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 all marketing functions, shifting AI from a productivity add‑on to a core strategic engine. The analysis notes early adopters are using generative tools, while the next wave will involve autonomous agents that orchestrate decisions across workflows, guided by a five‑step implementation roadmap.
AI Is The New Ad Space
Debra Aho Williamson, founder of Sonata Insights, will keynote AdExchanger’s Programmatic AI conference in Las Vegas (May 18‑20). She argues that AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and retail assistants constitute a new media environment—“AI media”—that can guide consumers from query to purchase without leaving the interface. This shifts the focus of paid media toward the middle of the funnel, where AI assistants influence consideration. Williamson warns marketers must accelerate adoption, as AI‑native channels are poised to become core to media plans, echoing OpenAI’s $100 billion ad revenue forecast.
Beats and Jennie Are Back Together With an Unreleased Song and New Headphones
Beats and K‑pop icon Jennie are releasing a new onyx‑black special‑edition headphone on April 24, paired with an exclusive, unreleased track. The design features attachable black bows, music‑inspired ear‑pad symbols, and a matching carrying case. A Seoul pop‑up will let fans...
The Bagel That Broke the Internet: Tory Bartlett and the Rise of PopUp Bagels
In this episode of the Hospitality Hangout, CEO Tory Bartlett (often called Jimmy) shares his journey from washing dishes at Hooters to leading the fast‑growing pop‑up bagel brand that went viral online. He discusses how his military reserve service, years...
Google Adds New Tasked-Based Search Features via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
Google rolled out three travel‑focused tools that push Search toward a task‑based model. Users can now toggle hotel price tracking to receive email alerts when rates fall, while AI Mode can launch an agent that calls nearby stores for real‑time...
XTB Signs Multi-Year Sponsorship of SSC Napoli
Polish retail broker XTB has signed a multi‑year deal to become the Global Trading Partner of Italian football powerhouse SSC Napoli for the 2025/26 and 2026/27 seasons. The partnership places XTB on Napoli’s digital platforms, matchday experiences and fan activations,...
AI Enhances SEO, Yet Human Expertise Remains Crucial
I created an AI tool to improve internal linking and enhance meta titles and meta descriptions. After a few weeks, I can tell it's working nicely (we started where you see the dip in the graph around mid-march) But you have to...
Chery Ramps up UK Marketing with Mo Farah Deal
Chinese automaker Chery has signed Olympic legend Sir Mo Farah to headline a multi‑channel UK campaign promoting its Super Hybrid powertrain. The rollout includes TV spots, a hero film and a TikTok‑driven content series, aiming to translate Farah’s endurance image into hybrid...
Winning The Attention War That's Reshaping Banking
In this episode, hosts Alex Johnson and Mary Wisniewski discuss the evolving dynamics of FinTech events, emphasizing the irreplaceable value of in‑person networking for business deals and relationship building. They highlight two major industry trends: the surge of new banking...
Wise TV Ads by Ace of Hearts Dramatise Unwise Banking
Wise has rolled out a new television campaign crafted by creative agency Ace of Hearts, building on an out‑of‑home rollout that began earlier this month. The spots use dramatized, tongue‑in‑cheek scenarios of “unwise” banking choices to highlight the friction‑free, low‑cost...
A First Look at Samsung’s Blueprint to Win the AI Era, with Mauro Porcini
In this episode, Samsung’s President and Chief Design Officer Mauro Porcini discusses the company’s new design manifesto unveiled at Milan Design Week, outlining four strategic pillars—Live Longer, Live Better, Live Loud, and Live On—that guide Samsung’s AI‑driven product roadmap. He emphasizes...
Choosing an Email Marketing Platform to Consolidate Tech Stacks
Marketing teams are consolidating fragmented tech stacks by using email marketing platforms as a central hub. Emma, a leading email solution, offers drag‑and‑drop design, AI‑driven optimization, and deep integrations with CRM and e‑commerce systems. The article highlights that email delivers...
Weak Product Pages, Not Meta, Kill D2C Conversions
Low ROAS ≠ Meta Ads India Problem Many D2C India founders blame the platform first. But often the leak starts after the click. Weak product pages kill conversion faster than bad ads.
Higher Ad Spend Won’t Fix Funnel, Drops ROAS
More Meta Ads Spend ≠ More Sales Many Indian D2C brands raise budget during festivals. Then blame ads when ROAS drops. Spend scales systems. Not broken funnels.
Retail Media Finds a New Signal: The Shopper’s State of Mind
Retail media is shifting from pure intent data to interpreting shoppers' cognitive and emotional states. Mental‑health experts highlight grocery trips as high‑stress decision points where fatigue, overload, and anxiety shape buying behavior. Platforms that can read in‑session signals—such as lingering,...
Pitch Specific Value, Start Small, Grow via Podcasts
I’ve appeared on 117 podcasts. And it's been a super important little growth hack for my business. Here's how you can get interviewed on other people’s podcasts: 1. Pitch for their audience Pitch ONE specific thing the podcaster’s audience will...
The Real Problem with Marketing Intelligence Isn’t Insight, It’s Execution. How Can AI Help?
The NinjaCat and UserEvidence report reveals that marketing intelligence is hampered more by execution bottlenecks than by lack of data. Marketers spend an average $26.2 million annually and juggle eight martech platforms plus three performance tools, yet only 37% have a...
Canva Launches Canva AI 2.0, a New Era of AI-Powered Creation
Canva unveiled AI 2.0, a conversational, agentic platform that guides users from concept to finished design in a single workflow. The upgrade introduces Conversational Design, Agentic Orchestration, Object‑Based Intelligence, Living Memory, Sheets AI and a suite of connectors that automate tasks...
Turning Uncertainty Into Opportunity
Dayem Abbas Zaidi argues that the UAE’s economic resilience creates a unique marketing landscape during global uncertainty. While many brands cut budgets, the region’s stable growth and diversified economy keep consumer activity alive, opening an attention gap as competitors retreat....
Why Those Engagement Ring Ads Keep Finding You Ft. Hope Bellair
In this episode of In The Loop, host Michael Burpo and Punchmark Digital Marketing Manager Hope Bellair break down retargeting for jewelry retailers, explaining how it works across platforms like Meta and Google and how it can be automated using...
WhatsApp Tests Paid Tier for the First Time Globally
Meta has begun testing WhatsApp Plus, a paid subscription offering custom themes, extra pinned chats and organization tools for Android beta users, while keeping core messaging free. The rollout signals Meta’s shift toward subscription revenue, especially relevant in African markets...
Podcast Avatar Essentials: Who Do You Think You’re Talking To!?
Podcast creators are urged to build a detailed “avatar”—a fictional ideal listener—to focus content and marketing. The article defines the avatar, illustrates its impact with a True Crime case study showing women dominate the audience and discover shows via social...
Google Brings Pomelli in English to Small Businesses in Europe.
Google has launched Pomelli, its AI‑powered marketing tool, in English across the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Developed by Google Labs in partnership with DeepMind, Pomelli scans a small business’s website, proposes campaign ideas and...
The Deliverability Tax: Why Your Messages Are Disappearing
Marketers are seeing engagement drop not because of creative flaws but due to a growing "deliverability tax" that limits message visibility. MoEngage’s analysis of 40 billion messages shows behavior‑based pushes achieve 93% delivery versus 81% for generic broadcasts, with conversion rates...
10 Al Prompts For Building Viral Al Video Channel with with Gemini
The post outlines ten ready‑to‑use Gemini prompts that take a creator from concept to a viral AI‑driven short‑form video channel in 30 days. Each prompt tackles a specific stage—niche scouting, visual identity, hook creation, scripting, workflow, algorithm decoding, calendar planning,...
After Mecca, Myer’s Beauty Reset Begins
Myer is using the upcoming Mecca exit as a catalyst to rebuild its beauty division, centering the effort on the October 2025 Myer One loyalty relaunch, an exclusive MAC partnership, and a massive product expansion. The loyalty overhaul adds beauty...
Arshdeep Singh Fronts Dual Brand Campaigns for Rotoris and Doctor’s Choice
India’s fast bowler Arshdeep Singh has been tapped as the face of two new IPL 2026 campaigns, representing luxury watch maker Rotoris and nutrition brand Doctor’s Choice. Rotoris positions Singh as “The Rotoris Man,” linking his precision and consistency to...
Your Biggest Growth Driver: Retain, Don't Ignore Existing Customers
Most businesses lose their best customers before they ever know they had them. Not to a competitor. Not to price. To indifference. Acquiring a new customer costs 5–7x more than retaining one. Your best growth lever isn't a new audience. It's the customers...
The Systems Behind Predictable Amazon Sales And Margin with Jon Klein
In this episode, Amazon growth strategist Jon Klein discusses how data‑driven systems and diversified sales channels fuel predictable Amazon revenue and margins. He emphasizes the importance of multi‑channel branding, continuous new‑product launches, and rigorous profitability tracking using tools like Sellerize...
Gallo’s Britt West on Fixing Wine’s Relevance Problem and Recruiting the Next Generation
Chief commercial officer Britt West told the Brave Commerce podcast that wine’s recent sales decline stems more from a failure to recruit new consumers than from health‑related moderation trends. Decades of premiumization delivered short‑term growth but left the category with...
Project Agora Brings Realize to North Africa, Expands Access to AI-Driven Performance Advertising
Project Agora has launched the AI‑driven performance platform Realize across North Africa, covering Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The service taps a network of more than 11,000 premium publishers and offers format‑agnostic ad placements, AI‑optimized bidding and predictive audience models....
Complex SEO Lets Ineffective Tactics Still Succeed
Google's @johnmu says since SEO is so complex, you can still do a lot of SEO that does not work and still do okay https://t.co/GdDY0OVDPW https://t.co/yqJnuS4xN3
Pepsi Just Banned the S-Word in Its Latest Star-Studded Film
Pepsi has launched the multi‑year “Pepsi football nation” campaign, a global platform that pairs football’s biggest stars with fan‑centric storytelling. The flagship film, featuring David Beckham, Mohamed Salah, Alexia Putellas and others, imagines a fictional nation where supporters set the rules of...
Top Shopify Stores Master Either Drops or Subscriptions
Looking at our 8-figure client stores on @Shopify, they're all very different product categories, but they've either mastered product drops OR subscription retention. One of the two, always.
What Mandarin Oriental Is Seeing in Luxury Travel That Others Are Missing
Mandarin Oriental is shifting its luxury strategy from pure expansion to a brand‑led, guest‑centric model that emphasizes authentic, culturally resonant experiences. The hotel group plans to more than double its portfolio over the next decade, targeting locations such as Mallorca,...
Who Is Manufacturing the Faces We Trust?
Indian advertisers and brands are rapidly adopting AI‑generated digital spokespersons that can speak regional languages, adjust facial features, and deliver consistent messages without fatigue. Mankind Pharma announced a partnership to embed these generative systems across its marketing and multilingual communications,...
Glossy Research: 3 Out of 4 Brand Leaders Are Using AI for Data Analysis, but ROI on AI Spend Remains...
Glossy Research reports that three‑quarters of top fashion and beauty brands now rely on AI for data analysis, yet the financial returns on those investments remain modest. The study highlights an average ROI of under 10% per year, indicating early‑stage...
Beauty Briefing: How Mind Games Achieved Double-Digit Sales Growth with No Hero Fragrance
Mind Games, the chess‑themed fragrance label, posted double‑digit sales growth last quarter by eschewing a single "hero" scent and instead courting fragrance collectors. The brand rolled out a rapid cadence of limited‑edition releases, leveraging community‑driven storytelling and digital‑first marketing. This...
Popeyes Sets Sail with ONE PIECE with an Anime-Inspired Menu
Popeyes has partnered with Toei Animation to launch its first anime collaboration, Popeyes × ONE PIECE, across select Canadian locations. The limited‑time menu features items like Chopper’s Cupcake (≈ $3 USD) and the Luffy Bento Bundle (≈ $7.40 USD) that combine the chain’s signature chicken with themed...
How ThredUp Is Using AI to Improve Its Marketing Operations and Move Further up the Funnel
ThredUp, the online resale platform, is embedding artificial intelligence across its operations, from automated product tagging to personalized recommendation engines. In its marketing division, AI is now being used to sharpen demand forecasting, allowing the team to allocate spend more...
OpenAI Eyes Deeper APAC Growth with New Marketing Head
OpenAI has appointed Jennifer Lien as head of marketing for the Asia‑Pacific region, operating out of Singapore. Lien will steer brand, user growth, enterprise adoption and partnership strategies across both consumer and B2B segments. The hire follows OpenAI’s recent regional...
Revamped Tata Neu to Bet on Loyalty, Financial Services: Tata Digital CEO Sajith Sivanandan
Tata Digital is reshaping its super‑app Tata Neu into a loyalty‑centric financial‑services hub, moving away from a broad commerce aggregator. CEO Sajith Sivanandan, who took the helm seven months ago, is streamlining the portfolio, emphasizing payments, investments and insurance tied to...
Marketing’s Ability to Game the System Is Diminishing: Anoop Manohar, Axis Bank
Axis Bank’s chief marketing officer Anoop Manohar argues that the era of blanket impressions is over, urging marketers to prioritize real engagement. He describes how the bank leverages AI‑driven real‑time signals to deliver personalized offers at key life milestones, while...
Not Wieden+Kennedy Creates Identity for Premier Jumping League
Not Wieden+Kennedy has crafted the visual identity and launch film for the Premier Jumping League (PJL), a new global equestrian jumping circuit. The agency built the brand around the sport’s signature rail, creating a dynamic logo that captures the horse’s...
VML Singapore, Scoot and Singapore Tourism Board Turn Merlion Into Gen Z Travel Guide
VML Singapore, low‑cost carrier Scoot and the Singapore Tourism Board launched #MerlionMadeMeDoIt, a TikTok‑centric campaign that reimagines the Merlion as an 80s glam‑rock star to steer Gen Z travelers toward lesser‑known city spots. The initiative ran a five‑market contest—Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia,...
Why 94% of Marketing AI Fails?
The marketing technology landscape in 2026 shows a stark paradox: while 90.3% of companies claim to use AI, only 6.3% have fully integrated it into governed marketing stacks and just 23.3% have moved AI tools into production. Integration friction reaches...
Alaska & Bank Of America Expand Partnership: New Credit Cards & Perks
Alaska Air Group and Bank of America have signed a multi‑year extension of their co‑branded credit‑card agreement, deepening integration of the Atmos Rewards loyalty program. The renewal will fund new premium cards, refresh existing offerings, and expand lounge access and...
StackAdapt Leaks ChatGPT Ad Playbook, Offers $15‑$60 CPM Pilot
StackAdapt disclosed a pilot program to run ads inside ChatGPT, pricing cost‑per‑thousand impressions (CPM) between $15 and $60 and requiring a $50,000 minimum spend. The leak, shared on March 27, shows the DSP courting advertisers with discounted fees and a...
Meta Launches Ad‑performance Tools to Ease Entry for Small‑business Advertisers
Meta announced new ad‑performance tools that simplify measurement and reduce entry hurdles for small‑business advertisers, according to eMarketer. While the company said the updates will make campaign reporting more transparent, specific feature details and pricing thresholds were not disclosed.
Hello Kitty Creator Sanrio to Make Nintendo Switch 2 Party Game
Sanrio is launching Sanrio Games, a new brand that will embed its iconic characters into party titles for Nintendo Switch and the upcoming Switch 2. The first game is slated for a fall 2026 console release, and the company aims to...
Super League Urges Shareholder Vote on Misfits Ads Division Deal to Expand Esports Ad Reach
Super League (Nasdaq: SLE) has sent a letter urging shareholders to approve its acquisition of the Misfits Ads Division. The deal promises immediate EBITDA accretion, programmatic ad capabilities and a preferred partnership that taps over 100 million monthly Roblox users, positioning...