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 all marketing functions, shifting AI from a productivity add‑on to a core strategic engine. The analysis notes early adopters are using generative tools, while the next wave will involve autonomous agents that orchestrate decisions across workflows, guided by a five‑step implementation roadmap.
Buying Traffic: Does It Work?
Affiliates are increasingly turning to paid traffic as organic search becomes volatile, but success hinges on a simple margin test: earnings per click must exceed cost per click. High‑ticket SaaS, finance, and insurance offers provide enough commission to absorb higher CPCs, while low‑margin retail offers rarely do. Common failures stem from rising bid competition, premature scaling on thin data, weak landing pages, and non‑compliant brand bidding. Program managers must also guard against ad fraud, which can erode up to a quarter of spend.
Venatus Delivers 5x Higher Video Ad Attention by Activating Audiences “In the Zone”- Lumen Research Finds
Venatus Media, in partnership with Lumen Research, reports that its video‑ad platform achieves up to five times higher attention by targeting audiences "In the Zone"—users deeply engaged in gaming, sports or entertainment. The technology assesses mindset, context and timing to...
Traditional Channels Beat Digital as ‘Super Touchpoints’
A new DMA and Jicmail report finds traditional media outperform digital in trust, creativity, targeting, and measurement. Channels like TV, radio, out‑of‑home and direct mail—dubbed “Super Touchpoints”—deliver 25% higher effectiveness but are used in only 55% of campaigns. Effectiveness rises...
Data Shows Social Selling Replaces SEO and GEO
Why the data shows that social selling is the new SEO / GEO by @Timothy_Hughes https://t.co/uVT5YMhhva @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Sales #SalesTips #SalesLeader #Salesforce #SalesEnablement #Marketing #Leadership #SEO #GEO #ArtificialIntelligence #TechNews https://t.co/5PW10TOssf
MCM Begins Year-Long 50th Anniversary Celebration
German luxury label MCM is marking its 50th anniversary in 2026 with a year‑long campaign that includes a refreshed logo, a digital content series, and refreshed versions of iconic products such as the Ella Boston handbag and Liz tote. The...
Clarity Beats Fancy: Simple Loom Video Outperforms $5k Production
I spent $5k on a fancy explainer video. It had a 10% view-through rate. I recorded a simple screen-share with Loom. It had a 70% view-through rate and drove sales. The market doesn't care about fancy. It cares about clarity....
Sonali Bendre-Led The Happy Pawdcast Teams up with The Souled Store for Co-Branded Line
India’s pet‑focused podcast The Happy Pawdcast, hosted by Sonali Bendre, announced a co‑branded merchandise line with online retailer The Souled Store. The partnership follows Season 2’s strong performance, which reached over 14 million pet lovers, generated more than 20 000 hours of content,...
Influencer Marketing Around IPL Set to Touch ₹700 Crore in 2026: Report
Influencer marketing tied to the Indian Premier League is projected to hit roughly ₹700 crore by the 2026 season, according to Qoruz. Spending has risen from about ₹250 crore in 2023 to ₹550 crore in 2025, reflecting a 40 % compound annual growth rate....
Why Is Glossier Closing Stores to Chase Gen Z?
Glossier announced it will shutter nine of its twelve global stores over the next 2.5 years, retaining only flagship locations in New York, Los Angeles and London. The move follows a slowdown in millennial‑driven growth and a strategic pivot toward...
What Does A Beta Test Of A Sell-Side Agent Look Like?
Publishers are piloting AI‑powered sell‑side agents that use large language models to negotiate and package ad inventory on behalf of sellers. Early adopters such as The Weather Company and Optable have built prototypes leveraging the open Prebid framework and Anthropic’s...
What Does A Beta Test Of A Sell-Side Agent Look Like?
Publishers are experimenting with sell‑side agents—LLM‑powered sales bots that negotiate ad inventory on their behalf. An open‑source framework donated by AdCP to Prebid now lets companies build and test these agents, with early pilots at The Weather Company and data‑clean‑room...
Why Programmatic Quality Control Needs To Focus On The Bid Request, Not Domains
Programmatic buyers have traditionally relied on domain‑level whitelists and blacklists to clean up inventory. The article argues that domains are merely containers and that true quality control must happen at the bid‑request level, where signals such as device, geo and...
How TikTok Shop Predicts Sales
TikTok Shop is emerging as both a discovery engine and a conversion platform for beauty brands, influencing purchases across in‑app, e‑commerce, and physical retail channels. The platform’s halo effect has generated double‑digit growth in brick‑and‑mortar sales and a measurable lift...
Brands Turn Niche News Creators Into a New Earned Media Engine
Brands are shifting earned‑media budgets toward niche news creators on platforms like TikTok and podcasts. Companies such as Tropicana’s Naked Smoothie, NASCAR and AI firms are partnering with creators who deliver news‑adjacent content to reach Gen Z and socially‑savvy audiences. This...
TikTok Shop Turns Shopping Into Shoppertainment in New Fishermen Integrated Spot
TikTok Shop partnered with Fishermen Integrated to launch the Ramadan‑Raya campaign “Bazar Direka Untuk …”, turning the shopping journey into a curated shoppertainment experience. The initiative runs from 1 March to 13 March 2026 and blends product curation, creator‑led content, original music and...
Clear Positioning Beats Product When Targeting Niche Audiences
Just used https://t.co/axM115CdJx to compare @cursor_ai vs @Lovable narratives. 9-4, Cursor. The gap isn’t product. It’s positioning clarity. Innovation-driven + specific audience > transactional + broad market. Every. Single. Time. https://t.co/8jjpQqn99i
How Sanrio Is Bringing 'Kawaii' To Street Style, One Chuck at a Time
Sanrio has teamed with Converse to release a new Chuck Taylor collection that blends the Japanese brand’s kawaii characters with the iconic sneaker’s street‑wear heritage. The line features Hello Kitty, Kuromi, My Melody and Cinnamoroll across shoes, apparel and accessories,...
AAMI Kicks Off the 2026 AFL Season with New TV Commercial ‘Luck of the Bounce’ via Leo
AAMI has launched a new TV commercial called “Luck of the Bounce” to mark the start of the 2026 AFL season. The spot, directed by Stephen Carroll and produced by FINCH, highlights the sport’s unpredictable nature and colorful characters. It...
Starbucks’ Loyalty Program Upgrade Felt Like A Downgrade — Here’s Why
Starbucks revamped its rewards program, introducing green, gold and reserve tiers and adding non‑transactional ways to earn stars such as reusable‑cup usage and gamified challenges. The update also changed star expiration rules, giving higher tiers permanent credit. However, the rollout...
#ThisWeek on MarkLives MEDIA: Media24’s Shift Toward Performance-Led Publishing • #NextWeek: Being Bruce Whitfield
Media24 announced a strategic pivot toward performance‑led publishing, consolidating advertising, content marketing, and data analytics into a single commercial engine. The platform is built to deliver measurable campaign performance rather than relying solely on traditional inventory metrics. By unifying these...
YouTube Launches AI-Powered Reimagine Option for Shorts
YouTube introduced Reimagine, an AI‑driven feature for Shorts that converts a single frame into a new eight‑second video using Google’s Veo model. The tool embeds directly into the Shorts editor, offering preset visual variations rather than freeform prompts. It aims...
LinkedIn Adds New Ways for Brands to Tap Into Creator Partnerships
LinkedIn unveiled Premium Creator Sponsorships with Top Voices 360 and expanded its BrandLink suite, giving B2B marketers new ways to partner with influential creators. The platform now lets brands place ads alongside top creator content, bundle BrandLink and Event Ads, and...
Marketing Chaos Is Our Calling: Why CMOs, Agencies, And Martech Leaders Need Forrester
Forrester positions itself as the connective tissue across the marketing ecosystem as AI reshapes commercial models in 2026. The firm offers research that spans marketing, technology, AI, CX, and EX, delivering a "total experience" view for CMOs, agencies, and martech...
AI Generates Reply‑Getting Cold Email Sequences Free
I built a skill for Claude Code that writes cold email sequences that actually get replies. You tell it who you're reaching out to and what you're selling, and it builds a multi-touch sequence with personalized openers, value-driven follow-ups, and a...
How To Build A Winning HVAC Marketing Strategy
HVAC firms must dominate local search by mastering Google Business Profile and Local Services Ads. Their website should act as a conversion‑centric hub, mobile‑optimized with instant contact options. Reputation management, content marketing, and targeted paid ads amplify trust and lead...
How to Build a Video Asset Library That Drives Revenue Across Email, Ads, and Landing Pages
The article outlines how ecommerce brands can build a video asset library to repurpose Facebook and Instagram videos across email, SMS, landing pages, and paid ads. It provides a quick decision framework, step‑by‑step download methods, format guidelines, and a simple...
Avoid Risky AI Search Tactics; They Damage SEO
One of the worst things you can do for AI search visibility? Destroying your SEO performance with shiny new AI search tactics that are ultimately dangerous for SEO - and by extension - AI search. In my latest Substack article, I wrote...
Awarded Campaigns: How Procell Reframed the True Cost of Cheap Batteries to Win B2B Buyers
In this episode of Behavioral Science for Brands, Michael Aaron Flicker and Richard Shelton dissect ProCell’s award‑winning B2B campaign that reframed cheap batteries as a hidden cost rather than a low‑price win. The creative team used humor—personifying wasted labor with...
How Zara Fought Off H&M and Shein
Zara marked its 50th anniversary with a high‑gloss campaign that borrowed luxury‑fashion aesthetics, hiring renowned photographer Steven Meisel and top models. The move signals a deliberate shift from pure fast‑fashion pricing to a more aspirational brand image. By pairing upscale...
6 Ways To Encourage Word-of-Mouth Marketing Among Your Customers
The article outlines six tactics Shopify merchants can use to turn satisfied buyers into a word‑of‑mouth engine, including stellar customer service, frictionless checkout, shareable packaging, a visible referral program, active social engagement, and systematic amplification of customer stories. It claims...
How New Infrastructure, Like the Model Context Protocol, Is Reshaping Marketing Workflows
Amazon Ads has launched an open‑beta Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives AI agents a contextual layer over its advertising APIs. The protocol lets agents orchestrate multi‑step campaign creation, ad‑group configuration, and analytics queries with a single natural‑language prompt....
Google "Developing" Opt-Out of Generative AI Features in Search
Google announced it is developing a mechanism that lets website owners opt out of having their content used in generative AI features within Search. The move is part of a broader response to the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s proposed...
AI Outbound Fails without Clean, Accurate Data
Last week I got an outreach email congratulating me on our Series D. Ahrefs has never raised a single dollar. We're bootstrapped. So someone's AI agent pulled the wrong data, mashed it together, and confidently sent me a "personalized" message that was...
Google Retires Several Legacy Ad Format Policies
Google announced that as of March 17 it is retiring several legacy ad format policies, including those governing form ads, image quality, responsive ads, and text ads. The removal reflects the migration of these older formats into newer, automated campaign...
Targeted ICP and Funnel Turned Luck Into Predictable Revenue
Three months ago, a Make More Money student’s pipeline was referrals and luck. Last week, they sent me this message. They’re a solo developer specializing in Webflow. They did around $250K in revenue last year, but the model was brittle. Every...
SMX Now: Learn How Brands Must Adapt for AI-Driven Search
Visibility now hinges on AI-driven search, not just rankings. SMX launches its monthly SMX Now webinar on April 1, featuring iPullRank experts Zach Chahalis, Patrick Schofield, and Garrett Sussman. They will unveil iPullRank’s Relevance Engineering (r19g) framework for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and an...
Pizza Hut Sparks Nostalgia with Space Jam Collaboration
Pizza Hut has teamed with Warner Bros. Discovery to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Space Jam, launching a limited‑time Space Jam × Triple Treat Box priced at $21.99. The promotion coincides with the NCAA March Madness tournament, where the chain updates its...
Compete on Brand Preference, Not Generic Prompts
In B2B way too many of us have fallen for "how do I show up for GEO agency prompts" instead of looking at "How do I show up against competitors". My hope is that you read this post and start to...
LinkedIn Posts Now Surface in Google Discover for Influencers
Cool new update from Discover Snoop: Individual LinkedIn Posts are now appearing in Google Discover. This is in addition to X, Instagram, and TikTok posts already showing more frequently in there. And as @AndellDam has recently been highlighting, this appears to...
Google Brings Vehicle Feeds to Search Campaigns
Google Ads now supports vehicle feed integration in Search campaigns, allowing automotive advertisers to pull inventory from Merchant Center into text ads. The update adds clickable assets that display make, model, price and images alongside standard ad copy. Users can...
The Design Playbook Keeping Glenfiddich on Top of the Single-Malt Scotch Market
When William Grant & Sons launched Glenfiddich in the United States in 1963, it introduced a premium single‑malt whisky to a market dominated by blended scotches. Over six decades later the brand remains the top‑selling single‑malt in America, thanks to...
AI Demands a Composable Martech Canvas, Not Stacked Tools
Bryce Peake, who led marketing decision sciences at Domino’s, says this in my new report with Databricks, released this morning — and I think it gets to the heart of it: “We’ve been trying to modify the same martech stack we’ve...
Coca-Cola Launches FIFA World Cup 2026 Campaign in Canada
Coca‑Cola has launched a nationwide FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign in Canada, featuring limited‑edition collectible cans, QR‑code contests, and Panini sticker‑tied bottles. The brand will also operate fan‑zone experiences in Toronto and Vancouver, offering product sampling, apparel customization, and social‑media‑ready installations....
AI Content Fuels Gen Z’s Growing TikTok Skepticism
We’re underestimating how much AI-generated content is going to change the way people approach social media. What happens when there’s a layer of distrust to everyone’s scroll? We already have an idea of the impact. A recent Harris Poll survey...
Emotion-Driven Marketing Wins: Heated Rivalry Powers Panels
Happy to report I did indeed incorporate Heated Rivalry into all 3 of my panels at SXSW - Viral Nation’s Emotion Economy of Social Media - Heated Rivalry made people feel seen. Tap into emotion in marketing Patreon’s Building Brands...
Apply Quant Trading Rigor to Paid Advertising
ive literally never thought about this before this is an extremely interesting way to think about ad spend: bringing the rigor of quant trading to paid ads
Missing Social Media Messages Can Kill Your Brand
Near misses are dangerous to your health. Near misses in #SocialMedia can be fatal to your business. A miss means your message isn't being heard by potential customers. Your brand could crash. https://t.co/6CgUC488Df
Turn Customers Into Creators, Cut Ads, Grow 50%
Chubbies grew 50% year-over-year by turning 1.5M customers into content creators. Free UGC from their 'Chubster Nation' replaced paid ads. Meanwhile you're spending on ads with no community behind your brand. That's the gap.
Google Adds Opt‑out for Generative AI in Search
Whoa, opting out of AIOs and AI mode could very well happen (for pubs that want that) -> From Google today: "We are developing further updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt-out of generative AI features in Search."...
Search Decline Hits Small Publishers Hardest
New data suggests small publishers (10k daily pageviews or less) are hit hardest by search traffic declines —Chatbots only drive 1% of all traffic referrals, so they can't make up the gap —News sites get most page views from AI platforms, but...