Today's Marketing Pulse
Google rolls out AI‑qualified call leads to boost ad measurement
Google Ads introduced an AI‑qualified call leads feature that evaluates the substance of inbound calls, creates call summaries and tags, and feeds higher‑quality signals into smart bidding and reporting. Call recording is enabled by default, except for healthcare and financial services, and the rollout is currently limited in scope.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Publicis Groupe UK acquires Fabric Social
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 they challenge the myth that AI will render human writing obsolete. The conversation highlights storytelling's role in differentiating brands, securing funding, and driving user adoption, positioning it as the one skill worth teaching to the next generation.
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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...
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....
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...
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,...
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...
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...
Brand Mentions: Complete Guide to Tracking, Measuring & Optimizing
Brand mentions—whether linked, unlinked, or generated by AI—are now a core signal for search engines and generative AI models. Tracking these mentions helps marketers gauge awareness, reputation, and authority while uncovering gaps against competitors. Tools range from simple Google Alerts...
Action Bronson Promotes Minute Maid Spiked For 'Good Time'
Coca‑Cola’s Red Tree Beverages has launched Minute Maid Spiked, a line of flavored wine‑cooler and ready‑to‑drink vodka cocktails, with its first campaign starring rapper‑chef Action Bronson. The creative work is handled by agency Gertrude, which emphasizes a multi‑dimensional, “no‑fuss” vibe across...
HubSpot's Breeze Assistant: Simple Tools, Powerful Results
I love it when HubSpot builds simple primitives which can then be combined in creative ways to unlock a lot of power. If you're a HubSpot customer and haven't played with Breeze Assistant yet, you should. It's getting really, really...
Why Opera GX Markets Its Browser Like a Challenger Run
Opera GX, the gaming‑focused browser, has leveraged a challenger‑brand strategy to break through a stagnant browser market. Its "Your Setup Wants GX" campaign, anchored by the PC Man character, turned the browser into a piece of a gamer’s hardware setup. The...
Spotter’s Brand Partnerships Director on Why Fewer Creators and Deeper Deals Win
Christian Liquigan, Spotter’s Director of Brand Partnerships, says creator marketing is evolving from one‑off influencer spots to always‑on, network‑style collaborations. Brands that treat creators as media publishers and lock in deeper, performance‑based deals with a handful of creators can reduce...
Weak Promo: Marriott Bonvoy® Week Is Back at Starbucks Through April 26th
Starbucks is running a second Marriott Bonvoy® Week from April 20‑26, letting members of the linked loyalty programs earn up to 100 Marriott Bonvoy points for three qualifying coffee purchases. The earnings cap has been trimmed from previous promotions that offered...
Best Conversions Come From Fixing Off‑Site Friction Early
Most of my CRO clients come to me in a panic. Sales are down, someone has asked a difficult question in a board meeting, and now we need to fix the website. Fast. So we do. We work through the usual...
Omnicom Launches Frequency Probe, Finds 'Negative Reach'
Omnicom’s OM Intelligence unit released the first report in its “Why Frequency Matters” series, revealing that excessive ad repetitions can trigger a phenomenon called “negative reach,” where consumers develop adverse brand perceptions. The study shows that as few as two...
I Reviewed 10 Best Social Media Listening Tools for 2026
The article reviews the ten leading social media listening platforms for 2026, including Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Meltwater, Vista Social, Brandwatch, BrandMentions, Reputation, Agorapulse, YouScan, and Brand24. It evaluates each tool against G2 user feedback, core feature sets, usability, and real‑world...
Knak Makes Enterprise Marketing Production Callable by AI Agents
Knak announced support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling AI agents and orchestration layers to call its production platform directly. The integration lets AI assistants generate on‑brand emails, landing pages and other assets using Knak’s template library without manual...
What Killed Nike?
Nike faced a swift backlash after displaying a "Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated" sign at its Boston Marathon‑adjacent Newbury store, prompting the company to pull the ad amid accusations of pace‑shaming. The controversy coincided with UBS’s neutral "hold" rating, which came...
How Prime And A Smarter Alexa Are Giving Amazon An AI Shopping Edge
Amazon launched Alexa+, an AI‑powered upgrade to its voice assistant, to all users in March 2025. The new assistant can handle complex conversations, place orders, manage smart‑home devices, and suggest recipes, all while leveraging Amazon’s 30‑year e‑commerce expertise. Early data show...
The One Email That Got 100 Replies
A creator sent a single email describing a proven framework and received over 100 direct replies, without using a landing page, survey, or quiz. The response rate far exceeded his typical engagement levels, proving that showing an idea sparks conversation....
Reimagining Annual Brand Planning with AI
EVERSANA’s fourth annual brand‑planning survey reveals that 60% of pharma marketers lack a trusted single source of truth for brand data, and only half maintain a consistent planning process across the enterprise. Nearly two‑thirds of leaders are already using or...
Podscribe Launches Radio Measurement Capabilities and Smart Columns to Bring Digital-Level Clarity to Audio Advertising
Podscribe unveiled Radio Measurement Capabilities, a platform that blends aircheck verification with performance attribution to give advertisers digital‑grade transparency for radio spots. The solution supports terrestrial, satellite and multi‑market campaigns, using machine‑learning and Bayesian models to quantify lift in site...
Adobe Summit 2026 - Adobe Gives CX an Agentic Makeover with the Launch of CX Enterprise
Adobe unveiled CX Enterprise at its 2026 Summit, an end‑to‑end agentic automation platform that layers a persistent AI co‑worker on top of the Adobe Experience Platform. The new co‑worker can orchestrate multiple purpose‑built agents, integrate third‑party systems, and extend AI capabilities...
3 Strategies to Help CPG Marketers Drive Breakthrough Results with Less Money
C‑price‑goods (CPG) marketers are confronting tighter budgets and fragmented media while consumer attention splinters across devices. A new InMarket "Breakthrough Outcomes" report, highlighted by VP Matt Knust, distills three strategic pillars—precise timing, creative clarity, and real‑time personalization—that drove incremental ROAS up...
Tonya McCoy’s People‑First Playbook Boosts Angry Chickz Sales by 63%
Tonya McCoy, Angry Chickz’s VP of marketing, credits a people‑first philosophy for a 63% jump in territory unit sales, underscoring a growing motivation model that places employee well‑being ahead of short‑term metrics. Her data‑driven campaigns and franchisee collaboration illustrate how...
Microsoft Says AI Is Delivering Measurable Workflow Gains in Media Buying and Planning
Microsoft’s industry director for media and entertainment, Simon Crownshaw, told Technology Record that AI is now producing measurable outcomes in specific media workflows, from faster highlight creation to real‑time ad personalization. He argues the shift is from vague automation promises...
KFC, Wingstop and Dozens of Chains Launch $4.20 4/20 Promos, Tapping Cannabis‑linked Consumer Surge
KFC, Wingstop and a slate of other restaurant brands announced a wave of $4.20‑themed promotions for April 20, the unofficial 4/20 holiday. The offers, ranging from pot‑pie combos to hot‑box wing meals, aim to capture a consumer base that increasingly...
Angelfish Marketing Expands AEO and AI Search Services for B2B Brands
Angelfish Marketing has broadened its Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and AI Search services to help B2B tech, SaaS and financial brands appear in AI‑driven results from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. The offering blends technical SEO, structured data,...
Rand Fishkin: Zero-Click Search Began Long Before AI
Rand Fishkin argues that the rise of zero‑click search started around 2011, well before the AI boom, with Google answering queries directly on the results page. He cites data showing more than two‑thirds of searches now end without a click,...
AI Lead Search Eliminates Hours of Email Hunting
🚨 Wild that in 2026 you can know someone's exact title, company, tenure, and ICP fit - and still spend 2 hours hunting for a verified email. A few weeks ago I needed to build a prospect list for my media...
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
Magnite, AMC Global Media Partner On Programmatic
Magnite announced a partnership with AMC Global Media to make the broadcaster’s linear‑television inventory available through programmatic buying. The deal coincides with the launch of the 2026‑27 TV upfront season, signaling a push to unify linear and streaming ad transactions....
Free Premium AI Feature Drives 24% Trial Conversion
Most SaaS founders gate their best features behind a paywall. Karel Papik does the opposite - gives away his most expensive AI feature for free. Result: 24% free trial conversion. https://t.co/hxJwGLTs1M
ChatGPT Automates Topic Clustering for Thousands of Keywords
Are we really going to pretend that manually building topic clusters is still viable when ChatGPT can map semantic relationships across 10,000 keywords in one prompt?
WPP Media Wins KFC, Pizza Hut Singapore Assignments
WPP Media has been named the integrated media agency for both KFC Singapore and Pizza Hut Singapore after a competitive pitch, taking charge of strategy, planning and buying across the market. The agency already works with the two brands in...
Google Unveils Safety Reports for Maps, Ads, Plus ChatGPT Ads
It's New 4/20 - Google Maps & Google Ads safety reports, ChatGPT ads and... https://t.co/PYuiao4kFU with @gregfinn @TheMarketingAnu @MordyOberstein
Comprehensive Tracker of Google Search & AI Updates Since 2000
New 🔥 resource: Google Search Algorithm & AI Search Update Tracker by DemandSphere 👇 with every major Google Search ranking update and AI innovation since 2000. From Florida to AI Mode. Check it out: https://t.co/Atkb1PISMr https://t.co/dcm47uymBA
‘We’re Not Nespresso’: Inside Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ New Campaign
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, part of Keurig Dr Pepper, launched the "That's Green Mountain Good" campaign on April 20, featuring a new mascot—a green mountain goat named Bruce—to highlight farm‑grown coffee origins. Developed by a Publicis Groupe‑led team, the 30‑second spot...
AI Crawler Patterns Boost Business Site Search Performance
Research on 68 million AI crawler visits show clear patterns that drive better AI search performance to business sites. https://t.co/Hkhd40OXNn via @martinibuster, @sejournal
IG Strategy that Drove Newsletter to 150k Subscribers
one of the best things i did on IG to grow my newsletter past 150k subs
Amazon Turns ‘Jury Duty’ Hot Sauce Fiction Into Real‑World Sale
Amazon has listed the fictional “Rockin’ Grandmas” hot sauce from the second season of its reality series “Jury Duty” for sale on its marketplace. The product moves from a scripted plot point to a real‑world SKU, illustrating how streaming content...