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.
AI Promises Creative Scale. Marketers Discover They Now Need 10 Times More Ads
Marketers are confronting an unprecedented demand for creative assets as AI platforms enable rapid production at scale. A joint Ipsos‑Smartly study finds brands are now creating roughly ten times more ads to stay competitive, yet effectiveness hinges on combining high creativity with strong empathy. The report’s bar chart shows that ads with both high creativity and empathy outperform others by up to 20 percentage points, while low scores on both dimensions can depress performance by 23 points. This shift forces agencies to rethink budgets, talent, and measurement.
How the Portland Fire Marketed a Basketball Team with No Players
The Portland Fire tackled the classic expansion challenge of marketing a team before any players were signed. SVP Kimberly Veale leveraged the jersey launch and a partnership with the NBA Trail Blazers to create visual brand momentum in January. A...
5 Essential Landing Page Rules for Conversions
Your landing page is where most of your traffic decides whether to convert or leave. Here are 5 landing page rules you need to know: → Match the page headline to the headline that got the click → Use the hero to confirm...
Thailand Leads Longevity Tourism with 90‑Day Visas and Low‑Cost Regeneration
Thailand’s Tourism Authority has positioned the kingdom as the world’s premier longevity‑tourism destination, rolling out 90‑day multi‑entry medical visas and marketing the slogan “Healing is the New Luxury.” The move couples high‑tech clinics with cultural practices, delivering regenerative programs that...
Forrester Urges B2B Leaders to Overhaul GTM Strategy for AI Era
Forrester released a new research report at its B2B Summit North America, urging B2B sales, marketing, and product leaders to replace legacy go‑to‑market (GTM) practices with an AI‑centric, collaborative framework. The firm warns that traditional mass emailing, MQL obsession, and...
Etsy Debuts Native App in ChatGPT, Opening AI‑Powered Shopping Channel
Etsy has rolled out a beta version of its native marketplace app inside OpenAI’s ChatGPT, allowing users to tag @Etsy and receive product listings in natural‑language conversations. The move follows a short‑lived Instant Checkout experiment and aims to boost discovery...
Xbox Adds Forza Horizon 6, Subnautica 2 and 11 More to Game Pass
Xbox unveiled a slate of 13 new Game Pass titles for May 2026, headlined by Forza Horizon 6, Subnautica 2 and the narrative adventure Mixtape. The rollout follows a price cut that lowered Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 per month,...
TBC Corp Names Rachel Tibor as New Chief Marketing Officer
TBC Corp., the Palm Beach Gardens‑based tire wholesaler, announced the promotion of Rachel Tibor to chief marketing officer. The move underscores the company's intent to refresh its brand and capture growth in a crowded market. Tibor will steer marketing strategy...
Crossing the Digital Divide: 6 Keys for Marketing to Gen Z
Financial planners face a seismic shift as Gen Z—who will inherit roughly $106 trillion from boomers—enters the market. The cohort, born 1997‑2012, is the first fully digital‑native generation and views wealth‑building through alternative channels like crypto and esports betting. Marketers must adapt...
Wayfair Teams with Perplexity, OpenAI and Google to Embed Agentic AI Across Its Platform
Wayfair disclosed that it is working with Perplexity, OpenAI and Google to integrate agentic AI into its shopping experience and ad units. The retailer also said it is testing AI‑driven advertising with Meta and Pinterest, signaling a broad push into...
Yahoo Teams with Kochava to Launch Agentic AI DSP Workflow Platform
Yahoo has partnered with Kochava to embed a dedicated Yahoo DSP workspace inside Kochava's StationOne platform, creating an AI‑driven “agentic” workflow for programmatic buying. The move signals a shift toward autonomous media‑buying tools and could redefine how demand‑side platforms operate.
Influ2 Launches Contact-Level GTM Orchestration
Influ2 unveiled a contact‑level go‑to‑market orchestration platform on May 6, enabling B2B revenue teams to trigger personalized actions for individual buyers rather than relying on account‑wide averages. The new suite includes signal‑to‑topic matching, cross‑platform context sync, omni‑channel orchestration, and automatic Salesforce...
Day 15: Her Video Got 99% of People to Show Up
Creator Sam Vander Wielen introduced a video‑first onboarding flow that asks new subscribers a single question and replies with a personalized video. Using VideoAsk, she sent over 250 individual video responses for a recent workshop, resulting in almost all recipients...
Why This Athlete-Led Agency Is Going All-In On Women's NIL
Learfield is expanding its Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) business by hiring former athletes like Jenna Johnson, who moved from an NIL coordinator role at Alabama to Business Manager at Vanderbilt. Johnson has already brokered 146 NIL deals for 70...
Versuni Launches Philips Airfryer Partnership with Unilever Foods
Versuni, the global licensee for Philips home appliances, announced a multi‑year partnership with Unilever Foods to pair Philips Airfryer technology with Knorr seasoning products. The collaboration launches in the UK this July, starting with a QR‑code giveaway in Tesco stores...
Organic Power Drives Sales, While Ad Attribution Conflicts
Lately, around 2 months ago, an established brand came to us after replacing 2 agencies. They were spending around ₹6 lakh/month and generating ₹36 lakh in Shopify sales. But nearly ₹24 lakh was coming from organic traffic and the strength...
One LinkedIn Creator Drives AI‑search Visibility and Leads
$48K. Six months. One creator on LinkedIn. That's what it took for a mid-market B2B SaaS company to go from invisible in ChatGPT and Perplexity to showing up in answers for their category's most-asked prompts. AI-driven demo requests? From <2% of pipeline...
I Heart Wines Builds on Strong Growth with GEN-Z Focused Summer Activations
I heart wines is launching its "I heart kinda Summer" campaign across UK universities and cultural events to deepen engagement with Gen‑Z. The tour begins on May 5 at the University of Liverpool, featuring a pink TukTuk, scratchcards, selfie spots and...
Bigger Agency ≠ Better: Creative Fatigue Hurts Performance
One of our clients swapped to a larger well known agency around 6-7 months ago but kept us on as view access to the account. 6 months later and our ads are still spending 45% of the total budget. Very little...
Amedia Ignored Older Subscribers to Attract Younger Ones
Norway’s largest newspaper publisher, Amedia, discovered that its subscriber base skewed heavily toward readers over 80, outnumbering those under 40. To reverse this, the company concealed 90% of older subscribers in its analytics tools and refocused editorial teams on content...
Google Analytics Data API Adds Cross-Channel Conversion Reporting (Alpha)
Google has extended its Analytics Data API to include cross‑channel conversion reporting, now available in an alpha release. The new endpoint mirrors the Conversion performance report in the Analytics UI, delivering paid and organic conversion data via programmatic calls. Developers...
First Watch, Portillo’s and KFC
First Watch’s refreshed menu and a digital push lifted same‑store sales 2.8% despite a 2% dip in traffic, with 75% of locations now running targeted ads. Portillo’s saw a 0.8% rise in transactions but a 0.1% same‑store sales decline as average...
Ted Baker Returns to Physical Retail with Launch at Manchester's Selfridges
Ted Baker has re‑entered physical retail with a shop‑in‑shop boutique inside Selfridges Manchester Trafford Centre. The space showcases a summer‑focused collection that blends hand‑painted florals, park‑toile prints and ’90s‑inspired silhouettes. The launch is part of Authentic Brands Group’s plan to...
Google Flow Music and Believe Bring Next-Gen Tools to Artists
Google has partnered with global artist development firm Believe to roll out its Flow Music platform, powered by the new Lyria 3 Pro AI model, to Believe’s roster of artists, producers and songwriters. Flow Music acts as a collaborative assistant, generating lyrics,...
David North America Casts Jessica Alba In Luna Bar Campaign
Actress Jessica Alba has been signed as the inaugural ambassador for Luna Bar’s new “Easy to Love” campaign, created by David North America and media‑planned by VaynerMedia. The campaign, Luna Bar’s first major creative push in seven years, features four...
Bundle Sponsorships Across Platforms for Steady $10K Income
The approach I take that has turned sponsorship revenue into a (fairly consistent) $7-10k/mo stream: Multiple touch points. My channel is small (31.6k), but I have my mailing list, my socials, and my website with a fairly high domain authority. Combine that with...
Meesho Says 70% of Its Code Is AI-Generated; AI Feeds Drive 75% of Orders
Meesho, the SoftBank‑backed Indian social commerce platform, reports that over 70% of its software code is now generated by AI tools, accelerating product development and testing. AI‑driven personalized feeds account for roughly 75% of all orders, boosting conversion rates by...
Agentic AI for Marketing: Reimagine End-to-End Customer Experiences
Agentic AI is emerging as the next evolution of marketing technology, moving beyond content creation to orchestrate decisions and execution across the customer journey. Adobe positions its unified platform to connect AI agents with real‑time data, governance, and workflow automation,...
Wyndham Introduces Native ChatGPT App
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts unveiled a native ChatGPT app that lets users browse and book from its portfolio of roughly 8,400 hotels directly within OpenAI’s ChatGPT interface. The app features map‑based navigation, amenity filters and natural‑language prompts, and redirects users...
How CPAs Can Build a Trusted Brand That Truly Connects
The article explains how CPAs can transform generic accounting services into a trusted brand by defining a clear niche, crafting a repeatable core message, and aligning every client touchpoint with that promise. It stresses that branding is less about flashy...
Break the Posting Fear in 21 Days
The discomfort of posting for the first time is real. So is being passed over because nobody knows you exist. One goes away in 21 days. Starts May 19th: https://jupiterhr.myflodesk.com/jobfatherlinkedinchallenge
NielsenIQ Finds 42% of Shoppers Rely on AI Tools, Signaling a New Retail Era
NielsenIQ reported that 42% of U.S. shoppers are using AI tools to evaluate products, compare prices and narrow choices, marking a shift from search to decision. The study, based on a monthly sample of 500 consumers, highlights how AI is...
One Sentence, One Clear Product Benefit
The main benefit of your product should be explainable in one sentence or phrase. How is it different and why should I buy it? ONE sentence or phrase, folks. Apple did an excellent job of this with the iPod. Instead...
Meta Optimizes Only What You Tell It: Feed Quality Signals
Too many advertisers give Meta weak signals, so it optimizes poorly. When Meta optimizes poorly, advertisers trust it less. Give Meta better signals, it optimizes better, you trust it more. Giving Meta the right signals is hard. The advertisers who trust Meta most are...
Adobe and OpenAI Integrate ChatGPT Ads Into GenStudio for Performance Marketing
Adobe and OpenAI announced that Adobe GenStudio for Performance Marketing now integrates ChatGPT ads, letting marketers create brand‑approved copy and assets and launch them in ChatGPT with a single click. The workflow pulls assets from Adobe Experience Manager or third‑party...
Explanatory Content Beats Contrarian for Paying Subscribers
Wow, Claude just looked at my newsletter analytics to analyze what drives the highest conversion to paid subscribers. I LOVED this response: "Explanatory beats contrarian. People pay to understand. Pretty much the opposite of Twitter dynamics." 🤣
Data-Driven Thumbnails and Titles Drive YouTube Growth
YouTube growth isn't just about great content anymore. 👀 It's about testing what gets people to click. Thumbnails. Titles. Data. Creativity still matters. But data is what scales it. 🎯 https://t.co/E6UezYOUCh
General Motors’ Chief Growth Officer Norm De Greve Announces Exit
General Motors’ chief growth officer, Norm de Greve, announced he will depart in June after three years leading the company’s marketing transformation. His exit comes as GM grapples with a costly EV write‑down and a shift back to its core...
BigMailer + Amazon SES Achieves Strong Open Rates
Definitely getting a decent open rate on BigMailer + Amazon SES so far 👀 https://t.co/VwdR4Vc8LW
Hidden Fees Destroy Trust, Prioritize Partnership Pricing
Hidden costs and punitive #fees are trust killers. Algorithm-driven revenue might help Q4, but it erodes long-term #loyalty. Here's how to price for partnership > What the fees customers hate reveal about your pricing strategy @MarTechIsMktg https://t.co/DN9n1Tqk8r #cx #marketing https://t.co/2RMTYCQ15Q
How I Engineer Substack Titles that Pull 84+ Subscribers (in Under 20 Minutes)
The post reveals that Substack writers lose growth because they craft titles after the article, a practice the author calls writing titles backwards. By engineering headlines first—using a 20‑minute systematic process—writers can boost subscriber acquisition, with examples showing 84+ new...
LinkedIn Evolves Into Powerful Ad Network for Software Buyers
Everything is an ad network, and LinkedIn is getting *really smart* about how to leverage authority and creator audiences there. I think we're going to see more brands lean into this, esp. in the software space, because it's *the* social network...
LLMs Thrive on Unstructured Text; GEO/AEO Merely SEO Rebrand
LLMs read unstructured language by design. The GEO/AEO playbook is SEO best practices repackaged as novelty. https://t.co/XINrtRZXdM via @pedrodias, @sejournal
Entravision Q1 2026 Revenue Jumps 204% in Advertising Tech Segment as Media Grows 4%
Entravision Communications posted a 204% jump in its Advertising and Technology Services revenue for Q1 2026, while overall media revenue rose 4% year‑over‑year. The growth was driven by AI‑enhanced platform upgrades and higher monthly active advertisers, offset by a dip...
Boost Authority: Link New Posts to Multiple Existing Articles
Internal linking golden rules: > Every new post should link to 3-5 existing posts in the cluster > Every existing post should gain 1-2 internal links from the cluster at the moment of publishing Topical authority in the making
BK Delays Whopper Relaunch Until In‑store Experience Solid
Burger King waited to do its Whopper relaunch until the company felt confident that the in-store experience was strong enough. BK President Tom Curtis "nailed it," per Patrick Doyle. $QSR
Disney+ Finds Monsters Under the Bed in Latest VCCP Spot
Disney+ continues to lean on nostalgia as a growth engine, and its latest VCCP‑produced spot epitomizes that tactic. The two‑minute film stitches together iconic moments—from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. to the eerie tone of The Sixth Sense and the gritty world...
BK's Sales Surge via Spongebob Meal, Family Return, Whopper Upgrade
Burger King saw results progressively build with the Spongebob meal and the return of families, then the listening tour and Burger King's Whopper improvement. $QSR
Google Launches Data Manager Map View, GeoX and Meridian Studio to Revamp Ad Measurement
Google announced a trio of measurement tools—Data Manager’s new Map View, GeoX geo‑experimentation, and Meridian Studio MMM—ahead of Marketing Live 2026. The upgrades aim to simplify data integration, prove incremental impact and speed up media‑mix modelling, with early adopters reporting...
Zyg Secures $60M Series A at $500M Valuation, Pushing Agentic AI in E‑Commerce
Zyg, the agentic AI platform for direct‑to‑consumer sellers, raised $60 million in a Series A led by Accel, bringing its post‑money valuation to $500 million. The round, which also included Bessemer Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners, follows a $58 million seed round and...