Still Doesn't Trust You
Morning Consult’s "The State of Gen Z" report finds that as the cohort reaches adulthood, their purchasing power and family responsibilities have grown, yet their wariness of brands remains entrenched. TikTok leads as the preferred platform for 32.8% of Gen Z, followed by...
Unlock Affiliate Growth: SEO Strategies to Break Plateaus
How To Break Through An Affiliate Site Plateau & Find New Growth - Ask An SEO https://buff.ly/PL974zp
HubSport Launches Spring 2026 Release
HubSpot announced its Spring 2026 release, adding over 100 new and updated products aimed at AI‑enhanced go‑to‑market operations. The flagship HubSpot AEO tool extends SEO into answer‑engine optimization for platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. New assistants—including Breeze Assistant, Prospecting Agent,...
Tekmetric Launches Digital Ads and Tekmetric Phones
Tekmetric announced at its Tektonic 2026 conference the launch of two new services: Tekmetric Digital Ads, a self‑serve platform that boosts auto‑repair shops’ visibility on Google Maps and Yelp, and Tekmetric Phones, an integrated calling solution that surfaces customer history, vehicle...
Khoros Launches Iris AI
Khoros unveiled Iris AI, an AI‑native platform that merges social listening, publishing, engagement and analytics into a single system. The tool processes billions of posts in 187 languages, offering real‑time moderation, sentiment analysis and automated routing of interactions to the right...
Google Ads Advertisers Report Wave of Unexplained Ad Disapprovals
Google Ads advertisers are facing a wave of sudden ad disapprovals tied to DNS lookup failures and HTTP 500 server errors, even though their landing pages appear functional for users. In some cases, more than 1,500 ads were rejected within minutes,...
BMW Digital Founder Urges Brands to Trade Moments for Commitments
NeAndre Broussard, chief executive of BMW Digital and founder of the Black Menswear movement, told ADWEEK’s Social Media Week that brands should abandon fleeting viral moments in favor of lasting community commitments. Drawing on six years of building a culturally resonant Black‑men’s fashion...
Free Custom Video Ads Skyrocket Cold Outreach Responses
A 19-year-old freelancer scraped 5,000 Shopify stores from his bedroom. No degree. No portfolio. No LinkedIn with 10k followers. Just a spreadsheet, Apollo for contacts, and one weird idea that he tested on a loaf of bread Bakers don't hand out menus. They...
Upskill Your Team or Lose SEO Agency Relevance
What happens to your SEO agency when clients realize they can get better results with an SEO consultant + AI and pay significantly less? Solution: re-skill/ up-skill all your employees so that you don't have to go through that.
Rent the Runway Turns to Marketplace, Other Sideline Businesses to Stoke Revenue
Rent the Runway is diversifying beyond rentals by offering dry‑cleaning services to hotels, expanding its advertising arm, and launching an online marketplace in March. Revenue rose 7.7% year‑over‑year to about $330 million, while gross margin slipped, yet the company posted a...
Product Discovery Decides Success in AI-Driven Markets
"What is increasingly clear is that for a commercial product, especially in the AI era, product discovery is usually the difference between success and failure." https://t.co/ABiyJn6UUQ < internal products have a captive audience, where commercial products need a diff approach
Turn Your Booking Form Into a Qualification Funnel
Founders: Your booking form is your first qualification filter: Ask on Calendly/Chili Piper: - Team size: 'How many support agents?' - Current state: 'Using AI automation?' - Prioritization: 'Actively looking / Exploring / Have solution' - Budget signal: 'Funding stage?' Don't fear friction. B2B buyers expect...
As AI Agents Transform Digital Advertising, Where’s the Privacy Architecture?
AI agents are reshaping digital advertising by autonomously creating, placing, and optimizing campaigns, yet privacy considerations are largely missing from the conversation. Rowena Lam argues that without built‑in privacy guardrails, agents could misuse consumer data, create sensitive inferences, and obscure...
Claude's Value Justifies $200 Monthly Subscription
Welp, officially paying Claude $200/month. The tool's just far too valuable to not use constantly.
AI, Not You, Chooses Your Options—Monetization Risks Rise
You think you’re choosing between options. You’re not. AI is choosing which options you get to see. That’s a reallllllly big shift. And it’s why monetization gets dangerous fast. I broke this down in my latest issue of Agent-Led Growth: https://t.co/1qgrL6QQL4 #AgentLedGrowth...
We Found the Fix for the Biggest Problem in Affiliate Marketing
In this episode, host Siobhan and guest Yash, founder of Sorrel, discuss the fundamental flaws in current affiliate marketing—namely the "last‑click" credit model and coupon code leakage—that obscure true influencer impact. Yash unveils Sati, a new cookie‑less affiliate platform that...
Structure Content for AI Agents with Addy’s Checklist
Is your content structured correctly for AI agents slurping up info? Or is key info getting truncated because pages are too chunky with the best material at the end? @addyosmani offers a checklist and deep advice for agentic engine optimization: https://t.co/D5wGWcAlb8...
Beyond Ads: Positioning Product when Creative Budget Dries
Most people think I create & run ads. Me: How to effing position this product now. The creative has spent $5mn & there is no more juice out of it.
Top 10 Metasearch Marketing Agencies for Independent Hotels
The article ranks the ten leading metasearch marketing agencies that help independent hotels capture direct bookings, featuring firms such as TravelBoom, Bookassist and Mirai. It explains how metasearch platforms—Google Hotel Ads, Trivago and Kayak—let hotels bypass costly OTA commissions that...
Create Pro Video Ads in 90 Minutes – 70% Off
Seedance 2.0 just went live on Higgs for everyone. You can take one product image, write a few prompts, and have UGC, production-level, and lifestyle video ads ready in about 90 minutes. You can get up to 70% off right now with...
Google Rankings Use Chrome Visit Data, Not Just Links
Do you ever notice your rankings go up after a surge of unrelated traffic? Many reasons why this could happen, but in the Google antitrust trial, they found Popularity is based on both links + "Chrome visit data" Importantly, this data is...
The Equity Entity Known As “Philz Coffee” Just Removed Their Pride Flags
Philz Coffee was acquired by a Los Angeles‑based private‑equity firm for $145 million, eliminating employee‑held common stock in the process. The new owners have ordered the removal of pride flags from every Philz location, citing a desire for a more consistent...
Neon Elevates Joey Monteiro to Global Marketing Lead, Alex Altschuler to Media President
Neon has promoted Joey Monteiro to president of worldwide marketing and Alex Altschuler to president of media as the studio gears up for Cannes. The reshuffle adds senior talent across the marketing ladder and signals a deeper in‑house media strategy...
The Measurement Maturity Playbook: What CMOs Need at Every Stage of Growth
CMOs must align their measurement approach with the company’s growth stage, from basic CAC tracking at seed level to sophisticated, real‑time forecasting post‑IPO. Early‑stage firms rely on GA4 and channel‑level CPA to prove growth potential, while mid‑stage companies shift to...
Get Your Digital Products, Courses and High-Ticket Services Recommended by ChatGPT, Claude and Google.
A new Unplugged VIP course promises to teach digital product creators how to get recommended by AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. The program highlights a shift, with 37% of consumers now starting product searches on AI tools instead...
Subway Rolls Out ‘Tax Day Refund’ Free Foot‑Long Promotion to Boost Foot Traffic
Subway is giving Sub Club members a buy‑one‑get‑one free foot‑long sandwich through April 28 and randomly awarding 1,040 free foot‑longs on Tax Day, April 15. The limited‑time offer aims to lift foot traffic and brand goodwill during a financially stressful...
Social Media Powers Online’s Ad Market Dominance, and Meta Eats 70 Percent of That Pie
Online advertising is set to surpass $1.6 trillion by 2030, with social media driving the bulk of growth. Omdia projects online ad spend will reach $1.5 trillion, up from $935 billion in 2025, and grow 13% in 2026 alone. Social ads are forecast...
Accounts in Transit: Praytell PIcks Up Sustainable Brand If You Care
PR and branding agencies announced new agency‑of‑record contracts with three distinct brands. Praytell will serve as the integrated communications partner for sustainable household‑products label If You Care, taking over paid media, influencer and crisis support. Scout Lab has been hired...