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.
The Real Winners of March Madness? Brands that Move Fast on NIL Deals
Brands are racing to sign college athletes for NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals as March Madness draws record viewership, turning the tournament into a high‑impact marketing platform. Companies from footwear to fast‑food chains have partnered with stars like Azzi Fudd, Lauren Betts and Elliot Cadeau, using their personal stories to create short‑form content that rides the hype. The shift from simple endorsement tags to creator‑centric storytelling lets brands tap Gen Z’s appetite for authenticity. Rapid‑response teams enable 24‑48 hour activations around viral moments, driving measurable sales lifts.
Watsons Malaysia Celebrates Raya with ‘The Raya Glam Stage’ Campaign via MBCS
Watsons Malaysia, in partnership with Omnicom’s MBCS, launched the “Pentas Raya Glam” campaign to celebrate the Hari Raya festive season. The multi‑channel activation features a humorous film starring local celebrities, a #WatsonsPentasGlamRaya dance challenge on Instagram and TikTok, and in‑store sensory...
Foodcase Unveils New Brand Identity as Global Travel F B Partner
Foodcase has unveiled a refreshed brand identity that positions it as a full‑service food and beverage partner for the global travel industry. The new messaging emphasizes end‑to‑end capabilities, from concept design through onboard execution, across airlines and other travel operators....
Google Ads Editor 2.12 Boosts Creative Control and Flexibility for AI‑Driven Campaigns
On March 17, 2026, Google released version 2.12 of its Google Ads Editor, a desktop tool used by millions of paid‑search advertisers worldwide. The update adds expanded video limits, vertical asset support, and total‑campaign‑budget controls, giving marketers finer creative and...
Okara Launches AI‑CMO Platform to Automate SEO, Content and Growth for Startups
On March 17, 2026, AI startup Okara unveiled its AI‑CMO, a subscription‑based platform that automates SEO, content creation and growth hacking for founders worldwide. The service, priced at $99 per month, is live and promises to deliver marketing workflows within...
Candid Unveils Live Marketing Platform, Claims AI Will Automate 90% of Tasks
Candid, a marketing technology firm, launched its Live Marketing platform on March 18, 2026, announcing that AI will perform 90% of all operational marketing tasks. The press release, distributed via PR Newswire, positions the solution as a turnkey tool for...
Butler/Till’s Agentic Media Buying Cuts Costs 82% and Boosts Impressions 40%
Independent agency Butler/Till, partnered with PubMatic, completed its first agentic media‑buying pilot for Geloso Beverage Group across CTV, online and mobile publishers in December 2025‑January 2026, reporting an 82% cut in supply‑chain fees, a 40% rise in impressions and a...
Discovery Parks Introduces ‘Australia’s First Official Bark Manager’ in New Campaign via Born
Discovery Parks has introduced Bruce, a red Border Collie, as Australia’s first Official Bark Manager in a character‑led campaign created with agency Born. The initiative merges traditional storytelling with AI‑assisted production, using tools like Nano Banana, ElevenLabs and Unreal Engine...
Stunt Accounts Turned Brands Boost Launch Intrigue
influencers are launching stunt accounts to tease new products. those accounts are then typically converted into the brand account, with built in audience and intrigue for day one of the announcement.
Amazon Ads and Spotify Expand Partnership in Australia
Amazon Ads and Spotify have integrated Spotify’s premium audio and video inventory into Amazon’s demand‑side platform in Australia. The partnership lets Australian marketers buy across connected TV, display, audio and video through a single programmatic workflow, leveraging Amazon’s shopping and...
Cut Vanity Marketing Spend; Focus on Revenue Impact
Marketing spend that deserves more scrutiny: 1. content programs that create activity but not pipeline 2. paid channels with weak downstream conversion 3. SDR-heavy inbound systems with poor efficiency 4. overproduction of assets nobody uses 5. events that look important but do not influence deal...
How Gymshark Took on the Sportswear Giants - Carly Natalizia
In this episode of Uncensored CMO, Chief Commercial Officer Carly Natalizia breaks down how Gymshark has scaled its commercial engine to challenge industry giants like Nike and Adidas. Drawing on her 25‑year career—from finance at MBNA and Virgin Money to...
Google Deleting Citations on Self‑promoting Listicles: Ultimate FAFO
Imagine if Google actually removes *all* citations for queries that previously showed self-promoting listicles. That would indeed be the ultimate FAFO
Flipkart Celebrates Ugadi with ‘Ugadi vs Yugadi’ Campaign by 22feet India
Flipkart has launched the ‘Ugadi vs Yugadi’ campaign with agency 22feet India, targeting the harvest festival celebrated in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. The activation uses the regional pronunciation debate as a humorous hook, directing users to a microsite where...
NT Tourism Hunting for Sweeping Brand Refresh
The Northern Territory’s tourism agency, now rebranded as Tourism and Events Northern Territory (TENT), has launched a tender for a sweeping brand refresh to be delivered by February 2027. The initiative replaces the seven‑year‑old "Different in every sense" platform and...
ADMA Launches New Podcast Unpacking How Marketers Can Harness AI to Lead the Next Era of Marketing
ADMA has released a new podcast episode that explores how marketers can ethically harness artificial intelligence to drive the next era of marketing. The discussion draws on findings from ADMA’s State of AI in Marketing Survey 2025, which shows 75%...
The CEO Website Trust Test: 7 Fixes That Turn “Looks Fine” Into “Book a Call”
CEO websites act as silent interviews, shaping buyer opinions in seconds. The article outlines seven practical fixes— from a decisive headline to faster load times— that turn vague, inconsistent sites into trust‑building assets that prompt “Book a call” actions. By...
Google AI Overviews Cut Germany’s Top Organic CTR By 59% via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
New SISTRIX data shows Google’s AI Overviews now appear on about 20% of German search queries. When present, they cut the click‑through rate for the top organic position from 27% to 11%, a 59% drop. Across all positions the average...
Reddit Partners with Pacvue to Expand Ad Access
Reddit has partnered with ad‑tech firm Pacvue to let advertisers buy and track Reddit campaigns directly within Pacvue’s management platform. The integration adds Reddit to Pacvue’s suite, which already supports over 100 retail media networks and serves more than 70,000...
Report Finds Reddit Ads Drive Strong Performance for Retailers
Fospha’s State of Retail Commerce 2026 report shows Reddit’s influence on retail conversions surged in 2025, delivering an 82% lift in ROAS when Amazon sales are accounted for and a 257% increase in revenue attributed to the platform. The study...
Recover 20‑30% Lost SaaS Revenue with AI‑Powered Churn Prevention
I built a skill for Claude Code that designs cancel flows and save offers so you stop losing subscribers you could have kept. It builds the entire churn prevention system — exit surveys that identify why people are leaving, personalized save...
Wendy’s Seeks An Influencer for New Chief Tasting Officer Role
Wendy’s announced a contest to appoint its first Chief Tasting Officer, a brand‑ambassador role paid $100,000. The company asks applicants to post a one‑minute video on TikTok or Instagram using #WendysCTOContest, highlighting personal taste and creativity. The posting emphasizes a...
Automated Daily Swipe File of Proven Viral Hooks
my new favorite thing to check every morning: the results from my viral content research agent that ran while i slept 1. it searches x for the highest-performing posts in my niche from the last 24 hours 2. extracts the hooks 3. and...
When Aflac Integrates AI Into Customer Service — And When It Doesn’t
Aflac has launched a six‑month generative‑AI pilot in its 450‑person call centers, where the system listens to calls and supplies agents with instant information, even updating addresses automatically. The initiative, involving about 300 employees from marketing, claims, finance and legal,...
From Journeys to Systems
Channel99 launched Paid Search Optimization, an AI‑driven feature that shifts B2B paid‑search measurement from clicks and CPC to cost‑per‑target‑account engaged. The capability surfaces waste, scores keywords and ad groups, and recommends budget reallocations, giving marketers and finance leaders clearer ROI....
MyFitnessPal Wants To Start The Health And Wellness Subsector Of Retail Media
MyFitnessPal has launched a data‑driven advertising business, expanding beyond its legacy mobile display unit to include video, interstitials, full‑screen takeovers, newsletter sponsorships and branded recipe integrations. The platform will leverage its opt‑in food‑logging data—averaging 16 items per user per day—to...
8 Variables To Determine Your LinkedIn Posting Strategy
The article identifies eight variables that determine the optimal LinkedIn posting format—short post, long‑form text, carousel, or video. It highlights that LinkedIn’s algorithm now rewards dwell time, giving an edge to lengthy text and carousel slides, while vertical videos excel...
Court Temporarily Lifts Order Banning Perplexity From Amazon
An emergency petition by Perplexity succeeded, and a two‑judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary order lifting the district court injunction that barred its AI shopping agent, Comet, from accessing Amazon.com. The stay is...
Documenting the Move to Beehiiv
Alex Hilleary outlines his recent migration of a newsletter to the beehiiv platform, using Episode 135 of his "Freelancer Niche Explosion" series as a case study. The piece highlights how beehiiv’s tools streamlined audience growth and monetization. It also references...
Stop Micromanaging Meta Ads; Let Algorithm Learn
The operators losing money on Meta aren't spending too little. They're touching the account too much. What a $50K+/month account actually looks like: 1-3 campaigns max ↓ Broad audiences only (no manual targeting) ↓ 6-10 creative variants per ad set ↓ CBO at...
Founders Must Own Storytelling; Strategy Can't Be Delegated
The story has to come from the founder. This frustrates people. Founders want to delegate storytelling the same way they delegate other functions. Hire a head of marketing and let them own it. Bring in a communications expert and hand...
Freak Steam Game Naming Coincidence Unintentionally Results in some of the Best Indie Marketing I've Seen
Neon Polygons and Gamkat both launched puzzle games titled "Piece by Piece" on Steam within days of each other, creating a naming clash that threatened discoverability. Rather than compete, the studios teamed up, offering a double‑bundle priced at $18.57. The...
YouTube Tests Sticky Banner After Ad Skip
YouTube is piloting a sticky banner overlay that stays visible after a viewer skips a video ad. The banner, linked to the original ad, remains on‑screen until the user dismisses it, extending brand exposure beyond the skip point. This experiment...
How Toyota Blurred the Line Between Advertising and Everyday Life
Toyota New Zealand partnered with Saatchi & Saatchi NZ, Spark Foundry NZ and Digitas NZ to refresh its “Let’s Go Places” platform by turning the country’s everyday streets into a giant advertisement. The campaign highlighted that one in four vehicles on New Zealand roads is a Toyota,...
Informa TechTarget Launches AI Visibility and GEO Solutions
Informa TechTarget unveiled two new offerings—the AI Visibility Audit and the GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) Topic Planner—to help B2B marketers navigate AI‑driven search ecosystems. The audit evaluates how audiences discover brands via AI, pinpointing gaps in visibility and accuracy, while...
Smartly Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Measurement Platform Incrmntal
Smartly has signed a letter of intent to acquire Incrmntal, a real‑time marketing measurement platform. Smartly’s AI‑driven suite automates campaign creation, while Incrmntal provides incremental lift analytics across channels. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition aims to embed live...
SEO vs GEO... LMAO, STOP IT!
The author dismisses the SEO‑vs‑GEO debate as a distraction, arguing that the real challenge is evolving strategy for AI‑driven search. He highlights that large language models now surface answers based on citations, digital PR, and brand signals rather than classic...
Visa’s Formula 1 Commitment Defines What Big-Brand Sport Deals Look Like
Visa announced a renewal of its partnership with Formula 1’s Oracle Red Bull Racing and the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, extending the deal through 2030. The agreement expands on‑car branding, hospitality assets, immersive fan experiences, and adds support for two...
80% of Local Pack Listings Missing Call Buttons
Focus on Local? Watch those call buttons... -> Are Local Packs Losing Their Call Buttons? From the study: "Out of 2,580 results we checked, just 510 had a call button. That's a 19.8% call button rate. If you search for a local...
As Retail Media Enters Its Second Act, Savvy Brands Diversify Networks and Tactics
Retail media is evolving from a bottom‑funnel, search‑only model to a full‑funnel ecosystem that includes video, display, and off‑site formats. Amazon’s share of retail media spend dropped from 56% to 46% as marketers allocate more budget to Walmart and mid‑size...
Incremental Attribution Cuts CPM 68% and Boosts Reach
A compelling case for more Incremental Attribution in your ad accounts. Maybe. I know many people are concerned with driving access to more NEW CUSTOMERS on meta. In a test across 13 accounts we found that IA campaigns delivered a 68% average...
Google Expands Gemini, AI Mode, and Personal Intelligence Globally
Updated the algo update / Google changes list with a few new things including: ⏺️ Personal intelligence rolled out to everyone in US ⏺️ Gemini in Google Maps ⏺️ Gemini in Chrome in more countries ⏺️ Canvas in AI Mode ⏺️ AI Mode shipped to...
AURN Teams With AdGrid For Multicultural Marketer Push
American Urban Radio Networks (AURN), a Black‑owned radio consortium led by Chesley Maddox‑Dorsey, announced a strategic partnership with ad‑tech platform AdGrid. The collaboration will launch a new initiative that blends AURN’s multicultural radio reach with AdGrid’s programmatic technology. The goal...
Give Ads 3‑4
I've analysed 500+ ad accounts. Here's the pattern: Accounts that killed ads after 24 hours never found winners. Accounts that let ads run 3-4 days found scalable campaigns. Your assumption that you should kill losers fast is wrong. You need...
AI Email Hyper-Personalization: Myth or Misused Time?
Do we really live in a world of AI email marketing hyper-personalisation? ... being as I've run a podcast for over 9 years and have interviewed over 650 people, maybe not? - Why are people still wasting out time like...
This CEO’s Storytelling Strategy Helps Turn Messy Situations Into Big Brand Wins
Sam Bakhshandehpour, former Global CEO of the José Andrés Group, leveraged spontaneous restaurant moments—like a rain‑soaked paella—to craft authentic brand stories that span dining rooms, TV series, and product kits. He positioned storytelling as the core of the company’s identity,...
Brand Becomes a Moat Only After Other Moats
Is brand a real moat? You can’t build a brand moat without having other moats first. So it can’t be an initial moat. But once you have a trusted brand then it becomes a moat itself. And might be the most powerful...
Compound Growth: How U.S. Bank Uses AI to Drive Revenue and Results
U.S. Bank is embedding artificial intelligence into its core growth engine, using AI‑generated synthetic audiences to slash campaign development time by roughly 50 percent. The bank’s AI‑driven personalization platform is already delivering tens of millions of dollars in incremental revenue by...
Sephora’s Zena Arnold on Navigating Trends, Shaping Discovery, and Marketing at the Speed of Culture
Sephora’s U.S. chief marketing officer Zena Arnold explained how the retailer distinguishes fleeting fads from genuine behavioral shifts, using systematic trend‑filtering processes. She highlighted the shift to continuous beauty discovery, where brands must appear across creators, culture and community. Arnold...
Eco or Budget Hotels? How To Market to Those Seeking Both
In 2026 sustainability has become a mainstream guest expectation, yet price sensitivity remains a dominant driver of travel decisions. The TravelBoom Leisure Travel Study shows 21.8% of travelers would pay more for eco‑friendly hotels, while 45% are actively cutting back...