
PopSockets turned phone backs into a $169M revenue engine
PopSockets transformed the unused back of smartphones into a monetizable surface, evolving from a garage prototype in 2011 to a global brand that posted $169 million in revenue by 2017. The simple grip design generated constant repeat interactions and word‑of‑mouth growth, driving its rapid expansion.

Australian department store Myer announced the arrival of British fast‑fashion label TOPSHOP with a high‑profile “My Store Is” campaign. The campaign, produced by Howatson+Company, stars actress Olivia De Jonge, TikTok creator Guy Vadas and artist Bella McGoldrick, emphasizing personal style as identity. TOPSHOP joins six other recent womenswear additions—including AG, Sportscraft and The Wolf Gang—signalling Myer’s aggressive expansion of its fashion portfolio. Media partner Essence Mediacom will amplify the rollout across OOH and digital channels.

Urban Ethos, the Australian design‑focused kitchenware brand, has engaged independent agency TRP to steer its brand strategy, creative development, and media planning. The partnership targets accelerated growth and heightened category recognition amid a crowded, competitive market. Urban Ethos emphasizes eco‑conscious...

Jetstar tapped the popularity of Nine’s reality show Married At First Sight (MAFS) with a humor‑driven TikTok video that links the show’s drama to its flight offers. The clip uses AI‑generated dancing footage of a contestant in an orange star...

Heineken has launched its global “Cheers To All Fans” campaign in Australia, created by Le Pub and VML Italy, to leverage fandom as a social catalyst across football, Formula 1 and music festivals. Commissioned research shows 75% of fans use their fandom...

Australian skincare staple QV has launched its first ever global campaign, “Skincare for Life,” created by the Sydney‑based agency Those That Do. The multi‑platform effort will run across Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and China, featuring TV, out‑of‑home,...

Padua College has unveiled a new brand positioning, “Motivating Every Purpose,” developed by The Fuel Agency. The platform emphasizes the school’s Catholic ethos and a holistic approach that nurtures academic, spiritual, emotional, and social growth. A refreshed visual identity, brand...

In a recent AMA, Reddit community strategist Krista Doyle shared actionable best‑practice guidelines for hosting successful Ask Me Anything sessions. She emphasized the importance of pre‑planning topics, crafting concise prompts, and leveraging Reddit’s moderation tools to maintain focus. Doyle also...

Snapchat announced The Snappys Awards Show, its first-ever awards show dedicated to celebrating the creators shaping culture on Snapchat.🏆 Hosted by Matt Friend, the event will take place on March 31 at Snapchat’s Santa Monica headquarters and will bring together creators,...

Gushwork, an India‑founded startup, closed a $9 million seed round that values it at $33 million post‑money. The company’s AI‑driven platform creates search‑optimized content, builds backlinks, and tracks leads to help businesses appear in AI‑powered search results such as ChatGPT and Gemini....

In this episode of the Hammersley Brothers e‑commerce podcast, Mark and Ian dissect why many e‑commerce ads fail to scale, focusing on the concept that "your ads are boring." They explain that both Meta (Facebook) and Google act as "gorilla"...

South African CMOs shared hard‑won advice, urging peers to pursue bold, visionary moves that redefine brands rather than chase incremental tweaks. They stress protecting a brand’s emotional truth, granting marketers freedom to experiment, and blending creativity with data‑driven insight. Consistency,...

Explora Journeys launched a global “hotel without an address” campaign, positioning its cruise ships as five‑star floating hotels. Developed by McCann Paris and directed by Jonas Lindstroem, the film showcases on‑board rituals reimagined as hotel experiences. The brand highlights its...
TikTok unveiled its 2026 Discover List, highlighting 50 creators across five categories—Educators, Foodies, Icons, Innovators, and Originators. Selections were based on video volume, account growth, engagement, and social impact. The program adds extra training and direct TikTok support for the...
The article outlines a step‑by‑step framework for launching a social‑media rebrand, emphasizing internal alignment before any public post. It advises a comprehensive audit of existing profiles, followed by a structured content arc—teaser, reveal, and reinforcement—tailored to each platform. The guide...

Update on ChatGPT Ads: Adthena is seeing an uptick in activity. Their CMO posted more examples this afternoon on LinkedIn of ads they are seeing and pinged me there. Advertisers spotted so far: 🔹 Best Buy 🔹 AT&T 🔹 Pottery Barn...
Involved Media marked its five‑year anniversary under the current brand, celebrating a milestone of over $100 million in billings. The Melbourne gathering attracted more than 50 media partners and highlighted recent wins such as CareSuper, Fever‑Tree, R U OK? and Animals Australia. Managing...
Ticketek Entertainment Group (TEG) has appointed Greg Segal as Managing Director of Sponsorship & Premium Experiences. Segal arrives with over 30 years in brand partnerships, most recently leading a 50‑person team at Live Nation Entertainment ANZ. He will build TEG’s...

In this episode, hosts Jacob Cass and Matt Davies interview Martin Zarian, founder of the full‑stack agency Factory 39, about the challenges of branding in the B2B space. Martin explains that a brand is the sum of experiences and emotions...

Adobe Express’s February 2026 survey of 807 U.S. consumers shows TikTok usage as a search tool rose to 49%, yet Gen Z’s preference for TikTok over Google fell from 8% in 2024 to just 4% today. Across all ages, 14% of...
Influencer marketing has become a core growth channel in 2026, with budgets expanding and board‑level scrutiny demanding measurable ROI. The article outlines the three critical stages—discovery, campaign management, and performance measurement—and why integrated tools are essential to avoid manual inefficiencies....
Retail data is now the backbone of outcome‑based CTV audiences, allowing brands to target known, competitive or lapsed shoppers on premium video platforms. Kroger Precision Marketing reports that campaigns built on its grocery‑derived audiences generate a median 5% lift in...

Will soon be rolled out across Europe -> Google plans to test search changes in Europe, displaying results from competing vertical search services next to its own, seeking to avoid EU fines "The previously unreported changes to its search...
Gen Z’s relationship with sport is shifting from season‑long sponsorships to moment‑driven, digital‑first engagement. A Pureprofile study of 1,004 Australian 18‑29‑year‑olds shows 83% interact with sport, yet only 42% attend live events, preferring high‑impact tentpole moments. Merchandise consumption focuses on...

The Brand To Table podcast explains why restaurants must actively respond to Google reviews. Host Henry Kaminski Jr. outlines how thoughtful replies signal care, improve online reputation, and boost local search visibility. He introduces the AAR Method—Appreciate, Address, Redirect—to turn...
The misalignment between marketing and sales often stems from the different mindsets that each team brings to the table. Although both teams share the same overarching goal of driving business success, their approaches to engaging prospects can differ significantly. If...
Aptar Beauty unveiled a suite of premium dispensing and decoration solutions aimed at mass‑market personal‑care brands seeking shelf differentiation. The offering includes in‑mold coloring, metal‑like masterbatches, laser engraving and other high‑impact finishes that can be applied to both plastic and...
I have hour-long Facebook ads tutorials online for free. They have 90% of the information you need to start running ads tomorrow. And yet less than 1% of people finish them. I’ll see new founders commit to learning Facebook ads, then 2...
“you can’t rely just on fueling outrage to activate your audience...they need something specific to get behind.” one of my favorite quotes from my interview with @perfectunion’s director of audience engagement.
The article argues that Shopify founders’ cognitive self‑awareness, not just AI tools, is the key growth lever in today’s data‑rich eCommerce environment. It outlines five cognitive traits—analytical reasoning, pattern recognition, rapid problem‑solving, logical decision‑making, and adaptability—that consistently separate high‑growth operators...
Reading a few AI search case studies right now, and struggling with correlation vs. causation... Everything they list as an "AEO tactic" is actually something that's also just good for SEO. Fresh content Using Schema Front-loading important content Using ordered lists Adding FAQs to solution pages Is...
Sending cold emails to addresses that don't exist kills your deliverability. Seen people tank their sender reputation overnight because 15-20% of their list was dead addresses. Built a free tool that verifies any email in seconds. Checks the format, domain, and...

Google is embedding its Gemini AI into Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S26 series, debuting new features that automate everyday tasks, enhance visual search, and protect against phone scams. A beta version lets users delegate rides, meals and grocery orders by long‑pressing...
How honest are we about how we measure our marketing? We say we want clear and guiding KPIs. But then teams build KPIs that protect the report, not the business. It’s s easy to measure what makes us look productive....

Google is previewing Gemini’s new beta feature that lets Android users delegate multi-step daily tasks to the AI. The functionality, rolling out on Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S26 devices, will initially support food, grocery and rideshare apps in the United...

Another area where Reddit is surging: COUPONS -> Reddit: A Major Surge in Coupon Search Visibility in 2025 From the post: For the 59 query brands covered by both Reddit and CouponBirds: *Reddit provides valid coupon codes for 25% (15 brands). *CouponBirds provides valid...
You're job is no longer to create, it's to edit. And I am releasing a tool for Cannonball GTM subscribers to help you do just that...

At the 12th Kochava Summit, the company unveiled its AI‑driven Atlas Performance platform, aiming to merge measurement with media buying. CEO Charles Manning predicts AI agents will replace much of the ad‑tech middleware, triggering consolidation and a shift toward IO‑level...

OpenAI has begun serving advertisements to users on its free and Go ChatGPT tiers, initially rolling them out to U.S. customers. COO Brad Lightcap described the rollout as an iterative process that must prioritize user privacy and trust. The company...
Great Clips leveraged NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins as a brand spokesperson in a January 2026 promotion tied to the College Football Playoffs, offering a $9.99 haircut coupon. The 24‑day campaign generated an 11.6% sales lift and a 7.4% rise in...

New research reveals that B‑to‑B event attendees across four generations share a strong appetite for micro‑communities, authenticity, and local culture, while still demanding distinct experiences. AI‑powered networking is favored by 66% of respondents, and 84% say they want to bring...
Google Flow has rolled out a major upgrade that folds its image‑generation experiments Whisk and ImageFX directly into the platform, while embedding the Nano Banana model for instant high‑fidelity image‑to‑video conversion. The redesign adds a flexible asset grid with Collections, drag‑and‑drop...
Baltimore Beat, a nonprofit news outlet, is introducing pay‑what‑you‑can advertising options. The tiered pricing lets mom‑and‑pop shops pay $50, brick‑and‑mortar stores $150, and larger investors $300 per ad. The paper, which distributes 20,000 free print copies twice a month and...

The article aggregates over 50 up‑to‑date lead‑generation statistics for 2026, highlighting that 91% of marketers list lead generation as their top priority and 93% credit personalization with improved leads and purchases. It details benchmark metrics such as an average of...

If your value lives in media buying mechanics, Meta is already building your replacement. Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that Meta is testing a system where a brand will enter a product URL and a budget, and the platform will build an...
If I lost my 10,000,000 social media followers tomorrow, and had to rebuild from 0, here's my exact playbook. 30 minutes a night with AI. 90 days to real business leads. Most people would panic. Start posting random content and hope something sticks. I'd...

Brave Bison, the UK‑based influencer‑marketing and digital‑media platform, has named Ed Knights as its new Head of Growth. Knights joins from senior roles at Born Social and M&C Saatchi Performance, where he led performance‑driven campaigns for major brands. The appointment...

Having sat through thousands of crawl-walk-run presentations in my life, I thought it might be helpful to expand the model a bit to cover more, um, realistic implementation paths. https://t.co/fGXlclB0Qi

🌍 How to use embeddings to map hreflang tags at scale - A clever use of @screamingfrog's Open AI API integration to implement hreflang by @pelogia - Check it out: https://t.co/mFnuuMojaD https://t.co/h9OLRjWQIR
Glossier spent 4 years building a community on a beauty blog before launching a single product. They co-created with their audience. Hit a billion-dollar valuation. Meanwhile you're building products nobody asked for. That's the gap.

Moving Beyond "Simple" Content: The Reality of Enterprise AI by @Timothy_Hughes https://t.co/hIAlV4hbey @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Sales #SalesTips #SalesLeader #Marketing #Leadership #ArtificialInteligence #ArtificialIntelligence #Innovation #Technology #Tech #TechNews