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.
Netflix Urged to Ditch Oscar Chase for Action Thrillers
An opinion piece on Tom's Guide calls on Netflix to stop prioritizing Oscar‑bait films and invest more in action‑driven titles like "Apex" and "The Rip." The author argues the strategy could improve subscriber growth and position Netflix alongside the traditional "Big Five" studios.
KFC China Sales Jump 33% on Delivery Boom, Margins Tighten
KFC China’s delivery sales surged 33% year‑on‑year in Q1, now accounting for 55% of total sales, while Yum China warned that profit margins slipped 190 basis points due to higher rider costs. The growth underscores fast‑food brands’ reliance on delivery...
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol Defends $9 Latte Amid Social Media Backlash
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol sparked a firestorm on X and TikTok by defending a $9 latte as a "splurge" worth the experience. The comment came during the company's Q2 earnings call, where Niccol argued the new pricing strategy is essential...
Costco’s $9 Blueberry Sourdough Bread Becomes Member Favorite, Boosting Bakery Traffic
Costco rolled out the Kirkland Signature Blueberry Sourdough Bread, a two‑pound loaf priced at $8.99, and members are already hailing it as a top pick. The bakery launch illustrates how the warehouse club leverages limited‑time items to increase store visits...
Agile Media Investment Strategies Displace Traditional Annual Plans, Says Hotspex Media Co‑Founder
Josh Rosen, co‑founder and president of Hotspex Media, says brands are abandoning fixed annual media plans in favor of agile, data‑driven allocation. He cites continuous performance data, AI tools and market volatility as drivers of the shift, warning that static...
🤯Benefits Not Features
A founder built a language‑learning app with a multi‑modal phonetic feedback loop that could detect errors in under 15 ms, but investors ignored the pitch because it focused on technical specs. By reframing the story around the child’s first full sentence...
Something Nefarious Is Happening in Your Living Room Every Time You Watch TV
Tech giants are turning smart TVs into extensions of smartphones, adding apps like Google Photos, YouTube summaries, and Instagram Reels to living‑room screens. This shift lets manufacturers and advertisers harvest detailed viewing data from the 77% of U.S. households with...
Crossing Borders Isn’t Just a Brand Exercise: Why Startups Struggle to Scale Internationally
Monzo withdrew from the United States after discovering that its UK‑style brand could not offset the steep structural hurdles of the US banking market. Customer acquisition costs in the US average about $300 per user—three times the global norm—while Monzo...
Meet Customers Where They Are, Not Copy Channels
The marketing channel that works for someone else won't work for you. Copying their channel without understanding why it worked for them is cargo-culling. Start with the customer. Where do they go when they have the problem you solve? Show up there in...
Omacon Gets Fresh Look with New OMA Logo
Gave https://t.co/82cFdgygXy a refresh using the awesome new OMA logo created by @Creative_Curls for Omacon. https://t.co/QJK5QPkSfn
Virgin Atlantic Launches Challenge on Strava to Turn Movement Into Premium Travel Experiences
Virgin Atlantic has launched the Virgin Atlantic Passport Challenge on Strava, inviting runners in New York City and Los Angeles to log miles between May 6 and June 3 for a chance to win 1 million Virgin Points. Points can be redeemed for flights, Virgin...
Balancing Agent-First Architecture with Human Buyer Relationships
How does an enterprise pivot to an “agent-first” architecture without completely alienating its traditional human buyers? https://t.co/YV3RT3pqcl @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Leadership #ArtificialIntelligence #AIAgents #AI #Strategy #Marketing #MarketingSuccess #MarketingStrategy #Branding
CRM Isn't Dead: New MarTech Moves Redefine AI Strategy
MyPOV: CRM is as dead as instant coffee and paper. Spoiler: it's not dead. @LizkMiller and @Holgermu unpack CRM, @canva 's stealth #martech play, Oracle's agentic bets, and why Wall Street shouldn't define your AI strategy in CRTV Episode 128:...
Olivia Rodrigo Teams with FC Barcelona for Jersey Drop and Exclusive Barcelona Concert
Olivia Rodrigo has partnered with FC Barcelona and Spotify to launch a limited‑edition Blaugrana jersey and host an invite‑only concert for top Spotify listeners in Barcelona on May 8. The collaboration arrives ahead of the club’s El Clásico match and precedes Rodrigo’s...
Boomi’s Rebrand Signals Shift Beyond Integration
Boomi Stopped Calling Itself an Integration Company. That Tells You More Than Any Product Launch. https://t.co/glaR3wn0XO
Meta Feigns Openness, Then Reverts to Closed Model
Meta bootstrapped China, reaped the positive PR for being “open”, and then went back to being closed.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman Touts AI‑driven Ad Growth as Platform Readies New Marketing Tools
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman highlighted a surge in AI‑powered advertising, with ad revenue climbing 74% to $625 million and roughly 50% of Reddit Max advertisers using AI features. The company signaled upcoming AI‑focused marketing tools as it targets $715‑$725 million revenue in...
Micro‑Influencer Videos Deliver 342% ROI Surge for E‑Commerce in Q1 2026
E‑commerce brands that partnered with micro‑influencers saw a 342% return on investment in Q1 2026, far outpacing traditional celebrity endorsements. The shift, driven by algorithm changes on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, is prompting retailers to rebuild their influencer strategies around...
Thoughtly Raises $5.5M to Embed AI Agents in CRMs, Targeting Lead‑coverage Gaps
Thoughtly closed a $5.5 million seed round led by Armory Sq. Ventures to launch a no‑code, omnichannel AI platform that embeds virtual agents directly into CRM workflows. The funding brings its total to over $8 million and aims to eliminate the industry‑wide...
Muthoot Group Elevates Abhinav Iyer to Chief General Manager, Marketing & Strategy
The Muthoot Group announced the promotion of Abhinav Iyer to Chief General Manager – Marketing & Strategy after more than a decade with the conglomerate. Iyer, who joined in 2014 and most recently served as General Manager, will now steer...
OpenAI Updates Conversion Pixel to Meet EU Consent Rules, Paving Way for ChatGPT Ads
OpenAI has upgraded its conversion tracking pixel with a consent‑management system and country‑level data fields, laying technical groundwork for a ChatGPT ad rollout in the European Union. The move addresses EU privacy rules and could reshape programmatic buying as generative‑AI...
Crypto.com Leads Miami Grand Prix as F1’s Official Sponsor
Crypto.com is front‑and‑center as the title sponsor of the Miami Grand Prix, with the race taking place at the newly built Miami International Autodrome at Hard Rock Stadium. The branding splash coincides with a celebrity‑filled weekend that included Mexican driver...
LinkedIn Q1 Revenue Jumps 12% as B2B Marketers Double Down
LinkedIn reported a 12% year‑over‑year revenue increase in the first quarter, driven by growth across Talent Solutions, advertising and platform engagement. The surge underscores expanding B2B marketing spend on the professional network and hints at deeper monetization opportunities for Microsoft’s...
You Are the Company Brand Now: How C-Suite Leaders Shape Company Perception in the AI Era
In the AI‑driven information age, C‑suite leaders are no longer occasional brand spokespeople but continuous extensions of their company’s brand. Executives’ personal voice, clarity, and consistent presence now shape how customers, employees, and investors perceive the organization. The article warns...
From Shorts to Long‑Form: Prioritizing YouTube Storytelling
I’ve been shooting my videos in a 1:1 aspect ratio lately and creating a slightly longer edit in 16x9 for YouTube and then cutting it down shorter and reframing to 9x16 for Reels and TikTok. I’ve had a ton of fun...
Disney In Talks To Merge Its Theme Park Apps Into Disney+
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro announced plans to transform Disney+ into a super‑app that bundles streaming, theme‑park tickets, cruise reservations, and other experiences. The move follows earlier ideas from Bob Chapek and Bob Iger, and comes as Hulu is slated to...
Nike’s Freakiest Running Sneaker Is a High-Tech Alien
Nike unveiled a radically styled version of its Vomero Premium running shoe through the new SNKRS Verified app, featuring a mesh upper littered with neon‑colored spikes. The sneaker keeps the original’s high‑performance stack of Zoom X and dual Air Zoom...
Walmart Rolls Out In‑store Beauty Advisors to Challenge Target's Ulta Partnership
Walmart is staffing beauty aisles with trained advisors in more than 400 U.S. stores by year‑end, a move designed to capture a bigger slice of the $129 billion beauty market and directly counter Target’s new Ulta‑powered beauty studios. The rollout follows...
Adobe Finalizes $4 Billion Semrush Acquisition to Power AI‑Driven Brand Visibility
Adobe has closed a $4 billion acquisition of Semrush, adding the SEO platform’s data and tools to its Adobe CX Enterprise suite. The deal targets the 269% YoY surge in AI‑driven traffic and aims to give marketers a unified view of...
Copy, Not Subject, Drives Clicks: Use Customer Language
Your subject line gets the open. Your copy drives the click. Most brands obsess over the first and ignore the second. Five rules that fix it: 1. Steal your customer's language. Read your reviews, support tickets, and reply emails before you write...
May’s 7-Day Notes Growth Challenge Opens Today. (And Yes, I'm Including All New Templates)
Substack’s Notes feature remains the quickest way to grow a newsletter, and Wes Pearce credits 70‑80% of his 17,000‑subscriber base to daily Notes. To help other writers replicate that success, he launched a 7‑Day Notes Growth Challenge starting May 7, delivering...
Spot the Gap Between Newsletter Hits and Your Feed
Running a test, given the talk about X's algorithm and links Below: the 6 most popular stories from last week's @sundaylongread newsletter. How many of them did you see on social media? How many of them do you wish you'd seen? If there's...
Loyalty Beats Scale: Small Clues Reveal Big Opportunities
Before joining Coach, he did something brilliant. He pretended to be a BusinessWeek reporter so he could interview buyers, merchants, and shopkeepers about the brand. From Coach to Bonwit Teller, Bergdorf Goodman, and Bloomingdale's — the answer was the same: “Coach is small…...
Tourism Ireland Pushes May Slow‑travel Campaign to Lure Off‑peak Visitors
Tourism Ireland has launched a campaign positioning May as the ideal month for slow travel, urging visitors to explore the island when crowds are thin and weather is mild. The push seeks to spread demand beyond the summer peak and...
Mel Robbins Calls on Marketers to Beat AI Fear with 5‑Second Rule
At SAS Innovate in Dallas, motivational coach Mel Robbins challenged more than 2,000 marketers to stop overthinking AI and act immediately, using her signature 5‑second rule. Her message highlights a behavioral barrier that could slow AI integration across the industry.
China‑Tour Strategist Turns Global Influencers Into Local Brands
Julie Zhu, a Shenzhen‑based China market strategist, has built a niche service that brings global creators to China for immersive tours, platform‑specific content, and brand partnerships. Her work with Khaby Lame and fitness star Pamela Reif shows how cross‑border influencer...
AdaptlyPost Unveils AI-First Social Media Scheduler with Agentic AI Integration
AdaptlyPost introduced an AI-first social media scheduling platform that automates caption writing, image generation, and cross‑platform publishing for creators, agencies and businesses. The tool supports nine networks and native agentic AI workflows via OpenClaw and the Model Context Protocol, promising...
VideoTutor Reaches 50 Million TikTok Views, Sparks Enterprise Interest
VideoTutor, a Gen‑Z‑founded AI tutoring startup, announced that its TikTok‑driven content has topped 50 million cumulative views. Backed by an $11 million seed round, the company is now fielding purchase inquiries from Tencent, Xiaotiancai and over a thousand other organizations, signaling a...
Stagwell Appoints Lena Petersen as Chief Brand and Communications Officer as Q1 Revenue Hits $704M
Stagwell announced that Lena Petersen has joined the senior team as Chief Brand and Communications Officer as the company posted a record $704 million first‑quarter revenue, up 8%. The move signals a deeper focus on brand strategy within a firm that...
Sonesta International Hotels Sponsors Billboard Women in Music 2026, Offers Exclusive VIP Experience
Sonesta International Hotels became the presenting sponsor of Billboard Women in Music 2026, delivering a branded VIP lounge, exclusive swag and access to its Travel Pass loyalty benefits. The partnership places the hotel chain at the center of a high‑profile...
Turning Angry Reviews Into Loyal Customers
The post shares four custom AI prompts that help businesses transform 1‑star reviews into brand‑building opportunities. It explains why generic, automated apologies backfire and illustrates the approach with a real‑world case of an event‑services entrepreneur. The author cites a 2026...
Google Admits AI's Black‑box Nature Hinders Ranking Debugging
Some interesting nuggets from the latest Search Off The Record Podcast about Google using AI in Search rankings. Here is Google's Nikola Todorovic, Director of Software Engineering at Google Search, about how AI is used to impact rankings and why...
AI Isn’t the Issue; Mass‑tricking with Content Is
AI-generated content is not the problem. Tricking people at scale into reading/looking at/watching stuff that doesn’t matter to them is. AI just allows people to speedrun the creative side.
Lift AI Unveils 85%‑Accurate Buyer Probability Scoring to Transform B2B GTM
Lift AI announced a Website Buyer Probability Scoring system that predicts a visitor’s likelihood to purchase with over 85% accuracy. The tool shifts GTM teams from fragmented intent signals to real‑time behavioral context, aiming to lift pipeline conversion and reduce...
Global Press Release Distribution with 100k Journalist Access
Ready to reach beyond Canada? I offer US and worldwide press release distribution with direct access to over 100,000 journalists, full SEO integration, and placement across Google News, Bing News, and Yahoo News. Contact: Eric@ThatEricAlper.com
Google Fixes Search Console Impressions Bug, Impact Unclear
Heads-up, Google updated the 'Data Anomalies in Search Console' report and said the impressions bug has been resolved. But, when I'm checking impressions across accounts, I'm not seeing any changes. Interesting. 🤔h/t @suzukik https://t.co/T3PDTPFePu
Instant Keyword Research with Magister—No API Required
Sign up and ask Magister to do keyword research for you Get detailed data on what you should be ranking for within minutes All without having to connect an API or login to another tool https://t.co/2b2UIRYTdh
Pre‑launch Period: Untapped High‑leverage ETF Marketing Window
Most ETF launches die in the gap between ticker drop and AUM. The pre-launch period — when the issuer is allowed to talk about the thesis but not the ticker — is the highest-leverage marketing window in ETF GTM, and...
Measuring Brand Impact: Metrics vs Trust
How do you measure the effect of “brand?” Or do you just have to trust that it’s effective? https://t.co/YdiZEhCpT2
Grow Newsletters with Cross‑Pollination and Lead Magnets
This newsletter grew through cross-pollination, then scaled with lead magnets. In my latest podcast episode, Sean Devlin shared his full strategy. Watch it in full by searching "Nathan Barry Show" https://t.co/fqAI3q9ezP