Today's Marketing Pulse
Reddit surges post‑Google update as clicks plunge
Reddit’s top‑3 keyword presence grew to 13,872 terms, a 54% increase after Google’s May core update. SparkToro data shows 68% of Google searches end without a click, with just 232 clicks per 1,000 queries reaching the open web. Google also refreshed its SEO documentation to combat fraudulent practices.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Amplify acquires creative agency Snack Drawer
Corus’s W Network Partners with Pandora
Corus Entertainment announced that W Network will partner with luxury jewellery brand Pandora for a year‑long, multi‑platform campaign integrated into five Hallmark Channel seasonal movie events. The collaboration will feature Pandora branding across Spring Into Love, Moms in May, Summer Nights, Fall Into Love, and Countdown to Christmas. Execution includes TV, streaming, digital and social elements such as Saturday night takeovers, countdown clocks, 15‑second bumpers, sponsor billboards, and a new “Movie Date” interstitial series. The partnership aligns Pandora’s “be love” message with Hallmark’s heartfelt storytelling.
AEON360 Teams with Google Cloud to Launch AI‑Driven Shopping Ecosystem Across Southeast Asia
AEON360 announced a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to build an AI‑driven shopping ecosystem that will debut in Malaysia and later expand throughout Southeast Asia. The collaboration centers on a contextual intelligence engine, a new Innovation Foundry in Kuala Lumpur,...
Atlas Cloud Opens Seedance 2.0 API with Transparent Per‑Second Pricing
Atlas Cloud has made ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 AI video model available via an open API, charging $0.127 per second for the full‑power version and $0.101 for the fast variant. The move eliminates waitlists, regional restrictions and opaque token‑based fees, promising creators...
NOVUS Appoints Olivier Pepin as First CTO to Drive AI, Data Engineering and Tech Strategy
NOVUS announced the hiring of Olivier Pepin as its first Chief Technology Officer. The veteran architect will head the agency’s technology, AI and data engineering practice, aiming to expand proprietary tools like DeCoder and FullSail. The move signals a strategic...
Meta Set to Overtake Google in Global Digital Ad Revenue, eMarketer Forecast Shows
Meta is projected to generate $243.46 bn in ad revenue in 2026, surpassing Google's $239.54 bn for the first time. Faster growth, AI‑driven automation and expanding inventory are driving the shift, which could reshape how marketers allocate spend across platforms.
Nomura Research Institute Appoints Steven Rivera as CRO of North America to Accelerate B2B Growth
Nomura Research Institute (NRI) announced today that Steven Rivera will serve as Chief Revenue Officer for its North American operations. Rivera, a 26‑year veteran of cybersecurity, managed services and consulting, will oversee sales, marketing, demand generation and strategic partnerships as...
![How AI Search Is Rewiring B2B Software Buying [G2 Report]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://foundationinc.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Foundation-Homepage-Sharing-Image.png)
How AI Search Is Rewiring B2B Software Buying [G2 Report]
G2’s new report, The Answer Economy, shows AI chatbots have become the primary research tool for B2B software buyers, replacing traditional search engines. Fifty‑one percent of respondents now start their vendor search with a chatbot, and 69% say the AI’s...
Design Shows for Clipability, Harvest Millions of Views
TBPN is a 7k-live-viewer pod that sold to OpenAI for $200M because their average clip gets 257k views. Everyone's talking about the strategy. Here's the structure: 1. Format is engineered for clippability, not the other way around 3 hours/day, live, 5 days a...
Inside the Making of Peloton’s Viral Hudson Williams Ad
Peloton unveiled a new "Let Yourself Go" ad starring Hudson Williams dancing to David Bowie’s "Fame," directed by Bethany Vargas, whose résumé includes Lady Gaga’s "Abracadabra" video. The spot, rolling across TV, OTT, social and digital out‑of‑home in the U.S....
A Social Media Solution for Sparking Produce Sales
Social media is emerging as a powerful driver of produce sales, especially among Gen Z and millennial shoppers who spend over two hours daily on platforms. TikTok, YouTube and Instagram dominate meal‑inspiration sources for these younger consumers. Influencer‑led campaigns, such...
How to Do AI SEO (GEO) in 2026? Compare Popular AI Visibility Checker in UK
Onrec evaluated three AI visibility checkers—BuildSOM, Profound, and Semrush—to determine the best solution for UK brands navigating Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) in 2026. The test used a multi‑regional, multilingual brand scenario covering 75 AI prompts across ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Google AIO...
ZoomInfo Adds Free ChatGPT Connector with Enrichment Tools
@ZoomInfo is expanding our partnership with @OpenAI with our @ChatGPTapp connector. Open to ANYONE - free sign up gets you 100 free credits. We've added Intent, Contact and Company Enrichment, Find Similar Companies, and Account Context that marries your...
Explora Journeys Partners with SailGP Swiss Team
Explora Journeys announced a multi‑year global partnership to become the title sponsor of the Swiss SailGP Team, rebranding the squad as the Explora Journeys Swiss SailGP Team. The deal launches on May 9, 2026 at the Bermuda event and will see the...
Cloudflare Forces AI Crawlers to Follow Canonical URLs
This seems to be flying under the radar -> Redirects for AI Training enforces canonical content Once a site opts in via Cloudflare: "When a request arrives from a verified AI Crawler, Cloudflare reads the response HTML. If a non-self-referencing canonical tag...
How Luxury Brands Are Quietly Leaning Into Artificial Intelligence
Luxury brands are quietly integrating artificial intelligence across operations, customer experience, and creative design. The AI market serving luxury is forecast to rise from $1.2 billion in 2024 to $5.6 billion by 2034, growing over 16% annually, with 45% of brands already...
Gap Made $1 Billion in Profit by Doing One Thing.
Gap Inc. posted nearly $1 billion in profit and its highest gross margins in 25 years, driven by eight straight quarters of comparable‑sales growth. New CEO Richard Dickson, famed for reviving Barbie, shifted the brand from mall basics to cultural relevance by...
All Things Creator Marketing with Becky Owen
Becky Owen, CMO of creator agency Billion Dollar Boy, explains why U.S. creator ad spend is expanding four times faster than the broader media market. She emphasizes that creators’ community‑driven, authentic approach delivers performance‑based results that traditional ads struggle to...
Build a $14M Business with a Done‑For‑You System
I didn’t build a $14M company by posting more. I built a machine. Real people. Real strategy. Handmade content. We’ll build yours too. 37 brand assets. 60 days. You show up once a week. DM me “DFY” to see how...
Inside Coachella’s Off-Site Events That Are Rewriting the Festival’s Landscape
Coachella’s 2024 desert edition saw a surge of brand‑driven experiences staged outside the official festival grounds. These off‑site activations ranged from pop‑up lounges to full‑day destination events, giving sponsors creative latitude and exclusive atmospheres. Brands like Rhode transformed product drops...
Wayvia Launches Shoppable Next Generation
Wayvia unveiled Shoppable Next Generation, an AI‑powered shoppable media platform that links every marketing touchpoint—display ads, social posts, email—to a real‑time purchase path. The solution surfaces live pricing and inventory from both physical and online retailers, and feeds confirmed sales...
How Advertisers Are Thinking About Meta’s Affiliate Tool Rollout
Meta unveiled a suite of creator‑focused affiliate and checkout tools at Shoptalk, extending shoppable Reels on Instagram and product‑tagging on Facebook. The affiliate program, backed by partners such as Amazon, eBay, Temu, Shopee and Mercado Libre, lets creators earn commissions...
Placeholder Partners and Frictionmaxxing Fatigue
The After School Monday Edition outlines a wave of cultural and marketing shifts, from Coachella brand activations now topping tens of millions of dollars to AI‑generated influencers flooding festival feeds. It flags the rise of “frictionmaxxing,” a luxury‑focused experience model,...
How Data Analytics and Data Mining Strengthen Brand Identity Services
Brand identity services are increasingly powered by data analytics and mining, shifting from intuition to measurable insight. A Nucleus Research report shows firms earn $13.01 for every dollar spent on analytics, a 1,200% ROI, spurring deeper investment. Real‑time dashboards and...
Personalized PageRank Reveals High-Impact Nodes in 9M-Edge Graph
So... "ai, explain what I just did": we ingested 9M+ directed edges from X into a weighted influence graph, then ran a personalized PageRank variant — tuned for human accounts — to surface eigenvector centrality at scale. once you know the...
Why Storytelling Is Now the Most Valuable Skill in Tech
In this episode, the host argues that storytelling has become the most valuable skill in tech, surpassing even technical expertise. They discuss how the ability to evoke emotion around a product or idea can outweigh coding or engineering prowess, and...
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Starbucks and Dutch Bros Take Different Paths to Growth – Placer.ai Blog
Starbucks’ "Back to Starbucks" turnaround is delivering a 4.9%‑5.9% lift in traffic over the last two quarters, signaling early momentum for the legacy coffee chain. Dutch Bros is generating double‑digit same‑store visit growth—12.3% to 17.9% YoY—through aggressive footprint expansion and a...
Convoso Rolls Out AI‑Driven Outbound Call Center Suite at LeadsCon 2026
Convoso announced a slate of AI-powered outbound call center features at LeadsCon 2026, including a Salesforce‑integrated campaign manager, Agentic AI for automated outreach, and real‑time analytics. The rollout, timed with the company’s 20th anniversary, targets higher answer rates and conversion...
Forbes Prediction Market Gamifies Story About Mass Shooting of 8 Children
Forbes rolled out ForbesPredict in January 2026, a token‑based prediction platform built with Axiom to keep readers on its site longer. The tool embeds interactive boxes in articles, letting users wager non‑cash tokens on outcomes such as whether Congress will...
AI Mode's Side‑by‑side View Could Boost Publisher Traffic
Good to know that AI Mode's new display (opens the page side-by-side with AI Mode) includes Scroll-to-Text highlighting (which is better for analysis in GA4, rank tracking tools, etc.) ALSO this is likely a hot take but I don't think this...
Netflix Targets $3 Billion in Ad Revenue by 2026, Accelerating Shift to Streaming Ads
Netflix announced that its ad-supported tier is on track to generate $3 billion in advertising revenue by 2026, roughly twice the 2025 figure. The projection follows a Q1 where total revenue rose 16.2% YoY to $12.25 billion and the platform added 70%...
Scheduling Posts Doesn't Hurt Reach—Stop Believing the Myth
The "I won't schedule my content becuase it decreases reach" conversation is one I'm tired of having... ... but I'm having it again because I keep seeing people stay stuck behind this idea.
DLF Malls Launches 'Summer Up' Phygital Fashion Campaign with 100 Curated Looks
DLF Malls rolled out its 'Summer Up' campaign on April 15, showcasing 100 curated summer outfits and a phygital retail experience at DLF Mall of India, DLF Promenade and DLF Avenue. Partnering with tech firm ORBO, the initiative uses AI‑powered...
Focus on MarTech Integration, Not New Tools
B2B marketers are moving away from a "tool‑first" mindset, focusing instead on integrating existing MarTech platforms to unlock performance gains. While AI capabilities are proliferating across advertising, analytics and engagement tools, many firms adopt them without a clear strategic framework,...
Switch ESP Fast, Keep Revenue Steady with Omnisend
Nobody wakes up excited to migrate their ESP. Because historically, it sucks: → Weeks of setup → Broken flows → Revenue dips @omnisend's angle is different: → Flows live fast → Data moves clean → Revenue doesn’t stall Switching tools shouldn’t cost you money. If anything it should make you...
Consolidate Your Meta Ads Into One Campaign
Meta advertisers: when was the last time you tried a fully consolidated, single campaign setup?
Marketers Need to Stop Chasing Data and Start Harnessing Audience Signals
Marketers are urged to move beyond hoarding raw data and instead build a social‑intelligence loop that converts audience conversations into actionable insights. Hennessy outlined a five‑stage framework—conversation, detection, interpretation, activation, outcome—that feeds back into the data pool for faster response....
GEO Is an Executive Issue, Not Just SEO's Job
Everyone assumes the SEO team should be 100% responsible for all aspects of GEO, meanwhile they only influence a small portion of how LLMs form their opinion of a brand. That's why GEO is an executive level problem. Not a technical...
Most E‑commerce Cart Abandonment Flows Repeat Six Fatal Mistakes
Every ecom brand has a cart abandonment flow, but most of them are making the same mistakes. Here are the 6 most common ones: https://t.co/izm397S5n3
Consumers Are Taking a New Purchase Journey on Social
SMW 2026 research reveals that 82% of traditional search queries are fact‑seeking, while social search taps community advice to shape purchase decisions. The study highlights a "critical gap" where brands focus on factual answers but miss the emotional and comparative dialogue...
Track AI/LLM Traffic and Conversions with Looker Studio Template
Time to track AI / LLM traffic and conversions. Clone this Looker Studio Template. Link -> https://t.co/nGXnF2Duut
Claude Pinpoints Rank‑11‑20 Pages Ready for #1
Upload your Google Search Console CSV to Claude with this prompt: "Identify pages ranking 11-20 that could hit page 1 with content updates." It'll analyze click-through rates and suggest exactly which pages need work. Beats manually scrolling through 2,000 keywords....
If Comments Are the New Frontline, How Is Your Brand Showing Up?
AI is becoming the frontline of social media engagement, with brands like Warner Bros. Discovery deploying AI to filter low‑value comments and beauty and CPG leaders using AI to discover where conversations happen. Teams aim to answer comments and DMs within 24 hours,...
The Onion to Rebrand Infowars as Comedy Site
SCOOP with @NYTLiz: The Onion has a new plan to take over Infowars. It has entered into an agreement to license the Infowars brand and plans to operate it as a comedy site. A Texas judge must approve the deal. https://t.co/YYPmqDHvnv
Validate Sales Organically Before Spending on Ads
'Just run Facebook ads' is the worst advice for beginners in 2026. Build a simple funnel. Get 10 people to buy it organically. THEN run ads. If you can't sell it without ads, you won't sell it with ads.
Social Media Marketing Enters Its AI Intelligence Era
Viral Nation, a leading social media agency, has leveraged its 11‑year archive of 1.4 million video hours and 34 million posts to build AI tools that automate creator discovery, community management, and ROI measurement. Its creator‑discovery engine scans a database of over...
Fastest 5G Hype Fades; Reliability Now Wins
Telecom is still selling “fastest 5G.” That era is over. When every network “just works,” speed bragging becomes expensive marketing, not a moat. 🚨🧵 #Telecom #5G
Snapchat's Growth Hacking Sparks DAU and Engagement Concerns
⚡️ Snapchat Growth Hacking Raises Concerns on DAUs/Engagement ⚡️ $SNAP Ever since becoming a public company, Evan Spiegel, Snap’s Co-Founder, has been critical of growth hacking... https://t.co/cUVqO01ZFu
What Social Media Success Looks Like in a Post-Follower World
Free People achieved triple‑digit social media growth by abandoning follower counts and prioritizing views, shares, and a holistic Total Social Impact (TSI) metric. The brand’s organic and paid teams now operate in a unified structure, sharing insights and balancing content...
6 Coachella Brand Activations That Were Actually Worth Waiting in Line For
Coachella’s 2024 brand activation lineup featured six experiences that drew crowds willing to wait in line, signaling a shift toward immersive, utility‑focused marketing. Highlights included Wavytalk’s free professional hairstyling station, which turned a routine service into a festival‑centric attraction. Other...
Rebranding TKerLLC: Investing Newsletter for the Reluctant
I think this is a sign I should rebrand @TKerLLC as the investing newsletter for people who don’t like investing 📈📈 https://t.co/2VkhAvguUw