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.
How I’d Charge $5k–$10k Selling AI Voice + AI Ads To Local Businesses
A new tutorial video outlines how to sell AI‑powered voice callers bundled with paid advertising to local service businesses. The creator proposes charging $5,000‑$10,000 per client by delivering a complete lead‑generation system that captures prospects, calls them instantly, qualifies them, and books appointments. The approach targets niches such as HVAC, roofing, real estate, med‑spas, and clinics, emphasizing outcomes over the novelty of AI. By positioning the service as a revenue‑driving engine rather than a standalone tool, agencies can command premium fees.
Criteo Shares Plunge 20% as Q1 Revenue Falls 6% Despite $1B Ad Spend
Criteo reported first‑quarter revenue of $425 million, a 6% year‑on‑year decline, even as advertisers spent more than $1 billion on its platform. The company also cut its 2026 revenue guidance, prompting a 20% slide in its share price.
OpenAI Is Opening the Window on Its Ad Ambitions
OpenAI has begun beta‑testing a full‑featured Ads Manager in the United States, giving marketers the ability to create, budget, launch and track ChatGPT ad campaigns. The rollout adds CPC bidding, a conversions API and pixel‑based measurement, bringing the platform in...
Google Revises Spam Policy to Dodge EU Antitrust Fine
Wait, what? Google might change its 'Site reputation abuse' spam policy for this? -> Google offers changes to spam policy to avert EU antitrust fine "Google has proposed changes to comply with the DMA, the document said, giving interested parties until...
Google’s Quality Threshold Is Quietly Killing Scaled AI Content via @Sejournal, @TaylorDanRW
Google’s evolving Quality Threshold is curbing the long‑term success of large‑scale AI‑generated content. While AI can deliver a quick traffic surge thanks to Google’s freshness boost, the boost fades as the algorithm evaluates deeper quality signals. Sites that flood the...
8 GEO Metrics to Track in 2026
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is emerging as the next evolution of search visibility as AI‑driven answers replace traditional click‑throughs. The article outlines eight core GEO metrics—AI citation frequency, Share of Model Voice, answer inclusion rate, entity recognition, sentiment, prompt coverage,...
Fewer Stories, More Views: Quality Beats Quantity
Output down, page views up. Good lesson here -> Axios' total Q1 content output was down 22% YoY, but page views rose 30% and page views per visitor rose 22%, as the outlet shifts away from chasing traffic “Write...
Tourism Ireland Launches ‘Ireland Unrushed’ Campaign to Boost Slow, Sustainable Travel
Tourism Ireland has rolled out the ‘Ireland Unrushed’ campaign, a national marketing push encouraging tourists to travel more slowly and sustainably across the island. The initiative aims to lengthen stays, spread visitor traffic beyond hotspots, and showcase Ireland’s natural and...
Google's Passage Ranking Debuted 2020; Bing Now Follows
Remember, Google rolled out passage-based ranking in 2020. Maybe Bing is just catching up now. :) "Passage ranking is an AI system we use to identify individual sections or "passages" of a web page to better understand how relevant a...
Marketers Fail on Reddit by Ignoring Its Unique Culture
Most marketers suck at Reddit marketing because they’re obsess with treating it like traditional marketing.. https://t.co/48vBH1jdeI
BT Shines a Light on Its Role in “Brilliant Things” In Debut Work by Uncommon
BT unveiled its first "Brilliant Things" campaign, created by Uncommon Creative Studio, to spotlight the telecom giant's role in powering digital transformation. The debut work features insights from BT’s chief brand and marketing officer Cilesta Van Doorn, brand and marketing...
Don't Kill Campaigns, Fix High CPA, Low ROAS
Sooooooo you wanna turn off ads because the CPA is too high or ROAS is too low? Welp...
Simplify Onboarding to Unlock Growth without Bigger Budgets
Growth is not always about new marketing or bigger budgets. Sometimes it is about removing friction. In this episode, I show how simplifying onboarding can transform results. 👉 Watch the full episode: https://t.co/5dcOvVfGgn https://t.co/JP2RsfesqE
Is Trend-Jacking Actually Driving Results, Or Just Making Brands Look Late?
Brands are increasingly turning to TikTok trendjacking to ride viral moments and align with youth culture, but the tactic’s effectiveness hinges on speed and authenticity. Early adopters that partner with creators see amplified reach and higher engagement, while late‑comers risk...
How To Leverage AI Ad Placements And Are They Worth It? – Ask A PPC via @Sejournal, @Navahf
Advertisers can access AI ad inventory either by buying directly on AI‑first platforms or by integrating AI surfaces into existing campaign types such as Performance Max. Metrics for these placements differ from classic search ads, with internal Microsoft data showing...
How Anyone Can Make $1,000,000 in 24 Months: How to Start Live Shopping in 2026
In this episode of the Gary Vee Audio Experience, Gary Vaynerchuk urges listeners to tap into the booming live social shopping market—now a half‑trillion‑dollar industry in China and rapidly growing in the U.S. via platforms like TikTok Shop and Whatnot....
Amazon, LinkedIn Help Advertisers Reach Professionals via CTV Ads
Amazon Ads and LinkedIn have launched a collaboration that integrates LinkedIn’s first‑party audience data into Amazon’s demand‑side platform for connected‑TV inventory. Through Microsoft’s Monetize SSP, advertisers on Amazon DSP can now target LinkedIn’s 1 billion‑plus members by job title, industry and...
Bootstrapped SaaS: $12M ARR Across 5 Products With a Team of 10
In this episode, host Omar Khan talks with Thibaut Louis‑Lucas, the founder of Teammaker, a bootstrapped SaaS holding company that now generates about $12 million ARR across five products with a ten‑person team and no external funding. Thibaut shares how early...
BT Scores UEFA Deal; Reintroduces BT Mobile in Brand Revamp
BT Group secured the official telecom partnership for the UEFA Euro 2028 tournament in the UK and Ireland, pledging to power broadcasts, stadium connectivity and public screenings. The network will serve nine stadiums, 24 team base camps and support eSIM...
Most Travel Influencers Failing to Disclose Paid-For Posts
An Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigation of 531 Instagram and TikTok posts found that only 20% of travel influencer ads were properly disclosed, with 69% offering no indication they were paid content. The probe, prompted by the ASA’s 2024 Influencer...
LendingClub Rebrands to Happen Bank as Its Identity Catches up to Its Model
LendingClub announced it will rebrand as Happen Bank this summer, reflecting its evolution from a marketplace lender to a full‑stack digital bank. The name change follows the 2021 acquisition of Radius Bank, which gave the firm a banking charter and...
5 Content Marketing Ideas for June 2026
June 2026 presents a rich tapestry of cultural and seasonal moments that ecommerce marketers can turn into high‑impact content. The article outlines five ideas: capitalizing on the North American FIFA World Cup, the lucrative wedding season, historic anniversaries such as...
NYT Hits 13 Million Digital Subscribers, Adds 310,000 in Q1 as Video Push Gains Momentum
The New York Times announced it surpassed 13 million digital‑only subscribers in the first quarter, adding 310,000 new users. The milestone came with a 12% rise in revenue to $712.2 million and a 31.6% jump in digital ad sales, underscoring the paper’s shift toward...
Can Creators Drive the Next Wave of Media Subscriptions?
Legacy newsrooms are turning to social creators to broaden reach and spark subscriptions. The City partnered with TikTok‑and‑Instagram comedian Gerrie Lim, lifting average video views by 115% and exposing 83% of viewers to a new audience. Reuters Institute data shows...
Google Ads AI Max Adds Account‑level Content Exclusions
Google will be bringing content and titles related exclusions to the account level to Google Ads AI Max later this year says @adsliaison https://t.co/u8zCVVGJtv https://t.co/TmGatjzuZE
Google Ads AI Max Content & Titles Exclusions On Account Level Coming
Google announced that its AI‑driven campaign type, Ads AI Max, will gain account‑level exclusions for content and titles later this year, likely within six months. The new setting lets advertisers block any undesired page elements across all campaigns, extending the platform’s...
InMobi Acquires MobileAction to Strengthen iOS Advertising Business
InMobi announced the acquisition of MobileAction, an AI‑powered iOS app growth and analytics platform, to bolster its advertising capabilities across the iOS ecosystem. While the purchase price was not disclosed, the deal adds MobileAction’s extensive data set—covering more than 90 million...
Bitdefender Appoints Veteran Frank Koelmel as CRO to Boost Global Business Sales
Bitdefender announced that Frank Koelmel, a three‑decade cybersecurity veteran, will serve as chief revenue officer for its Business Solutions Group. Koelmel will steer global go‑to‑market strategy, align sales, marketing and customer success, and expand the company’s partner ecosystem as AI‑driven threats...
On the Move: Six Flags Hires Carnival Cruise Vet
Entertainment and publishing firms announced a wave of senior marketing appointments in early May 2026. Six Flags Entertainment named former Carnival Cruise Line CMO Amy Martin Ziegenfuss as its new chief marketing officer, aiming to leverage data‑driven strategies for the...
Google Ads Auto-Enables Call Recording Unless You Opt Out
Google Ads to default call recording to YES/ON if you do not select an option yourself https://t.co/PhHEcTEFm9 via @AnthonyHigman https://t.co/XOgAaiTgun
Giorgio Armani Taps Vittoria Ceretti as Global Makeup Ambassador
Italian supermodel Vittoria Ceretti has been appointed as Giorgio Armani’s Global Makeup Ambassador. In her new role, Ceretti will headline campaigns for the brand’s makeup and skincare collections, including the launch of the Luminous Silk Foundation this month. The partnership...
Demandbase Launches Premier+ Partner Tier, Names Marketbridge Inaugural Partner
Demandbase unveiled a Premier+ Service Delivery Partner tier, appointing Marketbridge as its first certified partner. The tier bundles onboarding, strategy, analytics and managed services to help B2B firms operationalize AI insights. Marketbridge brings a decade of joint experience and deep...
Crypto.com CMO Steven Kalifowitz Exits After Six Years, Citing Brand Success
Crypto.com confirmed that Steven Kalifowitz, its chief marketing officer since 2020, will leave the firm on June 30. Kalifowitz said the brand is now more recognized than ever and will stay on as an advisor to CEO Kris Marszalek. The...
Digital Marketing Optimization: 10 Best Strategies to Increase Marketing ROI
The article outlines a system‑first approach to digital‑marketing optimization, presenting ten actionable strategies that shift focus from isolated campaigns to a unified, data‑driven process. It emphasizes shared KPIs, continuous testing programs, and the integration of first‑party data to connect every...
AI SEO Punishes Lazy Marketing Strategies by Brick Marketing
Brick Marketing warns that AI‑driven SEO is exposing lazy, siloed marketing tactics. The article explains that AI search pulls brand signals from a wide array of online sources—social media, directories, press releases, and more—making a website just one piece of...
AI SEO Punishes Lazy Marketing Strategies by Brick Marketing
Brick Marketing warns that AI‑driven SEO is reshaping digital marketing by rewarding brands with a cohesive, cross‑channel presence. Traditional tactics that focus solely on website optimization are losing ground as AI pulls data from social media, directories, press releases, and...
Wyndham Deploys AI Across 8,400 Hotels and Launches First Native ChatGPT Booking App
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts announced a company‑wide AI rollout covering its 8,400‑property network and introduced a native ChatGPT app for hotel discovery and booking. The move leverages $450 million in tech investments and promises measurable revenue lifts for franchisees.
AI: Lead the Prompt, Not Just the Team
AI usage among Saudi marketers is near-universal, but half conceal it due to fear of managerial judgment. While 84% of CEOs claim readiness to deploy AI responsibly, a Duke study shows managers still penalize AI‑using staff, creating a cultural divide....
American Express CEO Stephen Squeri Drives Premium Push to Win Gen Z and Millennials
American Express CEO Stephen Squeri is betting on affluent younger consumers, using high‑fee premium cards and pop‑culture events to spark a 38% spend jump from Gen Z. The strategy helped the firm post Q1 2026 earnings of $4.28 per share,...
From Shoot to Strategy: Hotel Content That Actually Works
The article argues that hotel photography must start with a clear strategy, not just a shot list. It stresses matching visual assets to the platform—hero images for booking pages, vertical videos for social feeds—to maximize engagement. By auditing existing content,...
Snap Launches Promoted Places, Transforming the Snap Map Into Real-World Discovery
Snap Inc. introduced Promoted Places, a new ad product that embeds sponsored locations directly into the Snap Map. The feature debuted in Saudi Arabia, where brands like Almarai and Starbucks used it in Ramadan campaigns to drive in‑store visits. Promoted...
Doubling Down on Restaurant Marketing Spend
Restaurant owners are bucking recession‑driven caution by planning to boost marketing spend in 2026. A Constant Contact survey of 1,500 small businesses shows 68% will increase budgets and 74% will devote more time to promotion. The focus is on high‑impact...
Influ2 Unveils Contact-Level GTM Orchestration Platform with 99% Accuracy
Influ2 announced a new omni‑channel, contact‑level go‑to‑market orchestration platform for account‑based marketers, debuting a beta website‑visitor identification tool and claiming 99% accuracy on individual intent signals. The launch targets mid‑market and enterprise B2B revenue teams seeking precision beyond traditional account‑level...
The Science of Attention: Creating Short-Form Videos People Won't Skip
In this episode, Michael Stelzner talks with Hilary Billings, a psychology‑trained content strategist and founder of Attentioneers, about the science behind short‑form video that captures attention. Hilary shares how she moved from a failed PhD pursuit to viral video success...
Adidas Taps Timothée Chalamet, Messi, and Bad Bunny for World Cup 2026 Film
adidas has unveiled a short film called "Backyard Legends" ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, starring Academy‑Award‑nominated actor Timothée Chalamet alongside soccer icons Lionel Messi, Bad Bunny, Jude Bellingham and others. The narrative follows Chalamet assembling a street‑ball team to challenge a legendary...
Amazon Bets AI Can Rewrite the Upfront Playbook in a Fragmented TV Market
Amazon is revamping its upfront pitch by marrying premium streaming content with AI‑driven ad technology. The company’s DSP now reaches roughly 90% of U.S. households through an authenticated graph and has added LinkedIn’s CTV inventory, tapping over a billion first‑party...
Yahoo Uses Scout AI Campaign to Focus on Trust in AI Search
Yahoo launched its first ad campaign for Scout, the company’s AI‑powered search assistant, emphasizing source transparency to build trust. Scout, built on Anthropic’s Claude and Microsoft’s Grounding with Bing, taps Yahoo’s vast data assets—including 500 million user profiles and a billion‑entity...
ByteDance Explores AI Monetization for Doubao with Paid Subscription Tiers
ByteDance’s AI assistant Doubao is set to launch a paid subscription model alongside its free tier. The company announced three plans—Standard at $10 per month, Enhanced at $29.3 per month, and Professional at $73.3 per month—with annual discounts. While the...
Emerging Channels, Cleaner Pipes: Assembly’s Tom Cogan on Where MENA Programmatic Is Heading
Tom Cogan, programmatic associate director at Assembly Global, says MENA advertisers must broaden beyond Google and Meta by embracing emerging channels such as connected TV, digital audio, programmatic DOOH and AI‑driven search. He points out that less than 10% of...
When Creators and Affiliates Stop Being Different Budget Lines
Todd Ulise, chief revenue officer of Nomix Group, says the creator‑affiliate split is a people problem, not a technology issue. He urges brands to align on a single definition of value and adopt unified measurement that treats creators as performance‑based...