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.
Why The Devil Wears Prada’s Luxury Victims Are Now Queuing up to Collaborate
Disney’s sequel to *The Devil Wears Prada* is being launched as a massive brand‑collaboration vehicle, featuring a curated roster of roughly 20 luxury and mass‑market partners such as Valentino, Mercedes‑Benz, Dior, Old Navy, and Google. The studio’s executive VP promises the "best marketing partnership program ever" and expects the film to pull in about $66 million in its opening weekend, building on the original’s $326 million global haul. Executives say the franchise’s two‑decade cultural cachet creates a natural fit for cosmetics, couture, and lifestyle brands, turning nostalgia into commerce. Retail strategists stress that storytelling, not mere exposure, will determine whether these tie‑ins generate lasting brand value.
Marketers Beware: LLMs.txt Is Just Plain Dumb
The article argues that llms.txt—a plain‑text markdown file meant to help language models locate site content—is being mis‑sold to marketers as an AI‑visibility shortcut. In reality, AI models already scrape and synthesize web content without such files, rendering llms.txt ineffective...
BMF Australia Recognised in 2025 Global Grand Effie Contenders List for ALDI ‘Shop ALDI First’
BMF Australia’s partnership with ALDI Stores Australia has earned the ‘Shop ALDI First’ campaign a spot among the 2025 Global Grand Effie Contenders. The list, curated by Effie Worldwide, features 47 campaigns from 27 industry sectors across 60 countries. BMF...
Adobe Expands Partner Ecosystem to Accelerate AI‑Driven CX for B2B Marketers
Adobe announced an expansion of its partner ecosystem aimed at delivering frictionless, AI‑orchestrated customer‑experience workflows for B2B marketers. The move is positioned as a way to help enterprises scale demand‑generation programs while reducing operational complexity.
UiPath Teams Up with Databricks to Power AI-Driven Enterprise Automation
UiPath confirmed a technology partnership with Databricks on April 28, 2026, integrating the robot‑process‑automation platform with Databricks’ data and AI suite. The joint solution aims to eliminate the “last‑mile” gap between insight and execution, giving B2B marketers and operations teams...
How to Turn One Inbound Reply Into a Closed Conversation
Founders often squander the only inbound reply they receive by sending generic thank‑you notes, decks, or calendar links, causing up to 80% of potential revenue to leak. The article proposes a four‑step micro‑funnel that transforms a simple reply into a...
Managing Employer Reputation: How PR Impacts Recruitment Success
The article explains how strategic PR links—hyperlinks earned from reputable news outlets—can help companies repair employer reputation after negative press and improve recruitment outcomes. By embedding credible backlinks in positive stories, brands can push unfavorable articles lower in search results,...
Revolut Launches New ‘Smarter Money’ Campaign with Hawthorn Football Club via Eyes and Ears
Revolut has launched a new integrated campaign, “Smarter Money. The Hawks Way,” in partnership with the Hawthorn Football Club and creative agency Eyes and Ears. The five‑digital‑film series places four Hawthorn players on the club’s training pitch to showcase Revolut’s...
Google's Ad Revenue Now 91% From Owned Platforms
Google earnings milestone today. Q1 marks the first time 91% of G's ad revenue (now $300B+ per year) comes from its owned properties (search, youtube, gmail, etc) rather than the rest of web. G is now accelerating death of open...
Google Will Consume All Content for AI Overviews
Google E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness Used in a sentence: "Google is going to eeat 100% of your content to feed to AI Overviews"
Meta’s Ad Machine Is Purring, So Why Did Its Stock Drop?
Meta reported a strong Q1, posting $55 billion in ad revenue, a 33% year‑over‑year increase, while unveiling a $125‑$145 billion spending plan to fund next‑generation AI compute. The company highlighted AI‑driven improvements that lifted Instagram Reels time spent by 10% and boosted...
CIOs Should Leverage AI for Marketing, Not Just Efficiency
CIOs who only chase AI productivity gains are missing the bigger play. Marketing is where force-multiplier opportunities live - CX, lead gen, branding, growth. #CIO #AIStrategy #DigitalTransformation https://t.co/Vjv8aDlma4
Meta Q1 2026: 33% Ad Revenue Surge, New MCP Support
Meta Q1 2026 earnings: 33% ad revenue growth, MCP support for ad buying agents https://t.co/50uwbFSTVE
Liquid Death CEO on Building a Provocative Brand, Small Marketing Budgets and Super Bowl Ads
Liquid Death CEO Mike Cessario built the canned water brand on provocative, entertainment‑driven marketing, spending as little as $1,500 on a video that later earned 3 million views. The company now projects roughly $300 million in revenue while keeping video budgets under...
Fresho Appoints TAG to Drive Digital Growth
Fresho, a leading order‑management SaaS for food distributors, has appointed digital growth consultancy TAG to run its advertising and creative strategy across Australia‑New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The partnership focuses on a data‑led acquisition approach designed to...
Conquest Planning Hires CRO, COO, CMO to Accelerate U.S. Expansion
Conquest Planning announced three senior go‑to‑market hires—Rob Crnkovic as CRO, Kristen Winther as COO and Karen Budell as CMO—to power its U.S. growth strategy. The moves follow the platform’s recent milestone of more than two million financial plans created, underscoring rising demand for...
Specsavers Unveils New OOH Work on Australia’s Longest Street Poster Site via Specsavers Creative
Specsavers has launched a 95.45‑metre out‑of‑home takeover on Swan Street in Richmond, Australia’s longest street poster site. The in‑house Specsavers Creative team installed 21 panels on one side asking "Loooooooooong sighted?" and a single panel on the opposite side asking...
AdMarketplace Launches AI Discover Beta, Embedding CPC Ads in AI Chat Interfaces
adMarketplace has begun beta testing AI Discover, a cost‑per‑click advertising platform that inserts sponsored product listings directly into AI chat responses. The program, running June‑December 2026 with partners including Opera AI, Dupe and Sezzle, follows an alpha that delivered over...
Forrester Warns AI Upends Traditional B2B Go‑to‑Market Playbooks
Forrester released a report that AI‑enabled buying is dismantling conventional B2B go‑to‑market (GTM) frameworks. The firm introduces an "ARC" model—augmented, resilient, collaborative—to help vendors align with AI‑mediated buyer journeys and shift measurement from clicks to outcomes.
Introducing Amplitude Wizard CLI: Set Up Amplitude From Your Codebase
Amplitude launched the Wizard CLI, an AI‑driven command‑line tool that provisions the full Amplitude analytics stack directly from a developer's codebase. By running a single "npx @amplitude/wizard" command, the tool signs users up, detects the project framework, installs the appropriate...
Kitchen Warehouse Tackles Mother’s Day Panic with New ‘REMUMBER’ Campaign via Block
Kitchen Warehouse, partnering with creative agency Block, unveiled the "REMUMBER" campaign to combat the annual "Mother’s Day Panic" in Australia. The initiative centers on a simple mnemonic—"REMUMBER 10.05.26"—to prompt shoppers to secure gifts early. It will roll out across radio,...
How Jeni Castro Turned An 88 Square Foot Coffee Shop Into An 8 Figure Brand
In 2018 Jeni Castro opened Coffee Dose in an 88‑square‑foot corner of a Costa Mesa hair salon, turning a bold, pink‑themed concept into an eight‑figure hospitality brand. By treating each outlet as a distinct “room” – from a shipping‑container pop‑up...
The Republic of the Marshall Islands Appoints RUN Aotearoa to Lead Global Tourism Rebrand
The Republic of the Marshall Islands has hired New Zealand indie agency RUN Aotearoa to create a new global tourism identity and brand platform. The project, backed by U.S. Economic Development Administration funding, includes an in‑market visit for research, photography, and community...
Breville Launches New Global “Millions of Mornings” Campaign via Common Ventures
Breville has unveiled the global “Millions of Mornings” campaign, created with creative consultancy Common Ventures, to celebrate its Barista Express espresso machine. The initiative showcases authentic morning coffee rituals captured in six major cities, emphasizing the product’s role as a...
Ep. 216: Proven Strategies for CMOs in the Canadian Retail Sector
In this 10‑minute episode, host Christian Klepp distills key takeaways from the DX3 Retail Reinvented conference in Toronto, highlighting how Canadian CMOs can navigate rising costs, AI disruption, and shifting consumer expectations. He outlines three AI‑driven strategies—using AI as a...
Actionable Routine Videos Boost Authentic Paid Social Conversions
Here's what is working right now for paid social ads: "Building a routine" and "optimizing your life" style videos. Why does it work so well? It's because the optimized routine feels actionable and make the product feel like part of a system of...
Prism’s G6 Debuts New Budget Brand in the U.S. — Studio 6 Plus
India‑based Prism’s hospitality arm G6 Hospitality has unveiled Studio 6 Plus, a new premium‑economy extended‑stay brand for the United States. The first 15 properties, to be built by Natson Hotel Group in Atlanta, represent a $200 million investment. Studio 6 Plus targets traveling professionals with...
Success Starts With Knowing Your Audience, Purpose, Message
A rule that will 10x your success: know exactly who you are building for, what you stand for, and how to say it Every founder I admire started in the same place. With nothing. They just figured out their foundation first
Meta Opens Its Ad Ecosystem to Third-Party AI Tools
Meta announced an open‑beta rollout of Meta ads AI connectors, letting advertisers link third‑party AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude directly to their Meta ad accounts. The connectors promise secure, cross‑channel insights and real‑time campaign management without forcing users...
Uber Expands Into Hotels, Aiming for All‑in‑one App
Uber now lets users book hotels directly in its app via Expedia’s 700,000+ properties — the latest move in its push to become an ‘everything app’
Tube Trends: Now Creators Are Taking Over The NFL Draft
The NFL is leaning heavily into creator‑driven coverage, with YouTube emerging as the primary platform for the Draft. Tubular Labs data shows creators accounted for 58% of YouTube views from April 23‑29, and 21 individual creators each surpassed one million views....
A.I. Helps Online Ad Businesses Boom
AI tools from Meta and Google are reshaping digital advertising, letting firms like DribbleUp automate ad creation, targeting, bidding, and measurement. After moving its campaigns to Facebook’s AI platform, DribbleUp’s sales have outpaced its marketing spend and the company has...
RMU Skis Just Dropped a Mountain Bike—And It’s Not What You Expect
Rocky Mountain Underground (RMU) has unveiled the Nighttrain, its first purpose‑built enduro mountain bike, developed with legendary suspension engineer Dave Weagle. The bike features a high‑pivot Orion linkage, 170 mm of rear travel, dual 29‑inch wheels and an aluminum frame. RMU...
Vessi Targets ‘Clean’ Product Data to Maximize AEO Opportunities
Vessi, the waterproof footwear brand, is embracing Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) rather than blocking AI agents, aiming to capture traffic from large‑language‑model platforms like ChatGPT. Leveraging Shopify’s new feature that surfaces ChatGPT sessions, the company filters AI traffic and ensures...
AMC Comes Into Upfront With Bite, New Ways to Work With Advertisers
AMC has rebranded from AMC Networks to AMC Global Media, emphasizing a worldwide footprint. At its New York upfront, the company unveiled fresh advertising formats tied to sports, franchise content, and live events such as a Vampire Lestat showcase. The holiday‑season...
B2B Brands Struggle to Rebrand Beyond Flagship Products
I think one of the toughest parts of B2B marketing right now is going from single product to multi product. Or... flagship "bread and butter" to "hey we also do this now" but there's no recognition for the new thing....
From Expertise to Narrative: Reputation Now Fuels Growth
OLD GAME: > Compete on expertise > Hope the work speaks for itself > Grow on referrals NEW GAME: > Compete on ideas > Win on narrative > Grow on a reputation that spreads while you sleep
OpenAI's Profitability Woes Threaten AI‑Powered Marketing Landscape
OpenAI has warned it may miss internal growth targets and could struggle to fund $600 bn of future computing contracts. The announcement rattles investors and raises concerns for marketing firms that depend on OpenAI’s models for content creation and personalization.
Metrobank's Moneygurado Uses Real Stories to Teach Finance
🇵🇭Metrobank boosts financial literacy campaign with #Moneygurado: The 'Moneygurado' initiative combines a public awareness campaign with a docuseries that frames #money management through real-life Filipino experiences rather than traditional rule-based guidance. Great initiative by @Metrobank: https://t.co/EdGXMngyIO #FinancialLiteracy #resilience #Philippines
Created 16 Automated Emails in Just 15 Minutes
Just shipped 16 automated emails complete with copy, design, and backend logic in ~15 minutes. Magister invites going out every day now 😎 https://t.co/hrpjUT0WVl
Walmart Launches Self‑serve Scintilla API, Giving Agencies Access to 500 Retail Metrics
Walmart Data Ventures has opened its Scintilla Media Data Feed to agencies and advertisers via a new self‑serve API, delivering almost 500 first‑party retail metrics. The move promises faster planning, optimization and measurement for marketers, while deepening Walmart’s retail‑media ecosystem.
Demand Context: Explain Why Growth Numbers Matter
I wish when people flexed their growth stats, they explained WHY the growth happen. Did Twitter increase ad spend? Did the $1 million contest work? Did the political climate affect things? Are these new users or revived users?
NexPoint Leverages AI‑Powered Leasing Pro Platform as Q1 2026 Earnings Remain Flat
NexPoint (NXRT) posted a $6.8 million net loss for Q1 2026, essentially unchanged from a year earlier, while unveiling its proprietary AI‑driven Leasing Pro platform that processed 31,882 leads and achieved a 4.9% conversion rate, well above the 3.2% industry average. The...
Bing Ads Revenue Up 12% - New Growth
Microsoft reported third‑quarter 2026 results showing Bing Ads revenue climbing 12% year‑over‑year, signaling a rebound in its search advertising segment. Overall Q3 revenue hit $82.9 billion, up 18% YoY, while operating income rose 20% to $38.4 billion. The company highlighted AI‑driven services...
Omnicom Posts $5.6B Core Ops Revenue, CFO Angelastro Highlights AI‑Driven Growth
Omnicom Group posted $5.6 bn in core operations revenue for Q1 2026, up $345 m (6.7% total, 3.9% organic). CFO Philip Angelastro said the AI‑powered Omni platform and aggressive divestitures are key to margin expansion and cost‑synergy targets.
DeepTarget Unveils Growth Hub to Cut “Disconnectivity Tax” For Community‑Bank Leaders
DeepTarget introduced a strategic growth hub on its revamped website to help community‑bank and credit‑union executives eliminate the “Disconnectivity Tax.” The platform offers a data‑driven blueprint for acquiring high‑value households, automating cross‑sell offers and retaining new accounts, positioning leaders to...
HYBE Launches NEB Unit to Tap Superfan Market with Transmedia Content
HYBE announced the creation of its Next Entertainment Business (NEB) unit, led by Taeho Park, to capture revenue from superfans by weaving music, gaming, film and other media into a single storytelling ecosystem. The move reflects a broader industry shift...
SPREEAI CEO John Imah Drives AI Virtual Try‑on Toward a Billion‑dollar Fashion‑tech Market
John Imah, co‑founder and CEO of SPREEAI, is scaling an AI‑powered virtual try‑on platform that promises photorealistic fitting and a $1 billion fashion‑tech market. Backed by a $1.5 bn valuation and $100 m in funding, the company hopes to shrink ecommerce returns and...
Can Student Influencers Woo Classmates to This District?
Detroit Public Schools announced a $1 million marketing push that includes hiring roughly two dozen student influencers to share district news on TikTok, Instagram and other platforms. Each influencer will receive a $250 monthly stipend, training on social‑media policy, and coaching...
Nashville Advisor Launches AI-Powered SEO Platform
Nashville advisor Shaun Melby launched AdvisorSEO Max, an AI‑driven SEO platform built for financial advisors and RIAs. The tool combines website audits, compliance‑aware meta‑tag generation, and a Claude‑powered assistant called Commander that creates strategy plans, tracks competitors and prioritizes fixes....