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.
VRC Non-Skip Ads Are Now Generally Available, Allowing Brands to Reach TV Audiences with Google AI.
Google has made its VRC Non‑Skip ad format generally available worldwide through Google Ads and Display & Video 360. The offering targets connected‑TV inventory, delivering 6‑second bumpers, 15‑second standard and 30‑second non‑skippable spots that play in full. Google’s AI dynamically selects the optimal format and audience, promising higher unique reach and efficiency compared with manual single‑format buys. Leveraging YouTube’s three‑year run as the U.S.’s #1 streaming platform, the product taps a massive living‑room audience.
Embrace AEO Now for Upstream Growth Advantage
Twenty years ago, I chose the channel I could measure over the one that could compound. Paid search felt clean. SEO felt messy. Looking back, avoiding SEO early was one of my biggest growth regrets. Today feels similar. AEO is...
Google Uses Both schema.org Markup and Og:image Meta Tag for Thumbnails in Google Search and Discover
Google updated its image SEO guidance, confirming that both schema.org markup (such as primaryImageOfPage, mainEntity, and mainEntityOfPage) and the og:image meta tag are consulted when selecting thumbnail images for Google Search and Discover. The new documentation outlines how publishers can...
Generate Every Gmail Dot Variation for Free
We built a free Gmail generator. Most people don't know about the Gmail dot trick. Gmail ignores dots. So j.ohnsmith and jo.hnsmith both land in the same inbox. This tool generates every version of your Gmail so you can test email flows...
When You Follow Someone New On Social Media, Post About It
The article advises users to announce new follows on social media using a short, shareable post. By tagging the person and explaining why they’re worth following, you increase the chance they’ll notice and possibly follow back. The practice also encourages...
DFS Partners with ITV to Deliver an Integrated Marketing Campaign with Britain’s Got Talent
DFS has partnered with ITV to embed its brand into the 19th season of Britain’s Got Talent, featuring 10‑second TV commercials and bespoke sofas on set. The campaign includes an Amanda Holden‑branded sofa collection, social media sponsorship, and a competition...
Seeking Top US Product Marketer to Bridge Gap
I'm looking for a world-class Product Marketer (US-based 🇺🇸 ). Know one? 👀 @Ahrefs' product team is shipping faster than our marketing can keep up — and I need someone who can help us close that gap. Not a "landing page copywriter." Not...
Anthropic's Brand Pivot Makes Claude #1 App
I talk a lot about Brand Storytelling - and getting to a distinctive story.... And, admittedly, it gets really esoteric at times... It can be really hard to see how all the pieces fit together... But - look out... Anthropic...
Agencies Should Shift to Solution-Led Pricing Models, Global Agency Body Says
VoxComm, the global agency coalition, is urging firms to abandon legacy fee structures and adopt solution‑led pricing models. The guidance argues that AI‑driven insights enable agencies to tie compensation directly to measurable brand growth outcomes. It outlines a framework for...
Replace SaaS with Claude, Save Thousands in One Day
As a brand owner you should be using claude to save $1000s on costs by building AI tools to replace all the different SaaS products you’re using. Here's 6 tools that you can easily build in one day. 1. Organic...
Profit‑First Strategy Beats Campaign Management in 2026
Two years ago, targeting expertise was a job that Meta now offers for free. The best agencies today are helping brands understand their true profitability, build offers that actually resonate, and create content that supports both. The button pushing comes in...
On the Move: USAA Hires Curtin of Sam's Club
USAA announced the appointment of Chris Curtin, former CMO of Sam’s Club, as its new chief marketing officer, bringing experience from Bank of America, Visa, HP and Disney. Hemlo Mining named Jason Banducci as vice president of corporate development and investor...
Brand Fuels Performance; Performance Rarely Builds Brand
It's often said that "brand drives performance, and performance builds brand", but in many cases only the first half of that statement is true. Which is problematic when you have a program whose budget heavily favors performance marketing. Brand definitely...
Monday Memo: If It Doesn’t Matter to the Customer, It Doesn’t Matter
Holland Cooke’s memo argues that advertising copy should prioritize the customer’s problem over the company’s credentials. He illustrates the shift with side‑by‑side rewrites for plumbing, dental, auto glass, and veterinary services, turning generic service lists into direct, benefit‑focused calls. The...
New ClickFlow AI Visibility Tracks Brand Presence Across Platforms
Happy to announce that we just added our AI Brand Visibility feature in ClickFlow. It tracks how brands appear across AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity: ranking position, mention type, sentiment, and competitor comparison. ClickFlow is our *quality* content generator and...
India’s Ad Watchdog Deploys Influencers to Combat Greenwashing, Dark Patterns
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has rolled out its first influencer‑led consumer awareness campaign targeting greenwashing and dark‑pattern advertising. Eight prominent Indian creators, including Shraddha Jain and Aisha Ahmed, will disseminate educational content on evaluating sustainability claims and...
Creator-Led Agency The Now Agency Launches, Secures BJ’s Restaurants, MLSE Among Early Clients
The Now Agency, a creator‑led social‑native firm founded by Gabe Feldman and Jonathan Chanti, officially launched in June 2025 under the Reign Maker Group. Within its first year it landed marquee clients including BJ’s Restaurants, Les Mills, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment,...
From Dubai to Miami Beach, Creator Economy Conferences Fill April 2026 Calendar
April 2026 will host a packed lineup of creator‑economy conferences across Dubai, New York, London, Lisbon, Los Angeles and more. Events such as the Dubai Creator Summit, Social Media Week, NAB Show and Canva Create bring together nano‑to‑macro influencers, brands, marketers and...
Inside Mercedes-Benz’s Custom Amazon Prime Video Ads Push Around the NBA
Mercedes‑Benz USA teamed with Amazon Ads to launch a series of custom creative spots that aired during Prime Video’s NBA broadcasts in January and February, featuring Dirk Nowitzki showcasing GLS features. The campaign targets younger, diversified luxury buyers by leveraging live‑sports...
AiMCO Recognizes Top Creators, Brands, And Agencies At Inaugural Sydney Summit And Awards
Australia’s Influencer Marketing Council (AiMCO) held its first summit and the 2025 AiMCO Awards in Sydney, celebrating creators, brands, agencies and technology partners. The event highlighted the “Creator Era” theme and featured keynotes from major players such as MECCA, Tourism...
What Salesforce’s Consumption-Based Pricing Means for Martech
Salesforce’s Data 360 is moving to a consumption‑based pricing model, replacing the traditional seat‑and‑channel fees that have dominated Martech. The new approach charges customers only for actual data ingestion, profile unification, segmentation and activation events, making costs directly tied to...
How Small Businesses Can Win in the AI Era
AI has become the first stop in many consumer journeys, with 36% of couples now using AI for wedding planning—a near‑doubling year‑over‑year. The Knot Worldwide responded by launching a ChatGPT‑based app that surfaces vetted vendors directly within the AI chat....
Smartly Announces Amazon DSP Integration to Extend Intelligent Creative and Campaign Management to Connected TV
Smartly announced an integration with Amazon DSP that lets advertisers extend their video campaigns to Amazon’s premium connected‑TV inventory, including Prime Video, Fire TV, and third‑party publishers. The partnership embeds AI‑driven creative optimization and personalization directly into Smartly’s platform, eliminating...
Aligned Marketing Creates Predictable Revenue Through Clear Messaging
If your sales aren’t consistent, your marketing isn’t aligned. You don’t need more content. You need clarity. One message. One transformation. One cohesive customer journey. When your marketing systems works together, your audience feels confident buying and that’s when revenue becomes predictable. 👇 Comment TRAINING and I’ll...
YouTube’s AI Slop Problem And How Marketers Can Compete via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
YouTube’s platform is being flooded by low‑quality, mass‑produced AI videos, dubbed “AI slop,” which now appear in roughly one‑in‑five Shorts recommendations to new users. A Kapwing analysis identified 278 dedicated AI slop channels that together generated 63 billion views, 221 million subscribers...
Growth Depends on Capital Allocation, Not Marketing Effort
At $10M ARR, pipeline isn’t driven by effort. It’s driven by capital design. Marketing at this stage is not creativity. It’s capital allocation. If you hire a CMO but: • Don’t fund demand • Don’t fund enablement • Don’t fund...
Cold Outreach Success Is Pure Math, Not Talent
You don’t have a closing problem. You have a math problem. The average response rate on cold outreach is about 5%. That means for every 20 messages you send, one person replies. Not that one person buys. One person replies. Most agency owners...
A Sweet Proposition
Quick‑service restaurants are pivoting toward bright, sugary beverages to win over Gen Z and millennial diners who are less price‑sensitive than older consumers. Brands such as Blank Street Coffee, Starbucks and Dutch Bros have seen cold, flavor‑forward drinks now dominate a large...
![Why SEO Now Depends on Citation-Worthy Content [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell](https://hixhlmpcokxhartfkpyi.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/images/thumbnails/0e7a6e922f23c0e0633be05c5fd71eaa.webp)
Why SEO Now Depends on Citation-Worthy Content [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
Large language models now power AI‑driven search experiences such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, shifting visibility from traditional blue‑link results to answer snippets that cite trusted sources. Marketers must create citation‑worthy content—research, educational, comparison, and expert contributions—to be...
AI Bots Don’t Need Markdown Pages
Publishers are experimenting with serving Markdown‑only versions of pages to generative AI bots, hoping to reduce crawl load and boost bot traffic. Early tests show modest increases in bot visits but no measurable lift in search visibility. Google and Bing...
Google Docs New UCP Checkout Integration for Merchants
Heads-up for ecommerce sites -> Google Publishes Help Page for Universal Commerce Protocol and UCP-powered checkout feature on Google "Now, the new documentation clarifies how merchants can implement the native_commerce attribute to enable a Buy button that moves checkout directly onto...
Criteo Joins OpenAI Advertising Pilot in ChatGPT
Criteo has become the first advertising‑technology partner in OpenAI’s ChatGPT Free and Go advertising pilot in the United States. The integration lets brands run Criteo‑powered ads directly within the ChatGPT interface, leveraging the platform’s commerce‑focused AI decisioning. Early data shows...
Experiential Marketing Trend of the Week: Red-Carpet Activations
Red‑carpet activations are evolving from simple photo ops into fully immersive, experiential events. Major studios such as Disney, Netflix, Universal Pictures and Prime Video are building themed environments, interactive games, and low‑waste productions that invite talent, media and fans to...
Stop Quick Wins: Educate and Segment Leads for Pipeline Growth
Pipeline not growing? You might be making these 3 classic mistakes.. It’s painfully common: B2B Marketers and Founders get stuck on the sales treadmill, chasing only those who seem ready to buy now, ignoring the bigger picture. 1. Chasing Quick...
Home Centre Ramadan Campaign Drives 595% Uplift in Engagement
Home Centre’s Ramadan campaign leveraged three gamified hero films to transform passive viewers into active participants, delivering a 595% surge in comment activity compared with the previous year. The social‑first rollout across Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other channels reached 70% of...
Google Ranking Volatility Remains Extremely High in March
Google Search ranking volatility continues to be super heated into March https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-ranking-volatility-heat-march-41014.html #google #googleupdate #googlealgorithmupdate #googleseo #seo
Meta Forces Monthly Invoicing for Ad Spend.
Meta wants you to change your credit card Meta ad spend to monthly invoicing by 1970. https://t.co/lYg0yVpaBO
TMW Raids TBWA\Media Arts Lab for New Strategy Chief
TMW, now part of Accenture Song, has appointed Jasmin Kocur as group strategy director to co‑lead its earned‑first team. Kocur arrives from TBWA\Media Arts Lab after a decade at Digitas, bringing deep social, creator and campaign expertise. The move expands...
Google Pulls Both Markup and Og:image for Thumbnails
Google uses both https://t.co/gU44DpGD2b markup and og:image meta tag for thumbnails in Google Search and Discover https://t.co/LiL2uDFGdk
Every SaaS Business Has a Viable Path Forward.
Big @intercom & @Fin_ai update with numbers from @eoghan There is a way forward for every SaaS business...you just might not like it. Read on...👇
Mobile Apps Boost Conversion and AOV; Ignore at Your Peril
The Oodie launched a mobile app and saw a 135% higher conversion rate and 37% higher AOV vs their website. 75% were net new customers. Meanwhile you're ignoring mobile apps entirely. That's the gap.
AI‑generated Slop Makes up 21% of New Shorts
AI-generated slop accounts for 21% of YouTube Shorts shown to new users. Here's what this means for marketers and where your content is most protected. https://t.co/bPFCSffiUD via @MattGSouthern, @sejournal
Google Clamps Down on Spammy SEO Agency Sites
The crackdown on SEO agency sites continues... These sites used lots of self-promoting listicles, service area pages for many cities (without physical offices there), excessive industry pages, and other scaled tactics that can eventually cause major SEO problems. https://t.co/7yQn2hMq1p
Ahrefs Report Builder Gains Higher Limits and New Features
We heard your feedback. @ahrefs Report Builder is now more accessible, with higher limits to make reporting easier for everyone. 📈 -More reports & widgets for Lite+ -Scheduling now on Standard+ https://t.co/bLKyBCrL3w
Recipe Site Gains Momentum After 2023 HCU Launch
Wow, this is a recipe site I worked on after the 2023 HCU... cool to see its visibility growing so much now. https://t.co/tHwxnVrRKs
Google Discover Gets Major Profile Updates – New Article
Nice new article on Google Discover and the latest Discover profile changes by my teammate @JohnnyHerge https://t.co/iQap8dufeJ
Bruce Honors Mascots While Chasing P&G Sale
Meet Bruce. He’s Got a Long Line of Advertising Mascots to Honor in Quest to Sell for Procter & Gamble https://t.co/CEGcvtR0UM via @variety
Weekly SEO Recap: Google Updates, Bugs, AI Risks
Catch up on last week with the SEO Video Recap covering the Google Discover core update being done, Google volatility, search serving bug, AI prompt injection, Google Ads, local, Bing guidelines and more https://t.co/yRf42eN8G0
P&G Eyes Mascot for New Weed‑killer Brand
Procter & Gamble has backed ad mascots ranging from Mr. Clean to the Charmin bears. Now it's hoping to add another one to its roster --- for weed-killer? https://t.co/CEGcvtR0UM via @variety
Meta AI Assistant Begins Testing Shopping Search Feature
Focus on ecommerce? -> Meta starts testing AI Shopping features in Meta AI assistant "Meta is developing a shopping feature for its Meta AI assistant on the web, offering US users product searches and visual carousels of item cards." https://t.co/QAP4x5goEP