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.
Email Warm-Up for Cold Outreach: Best Practices to Avoid Spam Filters
Cold outreach often fails because new domains lack a sending reputation, causing email providers to block messages before they’re read. Warm‑up builds that reputation by sending low‑volume, authentic emails and gradually scaling activity. The process hinges on proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), monitoring key deliverability metrics, and using automation tools to simulate natural engagement. When executed correctly, warm‑up transforms cold campaigns from guesswork into a reliable lead‑generation channel.
Secondhand Marketplace: Building Your Brand’s Resale Platform
Secondhand marketplaces are rapidly expanding, with ThredUp reporting a 144% growth in U.S. pre‑owned apparel since 2018 and forecasting $74 billion in sales by 2029. Brands such as Patagonia, Levi’s and Sabai are launching proprietary resale platforms to capture margin, protect...
How to Write Content That Lands With Decision Makers
B2B marketers are producing more content than ever, yet senior buyers rarely act on it. The guide argues that the root cause is a mismatch between content focus and the executive decisions readers must make. By reframing briefs around specific...
AI Turns One Founder Into Full‑Stack Digital Team
People keep asking me: “Who built the Chess Queen’s Club website?” My answer: Me. With AI. ♟️ The look on their faces is priceless. AI agents helped me move from 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 → 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 → 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 → 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 faster than traditional teams...
Google Fixes Search Console’s Year-Long Data Logging Issue – Well, Kind Of…
Google announced that it has resolved a logging error in Search Console that misreported impressions, click‑through rate (CTR) and average position from May 13, 2025 through April 27, 2026. The fix applies only to data collected after the announcement; historical data for the 50‑week...
AI Can Build Your Entire Funnel by Next Month
You can have AI help you write an offer, position it, build a website, map out your content, design your funnel, write your campaigns and reach customers globally by the start of next month. And you're still "figuring things out." The opportunity...
DoorDash Delivers Memes, Reality TV Moms for Mother’s Day Campaign
DoorDash launched a Mother’s Day campaign that mixes meme‑driven video spots with a reality‑TV‑style series called “The Real Moms of the Group Chat.” The multichannel effort, built with Loop, Get Engaged Media and Gut Los Angeles, runs on Instagram, TikTok and...
Warm up Donors Before Asking: Email First, Donate Later
Asking someone to donate the first time they hear about you is roughly the same as proposing marriage on a first date. It doesn't work, and everyone involved knows it doesn't work, but we keep doing it anyway. Cold advertising that...
The End of the Marketing Blast: Retail Enters the Conversation Era
Retail CRM Endear reports a 50% year‑over‑year rise in personalized messaging, signaling a move away from one‑off blasts toward continuous, relationship‑driven conversations. Email open rates now peak in February at 56.1%, outpacing the traditional November surge. Brands are integrating email,...
How Earned Media Supports Nonprofit Authority in a World Powered by AI
Nonprofit organizations are losing control of first‑contact impressions as AI‑generated summaries and third‑party citations replace direct website visits. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) now prioritizes earned‑media placements, making credible external coverage essential for AI‑driven search visibility. To thrive, nonprofits must craft...
The State of eCommerce for Marketers – 2026 Edition
The 2026 State of eCommerce for Marketers report shows a decisive pivot from user acquisition to re‑engagement as paid install volumes dip across more than 13 markets. Remarketing now commands a larger share of ad spend worldwide, while geopolitical tariffs...
Marketing Program Proliferation Hurts Customer Experience And Limits Business Growth
Forrester’s new report warns that B2B marketers are launching more programs than ever, creating noise that erodes customer experience and caps growth. The study traces the problem to two decades of unchecked program proliferation, a lag in adapting to digital‑native...
Our Vision for Building an Open Ecosystem for the Agent Era
HubSpot announced an open, agent‑ready platform that exposes both its data layer—contacts, deals, tickets, and activity—and a new intelligence layer that delivers pre‑computed risk scores and benchmarks drawn from over 280,000 customers. The move lets third‑party AI agents run on...
McDonald's to Drop Self‑Serve Soda Fountains Nationwide, Shifting to Crew‑Served Drinks
McDonald's announced it will eliminate self‑serve soda fountains in all U.S. restaurants, moving to employee‑served, automated beverage systems. The change supports the chain’s Accelerating the Arches plan to standardize ordering channels and curb product loss, while sales have already risen...
Mindgruve Hires Former Amazon Exec Spencer Lian‑Thornton as VP to Boost Enterprise Partnerships
San Diego‑based data‑technology agency Mindgruve announced Spencer Lian‑Thornton as its new vice president of growth and partnerships. The former Amazon executive will lead efforts to deepen enterprise collaborations and scale Mindgruve’s retail‑media platform.
Purina and U.S. Soccer Celebrate Our Pets
Purina announced the launch of the National Pet Kit, a dog jersey that mirrors the U.S. Men's National Team uniform, available through PetSmart, the official U.S. Soccer Store and Purina’s TikTok Shop. The brand unveiled a new national marketing campaign...
KakaoBank Targets 30 Million Users and $68 B Deposits with AI‑Driven Global Push
South Korea’s KakaoBank announced a plan to reach 30 million customers and $68 billion in total deposits by next year, betting on AI‑powered services and new markets in Indonesia, Thailand and Mongolia. The strategy follows a 7% rise in operating profit and...
AI Startup Artisan Accused of Stealing KC Green’s “This Is Fine” Meme for Subway Ad
AI startup Artisan used a modified version of KC Green’s iconic “This is fine” meme in a subway advertisement, prompting the artist to allege copyright infringement and consider legal action. The dispute highlights growing tensions over AI‑generated marketing and intellectual‑property...
GenOptima’s RaaS Benchmark Shows 4.04‑Fold AI Citation Lift in Two Weeks
GenOptima released an internal benchmark today showing a 4.04‑times lift in AI‑assistant citations after a 14‑day Result‑as‑a‑Service (RaaS) engagement. The outcome, verified by a third‑party, underscores a pay‑for‑performance model that ties every dollar to measurable AI visibility.
7 Tools for Doing AEO Right Now
The article outlines a concise, seven‑tool stack for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), focusing on four core solutions—AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity), Profound, Google Trends/Keyword Planner, and Google Search Console + Analytics—and three emerging options: AI Trust Signals, Ahrefs, and Roadway AI. It...
Highspot Unveils GTM Agent to Turn Go-to-Market Strategy Into a Winning Revenue Performance System
Highspot announced its Spring Launch ’26, debuting the GTM Agent—a platform that stitches together CRM activity, content usage, training data, and buyer engagement to deliver role‑specific, real‑time guidance. The new agent builds on the existing Deal Agent, extending actionable insights...
Microsoft and Postel: An Innovative New Data and AI-Driven Solution to Optimize Italian SMEs' Relationships with Their Customers
Microsoft, Postel (a Poste Italiane Group company) and Audiencerate have expanded their partnership to launch a Marketing Data Platform that blends AI‑powered market intelligence, first‑party data, and omnichannel activation for Italian small‑ and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs). The solution integrates Postel’s...
B2B Social Wins When Companies Take It Seriously
B2B Social: How Clickup Cracked The Code By Taking It Seriously I wrote that headline on purpose. “Taking it seriously.” Because when I was thinking back to my conversation with Chris Cunningham at Clickup about their success with social, I...
Dollar General Launches Unified Retail Media Platform
Dollar General, together with Kevel and The Trade Desk, unveiled a unified retail media platform that merges its onsite ad inventory with offsite digital channels. The solution lets advertisers plan, execute and measure campaigns across the full purchase funnel from...
Automated Emails That Feel Human Boost Sales
When a prospect opens an email in 2026, they quickly scan it to answer one question - is this AI slop... or was this written for me? It's much harder to tell with short emails and less characters if it was...
AI Skill Turns Communities Into Contributors, Not Audiences
I built a skill that designs community marketing strategy — platform selection, launch playbooks, engagement rituals, ambassador programs, and health metrics. You describe your product and audience, and it recommends the right platform, structures your launch plan with founding members, and...
Saudi Aviation Club Reveals Influencer Strategy that Led to 50 Million Views for Sand & Fun
Saudi Aviation Club partnered with Bold Influence to rebrand its Sand & Fun 2025 airshow from a pure aviation exhibition into a national lifestyle platform. The agency assembled a hybrid influencer roster—aviation specialists like Captain Joe and mass‑appeal creators such as Dr. Kholoud and...
She Accidentally Built a 7-Figure Info Business. Here’s What Ecom Brands Can Learn From Her.
Alison, a bilingual kindergarten teacher, turned her self‑made curriculum into a seven‑figure info business, Learning at the Primary Pond, by leveraging Teachers Pay Teachers, a blog, social media and a membership that now accounts for roughly half of revenue. She...
G Hughes Relaunches Zero Sugar Line
G Hughes announced a full relaunch of its zero‑sugar sauce line, updating packaging and brand visuals across the portfolio. The refresh maintains the brand’s zero‑sugar, gluten‑free, HFCS‑free promise while adding two globally inspired BBQ sauces—Korean BBQ (13 oz) and Tex‑Mex BBQ...
How Qualcomm Is Building an Iconic Consumer Brand for the AI Era
Qualcomm has unveiled the "Snapdragon. That’s How" campaign, created with agency 72andSunny, to position its Snapdragon brand as the go‑to processor for PCs in the AI era. The ads feature relatable scenarios—from a freshman to a maid‑of‑honor—showcasing Snapdragon‑powered devices shot...
Why AI Visibility Starts Before Search and Ends with Citations
The article argues that AI visibility now starts before a user types a query and ends with being cited by generative models. Influencing audiences across fragmented channels—social, news, niche communities—is essential because AI assistants pull from those signals when answering....
Is Influencer Campaign ROI Really That Hard to Measure?
Influencer marketing’s promised 11x return on investment is largely a myth, according to the latest guide from Influencer Marketing Hub. The article outlines practical frameworks for measuring campaign impact, including multi‑touch attribution, UTM parameters, and benchmark data from a survey...
The Best Time to Send an Email (2026 Research)
Omnisend analyzed roughly 26 billion emails to map optimal send times. The data shows Tuesdays generate the strongest open and click rates, while Fridays produce the highest conversion rates, especially at 7 AM. Open rates peak between 9 AM‑11 AM, clicks at 7‑8 AM and...
Could a Unified, Independent Measurement System for CTV Be Close?
Industry leaders at an ADWEEK House Possible chat highlighted that Connected TV (CTV) has become a powerful ad channel but still suffers from fragmented, opaque measurement. Viant’s recent acquisition of TVision, which uses camera‑based eye‑tracking to count viewers and gauge...
How Marketers Can Get Clean Incrementality Measurements in a Messy World
Marketers are under mounting pressure to prove the incremental impact of their spend, yet only about 8% of brands have a formal incrementality program. Panelists highlighted that attribution is both technically hard and organizationally fragmented, making it difficult to isolate...
Turning Complex Data Into Genuine Audience Connections
Brandweek highlighted how brands are moving beyond single‑source analytics to build richer audience profiles by layering multiple data sets, AI insights, and traditional research. Speakers from Inmar Media, HalloweenCostumes.com, and Mars showed that combining digital signals with human‑centered tactics—like co‑creation...
V4b.AI Unveils Proprietary AI-Powered Video Production for Brands, Ecommerce and Fashion Industry
V4b.AI announced a proprietary AI‑powered video production platform aimed at ecommerce, fashion and advertising brands. The system blends multiple foundational AI models, 3D‑based accuracy layers and structured post‑production workflows to deliver high‑quality, product‑accurate videos without physical shoots. By automating content...
Prune Thin Content, Boost Traffic by 270%
I deleted 47 blog posts on a client's website. Traffic went UP 270%. Here's what I learned about content pruning: Low-quality posts don't just sit there harmlessly. They actively tank your domain authority. Google sees thin content and assumes your whole...
B2B Must Switch to LinkedIn Creator Marketing
Friendly reminder that if you're in B2B and you're not using LinkedIn creators, you are probably burning cash on ads that aren't converting. It's time for this crowd to get with the program on creator marketing, and LinkedIn is where...
Building a Luxury Brand: The Right Steps for Founders
The article outlines ten disciplined steps for founders who want to create a luxury brand, emphasizing a long‑term vision, identity before growth, obsessive attention to detail, and storytelling. It stresses that pricing, exclusivity, and consistency are core levers that protect...
Google AI Remains Opaque; Bugs Fixed, Ads Gain AI Features
It's New 5/4 - Google AI systems in isolation as black boxes by @mordyoberstein, Search Console 50 week logging bug fixed, https://t.co/IYScEQ2oLu shuts down and @gregfinn on Google Ads adding AI to add products https://t.co/s091r0pOz2
Helpful Content Update Signals Decline for Many Sites
The helpful content update really marked the beginning of the end for soooo many websites. https://t.co/oKwmcZbxz7
Enamor Names Taapsee Pannu as Brand Ambassador
Enamor has appointed Indian actress Taapsee Pannu as its new brand ambassador, unveiling a digital campaign titled “Unapologetic As I Am.” The rollout introduces the brand’s bamboo‑cotton lingerie line, marketed as breathable, antimicrobial and free of pinch, dig or rash. The...
Future Agencies Turn AI Insights Into Real‑Time Action
The agencies that will thrive in 2026 aren’t necessarily those creating more reports or outputs. Instead, they’ll be the ones who genuinely translate AI findings into actionable strategies, respond to insights in real time, and offer clients clear guidance. https://t.co/OiqLXr9guL
From Big Budgets to Daily Posts: Reach Simplified
Twenty years ago, reaching 1000 people required: Advertising budget. PR agency. Media connections. Focus group testing. Hiring designers. Test launches. Contract workers. Meetings. Today it requires: Consistent posting for 6 months The world = your oyster
Upfronts Advertisers Say They Want Outcomes – And Amazon Licks Its Chops
Amazon Ads is pivoting to outcome‑based TV advertising as advertisers demand measurable sales impact. The company unveiled upgrades—including an expanded Prime Video Insights beta, a new long‑term sales metric, and longer measurement look‑back windows—leveraging its proprietary Authenticated Graph. This graph...
GSC Resolves 50‑week Logging Bug; Past Data Remains Lost
Google Search Console fixed the 50 week long data logging issue - going forward, old data won't be fixed https://t.co/QynWn5kWqn via @suzukik and @glenngabe and @johnmu https://t.co/7zkhHJcnqy
Upfronts Advertisers Say They Want Outcomes – And Amazon Licks Its Chops
Amazon Ads is rolling out a suite of measurement upgrades aimed at TV and streaming advertisers who are demanding outcome‑based buying. The new Prime Video Insights beta lets brands match first‑party data to specific genres and shows, while a long‑term...
We Just Dropped Our SMS Prices: Here’s Why We Did It
Omnisend announced a new SMS pricing tier that starts at $0.007 per message in the United States, positioning itself against competitors that are raising rates. The company cites a 40% year‑over‑year growth in SMS volume and doubled click‑through rates in...
Google On AI Overviews & AI Mode Being Isolated Systems (Or Not)
Google Search’s director Nikola Todorovic explained that the company keeps AI models in isolated modules to simplify debugging and maintain system reliability. Early AI tools like SafeSearch were sandboxed, while newer transformer‑based models such as BERT and MUM are layered...