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.
Emirates Is Working on Private Bathrooms as Airlines Race to Reinvent First Class
Emirates announced it is developing en‑suite bathrooms for its first‑class suites, aiming to raise cabin luxury. President Tim Clark said the concept is being worked on, though no timeline was provided. Adding private bathrooms would reduce seat count and increase costs, but could reinforce Emirates’ premium brand. The move follows a broader industry push to revamp first‑class offerings.
Add One AI Exposure Question to Track Search Impact
🚨 We need to get comfortable using Own-Site Business Impact Proxy Signals in AI Search Measurement 👇 None of these metrics prove AI influence on their own. The value comes from reading them as a set and asking whether the...
Instagram Insights Revamped: New Reel Metrics Highlight Performance
Instagram Insights just got an upgrade. 📊 The most important metrics are now front and center, organized into three tabs: Overview, Engagement, and Audience. 📈 There are new “Views over time” and engagement rate metrics for Reels, like share rate and...
Where Eagles Dare, Karate Kid's Zabka Represent Midas' 'Best'
Midas commemorates its 70th anniversary with the "Midas Is the Best" campaign, featuring William Zabka—best known as Johnny Lawrence from *The Karate Kid*—as a modern‑day Midas Master Technician. The year‑long, integrated effort, created by Pittsburgh‑based indie agency Where Eagles Dare,...
Floyi Publishes Three-Pillar Topical Authority Audit for SEO and AI Search Teams
Floyi launched a free Three‑Pillar Topical Authority Audit that lets SEO teams evaluate Content, Market, and AI authority in just 15 minutes. The 21‑question scorecard assigns a 0‑14 score to each pillar and a combined 0‑42 rating, pinpointing the weakest...
The Girlboss-Ification of AI W/ Kat Tenbarge
Major AI firms—including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta—have launched a coordinated public‑relations push to reposition artificial intelligence as a lifestyle accessory for women, especially mothers and teenage girls. The campaign leverages celebrity figures such as Reese Witherspoon and Sandra Bullock,...
Nike VS ASICS; Why Culture Led Strategy Always Wins
Nike’s FY2025 revenue slipped 10% to $46.3 billion, with its Direct channel down 13% and Q3 gross margin falling to 40.2%. In contrast, ASICS posted FY2025 net sales of ¥810.9 billion (≈$5.9 billion), up 19.5%, and operating profit up 42.4%, while guiding another...
Standardize YouTube Descriptions with a Simple Affiliate Template
I've been helping a client audit their content marketing strategy including their YouTube setup, and the description problem jumped out immediately. Five hundred videos with descriptions that were either bare-bones or wildly inconsistent, and an affiliate links program they'd barely...
Marketing Execs Launch Bubbler; Announce Partnership with iHeartPodcasts
Marketing veterans Gayle Troberman and David Alberts have launched Bubbler Media Group, a conversation‑focused marketing firm. Bubbler’s platform blends provocative podcasts, live experiences, and research tools to break traditional brand playbooks. The launch includes a partnership with iHeartPodcasts to produce...
Brands Are Mastering Reddit Beyond Ads and AMAs
This week I wrote about how brands are cracking Reddit — and not just with AMAs or ads on the platform 🛀🏼 Dove incorporated Reddit comments into a campaign 💵 Fidelity Investments hosts a community hub for investors 🥯 Philadelphia Cream Cheese gifted...
Shoppers Embrace Personalization – but Draw the Line at AI Taking Control
Consumers in the US and UK are willing to share transactional data if it yields clear, personalized benefits, according to Dunnhumby’s latest retail‑media study. Ninety‑one percent said they accept data capture for more relevant ads, and 59% are more likely...
Red Bull Turned Marketing Into Its Product Ecosystem
🚀 Red Bull didn’t sell a drink—it built a world 🎯 Marketing became the product 🏁 From Bangkok to space 💰 No debt, no shortcuts Read more: https://michaelwmchugh.com/red-bull-brand-strategy/
☕🤖 Tutorial: Build an AI Customer Onboarding Engine (Turn New Buyers Into 30-Day Power Users)
The post walks readers through building an AI‑powered Customer Onboarding Engine that replaces a single generic welcome email with a six‑step, milestone‑driven sequence. It starts by mapping three activation milestones, then generates targeted emails for Day 0, Day 3, Day 7, Day 14 and...
Automate the Busywork: 8 SEO Tasks You Shouldn’t Do Manually
Search Engine Land outlines eight SEO tasks that can be automated with AI, from content‑calendar generation to metadata creation. By leveraging custom GPT prompts and spreadsheet formulas, marketers can cut repetitive work by minutes to hours per item. The article...
Merging Sales Capacity & Marketing Attribution Solves RevOps Divide
Lative acquiring Mperativ is one of the more interesting RevOps moves I've seen this yearbecause it's making a structural argument most of the industry has quietly accepted as unfixable. Your CMO and CRO have spent years arguing over numbers that were...
GeeLark Launches Android 16 Cloud Phones for Scalable Social Media Operations
GeeLark unveiled Android 16 cloud phones, bringing the newest Android OS to its cloud‑native platform for social media and e‑commerce teams. The offering pairs the updated mobile environment with built‑in RPA automation, a Synchronizer console, and open API hooks, enabling...
From Hero to Zero: Why Non-Alcoholic Line Extensions Could Overpower Share of Mind
Revolution Brewing has turned a long‑standing April Fool’s joke into reality, releasing Anti‑Zero, a non‑alcoholic version of its flagship IPA. The article notes that production costs for NA beer have dropped, consumer awareness has risen, and marketing requirements have lessened...
Nykaa Pushes House of Brands Beyond Its Own Platform; Two New Labels in Pipeline
Nykaa is scaling its House of Brands strategy beyond its own e‑commerce site, treating each label as a standalone brand rather than a private label. The company plans to launch at least two new beauty brands, which may not carry...
BigTime Creative Shop Launches Pepsi Football Nation Ft. David Beckham, Mo Salah, Vini Jr and Other Star Footballers
BigTime Creative Shop, fresh from topping the MENA WARC Creative 100 and ranking fourth among independent agencies worldwide, has launched Pepsi Football Nation, a global multi‑channel campaign for PepsiCo. The platform stars football icons David Beckham, Mohamed Salah, Vinícius Júnior, Alexia Putellas and Lauren James,...
HP Quietly Launched a Streaming App to Grow Its Advertising Ambitions
HP has quietly launched HP TV+, a free ad‑supported streaming app for U.S. laptop users, extending its HP Media Network ad inventory. The service aggregates content from publishers such as USA Today, PBS, and the Tennis Channel and is available...
Leftovers: Lay’s Flavors Go Global for World Cup | Taco Teas Look to Cure Homesickness
Lay’s is launching a 40‑flavor World Cup collection, with three U.S. limited‑edition chips inspired by Argentina, Brazil and France debuting in May on retail shelves and TikTok Shop. Remitly introduced a limited‑edition tea line that mimics comfort foods from Mexico,...
Omnicom Advertising, Google Launch AI-Powered Creative Intelligence System in Middle East
Omnicom Advertising and Google have launched an AI‑powered creative intelligence platform in the Middle East, pairing Google’s ABCD video‑performance framework with Omnicom’s proprietary Brave Bot. The system was first piloted with telecom operator du, where it evaluated ten YouTube video assets...
Dutch Bros Leverages Community Brand to Challenge Starbucks as U.S. Coffee Giant Stumbles
Dutch Bros, now operating 1,100 drive‑thru cafés in 25 states, is using a purpose‑driven marketing strategy to erode Starbucks' market share after the coffee giant posted a 10% fall in comparable transactions and a 3% dip in total revenue at...
Rent the Runway Launches AI‑driven Marketplace and Ad Platform to Boost Basket Size
Rent the Runway announced the launch of an AI‑driven marketplace and advertising platform, piloted with a select group of loyal customers. The new service adds shoes, shapewear, beauty products and accessories to rentals, aiming to raise order attach rates and...
G-SHOCK, The Company Films Reiterate ‘Never Give Up’ Call for Gen Z Consumers
Casio’s G‑SHOCK brand has launched a new “Never Give Up” campaign aimed at Gen Z and young millennials in the Middle East. The digital‑first initiative, produced with The Company Films, relies on short‑form videos distributed on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts,...
Coachella 2026: Top Brands, Creators Generated $1.7B in Earned Media Value, Data Shows
Influencer intelligence platform WeArisma reported that creator‑driven brand activations at Coachella 2026 generated more than $1.7 billion in earned media value (EMV), a 69 % jump from the previous year. The analysis captured nearly 30,000 pieces of social content and 3.3 billion engagements...
The Weather Company Names Brian Benedik as CRO to Accelerate Ad‑Tech Growth
The Weather Company announced the appointment of industry veteran Brian Benedik as chief revenue officer. Benedik will lead the overhaul of the firm’s advertising technology and drive new consumer‑membership products. The move signals a strategic push to monetize first‑party insights...
12 Generative AI Tools for Marketing and Sales Teams
The article surveys 12 generative‑AI platforms that marketers and sales teams can deploy, from general‑purpose chatbots like ChatGPT to specialized CRM agents such as Salesforce Agentforce and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales. It outlines each tool’s core capabilities—content creation, social‑media...
IHG and ANA Launch Loyalty Tie‑Up, Linking Hotel Stays to Airline Miles
IHG Hotels & Resorts and All Nippon Airways announced a new loyalty partnership that will go live after October. The deal lets IHG One Rewards members earn double points on select ANA flights and enables two‑way exchange between ANA miles...
Angi Co‑Founder Angie Hicks Reflects on Marketplace Evolution and Growth Strategy
Angi co‑founder Angie Hicks recounted the company’s humble start as a local service list and how authentic branding propelled its expansion into a national online marketplace. She highlighted new digital initiatives, such as virtual office hours, that aim to deepen...
The Brand-Driven Flywheel: Igniting Growth Through a Simple Patient Experience
The article argues that legacy patient‑support models are outdated and proposes direct‑to‑patient (DTP) platforms as a brand‑driven flywheel for growth. DTP unifies access, fulfillment and support into a single, tech‑enabled journey, cutting prior‑authorization delays and improving adherence. With specialty drugs...
Weekend Reading: Online Marketing of Soda and Alcohol
Vital Strategies released two AI‑driven reports exposing how soda and alcohol brands dominate social media, embedding themselves in sports highlights, influencer content and viral moments. The Coca‑Cola analysis uncovered 795 posts linked to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, generating...
The Ordinary’s $175 Banana Is Something To Chew On
The Ordinary launched a six‑city pop‑up grocery concept called “Markup Marché,” staging absurdly priced items such as a $175.90 banana, a $195.50 coconut and $96.20 toilet‑paper rolls. The stunt, staged in Toronto, London, São Paulo, Melbourne and two other locations, mimics...
Context Is Why Your AI Messages Get Ignored. Here’s How to Fix It.
Most AI‑driven outreach tools claim personalization but only insert a name and title, producing generic, mail‑merge style messages. CueGrowth flips this model by first enriching each prospect with real‑time signals—funding events, hiring activity, recent posts, and communication style—then feeding that...
Cadbury Dairy Milk Taps Cricket Nostalgia in ‘Khaas Seat’ Campaign
Cadbury Dairy Milk has launched the “Khaas Seat” campaign, celebrating the first live‑stadium cricket experience as a formative memory. The initiative features former India players Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh sharing personal stories, while inviting fans to contribute their own...
![[You Won't Believe] What This Super Agent Did For Fractionals](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E_c8!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28493d40-e30f-48b7-9274-42dcdbcc36ce_1094x1095.png)
[You Won't Believe] What This Super Agent Did For Fractionals
Last week GTM OS introduced GTMee, an AI‑powered GTM super‑agent designed for fractional consultants. The tool embeds the GTM Operating System, enabling users to generate ICP workbooks, offers, and client‑ready decks in minutes. Early partners report faster deliverables, higher confidence,...
Uber Eats and Boots Team up to Launch Exclusive £10 Supporter Kits Worth over £100 to Celebrate Runners
Uber Eats has partnered with Boots to sell a limited‑edition "Supporter Survival Kit" in central London for £10 (about $13). The kit, valued at over £100 (roughly $128), bundles sun‑care, energy tablets, a portable charger, electrolytes, blister plasters, marker pens,...
Omni Hotels & Resorts Launches Nationwide Celebration of Heritage and Timeless Traditions
Omni Hotels & Resorts has unveiled a year‑long "Celebrate America" program to mark the United States' 250th anniversary. The initiative rolls out a dedicated microsite, brand campaign, and a slate of summer festivals, live‑music concerts, free drive‑in movie nights, and...
Turn Readers Into Buyers with Hook‑Story‑Offer
Most people think turning readers into buyers is a tough nut to crack. It’s not. Russell Brunson built ClickFunnels into a $1 billion company using a 3-part copywriting framework. Here's how to steal it. It's called the Hook-Story-Offer Framework—and it works in 3 parts: •...
Google’s Robots.txt Docs Expand, Deep Links Get Rules, EU Steps In – SEO Pulse via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google rolled out several updates affecting search snippets, robots.txt parsing, EU data‑sharing rules, and task‑based search features. New documentation outlines three best practices for “Read more” deep links, emphasizing content that is immediately visible and structured with H2/H3 headings. The...
Day 5: The Quiz That 7x’d Their Growth
The ADHD Weasel newsletter swapped traditional PDFs for a short, gated quiz and added 1,439 new subscribers in a single week—roughly the quarterly total they previously earned. Daily sign‑ups surged from about 17 to 125, a seven‑fold increase, and the...
YouTube Livestream Ads Hijack Mobile Audio, No Mute Option
Live stream ads now on mobile, and they take over the audio -> YouTube is rolling out a new ad format for livestreams on mobile that won't disrupt your viewing experience, but with a big catch "Since the ad runs alongside...
Open‑source AI Marketing Toolkit Cuts Development Time
This repo will help you skip months of rebuilding AI marketing automations. 17 production-tested categories: SEO ops, deal resurrector, podcast-to-clips, growth engine, lead dossiers. 32K lines, 2.1K stars. Fork it and run. MIT licensed. More coming soon
From Permission to Personalization: Activating First-Party Data the Right Way
The May 6 MarTech Conference will host a panel titled “From permission to personalization: Activating first‑party data the right way,” moderated by Stephanie Miller. Speakers include Correy Honza (Access Marketing), Zontee Hou (Media Volery) and Owen Jennings (OneTrust). The discussion will...
Choose Your AI Path Today for Competitive Edge
The “Made by Humans” Premium: Why You Need to Pick an AI Lane Now by @Timothy_Hughes https://t.co/wjmKxBqwE0 @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Sales #Leadership #Marketing #MarketingStrategy #MarketingSuccess #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #ContentMarketing #MarketingTips #MarketingEthics
Switch Buyer, Triple Revenue with Same Product
Ev Kontsevoy grew Teleport to real revenue selling to engineers. Then he switched the target buyer to VPs of platform engineering. Average contract value nearly tripled in a year. Same product. Different buyer. Different business. https://t.co/qE9U5HuKwg
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Heated Google Ranking Volatility, Commodity Content, Getting SEO Right, Search Ads
Google highlighted rising ranking volatility, warning SEOs that algorithm swings could affect traffic. The company also clarified its stance on commodity content and announced that spam reports will no longer contain personally identifying information. New documentation on "read more" deep‑link...
Distribution Drives Success in Modern DTC Landscape
DTC isn’t dead — it’s just different now: https://t.co/fyWe2z9BbL I wrote about what’s actually working, what didn’t happen, and why distribution wins championships.
Google Ranking Volatility Shows SEO Still Crucial
SEO Video Recap covering Google heated ranking volatility, Google on commodity content, do you need to get SEO right and search ads https://t.co/VvKF3nw8K1 Sponsored by @DudaPlatform with industry mentions of @dannysullivan @marthavanberkel @gaganghotra_ @JohnMu @maxjpeters @adsliaison @AnthonyHigman @MSFTAdsBuddy @juokaz @glenngabe @ClaudiaTomina...
An Audience So Nice You Bought It Twice (And That’s Not A Good Thing)
Brands still split media budgets between upfront and programmatic purchases, causing the same audience to be hit repeatedly while other high‑value prospects are missed. This siloed approach inflates costs, stalls campaign lift, and creates fragmented brand experiences that erode consumer...