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.
Mehak Gulati Leaves Airtel After Seven Years as Chief Brand Officer
Mehak Gulati, who joined Bharti Airtel in 2019, announced her departure as chief brand officer, ending a seven‑year tenure that saw the carrier revamp its brand, media, and AI‑driven marketing. Her exit comes as the telecom market intensifies competition over 5G rollout and customer acquisition.
Las Vegas Resorts Launch $100‑$400 All‑Inclusive Packages to Win Back Budget Travelers
Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts introduced all‑inclusive bundles priced $100 to $400 per night, adding food, drinks and perks to lure cost‑conscious visitors. The move responds to a dip in visitor traffic reported by the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors...
NIQ Unveils AI‑Powered Price & Promo Optimizer to Streamline Retail Margins
NIQ Global Intelligence (NYSE:NIQ) launched an AI‑enabled Price & Promo Optimizer on May 9, 2026, designed to centralize pricing and promotion workflows for manufacturers. The tool uses store‑level data to simulate scenarios, letting brands test pricing moves before they reach...
Lux OOH Advertising Declares Out‑of‑Home the Premier World Cup 2026 Brand Play
Lux OOH Advertising says out‑of‑home (OOH) advertising will be the most effective channel for brands during the 2026 World Cup, a six‑week tournament spanning 16 U.S., Canadian and Mexican cities, 48 teams and 104 matches. The agency warns digital‑only campaigns...
Does Chery’s Roster of Brands Provide More Opportunities in Canada?
Chery Automobile is entering Canada with a Volkswagen‑style multi‑brand portfolio that spans mainstream, premium, electric and commercial vehicles. The group will leverage the 2026 Canadian trade framework, which caps a 6.1% tariff on an initial quota of 49,000 units, to...
One of Europe’s Largest Airline Groups Considers Name Change as It Eyes Further Growth
Air France‑KLM is weighing a corporate name change to better reflect its expanding portfolio, which now includes stakes in SAS Scandinavian Airlines and a potential major share in TAP Air Portugal. CEO Benjamin Smith has floated a working title, “The...
One Year, 15 Posts, 1K Substack Subscribers
Sharing this openly. Maybe a bit corny, but I am proud that I finally got to 1K subscribers on Substack. And I'll be honest. It was harder than I thought. It took me one year. I wrote 15 posts. About 4-6...
Ad Stack Rebuilt Around Generative Retrieval
Fantastic new (from April) paper from Kuaishou on GR4AD (Generative Recommendation for ADvertising). Kuaishou has made several important recent contributions to generative recommendation systems, particularly with its OneRec architecture. But GR4AD advances a more radical proposition: that the modern advertising...
Google Ads Embeds Tag Manager Controls to Streamline Campaign Tracking
Google Ads has rolled out native Google Tag Manager controls within its Data Manager, allowing marketers to view and edit GTM containers without leaving the Ads interface. The move eliminates a long‑standing technical hurdle, promising faster iteration and more reliable...
Automate Video Creation to Save 10 Hours Weekly
The best AI builders set up systems to help them ship faster. Here's @moritzkremb's system to create short videos that saves him 10 hours a week: 1. Cron jobs scrape ideas from X and YouTube 2. AI generates rough notes for the script 3....
Product Marketing: Underrated Path for Tech Career Changers
Product marketing is slept on by people trying to move into tech. It blends strategy, communication, customer research, data, launches, storytelling, and business sense. That is a real lane.
Mobile Gaming Spend Hits $6.55 B in Feb 2026, Driving New In‑Game Ad Strategies
Sensor Tower data shows global mobile game spending climbed to $6.55 billion in February 2026, led by the United States at 30% of the market. The surge is pushing advertisers toward more immersive, genre‑specific in‑game ads and localized creative tactics. Yeahmobi’s...
Real Growth Starts With a Precise ICP Exercise
Most B2B Founders think they have an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). But then they send 15,000 emails and get zero real responses. They try blogging. They try ads. They try "AI personalization." Crickets. The reality? A meticulous ICP on paper doesn't guarantee a single...
HubSpot Agent Delivers Hours Saved and Compounding Value
One of the easiest ways to start getting measurable value from agents is HubSpot's Customer Agent. "Setup took less than a day. We're already clawing back hundreds of hours for our CS team. The deeper we go into the HubSpot...
Social Media Is Not Enough. How Smart Founders Market Themselves in the Age of AI
Founders increasingly rely on social media to acquire customers, but the sheer size of the ecosystem—4.8 billion users covering 60% of the global population—creates a false sense of security. AI‑driven algorithm changes threaten the stability of any single‑platform strategy, turning what...
Scale Ads Wisely: Track These Crucial KPIs
Writing Most businesses don’t fail because of bad products. They fail because they scale ads without understanding the numbers behind growth. If you’re running Meta or Google Ads, here are the KPIs that actually matter: • CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)...
Test, Iterate, and Spam: Real Data Refines Messaging
A hill I will die on as a messaging strategist: your message improves the most when you put it out there. IT doesn't change in a silo. It's been through testing, iterating using DATA where I get my message to perform...
Sales Are Up. Celebrities Are In. Is Gap Officially Back?
Gap Inc., under CEO Richard Dickson, is attempting to revive its cultural cachet by leveraging celebrity partnerships and entertainment tie‑ins after years of store closures and stagnant sales. Dickson, who previously revitalized Mattel brands, is drawing on the retailer’s 57‑year...
Threads Elevates Substance Over Slick LinkedIn Personas
Two weeks into this Threads experiment. Followers up. DMs from legal ops circles up. White paper waitlist crossed 200. Surprising me: the speakers who reach out aren't the ones with the slickest LinkedIn. They're the ones replying with substance in the comments. Threads...
Mesmerize Deploys 3,000+ Brand‑Ambassador Teams for 2026 FIFA World Cup Activations
Product‑sampling agency Mesmerize is fielding more than 3,000 U.S. brand ambassadors across Miami, New York and Los Angeles for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, offering brands a single partner to run multi‑city, multi‑week experiential campaigns. The effort leverages the tournament’s...
ADSQUIRE Launches First Lawyer Ad Inside ChatGPT, Opening AI Legal Marketing Frontier
ADSQUIRE announced it has placed the first lawyer advertisement inside OpenAI's ChatGPT, marking a historic entry for legal marketing into conversational AI. The campaign promotes Pennsylvania personal‑injury education and showcases the agency’s push to claim early inventory on emerging AI...
Growth Comes From People, Not Paid Ads
Most founders think growth = ads. But the best growth channel is other people. Affiliates, partners, creators.
Gucci, Dior, Burberry: A Tale of Three Turnarounds
Wall Street is now valuing Tapestry, the parent of Coach, almost on par with Kering, the owner of Gucci, reflecting divergent turnaround progress among luxury houses. Meanwhile, Armani is reportedly preparing to sell a 15% stake to a consortium that...
Meet the YouTube Whisperers, a Booming Class of Advisors Behind MrBeast and Other Million-Dollar Channels
YouTube’s creator economy is maturing into a high‑value industry, with the platform now delivering 12.7% of U.S. streaming traffic and having paid out over $100 billion to creators since 2021. A growing class of consultants, exemplified by Paddy Galloway, charge $15,000‑$12,000 per...
Target Is Trying to Win Back Busy Families From Walmart, Starting with the Baby Aisle
Target is converting baby aisles in about 200 stores into "baby boutiques," showcasing premium strollers, car seats and high‑end brands like UPPAbaby. The move is part of CEO Michael Fiddelke’s turnaround plan to win back busy families who have drifted...
Roku Changes Its Home Screen, Pushing You to Use Its Free Streaming Service The Roku Channel on Roku TVs &...
Roku has introduced a subtle shaking animation to the The Roku Channel icon on the home screens of its TVs and streaming players, a move designed to draw attention and increase app launches. The tactic mirrors an earlier experiment with...
Amazon's Weak Copywriting Costs Sales and Price Potential
Does anyone else agree with me that Amazon is a total fail on the copywriting front? If they actually employed someone with basic writing skills to write product descriptions with some emotional appeal, they could raise prices by 10% and...
AI Automates Real-World Merchandising From Map to Delivery
This is one of the wildest AI business systems I’ve seen. An OpenClaw agent scans Google Maps, finds local businesses with zero branded merch, generates photoreal product mockups with their logo, sends personalized offers, and auto-ships orders after payment. The entire business...
Ford Unveils $30,000 Electric Pickup to Win Price‑sensitive Truck Buyers
Ford announced a $30,000 electric pickup built on its Universal Electric Vehicle platform, aiming to attract cost‑aware buyers and revive its faltering EV sales. The low‑price strategy hinges on a 350‑person skunkworks team that cut weight by 15% and reduced...
Wendy’s Rolls Out Blue‑Themed ‘Future Fresh’ Restaurants to Boost Global Growth
Wendy’s announced a brand‑refresh that replaces its iconic red with a blue‑themed ‘Future Fresh’ design, first rolled out at 100 Philippine locations. Interim CEO Ken Cook said the new look aims to expand growth overseas while the chain continues its...
KFC Rolls Out $10 ‘Bucket of the Day’ Family Menu to Revive U.S. Sales
KFC unveiled a $10 "Bucket of the Day" menu that offers family‑size meals five nights a week, expanding its long‑running $10 Tuesday deal. The rollout targets a slowdown in U.S. sales and taps a YouGov‑cited 66% of diners who prioritize...
Modern Marketing With MichaelAaron Flicker – This Week’s Thinking With Mitch Joel Conversation
Episode #1035 of Thinking With Mitch Joel features behavioral‑science expert MichaelAaron Flicker discussing the paradox of modern marketing: unprecedented data, tools, and precision coexist with fragile consumer trust, attention, and loyalty. Flicker, who founded his first company at 14 and...
AI Adoption Hits 16.3% Globally, Prompting a Strategic Shift in Digital Advertising
Microsoft’s 2025 Global AI Adoption Report finds 16.3% of the world—about one in six people—now use AI tools daily. Yeahmobi says the milestone is reshaping ad targeting, with mature markets moving toward performance‑driven messaging and emerging markets focusing on accessibility...
Humanoid Robot Fight Goes Viral as Bay Area Store Prepares for Season 1 Launch
Cix Liv’s virtual‑reality firm showcased the first public duel between Engine and Unitree humanoid robots at its new San Francisco store, sparking a viral video that has drawn millions of views. The showdown sets the stage for the Ultimate Fighting...
Flipkart Turns up the Heat with ‘Too Hot to Handle, Uncle’ Summer Campaign
Flipkart has rolled out the "Too Hot to Handle, Uncle" summer campaign ahead of its SASA LELE half‑yearly sale starting May 9. Developed by 22feet Tribal Worldwide, the ad leverages the familiar Indian "summer uncle" archetype to showcase cooling appliances and other...
Google Drops FAQ Rich Results From Search via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google announced the deprecation of FAQ rich results, ending their appearance in Search on May 7, 2026. The Rich Results Test and reporting in Search Console will be removed in June, with API support ending in August. While the FAQPage schema...
Mumbai’s Koli Women Are Rewriting the Seafood Business One WhatsApp Order at a Time
Mumbai’s Koli women have transformed their informal fish‑stall trade into Daryavardi Producer Company Limited (DPCL), a community‑owned seafood enterprise launched in April 2023. The women‑run firm now boasts over 1,000 shareholders, modern packaging, centralized logistics and digital ordering via WhatsApp and...
How to Buy Podcast Ads: A 2026 Playbook
Podcast advertising has moved from experimental to a core media category, with global ad revenue reaching $4.02 billion in 2024 and U.S. spend at $2.57 billion. The playbook outlines how B2B marketers can treat podcast buys with the same rigor as paid...
Stepping Into the Future with the Power of Data
Globacom rolled out two new television commercials, “Road Trip” and “Department of Imagination,” starring Nigerian celebrities to illustrate its promise of seamless connectivity. The ads juxtapose everyday reliability with a futuristic vision, underscoring the company’s recent network upgrades and the...
Unified “Single Brain” Platform Supercharges Marketing Efficiency
My bet is everyone is going to have something River-like at their company. We have been doing this for the last 2 months at my company - we call it 'Single Brain'. Since we're a marketing services company, we...
Low Engagement Signals Need to Rethink Your Threads Strategy
The lack of engagement on my last 20 posts suggests I am terrible at @threads. What should I change?
34 AI in Marketing Statistics: Industry Trends in 2026
AI is reshaping marketing as the global AI‑marketing market is projected to hit $82 billion by 2030, growing at a 25% CAGR. In 2025 AI solutions will comprise 28% of the average marketing‑tech budget, and 71% of CMOs plan to spend...
War's Influence Redefines Luxury Brand Strategy
Join Shelley and TRR contributors Arick Wierson and Pamela Danziger as they deconstruct the impact of the war and challenge the conventional wisdom driving luxury brand strategy. https://t.co/eYGK9CKGPn
Quantify Pain in Dollars, Not Annoyance, to Drive Sales
Founders: Strong sales narratives quantify pain in dollars and cents. 'This is annoying' won't drive action. 'This costs you $50k per month' will get attention.
BookTok Fuels 821 Million Book Sales, Turns Authors Into TikTok Creators
BookTok has generated a record‑breaking 821 million book purchases in 2021, with the #BookTok hashtag topping 78.7 million posts. The TikTok sub‑community is reshaping publishing by demanding that authors act as short‑form video creators, a shift that retailers and houses are scrambling...
The Internet Rewards Niche Content at Massive Scale
Weekly reminder: The internet lets you be niche at scale (and rewards you heavily for it)
AI Replicates 0‑to‑10K X Growth in 3 Months
I grew the 𝕏 account of @vitaliidodonov from 0 → 10K followers in just 3 months. Then I trained an AI on my exact strategies so you can get the same results. Reply "X" and I'll DM you the link to try...
GlobalGPT Launches Open-Access AI Content Suite
Ok this is kind of wild. GlobalGPT just quietly added Seedance 2.0 and Wan 2.7. No invite code. No regional barrier. No waiting list. You can now generate AI ads, comic videos, dance clips, cinematic shots, and running videos from one tab. https://t.co/XaLDs2Qr5c
2026 Vanguard List Reveals B2B Marketing’s Real Priorities
Misunderstood Marketing - : What the 2026 Marketing Vanguard List Actually Tells B2B Marketer https://t.co/NpLcA8Wvy0
Martech Shift: Cockpit Turns Into Engine Room
The Great Martech Inversion: When the Cockpit Becomes the Engine Room by @Timothy_Hughes https://t.co/o8VHexq82B @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Sales #Marketing #Leadership #ArtificialIntelligence #TechNews #AI #CX #CRM #MarketingSuccess #MarketingStrategy #AIAgents https://t.co/xCi4XFaQ7b