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.
Verse.ai Announces RCS Messaging Functionality for Branded Text Conversations
Verse.ai, a conversational‑AI texting platform, has launched Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging for its business customers. The new channel supports high‑resolution images, interactive reply suggestions, and branded contact cards, while offering partial or end‑to‑end encryption. If a recipient’s device or carrier does not support RCS, messages automatically fall back to traditional 10‑digit long‑code SMS. The rollout aims to boost brand identification, trust, and deliverability across industries.
Grubhub Centers Value in Monthlong Loyalty Push with Anomaly
Grubhub launched a month‑long "Gold Digging Season" promotion, offering its premium Grubhub+ subscription for $0.99 instead of the usual $9.99. The deal provides exclusive discounts at major restaurants, $50 off $100 grocery orders via Instacart, and special Blue Apron meal‑kit...
From Paid Clicks to Answer Equity: Your New 2026 Search Strategy
The article warns that AI‑driven search results are eroding paid‑click value, with click‑through rates falling 58‑68% when AI Overviews appear. It introduces the concept of "answer equity"—owning the factual content that AI cites rather than renting impressions through PPC. To...
8 AI Prompts to Uncover Hidden Customer Pain Points and Write Better Copy
The post outlines eight AI‑driven prompts that help marketers dig beyond surface‑level complaints to uncover the sleepless‑at‑2 am pain points that truly drive buying decisions. The first three prompts mine raw online grievances, translate sanitized feedback into honest emotions, and narrate...
Spotify's Verified Badge Distinguishes Humans, Not AI‑Free Music
To address the flood of AI-generated artists on the platform, Spotify is rolling out a “Verified by Spotify” badge to help listeners more easily identify authentic human artists. This will become increasingly commonplace across platforms. That said just because the artists...
L’Oréal Romania Taps SAMY to Manage Creator Marketing Across All 21 Group Brands
L’Oréal Romania announced a partnership with global social‑first agency SAMY to run influencer marketing for its entire portfolio of 21 brands, starting in June 2026. SAMY already handles L’Oréal’s creator relationships in Italy, Spain, the UK, the Nordics, Latin America...
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Taps LTK for Social Commerce Push
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit has partnered with LTK to launch its first creator‑driven social commerce channel. An official LTK profile will let fans discover and purchase items featured in editorial content, talent spotlights, and live runway coverage. LTK will also enable...
POSSIBLE 2026: Can AI Help Agencies Finally Break Down Those Silos?
At POSSIBLE 2026, Horizon Media’s chief product and data officer Domenic Venuto explained how the agency is using artificial intelligence to fuse audience planning, targeting, measurement and strategy into a single platform. The AI‑driven hub eliminates the lag between client questions and...
POSSIBLE 2026: Can AI Help Agencies Finally Break Down Those Silos?
At POSSIBLE 2026, Horizon Media’s chief product and data officer Domenic Venuto explained how the agency is using artificial intelligence to centralize media‑buying functions—from audience planning to measurement—so teams can collaborate on a single platform. By eliminating the lag between...
7 Best PPC Agencies for 2026: My Top Picks
The article lists seven top PPC agencies for 2026, each matched to specific business needs such as full‑service management, multi‑channel integration, data‑driven revenue tracking, conversion optimization, creative‑focused accounts, white‑label fulfillment, and HubSpot‑aligned inbound strategies. It draws on G2’s Winter Grid®...
Personalized Feeds Raise Individual vs Collective Tradeoffs
This morning I listened to Meta’s Q1 earnings call. While Wall Street is focused on numbers, I'm focused on what they said about personalization. Your feed is getting more personal. Eventually, the content will be created specifically for you. It’s making...
Antennae Studio Centers Its Handcrafted Bespoke Identities In Archival Research
Antennae Studio, led by founder Amalia Aranguren, creates handcrafted, bespoke brand identities rooted in deep archival research. The studio’s holistic process blends historical references with meticulous design execution, delivering visual systems that feel timeless yet fresh. Clients benefit from identities...
Patreon Rolls Out Network Features to Drive Fan Discovery, Creator Membership Growth
Patreon announced its biggest product update yet, adding network features that surface creators to new fans and turn free followers into paying members. The rollout includes Quips, a short‑form post format in a refreshed Home feed, and Collaboration posts that...
Match Your H2s to Queries for ChatGPT Visibility
Want ChatGPT to mention you? Well, fix your headers. If you're writing 4,000-word "comprehensive guides" with H2s like "Introduction" and "Final Thoughts."... ngmi. LOL In a study by AirOps, pages with headings that match the user's query get cited 41% of the time....
What Blog Posts Should You Write to Be Mentioned in ChatGPT?
ChatGPT often expands user prompts into multiple live web searches, a behavior known as query fan‑out. In a test of 90 prompts across beauty, legaltech, and IT, commercial‑intent prompts triggered fan‑out 78.3% of the time, whereas informational prompts did so...
X Upgrades Its Ad Platform in Long Overdue Overhaul
X announced the largest overhaul of its advertising tools, positioning the upgrade as AI‑powered and rolling it out globally. The revamp introduces contextual and semantic ad delivery, with full deployment expected later in 2026. X claims its top 100 advertisers...
What Winning Brands Do Differently on Social in 2026
Social ad spend is set to reach $277 billion in 2025 and $280 billion in 2026, while video dominates every major platform and audiences fragment across channels. At the same time, programmatic ad waste has surged 34%, exposing brands to higher risk....
AI Search Clicks Often Go To Local Domains: Report via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Aleyda Solis analyzed 87 million AI‑search visits across ten markets and found that clicks overwhelmingly favor local domains rather than global giants. Using SimilarWeb data, she identified a "click‑producing layer" where users select citations or links in AI‑generated answers, revealing that...
Optus Cuts SIM‑Only Prices by AU$15 and Adds 50 GB Bonus Data for a Year
Optus announced a 12‑month discount of AU$15 per month on two flagship SIM‑only plans and a 50 GB monthly data bonus, saving customers AU$180 in total. The promotion runs until May 17, 2026, just before the carrier raises all SIM‑only prices by...
Yroc Consulting Leverages AI Authority to Boost West Texas Businesses
Yroc Consulting announced the rollout of its AI Authority framework, positioning the firm as an AI‑driven growth strategist for companies across West Texas. The approach promises higher search visibility, inbound leads and brand authority without heavy reliance on paid ads.
Zefr Builds A New Front Door For YouTube Buys
Zefr introduced Zain, an AI‑driven hub that lets advertisers launch YouTube campaigns using plain‑language commands. The platform leverages the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and an Advertising Context Protocol (AdCP) to translate natural‑language requests into API calls, pulling in first‑party, Zefr...
Amtrak Launches Luxury‑car‑style "The Build" Ad to Reshape U.S. Travel Mindset
Amtrak debuted "The Build," a luxury‑car‑styled TV commercial during the Kentucky Derby weekend, to reposition rail as a premium alternative to driving and flying. Chief Commercial Officer Eliot Hamlisch said the campaign is part of a broader effort to double...
Booking Holdings Rolls Out Generative AI Assistants, Cutting Costs and Boosting Hotel Bookings
Booking Holdings announced that its generative‑AI assistants are now live on Priceline, Booking.com and OpenTable, delivering measurable cost savings and higher booking conversion. Executives said early tests show a clear uplift for users who interact with the AI agents, marking...
Competitive Pricing Starts with Data
Competitive pricing is becoming a strategic imperative as shoppers grow more price‑sensitive. A Retail Systems Research survey of 97 global brick‑and‑mortar executives found 53% list rising consumer price sensitivity among their top fears. Online shoppers can instantly compare offers on...
Marathon’s Lack of Marketing by Sony Indicates Lack of Faith, Says Former Square Enix Exec
Bungie's PvPvE shooter Marathon has sold roughly 1.2 million copies and generated about $55 million in gross revenue, but its PS5 performance lags behind Steam and Xbox. Former Square Enix exec Jacob Navok highlighted a 2,000‑player drop in peak concurrent users, blaming...
HireClix Launches JobFlow AEO
HireClix introduced JobFlow AEO, an AI‑optimized recruitment marketing solution that structures career site content for discovery by AI‑powered search engines and large language models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. The platform adds schema‑enhanced pages, natural‑language answers, and analytics...
How Should Legacy Banks Compete with Chime?
Chime has captured younger, cash‑strapped consumers by offering a minimalist app, fee‑free overdraft handling, and tiered perks tied to direct‑deposit amounts. A Javelin Strategy report finds the neobank’s product set mirrors legacy banks, but its execution—especially simplicity and transparent rewards—outshines...
How AI Models ‘Understand’ Your Brand
The article argues that AI does not truly "understand" a brand; it merely matches patterns derived from its training data and real‑time retrieval. Visibility now hinges on how a brand is encoded, retrieved, and generated by large language models, shifting...
EcoMedia Solutions Unveils EcoMeter to Quantify Carbon Footprint of Ad Campaigns
EcoMedia Solutions introduced EcoMeter, a new platform that lets advertisers, agencies and event planners calculate the carbon emissions of campaigns with activity‑based data. Built on the company’s EMS platform, the tool promises more accurate reporting and greener media choices as...
Taco Bell Pilots AI‑driven Dynamic Drive‑thru Menu, Eyes Nationwide Rollout in 2026
Taco Bell U.S. began testing an AI‑powered, dynamically personalized drive‑thru menu, using real‑time data to adjust item recommendations. The pilot is part of Yum! Brands' AI adoption plan and could expand to all U.S. locations in 2026, signaling the first...
Google Rolls Out New Tools to Automate Even More of the Marketing Process
Google announced a suite of new AI Max capabilities ahead of its Marketing Live event, including AI Brief, a natural‑language tool that lets advertisers set creative and targeting guardrails, and AI Max for Shopping, which automates ad copy, URL expansion...
AI Max Turns 1 with New Ways to Steer Performance and Expansion to More Advertisers
Google celebrates the one‑year anniversary of AI Max by extending the platform to Shopping and travel ad formats and adding new control tools. The AI Brief feature lets advertisers input brand‑specific messaging, audience, and matching guidelines to steer the Gemini‑powered engine. Final...
Meet Travelers in the Moments that Matter with Search Campaigns for Travel.
Google announced Search Campaigns for Travel, merging travel feeds and formats into its standard Search campaign interface. The update gives advertisers a single buying door, AI Max automation, real‑time feed‑driven text ads, and unified reporting across all travel ad types. By...
Google Unveils Brand 'Brief' Feature In AI Max
Google unveiled a suite of AI Max tools, highlighted by the new “AI Brief” feature powered by Gemini. AI Brief lets advertisers embed brand‑specific messaging guardrails, banned phrases, and tone guidelines directly into search, shopping and travel campaigns. Additional capabilities...
Google AI Max Gets New Controls, Shopping Rollout and Travel Consolidation
Google is extending its AI Max automation suite beyond Search to include Shopping campaigns and a unified Travel format. The rollout adds AI Brief, a Gemini‑powered natural‑language interface, plus text disclaimer and URL‑expansion tools for compliance. These updates let advertisers...
Adapt Your Shopping Campaigns to Modern Search with AI Max.
Google unveiled AI Max for Shopping, an AI‑driven upgrade to existing Shopping campaigns that adds conversational ad copy, Final URL Expansion, and automatic format selection. The new tools pull data from Merchant Center feeds—such as fabric softness and fit—to match...
CG Roxane Launches Marketing Campaign, Expands Tennessee Plant
CG Roxane, the maker of Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water, has rolled out a new integrated marketing campaign called “The Adventures of Al Pine” to humanize its brand and emphasize source integrity. At the same time, the company is expanding...
Can AI Mode Ads Actually Drive Conversions, Or Is It Just Awareness? – Ask A PPC via @Sejournal, @Brookeosmundson
AI Mode ads, Google’s AI‑driven placement layer, can generate real conversions but at higher cost per action than mature keyword campaigns. Early data shows a 7‑13% lift in conversion volume, yet CPA and ROAS are less predictable. The format captures...
McDonald’s UK Swaps Dexter Fletcher Voiceover for Stephen Graham
McDonald’s UK has replaced Dexter Fletcher’s voiceover with actor Stephen Graham for its national advertising campaign. The change is part of a strategic push to resonate more strongly with younger consumers, particularly Gen Z and early‑millennial audiences. Graham’s distinctive, gritty...
Automated Tool Builds Focused Analytics Tracking Plans
I built a skill that sets up analytics tracking from scratch — event naming, tracking plans, conversion funnels, UTM strategy, and implementation across GA4, Mixpanel, Segment, and GTM. You describe what you need to measure, and it builds a structured tracking...
Meta Ads AI Connectors Enable Direct Campaign Management
Running Meta Ads? They just announced their MCP so you can manage via AI tools -> Introducing Meta Ads AI Connectors: Manage Your Meta Ads From the AI Tools You Already Use "Powered by Meta's ads MCP server, the connector provides...
Beyond the Prompt: Why the “Sidecar” Is the Secret to Real-Time Agentic Advertising
The IAB Tech Lab’s Agentic Real‑Time Framework (ARTF) introduces an “Agentic Sidecar” architecture that embeds AI agents directly inside DSP or SSP environments. By containerizing agents and using gRPC with Protobuf, the sidecar cuts bid‑request latency up to 80 % and...
Why Snap Launched Their AI Ad Format With a Credit Bureau
Snap introduced an AI‑powered ad format that embeds branded chat agents directly into its Chat tab, debuting with credit‑bureau Experian. The promoted snaps appear as labeled ads; users tap to ask the Experian bot about scores, loans, or credit‑card options....
Write Press Releases That Generate Real Media
In a Duct Tape Marketing podcast, Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases, argues that press releases are far from obsolete, especially for small businesses seeking earned media. He cites that 97% of releases never generate a journalist‑written article, while the successful...
Will AI Search Continue to Expand?
In this 90‑second episode of The Voices of Search, host Jordan Cooney chats with Garrett Sussman, Director of Marketing at iPollRank, about the evolving landscape of AI‑driven search. They explore how conversational AI is reshaping user behavior, the dual trend...
Every Meeting You Have Is Already Generating Content (Here’s How to Capture It)
The author discovered that meeting transcripts are only the starting point; the real value lies in extracting stories, insights, and moments that can be repurposed as content. By using AI notetakers like Otter or Fireflies and adding a secondary prompt,...
B2B CMOs Prioritize AI Adoption and ROI by 2026
What 100 B2B CMOs said they are worried about right now. We recently polled ~100 CMOs at companies $50M - $500M+ ARR on what their top marketing challenges are right now. Here are the top takeaways. _________________________________________________________ 1. AI. No...
Starbucks Turns Refreshers Into $2B Energy Boost
Starbucks has quietly built Refreshers into a $2 billion business and has now added energy, which has boosted sales. So no, it's not worried that everybody is doing them now, too. https://t.co/9gjBmTQ0fG
AI Generators Gain Power When Treated as Infrastructure
RT @VoxOptima AI Content Generator: From Text to Video Systems ~ Milagros Beltrame | https://t.co/DGflELq5ns @MrWideo "An AI content generator becomes far more valuable when it stops acting like a standalone tool and starts operating like infrastructure."
Help Overloaded Buyers See Themselves In Your Story
Your Buyer Isn’t Slow. They’re Overloaded. How to transform your story so others can place themselve in your story #storytelling #engagement #persuasivewriting #contentstrategy https://t.co/X59l3NTWpl https://t.co/p9sAFB8A19