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.
My Instore Radio Launches Reporting Feature to Track In‑Store Audio Campaigns
My Instore Radio unveiled a reporting feature that lets retailers see exactly how often each in‑store audio message plays and match that data to foot‑traffic patterns. The tool, available across single‑ and multi‑location setups, aims to turn a traditionally opaque channel into a data‑driven medium for advertisers.
HYBE’s Taeho Park on Expanding the Superfan Market via ‘Transmedia’ Content – and Why the Firm’s NEB Unit Is Its...
Taeho Park, head of HYBE NEXT ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS (NEB), is steering the Korean giant’s push into transmedia, linking music with webtoons, anime, soundtracks and experiential programs. The NEB unit’s DARK MOON soundtrack sold over 207,000 copies, while BTS’s ARIRANG album generated 739.1 million...
Loyalty Just Got Personal
Retailers are racing to overhaul loyalty programmes, focusing on real‑time personalization driven by data and AI. Tesco’s Clubcard, long praised for its data‑rich offers, topped the 2026 Retail Loyalty Index, outpacing rivals such as Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer. Boots...
Jetfly Group Unifies Subsidiaries Under Single Brand Identity
Jetfly Group, the Luxembourg‑based fractional aircraft‑ownership provider, announced a global rebrand effective May 1, consolidating its acquired subsidiaries under a single Jetfly brand. The rename includes Fly 7 Aviation becoming Jetfly Management, Fly 7 Training turning into Jetfly Training, and the maintenance units...
Mirinda® Launches a “Smile Please” Platform Globally
Mirinda, PepsiCo’s fruit‑flavoured soda brand, unveiled a global “Smile Please” platform and refreshed visual identity aimed at Gen Z. The rollout begins today in India, Pakistan, China and Uganda, with later expansion to Vietnam, Europe and the Middle East. The campaign...
Optimize Old Content for New Traffic with Quick SEO Fixes
Optimize Old Content = Get New Traffic Here are 10 quick fixes you can do to improve your SEO Rankings + AI Citations THIS WEEK: 1. Humanize AI Content 2. Improve your site speed 3. Add Schema where necessary 4. Optimize for AI search: no...
Travel Network Group Launches New 'Not Just a Holiday' Campaign
Travel Network Group (TTNG) has launched the "Not just a holiday" campaign, shifting focus from destination‑centric selling to the emotional experience of travel. The initiative rolls out nationwide window ads and a digital hub packed with ready‑to‑use social posts, imagery,...
Snapchat Users Will Soon Be Able to Chat Directly with Agentic Ads Served to Them Via DM
Snapchat will soon let its 900 million monthly active users chat directly with AI‑powered branded Snaps that appear in the Chat tab. The new "agentic‑ad" format turns a standard promoted Snap into an interactive conversation, where users can ask travel, retail...
Microsoft Prepares AI Max for Search Pilot Across Bing and Copilot
Microsoft Advertising will open an AI Max pilot in May, extending AI‑enhanced query matching and URL routing to Bing and Copilot Search campaigns. The tool adds brand, term and messaging controls, plus real‑time search‑term and asset reporting for advertisers who opt‑in....
Five Prompting Principles That Will Make You a Better Affiliate Manager
Affiliate managers are rapidly adopting AI, but many still receive generic outputs because prompts lack precision. The article outlines five practical prompting principles—assigning a role, specifying format, using real data, setting constraints, and building reusable templates—to turn AI into a...
Day Job Updates Leisure For The Post-Web3 World
Leisure, the world’s first Web3‑backed ready‑to‑drink beverage launched in 2022, is undergoing a brand refresh by Day Job to shift from its NFT‑centric identity to a more conventional shelf presence. The drink, designed for content creators, combines nootropics and adaptogens while...
Stagwell Eyes SaaS Growth With Agent Cloud Launch for SMBs
Stagwell’s Marketing Cloud has launched Agent Cloud, a new AI‑driven platform that bundles ten specialized marketing agents into a single toolkit for small and medium‑sized businesses. The offering is positioned as a subscription‑based SaaS solution that lets lean teams run full‑funnel...
What AI Means for Law Firm SEO
AI-driven answers from platforms like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini are reshaping how prospective clients discover legal services, often delivering information before a website click. This shift reduces traditional click‑through rates and forces law firms to compete with AI‑generated snippets. Firms...
Is Your Fintech Brand Missing Its Biggest Marketing Opportunity of the Year?
Fintech firms can boost trust and win large deals by leveraging industry awards, especially the Finance Magnates Awards, which are now open for nominations. A nomination alone provides instant credibility, media hooks, and sales enablement, while winning offers powerful proof...
Obligatory Registration at Radio-Canada: A Successful Gamble
Radio-Canada rolled out a mandatory registration wall across its iOS, Android, TV and web platforms on July 3 2024, becoming the first public broadcaster to do so. One year later the move delivered an 83% jump in monthly active accounts and a...
PR Packages: How Brands Use Product Seeding to Drive Awareness, UGC, and ROI
Product seeding is a low‑cost influencer marketing tactic where brands ship free products to creators, prompting authentic user‑generated content (UGC) that fuels awareness and sales. The approach leverages curated gifting, data tracking, and dedicated platforms to turn casual gifting into...
Digest: Meta Eyes CTV for Ad Growth; News UK Builds Synthetic Audience Tool for Advertisers; Musk & Altman Clash Over...
Meta Platforms is quietly probing connected‑TV advertising, holding talks with supply‑side firms like Magnite and FreeWheel to extend its performance‑driven ad model beyond mobile and desktop. News UK has launched Times ExplorAItion, a synthetic audience planning tool that blends subscriber...
MAHE Dubai’s Film Campaign Signals a Shift in How Education Institutions Market Themselves
Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) Dubai has launched a new brand film, “Break Boundaries. Belong. Begin.”, shifting its messaging from traditional rankings and facilities to an identity‑focused narrative that emphasizes personal growth and belonging. The campaign includes a hero...
![AEO In 2026: Which Content Formats Earn AI Citations & How to Produce More [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2-5-222.png)
AEO In 2026: Which Content Formats Earn AI Citations & How to Produce More [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
Search Engine Journal announced a webinar on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) for 2026, focusing on content formats that earn citations in AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. The session, led by Conductor experts Shannon Vize and Pat Reinhart, will...
Loopie Marks First Anniversary With Month-Long ‘Loopie Whoopie’ Campaign
Loopie celebrated its first anniversary with a month‑long “Loopie Whoopie” campaign, launching in Pune with a “Baby‑Rave” featuring band Chickeen Masala. The campaign continues through a “Meet the Loopie Heads” interview series that spotlights parents and partners. Founder Akriti Gupta...
Fashion with a Long Game: Inside Witchery’s White Shirt Campaign
Australian retailer Witchery marks the 18th year of its White Shirt Campaign, donating 100 % of gross shirt proceeds to ovarian cancer research. The initiative has raised nearly AU$18 million (about US$12 million), funding more than 60 projects that are now moving into...
Are ‘High-Low’ Collabs Like Victoria Beckham X Gap Destroying Luxury?
Victoria Beckham announced a high‑low partnership with Gap, adding to a wave of 2026 collaborations that include Stella McCartney‑H&M and Uniqlo‑Cecilie Bahnsen. The trend reflects soaring luxury prices—Chanel’s classic flap bag has risen from $5,800 in 2019 to nearly $11,800 today—prompting aspirational...
City Trails and Sleek Silhouettes: Merrell’s EMEA Boss on Getting Consumers to Step Outside
Merrell, the Wolverine Worldwide‑owned outdoor footwear brand, is expanding its presence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa under the direction of EMEA vice‑president Tim Selby. The company is signing new stockists and tailoring product designs that combine city‑ready aesthetics...
Epik Eats Reclaims the Plant-Based Aisle with a Joyful Redesign
Epik Eats, a plant‑based tofu brand, has launched a dramatic packaging redesign, shedding its previous understated look for a bright fuchsia box with sunny yellow accents and chunky typography. Created by agency Pigeon, the new visual identity replaces the typical...
10 Best Email Verification Software for 2026: My Top Picks
The article ranks the ten best email verification solutions for 2026, highlighting tools such as ZoomInfo Sales, Apollo.io, ZeroBounce and Kickbox. It notes that email lists decay by roughly 22 % each year, making verification a core infrastructure need for outbound...
Go Outdoors Brings Back Billy the Bird in New ‘Discover Freedom’ Campaign
Go Outdoors has rolled out a new TV and digital advertising campaign that brings back its parakeet mascot, Billy the Bird, as the face of the "Discover Freedom" brand platform. The spot, voiced by actor Will Mellor, showcases roof tents, outdoor...
What If Your E-Commerce Store Doesn’t Have a Traffic Problem? | DJ Sprague and Scott Brantley
In this episode, hosts David Shomer and Ken Wilson interview e‑commerce veterans DJ Sprague and Scott Brantley about the hidden "profit crisis" that plagues online stores. They reveal that up to 38% of potential revenue leaks through ten often‑overlooked issues—such...
The Strategy Behind a Sleeping Giant
TomTom, one of only three global mapmakers alongside Google and Here, quietly launched its consumer device Tom by TomTom with the "Good Drivers Only" campaign. The $100‑priced unit focuses on alerts—speed cameras, hazards, traffic—rather than turn‑by‑turn navigation. Tayla Drew, head...
The Patience Required for Brand Growth
Brand Tribe warns that the startup obsession with speed undermines sustainable brand growth. While performance marketing thrives on rapid testing and immediate metrics, brand equity builds slowly through consistent messaging and repeated trust‑building interactions. Founders often mistake frequent activity for...
AI Search Success: How To Benchmark Website Performance In Your Industry via @Sejournal, @DebugBear
The piece outlines how Google’s Core Web Vitals—Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift—directly influence search rankings and AI Overview visibility. It explains Nielsen’s response‑time thresholds (0.1 s, 1 s, 10 s) and why fast, stable pages boost conversions....
![Rank Math Vs. Yoast: Which WordPress SEO Plugin Should You Use? [2026]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://images.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/Ct89KfZab1CUz8XE27RDU/6c366a798e891f0175a7dfd6026a99da/rank-math-vs-yoast-hero.jpg){kind=icon}
Rank Math Vs. Yoast: Which WordPress SEO Plugin Should You Use? [2026]
Yoast SEO remains the market leader with over 10 million active installs, while Rank Math has grown to more than four million. Rank Math’s free tier includes a broader set of SEO tools—sitemaps, redirects, WooCommerce support, and extensive builder integration—whereas Yoast reserves many features...
4 Ways to Automate Jasper with Zapier
The article outlines four practical ways to pair Jasper’s AI‑writing engine with Zapier’s workflow automation. It shows how marketers can auto‑generate blog drafts from a content calendar, create product descriptions for new eCommerce SKUs, summarize long‑form posts for multiple channels,...
MINISO Expands Immersive IP-Based Store Formats with New Openings in Asia
MINISO has rolled out its flagship MINISO LAND and MINISO FRIENDS immersive store concepts across Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and mainland China in early 2026. The formats are larger, city‑level landmarks that blend licensed IP experiences with the brand’s core product categories....
Simple Steps to Boost Your Marketing Skills
Here’s a very quick over simplified version of how to get better at marketing #tech #marketing #womenintech #founder
#296: Avoiding Major Oopsies: Twyman’s Law, Intuition, and Valuing Accuracy Over Precision
In this episode of the Analytics Power Hour, host Tim Wilson and co‑hosts Mo Kiss and Julie Hoyer talk with Atlassian senior principal data scientist Eric Friedman about the pitfalls of trusting data too readily. Eric shares a real‑world story...
From Japanese Gardens to the Bar Cart, Roleplay Modernizes Gut Health for JIN JIN
Roleplay, a creative branding agency, has reimagined JIN JIN—a concentrated enzymatic cordial rooted in an ancient Japanese recipe—into a modern, visually striking product. The new identity blends garden‑inspired motifs with a bar‑cart aesthetic to appeal to Western consumers seeking functional gut‑health...
Gatorade Benches the Ad Shoot and Lets Son Heung-Min Do the Sweating
Gatorade announced it will not shoot new ads with Son Heung‑min for the first half of 2026, opting to recycle the 2025 campaign assets. The decision, shared via Instagram, emphasizes letting the Tottenham forward concentrate on physical and mental preparation...
The Rise of the Micro Influencer
Brands are shifting spend from mega‑influencer campaigns to micro‑influencers and creator networks, using community‑focused brand trips instead of lavish influencer outings. Smaller creators are delivering higher engagement rates and more authentic storytelling. Meanwhile, Estée Lauder secured JPMorgan financing to fund its...
Exclusive: Swan Beauty CEO on the @Acquiredstyle Bachelorette Party that Broke the Internet
Swan Beauty, a four‑month‑old AI mirror startup, leveraged influencer Brigette Pheloung’s bachelorette weekend as an exclusive sponsor, catapulting its brand awareness. The event generated a 3,800% jump in social impressions, 11,000% rise in engagements, and a 520% increase in website...
How Wrangler Used Spotify and Out-of-Home Advertising to Show up at Stagecoach
Wrangler expanded its Stagecoach presence beyond the festival grounds by deploying out‑of‑home billboards, airport signage and a Desert Rodeo sponsorship, while also running targeted Spotify ads on artist‑curated playlists. Brand ambassadors Lainey Wilson and Cody Johnson wore Wrangler onstage, and...
How Netflix Is Rewriting the Streaming Ad Playbook
Netflix’s advertising arm is shedding its experimental image, posting $12.25 billion in revenue—a 16.2% rise from the same quarter last year. The turnaround began in 2024 with sold‑out NFL ad slots and has accelerated through joint‑business‑planning deals that lock inventory for...
As Holdcos Sour on The Trade Desk, Stagwell Goes All In
Stagwell announced a partnership with The Trade Desk to embed its Koa AI‑agent software into the agency network’s ad‑tech stack, targeting faster, more strategic media buying. The collaboration will use Open Agentic Kit and OpenPath inventory, emphasizing transparency and open‑web...
Adobe Relies on Firefly to Win over Creators
Adobe is betting on its generative AI platform Firefly to become the indispensable tool for modern creators, rolling out a high‑visibility campaign with top YouTubers such as Kinigra Deon and Airrack. The service now bundles audio generation, AI video editing,...
ChatGPT Polishes Emails, Claude Drives Creative Direction
Same prompt. 3 AI tools. Very different results. I asked Grok, ChatGPT, and Claude to create a premium Mother’s Day email for a fictional high-end women’s jewelry brand called DIMOND. Grok was fastest. Claude was slowest and gave me HTML first. ChatGPT landed somewhere in the...
White‑Label AI Chatbots Boost Engagement and ROI
Discover the advantages of white label AI chatbot solutions, allowing businesses to customize technology without starting from scratch. Learn how these tools can enhance customer engagement and drive ROI. https://t.co/9xdLIYNRYV
Quip’s Latest Ad Wasn’t AI-Generated. People Were Convinced It Was
Quip launched a whimsical 15‑second electric‑toothbrush ad in March that many viewers instantly labeled as AI‑generated. In reality, the spot relied on practical effects—miniature sets, a custom mouth headpiece and blue‑screen compositing—to achieve its surreal look. The mistaken AI assumption...
McDonald's Wins with Stranger Things Toys, Game, Secret Menu
12 collectible Stranger Things toys. An interactive digital game. An official secret menu inspired by fan hacks. McDonald's 2026 playbook is not what anyone expected, and it is working. https://t.co/XDLVkJ7VAP
![N8n for Marketing Automation: Is It a Good Fit? [2026]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://images.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/6k2wiyR6w0KROF306S57pB/3699c85ced6eb10d3aa573872d1d741e/n8n-hero.jpg)
N8n for Marketing Automation: Is It a Good Fit? [2026]
n8n is an open‑source, node‑based workflow engine that can automate marketing tasks, but it demands API knowledge and manual connector building. The platform ships with roughly 1,500 nodes, many of which are thin wrappers that require custom field mapping and...
How Urban Outfitters Co-Creates Campaigns with Gen Z
Urban Outfitters is reshaping its marketing by co‑creating campaigns directly with Gen Z creators, challenging the myth that the cohort only has short attention spans. Head of brand marketing Cyntia Leo says authenticity and digital fluency are key to earning their focus....
We Are Heading Towards a Marketing Armageddon: Anand Narasimha
Veteran brand strategist Anand Narasimha warns that marketing is heading toward an "Armageddon" as firms prioritize execution, dashboards and AI over strategic thinking. He argues that the obsession with short‑term performance and algorithmic shortcuts creates a widening thinking gap, leaving brands...