
PopSockets turned phone backs into a $169M revenue engine
PopSockets transformed the unused back of smartphones into a monetizable surface, evolving from a garage prototype in 2011 to a global brand that posted $169 million in revenue by 2017. The simple grip design generated constant repeat interactions and word‑of‑mouth growth, driving its rapid expansion.

Thai confectionery staple My Chewy, the nation’s best‑selling fruit‑flavoured milk candy, has struggled with consumers calling it by its packaging or flavour rather than its actual name. Audacity Bangkok responded with an emotional online film that asks viewers what name they would choose for themselves, drawing a parallel to the brand’s identity issue. The campaign positions the name My Chewy as a personal right, aiming to shift everyday language back to the official brand. By linking naming misrecognition to a universal human experience, the film seeks to reinforce brand recall across Thailand and beyond.

OpenAI is expanding its commercial toolkit, testing an Ads Manager dashboard with a select partner group while preparing the Agentic Storefronts feature that will surface Shopify merchants’ products directly inside ChatGPT. In Sweden, major publishers have backed Meta’s expulsion from...

📣 This Week's PR Campaigns & Opportunities [March 17, 2026] 👇 From The #TrendingCampaigns Newsletter: 🔥 Top PR Campaigns of the Week 1. Misleading weather apps cost attractions thousands This is such a spectacularly good campaign because (at least for me) it is SO...

Terry Kane of The Trade Desk argues that advertising is a critical infrastructure that keeps the free internet, quality journalism, and economic activity alive during periods of uncertainty. Historical research shows brands that maintain or increase ad spend in downturns...

A recent analysis by Christopher Penn suggests LinkedIn runs two distinct algorithmic systems: a retrieval stage that decides whether a post enters a viewer’s candidate pool, and a ranking stage that orders those candidates in the feed. Retrieval relies on signals...

Mada Media hosted an official ceremony to award naming rights of Dubai Metro’s Red Line station to National Paints, formerly Jebel Ali. In 2025 the station served 636,873 passengers and delivered over 47 million brand impressions with a 25.78% reach, highlighting the...

A HerKey‑Havas Creative India study finds women influence 70‑85% of purchase decisions in India, yet most brands lag behind. Only 14% of marketers consider themselves leaders in women‑centric marketing, and consistent women‑focused campaigns appear in just half to two‑thirds of...

Ai+ Smartphone announced a brand partnership with Indian cricketer Ishan Kishan to front its upcoming Nova Series campaigns. The deal aligns the athlete’s image of self‑made ambition with the company’s focus on accessible, high‑performance devices. Kishan will feature in multi‑channel...

Mailchimp remains a top email marketing tool, but growing user demands for better pricing, specialized features, and AI capabilities have spurred a vibrant alternatives market. Zapier’s updated 2026 guide lists ten contenders, ranging from advanced automation platforms like ActiveCampaign to...

The episode explores the rapid rise of Formula 1 in the United States, crediting Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” docuseries, star drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, and new U.S. races in Austin, Miami and Las Vegas for boosting viewership. Analysts Ross...

In this Digiday episode, hosts Kamika McCoy and Tim Peterson dissect the contentious practice of principal media buying, using recent WPP whistleblower revelations and a high‑profile lawsuit to illustrate how agencies pocket rebates from platforms like Google, Meta, Amazon, and...
Havas Thailand has created a Head of Strategy & Growth role and appointed Navinda Kittisubkul, a veteran with more than two decades of brand, media and research experience. The position will unite media, creative, data and AI capabilities to deliver integrated, client‑centric...

YouGov has unveiled BrandIndex Voices, an AI‑powered qualitative research add‑on to its BrandIndex platform. The tool combines conversational AI with YouGov’s verified panel to surface the narratives behind shifts in brand metrics such as quality, value and reputation. By prompting...
Hotels.com launched a global brand campaign titled “It’s All in the Name,” featuring literal‑humor ads that play on the platform’s straightforward name. The spots – “Chicken Fingers” and “Headphones” – debuted on U.S. TV on March 17 and underscore the brand’s...

Marketers increasingly weaponize limited‑time offers, embedding five covert psychological traps that drive impulse purchases within seconds. By exploiting scarcity, loss aversion, countdown timers, social proof, and anchoring, they compress decision cycles and bypass rational evaluation. The blog illustrates how a...

Westpac New Zealand has launched a partnership with Goldilocks, a bespoke agency created within Omnicom Oceania to drive its brand transformation. The model embeds specialist talent across insights, data, media, technology and production directly within Westpac, bypassing traditional agency structures....

AppSumo just dropped their Build Different collection — 14 lifetime deal tools for marketers, creators, and agency owners. A few standouts: - reap for video repurposing, - Lapis for cross-platform ad creation, and - Press Ranger for AI-powered PR pitching. Lifetime pricing...
The best clients aren’t asking “can you post for me.” They’re asking “can you grow this.”
Meta is replacing the “Sponsored” label with a smaller “Ad” tag on Instagram, part of a broader UI refresh. The change is already live on Instagram and being piloted on Facebook in limited tests. By reducing label size, the disclosure...
i just hired an ai cmo from @askokara to help grow. so far it has: • identified reddit opportunities • discovered seo issues • analyzed competitors • found geo issues curious to see how far this goes

Most companies are not scaling strategy. They’re scaling tactics. More content. More CRM. More campaigns. More outbound. And the market still doesn’t fully understand why they matter. That’s not a demand problem. That’s a perception problem. Before you scale demand, fix how the market sees you.

United Airlines and Marriott are urging advertisers to shift spend toward in‑flight and in‑room screens, arguing that travelers are most receptive while en route or staying at a destination. Both companies have built proprietary platforms—United’s Kinective Media and Marriott Media—that...

One of my favorite prompts summons AI expert panelists that recursively score output until it's top-notch. You can use this for copy of any kind: Sales copy E-mail marketing Landing pages Social media copy and more. We're using this in our sales agents to create...
When you finally understand what brands actually need, it won't come from running better ads. The thing you knew was missing, but kept patching with better targeting. Honestly, tighter campaign management is unsustainable because it’s too easy to slip back into...
Tesco partnered with BBH to stage a 2.5 m × 8 m billboard at King’s Cross Station on 14 March, displaying 5,000 tulips and the prompt “Need Anything From Tesco?”. Passersby could collect a free bouquet, wrapped by brand ambassadors, as a last‑minute Mother’s Day...
Out of all the things they could have put on the button right next to the price (e.g. "Learn More," etc)... this is where they landed?
Gartner’s Marketing Symposium/Xpo will convene senior marketing leaders in London on May 11‑12, 2026. The two‑day event emphasizes AI, growth strategy, and customer experience across brand activation, CMO leadership, and demand generation. Attendees will participate in data‑driven sessions, workshops, and the exclusive...

Coca‑Cola has introduced a new Sprite Chill Mango Citrus flavor sold exclusively at Walmart, available in 20‑ounce full‑sugar bottles and 12‑pack zero‑sugar cans. The launch follows earlier Walmart‑only releases like Strawberry‑Kiwi and continues the company’s limited‑time offering (LTO) strategy to...
Phizz, the UK’s leading hydration enhancer, has launched an integrated London‑wide campaign running from March to June under the tagline “Phizz Makes It Better.” The multi‑channel effort combines out‑of‑home ads, a fleet of branded taxis and buses, large‑scale sampling and...

It's rare to see a post published on SER in the afternoon. But Barry is out and I just did it. :) -> OpenAI Continues To Expand Ads in ChatGPT and Tests Ads Manager I cover OpenAI testing an Ads...

Wendy’s has teamed up with the NCAA as the Official Dunks partner for the 2026 March Madness tournament, launching a limited‑time Dunks Menu featuring Frosty‑Fries combos. The promotion runs from March 16 to April 6, with every app purchase entering customers into...

Nearly 90 million search visits wiped out in the last 9 months. And traffic from AI didn't replace even 5% of it. (across ~75k websites connected to free @Ahrefs Web Analytics) Here's how other traffic sources held up: ▪️ Paid traffic is UP...
Floating around Seer internal research we're watching... Client got a legit award on a major publisher when that URL is cited, we saw meaningful visibility lift for client: Gemini: 2.05x ChatGPT: 1.96x AI Mode: 5.6x AIOs: 8.62x The competitors on the same list saw a similar...

Financial institutions are struggling to reach independent advisors, a group projected to shrink by 32% by 2035. At Exchange’s Industry conclave, IAA CMO David Buzo outlined five rules to modernize advisor marketing, emphasizing precise targeting, appropriate channels, and value‑first engagement....

IKEA sold out a $19.99 stuffed monkey in 3 markets within days. eBay listings hit $355. A zoo gave a real monkey a stuffed animal to cling to, the internet lost its mind, and all IKEA did was post one...
How do you know if your LinkedIn content is working? Let me show you what landed in my inbox lately:
Asda’s private‑label clothing line George is becoming a key growth engine, helping to offset thin grocery margins. Vice‑president Karl Doyle announced plans for 100 standalone George stores within five years, alongside a major online revamp. The brand’s affordable style is...

Focus on ecommerce? He's referring to a Jarvis-like experience -> Shopify is preparing for AI shopping agents to change everything, exec says “We’re going to begin to use these agentic applications as these kinds of personal shoppers,” he said, adding that...
Your LinkedIn profile might be shadowbanned, and you don't know it. LinkedIn rebuilt its algorithm from scratch in 2026. They replaced multiple ranking pipelines with a single unified AI system (360Brew) that evaluates your profile and content together as one...

Anthropic turned down a U.S. government request to use its Claude AI for surveillance, opting for an ethical stance over immediate revenue. The refusal resonated with privacy‑concerned consumers, propelling Claude to the top spot in the App Store. This episode...
Everybody should have the privilege of working with (or going to B school with) a product manager from a major consumer package goods company. Proctor and Gamble in particular. You can learn more from them about branding and consumer behavior...

Dear lord, just found another SEO/AI case study about how the company exploded this site's organic traffic in early 2024... ...when do we get the follow-up case study? 😅 https://t.co/O5fQZBGYsg
Learned about a new trend: Some marketing agencies are partnering with hundreds of "influencers" and distribute (paid, undisclosed) videos to them (eg podcasts) to clip and repost, making it look like organic interest Apparently inspired by Cluely What is real traction anymore

If you missed Litmus Live, now is your chance to watch all the sessions on-demand on YouTube, including my session on managing omnichannel subscribers better >> https://t.co/F7z9H5NW32 #digitalmarketing #emailmarketing https://t.co/UHQZJdWPPm
Interesting tidbit for CMOs: 50% of Consumers Prefer Brands That Avoid Using GenAI in Consumer-Facing Content https://t.co/YR1duiE0am #CIO #CMO #CX #AI #GenAI
The top three CMS platforms control 73% of the CMS market. Data shows their defaults now shape SEO at a scale no practitioner can match. https://t.co/wX5Eu0XEHf via @MattGSouthern, @sejournal

Study of 15K URLs shows that articles receiving Major Rewrites (30-100% of content) vastly outperform minor/moderate updates Even minor content updates helped, but content with no update performed the worst (1/2) https://t.co/7wvfeBz8Lk
I lost $9k on a product that was trending on TikTok. The trend died in a week. I launched a product that solves a timeless boring problem. It's been selling for 2 years. The market doesn't care about trends. It...

Amazing to watch this site's Google Discover performance over time, including improving after the Discover core update. It's a super niche gaming site with authors who have been writing original, human-written content for the site for 15+ years https://t.co/9DKgLLJhnW
If you have a new reach problem -> incremental attribution on Meta is your BFF