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.
Splendid Communications Wins Cadbury Ice Cream Social Media Account
Splendid Communications has been awarded the Cadbury Ice Cream social‑media account after a tightly contested pitch. The agency will now lead digital strategy, content creation, and community management for the frozen‑dessert brand. The win adds a high‑profile FMCG client to Splendid’s roster, complementing its existing portfolio in consumer brands. The announcement underscores Cadbury’s push to deepen engagement with younger audiences through platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Cohere Buys Naming Rights to Ottawa’s Former EY Centre
Cohere, a leading Canadian AI firm, has secured the naming rights to Ottawa’s former EY Centre, rebranding the 200,000‑square‑foot exhibition venue as the Cohere Centre effective May 1. The partnership, announced on April 30, includes new signage and a dedicated website, though...
Klaviyo Brings Custom Skills to Customer Agent
Klaviyo launched Custom Skills for Customer Agent, letting businesses create bespoke AI-driven interactions on its existing CRM platform. The feature enables brands to define logic in plain language, build new skills from scratch, modify existing ones, and connect to any...
Innovid Adds Measurement Capabilities
Innovid has introduced new measurement capabilities aimed at strengthening lower‑funnel outcomes and providing deeper attribution visibility. The suite adds purchase‑impact data, tracks both online and offline conversions, and uses control groups to calculate incremental lift. It also offers granular performance...
NIQ Launches Precision Solutions
NIQ, a leading consumer intelligence firm, unveiled Precision Solutions, a unified platform that merges retail measurement, consumer panel data, and advanced analytics. The solution helps retailers and suppliers pinpoint high‑potential stores, geographies, and shopper segments, then test and measure localized...
ContinuumGlobal Launches Campaign Optimizer
ContinuumGlobal introduced Campaign Optimizer, a new feature of its Smart Marketing Engine that lets marketers revamp existing content or adapt competitor material into brand‑compliant, production‑ready HTML in a single step. The tool integrates with Email Assistant, enabling AI‑driven draft generation...
Heather McMahan Is Solving Shoe Emergencies With Help From DSW in New Campaign
DSW has teamed with comedian Heather McMahan for a new “Shoemergency” campaign, casting her as a “Field Specialist” who rescues shoppers from shoe dilemmas. The effort extends the retailer’s September “Let Us Surprise You” repositioning, emphasizing emotive storytelling and a fun brand voice. It...
Zoom Has a ‘SWAT Team’ to Stand Out on ChatGPT and Gemini
Zoom has assembled a cross‑functional SWAT team to dominate search results within large language models such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The effort, dubbed generative engine optimization, aims to turn Zoom’s 99% brand awareness into a stronger perception advantage across...
Fast Food Logos Frequently Use Red And And Yellow Colors. No, It's Not A Coincidence
Fast‑food brands deliberately employ red and yellow in logos, interiors, and signage because color psychology links those hues to appetite, urgency, and happiness. Research shows over 90 % of purchasing decisions are visual, and red can raise heart rate while yellow...
Maserati Marks 100-Year Trident Milestone with Stamp and New Model Rollouts
Maserati is celebrating the centenary of its Trident logo and its first Targa Florio win with a worldwide campaign, a limited‑edition Italian postage stamp and a series of new vehicle unveilings. The initiative blends historic branding with cutting‑edge digital storytelling,...
Generative AI Fuels Ad Revenue Surge as Marketers Grapple with Trust and Adoption
Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon disclosed that generative AI tools are driving double‑digit gains in ad conversion rates and AI service revenue, while executives warn that trust, regulatory scrutiny and infrastructure costs could curb adoption.
Taco Bell and KFC Generating Returns From New Concept Tests
Yum Brands is accelerating menu innovation for Taco Bell and KFC, focusing on sauces and specialty beverages to capture the “choice therapy” trend. KFC’s Saucy concept, featuring 11 signature sauces, has grown to about 10 Florida locations and is slated...
Human Insight Powers AI-Driven Marketing Beyond Walled Gardens
AI, Human Intelligence, and the Open Garden Advantage Stephen Magli, Founder and CEO, and Mary Gabrielyan, Chief Strategy Officer at AI Digital, join @JeremyBloomHere at @PossibleEvent to share how AI Digital scaled from an early AI bet into a 500+...
It’s Time to Toot Your Own Horn
The article outlines ten practical strategies for accountants to become newsworthy, ranging from publishing data‑driven insights to speaking at industry events. It emphasizes positioning the firm as a trusted source of financial commentary and leveraging social media to amplify expertise....
Adthena Launches Free “AdBridge” Tool Letting Advertisers Migrate Google Ads Campaigns Into ChatGPT Ads
Adthena, a paid‑search intelligence firm, introduced AdBridge, a free tool that migrates Google Ads campaigns into the emerging ChatGPT Ads format. The platform automatically generates keyword lists, negative keywords and competitive insights ready for use on ChatGPT’s ad service. Several...
AI Clears Bottlenecks, but Hiring Costs Still Rise
I've never used AI more but I've also never spent more $$ hiring (human) specialists to help execute on the projects that AI removed my bottlenecks on. In the last 90 days I've: -Hired a web designer to revamp my site -Hired a...
The Backroom: Redefining Pacsun
Pacsun, ten years post‑bankruptcy, has reshaped its identity by moving beyond its skate‑surf roots toward a culture‑driven, own‑brand strategy. CEO Brieane Olson detailed the pivot in her new book "Co‑Created," emphasizing co‑creation with young consumers. The retailer recently opened its...
Three Takeaways From Meta and Google’s Earnings Calls
Meta and Alphabet (Google) disclosed massive AI‑infrastructure spending during their recent earnings calls, positioning AI as a core driver of future ad performance. Both firms reported mixed stock reactions—Alphabet surged 7% while Meta slipped 7%—reflecting investor split over short‑term cost...
Google Ads Adds “Association” Metric to Brand Lift Studies
Google Ads has introduced an "Association" metric to its Brand Lift studies, allowing advertisers to gauge whether audiences link their brand to a specific concept, category or attribute. The metric uses survey‑style questions that ask respondents which brands they associate...
Adobe Acquires Semrush to Extend Brand Visibility Into AI Search and Agentic Discovery Within CX Enterprise
Adobe completed its acquisition of Semrush Holdings, the SEO platform serving over 28 million marketers. The deal integrates Semrush’s tools into Adobe’s CX Enterprise agentic AI suite unveiled at Adobe Summit 2026. Combined offering blends SEO data with Adobe’s generative engine...
![ChatGPT Vs. Perplexity Vs. Gemini: Which LLMs Are Driving Real Conversions? [Expert Panel] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/post-featured-3-56.png)
ChatGPT Vs. Perplexity Vs. Gemini: Which LLMs Are Driving Real Conversions? [Expert Panel] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
Search Engine Journal hosted an on‑demand webinar where experts compared ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini on conversion performance. The panel presented data showing ChatGPT delivering the highest conversion rates in e‑commerce and finance, while Perplexity attracts high‑intent traffic but lags on...
PR Firm News: Upspring Launches AI Authority Audit
UpSpring, a PR and growth partner for the built environment, launched its AI Authority Audit to help architecture, interior design, product manufacturing and construction firms improve visibility on generative AI search platforms. The service starts with a discovery call and...
Meta and Google Ad Revenues Soar Thanks to AI, but Big Picture Is Blurry
Google and Meta posted strong Q1 ad revenue, beating forecasts. Google’s ad revenue rose 15% to $77.25 billion, driven by 19% search growth and 11% YouTube growth. Meta’s ad revenue jumped 33% to $55 billion, sparking talk it could overtake Google. Both...
X Announces a Rebuilt Ad Platform Powered by AI
Elon Musk’s X has begun a phased rollout of a completely rebuilt advertising platform powered by artificial intelligence. The new stack introduces modern retrieval and ranking systems designed to give marketers tighter targeting and easier campaign creation. Industry forecasts from...
What if YouTube Opened Up Its Ad Inventory?
YouTube’s ad inventory is currently locked behind Google’s DV360 exchange, a restriction that dates back to Google’s 2015 shutdown of third‑party platforms like TubeMogul. The Department of Justice’s recent antitrust ruling against Google has revived speculation that the company could...
![How Brands Are Increasing AI Visibility By Up To 2,000% [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1-1-860.png)
How Brands Are Increasing AI Visibility By Up To 2,000% [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
The Search Engine Journal webinar reveals that a focused Reddit strategy can lift AI‑driven brand visibility by as much as 2,000% within a 90‑day window. It showcases OGS Media’s 5‑stage framework that turned a single brand’s Reddit presence into massive...
Cumulus Expands Local Market Research for Sales Teams
Cumulus Media announced partnerships with The Media Audit and TOMA.Solutions to add consumer lifestyle and brand‑awareness data to its sales toolkit. The new intelligence layer will let account executives frame advertiser conversations around category demand, targeting and competitive positioning instead...
The Influencer Tasked with Reviving Frasers Group’s Slazenger Brand
Frasers Group has enlisted digital creator Alexei Hamblin to spearhead a revival of its legacy tennis brand, Slazenger. Hamblin will craft a content‑driven strategy aimed at younger, socially‑savvy consumers while leveraging the retailer’s extensive distribution network. The partnership signals Mike...
Valvoline Drives Fans To World Cup
Valvoline has launched its first FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign, "The Original Motor Oil. For the Driven," leveraging a 160‑year brand heritage to connect with soccer fans traveling to host cities. A ParkMobile survey shows 18% of Americans plan road...
Long John Silver's Renews Alliance With Baldwin& As Creative AOR
Long John Silver’s, the 485‑location U.S. seafood chain, has renewed its creative agency of record agreement with Baldwin &, the firm that first handled its branding in 2017. The partnership returns to a full‑service model after a project‑based stint from 2020,...
X Revamps Its Ads Manager, Folding in New AI Performance Tools
X has overhauled its Ads Manager, embedding AI-driven contextual and semantic signals to improve ad targeting and delivery. The company touts the update as its most ambitious platform revamp in two decades. New tools automate campaign creation, audience segmentation, and...
New Meta‑Higgsfield Loop Sparks Ad Volatility
Both Meta and Higgsfield MCP's launched this week. Meta -> Claude -> Higgsfield -> Claude -> Meta is now suuuuuper easy 😅😬 Great for both automations and for one-shotting new ads. I think advertisers are about to see a ton of volatility, especially...
United Rebrands Select Domestic Premium Cabins as Polaris® Business Class
United Airlines has rebranded select nonstop domestic premium cabins as Polaris® Business Class, covering transcontinental routes between Newark‑Los Angeles and Newark‑San Francisco and long‑haul flights to Honolulu and Maui from Chicago, Newark and Washington. The change grants full‑fare Polaris passengers access...
AI Keyword Research: How It Works and 9 Prompts to Start
AI keyword research combines large language models with live search data to automate idea generation, clustering, and gap analysis. Ahrefs’ Agent A, powered by the Model Context Protocol, connects a general AI directly to Ahrefs’ keyword database, delivering real‑time volume, difficulty...
Harnessing AI to Orchestrate Customer Experiences at Scale – Interviews with Luc Dammann, Nina Caruso & Vivek Pandya of Adobe
Adobe executives highlighted an inflection point where AI agents and humans co‑operate, demanding brands achieve visibility across both. They unveiled the CX Enterprise suite, featuring an AI "bodyguard" for brand safety and a CX Co‑worker that orchestrates agents, data, and...
How Nestlé Turns Creator Content Into Brand-Suitable Ads at Scale
Nestlé has launched an integration between CreatorIQ and CreativeX that uses AI to grade influencer content for paid‑media suitability. The system streams creator submissions from CreatorIQ to CreativeX, scores them against Nestlé’s branding, storytelling and effectiveness criteria, and feeds the...
Ad Intelligence Powers Quality, Multi‑Channel Media Outcomes
Advertising Intelligence, Outcomes, and Better Media @RemcoWestermann the CEO of Verve joins @JeremyBloomHere and @sam_khoury1 from Marketecture Media at @PossibleEvent to share how Verve is using advertising intelligence, intent signals, and deeper partnerships to help make media...
Reliance Expands Globally, Customizes Hair Care for India
Expansion Strategy: Reliance plans to scale the brand in India, tailoring products to local hair and scalp needs, while continuing to grow its presence in markets like North America, the UK, and the Middle East.
New CEO Leads on Juice Burst Rebrand
Purity Soft Drinks is rebranding as The Juice Burst Drinks Co. to spotlight its flagship Juice Burst line, now a staple in UK grocery aisles. The transition will roll out over the coming months, supported by a major consumer campaign...
Taylor Swift's Trademark Playbook Shields Athletes From AI Deepfakes
AI is exploiting athletes’ identities, it will only get worse as AI gets better and NIL protections aren't enough. Enter Taylor Swift’s trademark strategy to protect her NIL. It offers a potential roadmap for athletes battling deepfakes and AI misuse: https://t.co/4TdMv2PYiY.
Buyers Decide 70% Before Sales—Signal‑Driven Confidence
70% of the buying decision is already made before sales gets involved. So what’s shaping that decision? Signals. Kriste Goad explains where buyers are piecing together your story from + how to create confidence, not confusion.👇 https://t.co/cMpCeVwIjD #fuoco #AEO #hcmktg
AI Tracking Errors Distort Attribution, Misguide Budgets
Flawed AI tracking methods are beginning to skew attribution models, creating false signals that influence budget and strategy. https://t.co/vvaMMZ6Y07 via @TaylorDanRW, @sejournal
AI Scales Campaigns; Tech Leaders Must Guard Brand Consistency
AI agents can now scale marketing campaigns across dozens of channels. But who's enforcing brand consistency? That's a technology leadership problem, not a marketing one. #CIO #AIAgents #MarTech https://t.co/Vjv8aDlma4
LLMs Unify Your Digital Signals Into Authority
Your LinkedIn profile = signal Your PR hits = signal Your blog = signal LLMs connect it all. Alexis Pratsides on entity authority 👉 https://t.co/CWdiiuNerG @FINNPartners #healthcaremarketing https://t.co/xLUsXCcf5k
Secrets Behind All Healthy’s 52% Open Rate
All Healthy has 1.3 million subscribers and a 52% open rate. In this episode, Sean Devlin shares how he's running it, plus: - Making your audience addicted to your emails - The right approach to sponsorships - Tips for newsletter design Search "Nathan Barry...
AI Teammates Boost 5-Star Social Selling Scale
Beyond the Average: Scaling 5-Star Social Selling with AI Teammates by @Timothy_Hughes https://t.co/Qdnj2dVMU9 @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Sales #SalesTips #SalesLeader #SalesEnablement #RevOps #Marketing #MarketingStrategy #AI #MarketingSuccess https://t.co/Syp6GW3xPH
Roku's New Home Screen Boosts Ads and Subscriptions
Roku’s content forward home screen will drive ads and subscriptions $ROKU The LightShed Podcast, Ep. 311. With @BrandoLightShed and @WaltLightShed https://t.co/IzuCFFHsaP
YouTube: The Untapped B2B Education Powerhouse
The most underrated distribution channel in B2B right now is YouTube. Long form. Tutorial driven. Talking heads. Educational. Searchable forever. Few B2B brands owns it yet. That is wild to me. We are going to fix that.
Free AI SEO Audit for Two Lucky Winners
Who wants a FREE SEO audit that shows exactly what you need to do on to rank on AI and SEO? DM the word "AUDIT", and I'll send you a quick loom. Only 2 people.
Netflix Adopts TikTok‑style Tactics, Stays Distinct
Netflix is trying to take a page from TikTok - without becoming TikTok. A top exec explains: https://t.co/ut0xElf6xR