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.
Chloe Varnfield Talks Sneaky Google Ads Settings and Tanking Performance
Chloe Varnfield, a veteran PPC specialist, reveals how hidden Google Ads settings and ill‑timed changes can cripple campaign performance. She recounts three costly mistakes: an automated assets feature that rewrites headlines, a Friday location‑target edit that unintentionally excluded the UK, and a rep‑driven bid‑strategy switch that collapsed conversions for two months. Varnfield also highlights persistent account hygiene issues—broken tracking, broad match on brand terms, and missing negative keywords—that still plague 2026 accounts. Her overarching lesson stresses rigorous audits, disciplined change management, and human oversight of AI‑generated content.
Trying to Build Brand Recognition? Here’s a Shortcut You’ll Wish You’d Known Sooner.
The article argues that brand recognition stems from disciplined creative direction rather than sheer volume. By establishing a unified point of view—through layout, language, imagery, and interaction—companies create a design language that feels intentional at every touchpoint. Early decisions about...
New Reach Costs Lower CVR—Stay the Course
If you want new reach be prepared to see a loss in CVR from Meta for the short term. So many are just continuing to look for the days of COVID era Meta magic. It's gone. Getting a customer takes...
Beyond CTR: Track ATC to Validate Creative Success
If you're only looking at CTR and CPM and calling it a day, it's pretty obvious why your creatives fail. CPM and CTR tell you how your ad is competing in the auction and whether people are clicking. That's it. They do...
EXCLUSIVE: Dow Jones Bolsters Brand Team By Hiring Former Droga5 Chief Andrew Essex
Dow Jones has appointed former Droga5 chief Andrew Essex as its brand director in residence and veteran Delwyn Gray to head events. Essex will oversee brand strategy across Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal assets, managing consumer and B2B campaigns...
OpenAI Is Testing An Ads Manager, As Its New Ads Business Fights Growing Pains
OpenAI has begun piloting an Ads Manager dashboard with a select group of partners, allowing real‑time creation, monitoring, and optimization of ChatGPT‑powered ad campaigns. Early testers receive weekly CSV reports detailing clicks, impressions, and spend. The program requires a minimum...
Key Contextual Data Points for Targeted and Brand-Safe CTV Advertising
At Streaming Media Connect 2026, Philo and Roku executives discussed how contextual data drives brand‑safe CTV advertising. Philo, a lean MVPD with just 11 ad‑operations staff, relies on programmatic workflows and granular tone signals—such as happy versus sad moments—to match...
LinkedIn Is the #1 Growth Engine for B2B Founders
I saw this post the other day: “Someone should buy LinkedIn and turn it off.” So. Dumb. If you sell B2B, there is literally no better place to get your business off the ground organically than LinkedIn. Nearly every Founder I've...
IHOP Is Bolstering Its Catering Channel
IHOP is intensifying promotion of its catering business as off‑premise sales climb, now representing 21% of total revenue. The chain has introduced proprietary packaging and local‑store marketing kits aimed at hotels, schools and conferences, while also targeting late‑night breakfast demand....
7 Claude Skills Cut 6+ Hours of Weekly Marketing Work
Everyone's building Claude Skills that save 30 seconds. I built 7 that replaced 6+ hours of weekly marketing work. The Founder Skills Vault: → Viral Content Generator → Content Pillar Generator → LinkedIn Content Analyzer → Lead Magnet Idea Generator → LinkedIn to X Converter → Warm DM...
AMC Networks’ CMO on Marketing ‘The Audacity’ at SXSW
AMC Networks is debuting its Silicon Valley drama "The Audacity" with a world premiere at SXSW, followed by an April 12 launch on AMC and AMC+. CMO Kim Granito frames the festival as a strategic touchpoint to reach tech‑savvy early...
Honesty Beats Hype: AI Startups Must Stop Deception
"For the last three years, the best growth strategy in AI has been to just lie." @synthesiaio co-founder @victorriparbelli calls it "the biggest fog of war in AI right now." "Just make a video of a product demo that's what you want...
Beehiiv Launches On-Demand Ads Marketplace for Instant Sponsorship
Beehiiv rolled out On-Demand Ads, a new feature in its Ad Network. It lets creators access sponsorship opportunities instantly through a marketplace and insert ad slots directly in newsletters, monetizing based on CPM and CPC performance. On-Demand Ads come months...
Sega Sammy Plans to Expand Transmedia Strategy as Mobile and Live Service Titles Take Centre Stage
Japanese game publisher Sega Sammy announced a broadening of its transmedia strategy, turning its flagship franchises into multi‑platform entertainment brands that span games, films, merchandise and live experiences. The plan places mobile and live‑service titles at the forefront, highlighted by...
YouTube Launches Podcast Vertical Lineups for Advertisers
YouTube has launched a U.S. Top Podcasts Lineup, letting advertisers buy ad inventory across curated podcast collections organized by five content verticals—Sports, News, Comedy, True Crime, and Society & Culture. The platform reports over 100 million daily podcast viewing hours and...
Why Your SaaS Needs Email Automation That Feels Human
SaaS companies must pair email automation with a human tone to keep users engaged as they scale. By leveraging behavioral data, firms can trigger timely, relevant messages that feel conversational rather than robotic. A concise welcome series, behavior‑driven re‑engagement, and...
CRM As Your Next Influencer Database: Using First-Party Data Inside an Influencer Marketing Platform
Brands are cutting influencer spend as costs rise and trust falls. The article proposes using CRM first‑party data to build an always‑on creator pool, turning loyal customers into authentic influencers. It outlines a Creator Potential framework—affinity, advocacy, reach—and behavior‑triggered recruitment....
Audit Your AI's Brand Knowledge Before Launch
Training the AIs is all of our jobs. Can it answer your prospects questions about your brand? Have you fed it the proof points it needs to recommend you? Is there any key information missing from it's training data?? It's...
Cornish Bakery ‘RISES’ with Significant New Brand Concept
Cornish Bakery is launching a new licensed concept called RISE, extending its brand into larger, community‑focused bakeries across the UK. The first three RISE locations—Betws‑y‑Coed, Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays, and Falmouth—will feature expanded floor space, extended trading hours, and a menu...
Campaign Trail: Benjamin Moore Paints a Timeless Picture of Growing Up
Benjamin Moore, the Berkshire Hathaway paint brand, has launched its latest “Timeless” campaign under the long‑running “See The Love” platform. The emotionally‑driven ads focus on family longevity, using a sister‑brother narrative shot on 35 mm film and distributed across broadcast, digital,...
Keyword Intent: What It Is and How to Use It in Your SEO Strategy
Keyword intent, the precursor to search intent, guides which keywords belong in a SEO strategy. The article outlines four primary intent categories—informational, commercial, transactional, navigational—and adds two often‑overlooked types: local and branded. It advises using intent as the first filter,...
IAB Sweden Expels Meta: Warns Advertisers About Fraud, Brand Safety
IAB Sweden’s board voted to expel Meta from its membership, citing the platform’s inadequate measures against fraudulent advertising. The decision follows a procedural correction after an earlier March 10 vote was invalidated. Meta has until the April 15 annual general...
Shopify Products Stay in ChatGPT, Checkout Shifts to Merchant Sites
The shift away from buying in ChatGPT continues. And Shopify's email to customers was as clear as mud :) -> Here's what's actually going to happen: Shopify merchants’ products will still appear inside ChatGPT conversations, but buyers will typically...
AI Mode Data, Ask Maps & Branded Queries Go Live – SEO Pulse via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google’s AI Mode now cites its own properties three times more often, with self‑citations climbing from 7% to 21% and a shift toward organic search results pages. The company also launched Ask Maps, a conversational AI feature in Maps that...
Premier Inn Celebrates Consistency in Revamped Brand Platform
Premier Inn announced a refreshed brand platform that emphasizes consistency across its 800‑plus UK hotels, rolled out through a new campaign created by Leo UK. The initiative standardises visual identity, tone of voice and service cues to deliver a uniform...
SiXiT Names Arshdeep Singh as Brand Ambassador for Cricket Balls
SiXiT has appointed Indian fast bowler Arshdeep Singh as the brand ambassador for its cricket ball line, leveraging his popularity to deepen ties with grassroots cricket. The company, a Rs 125 crore business, aims to broaden its portfolio beyond tennis balls into...
Some Struggling Kona Grill Locations to Be Rebranded
The One Group will rebrand five underperforming Kona Grill locations to its sister concepts Benihana or STK, part of a broader portfolio optimization after consecutive years of double‑digit same‑store sales declines. Conversions are slated to cost between $1 million and $1.5 million...
How Vessi Sells Waterproof Shoes
In this episode, Vessi’s Director of E‑commerce, Ray, explains how the D2C waterproof sneaker brand grew from a Kickstarter launch to double‑digit annual growth by focusing on a lightweight, breathable Diamond‑knit technology and a community‑first marketing strategy. He highlights the...
Is Google Hitting Self-Promotional Listicles Hard Again?
Google’s latest algorithm update is targeting self‑promotional listicles and other thin content produced by large language models. SEO experts Lily Ray and Gagan Ghorta have documented significant organic traffic declines for enterprise sites that rely on mass‑produced AI‑generated articles. The crackdown, first...
From Bedroom Demos to Studio Dreams: Why Brands Ditch Influencers for High-Production Livestreams
Brands are abandoning low‑budget influencer livestreams in favor of high‑production, brand‑controlled video commerce. Zara’s recent five‑hour Douyin showcase, hosted by a supermodel, drew over one million viewers, illustrating the power of polished, immersive experiences. The shift is driven by the...
New Google Business Profile Playbooks With Local Optimization Tips
Google has emailed site owners new Google Business Profile (GBP) Playbooks that outline local‑listing optimization tactics. The playbooks are available as PDFs for specific verticals—restaurants, hotels, tour operators, service‑area businesses—and a General Business Playbook covering universal best practices. A Google...
Growth Happens When You Stop Posting More
I grew my Instagram from 60 to 370 followers in the last month. For a long time I was the person watching everyone else grow thinking… “What are they doing that I’m not?” Then I found something that completely changed how I approach...
Know Each Ad’s Marginal Value to Set Production Costs
What is the marginal value of every ad you create? This is a critical metric to understand what you should be willing to pay for each asset you create. No different than COGs vs. MSRP. This idea is the starting point for...
Lenovo Launches ‘Pixel Deficiency’ Campaign Spotlighting Monitor Range
Lenovo has rolled out a digital‑first campaign called “Pixel Deficiency” to spotlight its monitor portfolio in India. The initiative features a four‑part, 45‑second film series that dramatizes how poor display quality can hinder work, gaming, design and study tasks. By...
Personalized Emails Deliver 4X Revenue Boost Over Blasts
Pura Vida got a 4X lift in email revenue by sending personalised emails based on customer history instead of generic blasts. Revenue grew 50% year-over-year. Meanwhile you're blasting your whole list with the same email. That's the gap.
New Guide Details LinkedIn's Latest Algorithm Changes
Just updated our Unofficial LinkedIn Algorithm Guide with yesterday's major updates from LinkedIn: https://t.co/nSCJLDrWnv #socialmedia #linkedin
Synscribe Launches SEO AI Agent That Autonomously Executes SEO & GEO – Claims to Replace Traditional Agencies
Singapore‑based Synscribe unveiled a multi‑tenant AI agent built on the open‑source OpenClaw framework that autonomously handles end‑to‑end SEO and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) tasks. The agent performs keyword research, creates landing pages, builds links and even drafts blog posts, reducing...
HeyGen Introduces Styles: Choose Visual Identity for Videos
This is the Video Agent update I've been waiting for. HeyGen just dropped Styles — you choose a visual identity before you hit generate, and it handles everything. Fonts, colors, pacing, layout. Not a filter. The entire output changes. https://t.co/YB6VPq6b8c
Scaling B2B Spend Hits Ceiling Without More High-Intent Searches
Many B2B teams hit the same paid media ceiling. ~$50K/month works great. High-intent searches. Strong ROAS. Push toward $100K and performance drops. The reason: the pool of high-intent searches didn’t grow. So campaigns expand into broader keywords and lower-intent traffic. https://t.co/7KT8w4dMcz
The AI SEO Checklist For Restaurants
AI‑driven search engines like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity no longer rely on traditional SEO signals such as meta tags or backlinks. Instead they pull from third‑person, recommendation‑style content and trusted mentions across the web. For restaurants, this means they can...
CMO Signs up with Personal Gmail—Lead Qualification Dilemma
CMO at a $1B+ company signed up for our thing last night, but used his Gmail. Should we count it as a lead or not?
From Speed to Trust: Quality Content Drives Leads
Marketing brags today: I produced [5x more] content in [90% less time] AI visibility grew by [50%] My hope for future marketing brags: I grew trust brand signals per content piece by [50%] resulting in [20% lift] in brand metrics Correlating to a...
MMM Platform Mutinex Brings On TransUnion’s Mike Finnerty To Head Its US Business
Mutinex, an Australian‑origin marketing mix modeling platform, announced that former TransUnion SVP Mike Finnerty will become its US president to accelerate the company’s expansion stateside. Finnerty, who oversaw marketing solutions after TransUnion’s $3.1 billion Neustar acquisition, will lead Mutinex’s push to...
Big Meta Spend? Audit These 5 Critical Inputs
Spending $50K+/month on Meta ads doesn't always mean your account is set up right. It could mean you're scaling the wrong inputs faster. Here are 5 things to audit in Ads Manager this month:
Criteo CEO Discusses AI‑Powered RecSys, Automation, OpenAI Deal
This week on the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, I interview Criteo’s CEO about the company’s RecSys system for retail use cases, its Criteo GO automation platform, and its recently-announced partnership with OpenAI. https://t.co/Tuy7wrnLJg
Peacock to Give Bravo Fans Personalized Experience With AI Andy Cohen
At a Peacock product preview, NBCUniversal unveiled "Your Bravoverse," an AI‑driven vertical‑video experience that uses Andy Cohen’s voice and likeness to guide users through personalized Bravo playlists drawn from over 5,000 hours of content. The feature, slated for a summer launch, lets...
Founders Confuse Sales Gaps with Product Flaws
seeng founders with sales pipeline problems masquerading as product problems you need to be stress testing messaging, positioning, pricing and packaging with the market just as much as you are stress testing the product final validation that the product works happens...
Master AI Visibility Without Sacrificing SEO
🚨 Who’s Winning the AI Visibility Race, and How to Compete Without Risking Your SEO? Don't miss the free webinar hosted by @AdelleKehoe of @Similarweb where @lilyraynyc and I will be going through the biggest insights from...
Industry Snapshot: Meaningful Media Planning
5th Element’s CEO Muneef Khan says media planning in 2026 has moved from buying audiences to buying moments, using a behavioral cascade model that aligns each touchpoint with a decision trigger. He warns that algorithms are conservative and must be...
Google Says They Deploy Hundreds Of Undocumented Crawlers via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
Google’s podcast revealed that the historic "Googlebot" label now covers hundreds of distinct crawlers operating across its product suite. Internally, these crawlers use a SaaS‑style fetching service, nicknamed "Jack," which exposes API endpoints for web requests. Most of these specialized...