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.
Anthropic Clarifies How Claude Bots Crawl Sites and How to Block Them
Anthropic updated its crawler documentation, detailing three distinct user agents—ClaudeBot, Claude‑User, and Claude‑SearchBot—and their respective functions. ClaudeBot gathers public web content for training Anthropic’s generative AI models, Claude‑User retrieves pages in response to user queries, and Claude‑SearchBot indexes sites to improve Claude’s search results. The company explains that blocking each bot via robots.txt has specific implications for training inclusion, real‑time query access, and search visibility. Site owners can use standard Disallow directives, but IP‑based blocks are unreliable because the bots use rotating cloud IP ranges.
Popular AEO Tactic Risks Trouble when Overused
Yep seen this as a very popular AEO tactic for the last year. I think it falls into the grey area - one of those approaches that probably would have been fine on a small scale, but will likely lead to...
Holiday Email Marketing Guide: Tips + Real-World Examples
The guide outlines a data‑driven holiday email marketing strategy as online sales surge to $296.7 billion, emphasizing early planning, personalization, and creative content. It highlights the channel’s strong ROI—$10 to $36 for every dollar spent—and warns of inbox fatigue as two‑thirds...
Marketers Complain of ‘Chaos, Burn-Out and Fatigue’
A new report from global B2B agency Tmp, based on surveys of 1,000 marketers and tech buyers in the UK and US, reveals that more than half of marketers describe their environment as chaotic, with 34% experiencing burnout and fatigue...
The Next Big Ad Platform? How AppLovin Is Quietly Scaling eCommerce Brands
In this episode, Pep Hufen, CEO of Smart Marketer Agency, breaks down AppLovin’s Axon Ads platform, a mobile gaming network now open to eCommerce that boasts over a billion daily users, primarily women in their 30s‑40s. He explains how Axon’s...
The Art (And Science) Of Measurement with Extreme Reach’s Sherman Li
Extreme Reach (XR) operates as a full‑stack ad‑operations hub, handling everything from payroll and asset management to multi‑platform delivery. The company recently announced a digital integration with Nielsen One, allowing advertisers to attach audience measurement data directly to each ad....
TV Media Buyers Want Outcomes – So Nielsen Is Introducing More Advanced Audiences
Nielsen announced the addition of more than 200 advanced audience segments to its Nielsen ONE cross‑platform dashboard, drawing on Scarborough’s extensive U.S. consumer surveys. The new segments span demographics, purchase behavior and lifestyle categories, and are intended to improve TV...
EE and Kevin Bacon Part Ways After 14 Years
EE announced it is ending its 14‑year partnership with actor Kevin Bacon, who has been the brand’s voiceover since 2012. The telecom giant will replace Bacon with popular radio and TV presenter Nick Grimshaw, who will begin recording new ads...
Entrinsik to Showcase Informer at Several Conferences Spring 2026
Entrinsik announced a spring 2026 roadshow, speaking and exhibiting at Accelerate, Ellucian Live, and MultiValue World. Scott Allen will lead a session on data‑driven agency growth at Accelerate, while the company will demo Informer AI Assistants for campus‑wide personalization at...
Ads Decoded Episode 3 Explores How Google Is Reimagining Search Ads Experiences in a Way that Delivers Value for Both...
Google’s Ads Decoded episode 3 reveals how the company redesigns Search ad experiences to benefit both users and advertisers. The discussion, led by Ginny Marvin, Ads UI Product Manager Abby Butler, and Search Ads UX Lead Adam Bullock, details the...
Jameson Celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with Activations
Jameson Irish Whiskey marked St. Patrick’s Day with a series of high‑visibility activations across the UK, featuring a branded food‑truck, pop‑up bars, and a multi‑media partnership with the English Football League (EFL). The campaign leveraged live match broadcasts, digital content,...
Paid Media Should Accelerate Clarity, Not Manufacture Trust
Paid media is a turbocharger. Which is great… unless you’re turbocharging confusion or trying to manufacture trust. If your paid strategy is: - “we have leftover budget” or - “the quarter is ending and the pipeline is soft” …that’s not...
Philadelphia’s New Brand Platform Positions Cream Cheese as Kitchen Staple
Philadelphia Cream Cheese unveiled its biggest ever marketing push, the “Really Philly Good” platform, developed by Johannes Leonardo. The campaign introduces a cowboy‑esque brand character, Phillyboy, featured in 19 short spots across linear TV, streaming, YouTube, social and audio. Targeting...
Why Social Media Demands a Strategic Rethink
Social media has moved from a peripheral branding tool to the core of product discovery, trust building, and direct sales. Brands like American Eagle demonstrated the impact, gaining 790,000 new customers in six weeks and boosting denim sales 34%. The...
Careful With Google Business Profile Verification Flow
Google has revamped the Google Business Profile verification flow, requiring merchants to choose from five specific business type options. Selecting the wrong category can disqualify a listing—especially the “online only” choice—or flag it for compliance review, raising suspension risk. The...
Data Moats Drive Billion-Dollar Valuations Over Commodities
So Profound was valued at $1B… while Similarweb is valued at just ~$158M ($229.58M market cap minus $72M in cash). Make it make sense. One is essentially a commodity product, competing with a horde of startups offering very similar tools: AirOps, Peec...
Elizabeth Arden Taps Leighton Meester to Front First Perfume Launch in Eight Years
Elizabeth Arden has introduced its first perfume in eight years, unveiling Eternal Aura with actress Leighton Meester as the campaign face. The floral‑amber fragrance, co‑created by perfumers Natasha Côté‑Mouzannar and Anne Flipo, launches at $69 alongside a $47 body balm. The global rollout...
Accounts in Transit: MKTG Sports Lands Agassi Sports Entertainment
MKTG Sports + Entertainment, part of dentsu, has been appointed the agency of record for Agassi Sports Entertainment, overseeing brand positioning, product launches, earned media and executive visibility for the racquet‑sports innovation firm. The partnership coincides with ASE’s rollout of...
Unlocking Programmatic Performance: The Demand Gen Report Interview with StackAdapt’s Yang Han
StackAdapt’s CTO Yang Han says artificial intelligence has graduated from a feature to the connective intelligence layer that links creative, data and optimization in programmatic advertising. Marketers investing meaningfully in AI are already seeing a 20‑point performance gap, with dynamic...
How Agencies Use Semrush for AI Visibility
Agencies are confronting a new client demand: visibility in AI‑driven answers like ChatGPT. Using Semrush’s Position Tracking, AI Visibility Toolkit and My Reports, firms such as Earned Media Australia, Sure Oak, Activate Digital and Coalition Technologies are quantifying AI overview...
Euphoria MUA Donni Davy on Half Magic’s Rise to the Top and Cracking the UK Market
Donni Davy, the lead makeup artist for HBO's Euphoria, is expanding her maximalist brand Half Magic into the UK through a Sephora boutique launch. The line, co‑founded with A24 after the show's looks went viral, will ride the momentum of season...
Screenverse Leaders Share Insight on DOOH Buying Strategy
Screenverse executives David Weinfeld and Montana Accavallo discussed premium buyer expectations on the CX Innovators podcast, highlighting how data‑driven demands are reshaping digital‑out‑of‑home (DOOH) buying. They explained that integration of supply‑side and demand‑side platforms is crucial for securing repeat, high‑value...
Adform Becomes First-Ever DSP to Join ISBA’s Partner Programme, Championing Digital Sovereignty for British Advertisers
Adform announced it is the first demand‑side platform to join the Institute of Shared Business Advertising (ISBA) Partner Programme, positioning itself as a champion of digital sovereignty for UK brands. The partnership aims to give advertisers greater visibility, accountability and...
Finnair Leans Even More Into Its Unique ‘Finnishness’ With Brand New Boarding Music
Finnair has launched a new boarding music suite called “Matkantekijä,” composed by fourth‑generation Finnish musician Lauri Porra, to deepen its Finnish‑centric brand identity. The soundscape, featuring traditional instruments like the jouhikko and kantele, will play on aircraft, in lounges, and...
M&S Joins Atlassian Williams F1 Team as Official Travel Kit Partner
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has signed a multi‑year agreement to become the Official Travel Kit Partner for the Atlassian Williams Formula 1 Team, outfitting drivers, engineers and staff with performance‑focused travel apparel. The partnership will see M&S supply wrinkle‑resistant, moisture‑wicking, four‑way...
Analytic Partners Identifies ‘5 Forces Shaping Marketing Budget Decisions in 2026’
Analytic Partners released a preview of its 2026 State of Commercial Decisioning Survey, based on 455 senior executives at $1 billion‑plus advertisers. The study finds commercial analytics, especially marketing mix modeling, now serves as the primary source of truth for budget,...
Authentic Brands, IAC Partner to Expand Dockers Across Americas
Authentic Brands Group and IAC have signed an agreement to expand Dockers apparel across Central America, the Andean region, Ecuador, and select Caribbean markets. IAC will manage manufacturing and distribution for men’s and women’s lifestyle apparel and accessories. The partnership...
64 Is The New 54: Is Radio Due For A Demographic Target Reset?
Audacy’s research proposes expanding the core advertising demographic from Adults 25‑54 to 25‑64, adding 33 million listeners and boosting total radio listening by 48 %. The broader slice captures a financially powerful 55‑64 cohort that now accounts for nearly 20 % of U.S. spending....
Are Your Job Ads Invisible? Here's Why the Best Candidates Aren't Applying
Recruiters are increasingly treating hiring as a performance‑marketing channel, where visual appeal and brand perception dictate candidate interest. Traditional text‑only job ads are losing to platform‑driven, image‑rich campaigns, creating a visibility gap for top talent. Chatly’s AI image generator and...
Limelight Inc.’s Case Study: Adaptive Rules Centre Delivers Near-3x Revenue Uplift & 10x Fill Rate Improvement for APAC Ad Exchange
Limelight Inc. released a case study showing its Adaptive Rules Centre (ARC) boosted a leading APAC ad exchange’s revenue by 289% and lift fill rates tenfold. The exchange replaced manual reporting with two account‑wide automation rules that dynamically adjusted QPS...
TapClicks Introduces SmartStory: Turning Campaign Data Into Stakeholder-Ready Presentations in Minutes
TapClicks launched SmartStory, an AI‑driven platform that converts live marketing data into polished PowerPoint and PDF decks within minutes. Built on TapClicks' enterprise‑grade data management layer, the solution pulls from thousands of MarTech and AdTech connectors to create unified, insight‑rich...
Digest: UK VOD Services to Face New Ofcom Regulation; Canva Buys Animation and Marketing Startups; OOH Hit Record Revenue in...
The UK government is extending the Media Act 2024 to bring major video‑on‑demand services under Ofcom’s oversight, designating platforms with over 500,000 users as Tier 1 providers. New rules will enforce a broadcasting‑style code, introduce a complaints channel, and impose accessibility quotas...
Retail Media Measurement: Absence of Evidence Is NOT Evidence of Absence
Retail media measurement is often portrayed as broken, yet the same sampling‑based, attention‑agnostic methods underpin TV, radio and outdoor metrics. Industry bodies such as IAB Europe and the MRC have already issued standardized frameworks that enable closed‑loop attribution and incrementality...
CEO Sets Out the Case for Beehiiv versus Substack
Beehiiv CEO Tyler Denk argues the platform diverges from Substack by giving publishers full ownership of their audience and charging flat monthly fees instead of a revenue share. Beehiiv bundles newsletters, website hosting, ad networks, growth tools and soon podcasts...
Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem Ad Campaign Involves a Faux Lawsuit Against Nissin Foods (UPDATE)
Capcom is promoting the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem (Feb. 27 2026) with a tongue‑in‑cheek partnership with Nissin Foods. The campaign pretends Umbrella Corporation is suing Nissin over its Cup Noodles, framing the stunt as an IP infringement claim. A commercial featuring the...
Writing For Email: 19 Tips To Help You Stand Out In Inboxes
Claire Medcalf’s guide outlines 19 actionable email‑copy tips that blend strategy, engagement, and accessibility. Marketers are urged to define a single call‑to‑action, personalize content with data, and maintain a consistent brand voice throughout. The article emphasizes compelling subject lines, microcopy,...
IHG Buy Points Buy Points 100% Bonus Sale Through March 17, 2026
IHG has launched its second Buy Points 100% Bonus Sale for 2026, running through March 17, 2026. Members can earn a full 100% bonus on purchases of 30,000 points or more, with tiered bonuses starting at 80% for 5,000 points....
American Eagle Just Turned 911 Customers Into a Marketing Army. Here’s Why Every Brand Should Be Taking Notes
American Eagle launched the AE Creator Community, a gamified affiliate program that recruited 911 micro‑influencers within weeks. The platform rewards creators with commissions and points redeemable for gifts, encouraging ongoing content creation through monthly challenges. By owning the community, AE...
ETGIRS 2026: Manish Malhotra Maps the Journey From Costume Designer to Global Luxury Brand Builder
At ETRetail GIRS 2026, designer Manish Malhotra outlined his 20‑year evolution from Bollywood costume artist to global luxury label. He highlighted the discipline learned on film sets, the pivotal Delhi flagship opening, and the need for a distinct, cinema‑inspired brand...
AFL Celebrates the Feeling of Footy in New Brand Campaign ‘If You Feel It, You’re in on It’ via TBWA
Australia’s AFL has unveiled a new brand campaign, "If you feel it, you’re in," developed with agency TBWA to kick off the 2026 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. The campaign centers on the iconic “specky”—high‑flying marks—and uses fans’ emotional reactions to...
Stop Shouting: A Case for a Quieter Honesty in Behaviour Change Campaigns
Erin Moy highlights the New Zealand Herpes Foundation’s campaign as a benchmark for behavior‑change communication, swapping shock tactics for radical honesty, wit, and empathy. The ad dismantles long‑standing stigma around genital herpes by inviting viewers into a relatable conversation rather...
No Traffic, No Moat: How AI Breaks The Economics Of Destination Publishing
Google’s AI Overviews launched in May 2024 sharply cut referral traffic to publisher‑owned sites, exposing the fragility of the destination‑publishing model. Fixed costs—CMS, ad tech, analytics, compliance—remain while traffic‑dependent ad and subscription revenues collapse. Only publishers with strong brands, durable subscriptions,...
Automation Gives You Freedom to Say No
Declining a $5K consulting gig because it doesn't fit your schedule. Ignoring partnership requests that don't excite you. Taking a month off without worrying about revenue. You can only do this when you have dialed in automated systems. → Email sequences that nurture and...
Meta Ad Success Now Hinges on Creative Quality, Not Targeting
The edge in Meta ads is no longer in targeting. It’s in the quality and diversity of the creative system you feed GEM. If you manage Meta ads or creative testing, this breakdown is worth your time. Full post: https://t.co/7wm7lxNad2
Can Solid Perfume Be the Next Body Mist?
Solid perfume is emerging as a fast‑growing fragrance format, with Sol de Janeiro’s new Jelly Perfume balms leading the latest wave. The alcohol‑free sticks prioritize a skin‑felt, intimate scent rather than room‑filling projection, echoing a broader consumer desire for subtlety...
Google's UCP Will Let Glasses Shop Instantly
In Google's earnings call they said building UCP was a focus for 2025. Imagine what Universal Commerce Protocol means for glasses. Perhaps: "Gemini...look at that cool shirt. Find me one, but blue and buy it for me..." No more website visits...
Verification Flow Directly Affects Google Business Visibility
The Google Business Profiles verification flow can have a big impact on your business's visibility https://t.co/E9hhX7waHp @ClaudiaTomina explains https://t.co/HIfXAXVHx6
Snowflake Postgres: Unify Postgres and Analytics on One Platform
Snowflake announced the general availability of Snowflake Postgres, a fully managed PostgreSQL service built directly into the Snowflake platform. The offering delivers 100% community‑Postgres compatibility while leveraging Snowflake’s security, high‑availability architecture, and native AI capabilities. By unifying transactional and analytical...
Google Clamps Down on Automated SEO Content Scaling
Lots of new viral threads on here discussing how Google cracks down on sites that scale content with automated tools / otherwise violate their policies. Welcome to the SEO industry 😆 I made this video in 2024 which might be...
The "Unlearning" Curve for India's FMCG Giants
India’s seven FMCG powerhouses posted a modest 7.4% sales rise in Q3 FY26 despite an unusually supportive macro backdrop of tax cuts, GST tweaks and low‑interest rates. The growth gap is widening as digital‑first food and beauty brands have seized...