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.
Nike Removes ‘Walkers Tolerated’ Boston Marathon Ad After Criticism for Alienation
Nike’s Boston store displayed a red window vinyl reading “Runners Welcome. Walkers Tolerated,” which quickly drew criticism for its exclusionary tone. Social media backlash prompted Nike to remove the sign within hours and issue an apology emphasizing inclusivity. The controversy resurfaced the long‑standing debate over hierarchy among Boston Marathon qualifiers, especially run‑walk athletes. The incident arrives as Nike navigates a broader brand transformation aimed at balancing performance messaging with broader community appeal.
Advertisers Are Testing ChatGPT Ads — but Uncertainty Remains High
OpenAI launched a paid advertising channel inside ChatGPT two months ago, prompting brands to run early‑stage campaigns. Advertisers report high CPMs and six‑figure minimum spends, but measurement is limited to impressions with no clear performance benchmarks. Sentiment is mixed: optimism...
What Luxury's Winners Are Getting Right
In this BOF podcast, Imran Ahmed talks with three luxury leaders—Ermenegildo "Gildo" Zegna of the Zegna Group, Patrice Louvet of Ralph Lauren, and Noah Horowitz of Art Basel—about why some brands are thriving while the broader market contracts. The guests agree that...
Hotels and Airlines Vs. NerdWallet and Reddit: Who’s Winning in AI Visibility
AI travel assistants are increasingly pulling information from third‑party sites rather than hotel or airline homepages. Limy’s analysis shows NerdWallet accounts for 13.6% of citations, outpacing Hyatt’s own site at 10.3%, while Reddit also ranks among the top sources. Direct...
Restaurant Brands Roll Out Promotions for 4/20
Restaurant chains are rolling out a wave of 4/20‑themed promotions as cannabis use climbs to roughly 20% of U.S. adults. From Cheba Hut’s $4.20 Nugs subs to KFC’s $4.20 pot‑pie combo and a $20 chicken bucket, brands are using low‑price,...
Hightouch Launches Ad Studio
Hightouch unveiled Ad Studio, an AI‑powered module of its Agentic Marketing Platform designed to automate the creation of on‑brand ads at scale. The tool leverages a proprietary Brand Context Layer that taps into digital asset management systems, past campaign data, and...
Klaviyo Strengthens Canva Partnership
Klaviyo has deepened its integration with design platform Canva, enabling marketers to import full Canva layouts directly into Klaviyo campaigns. The upgraded connection lets users personalize those assets with segmentation, automation, and customer data, streamlining the workflow between creative and...
Zig-Zag To 4/20 Stoners: Slow It Down
Zig‑Zag is reviving its rolling‑paper heritage with the "Life’s Fast, Burn Slow" campaign, debuting lounge‑style activations at 4/20 music festivals across six states. The brand aims to slow the pace of consumption by offering dedicated spaces for rolling, relaxing, and...
How AI Is Reshaping Product Discovery in F&B
AI is creating a new "third shelf" where intelligent agents surface food‑and‑beverage products directly to consumers, bypassing traditional web searches. Brands are seeing a 30‑fold surge in ChatGPT‑driven traffic, signaling that shoppers are using generative AI as a purchasing tool....
A Four-Day Steam Freebie Turned Into $250,000 for an Indie Game
tinyBuild gave away *Graveyard Keeper* on Steam for four days, then earned about $250,000 as new players bought its DLC. The promotion lifted peak concurrent users from roughly 1,000 to over 46,000, dramatically increasing the game’s visibility. The surge also...
Brands Bought All The AI, Forgot To Fix The Chaos, Merkle Says
Merkle’s latest research reveals that while brands have splurged on AI tools, most still wrestle with tangled content workflows. Only 5% of companies report a clear ROI from internal AI projects, and 64% of executives cite competing initiatives as a...
25 Claude Skills that Give Your Startup a Marketing Team It Cannot Afford Yet
Early‑stage startups often stall because each marketing campaign requires rebuilding workflows from scratch, draining limited resources. The post proposes "Claude Skills"—reusable markdown prompt files that encode brand voice, positioning, and process logic, allowing a single hire to produce output equivalent...
What’s up with Those Museum of Sex Bus Ads?
The Museum of Sex has wrapped more than 3,000 New York City MTA buses with its logo, a campaign that began in December and will run through the end of the year. Founder Daniel Gluck says the omnipresent ads have...
Brands on Fire: Hyundai Motor America CMO Talks Data, Experiential, AI and Ecommerce
Hyundai Motor America launched its global "Next Starts Now" campaign at the New York International Auto Show, tying the brand to the upcoming FIFA World Cup and showcasing robotics like Boston Dynamics' Spot and its own Atlas humanoid. CMO Sean...
AI Mode Now Orders Nearby Items via Voice
Expanding from Search to AI Mode -> AI Mode can now call nearby stores for last-minute shopping "This tool launched directly on Search last November, and it’s rolling out in the coming weeks on AI Mode in the U.S." "Just describe what...
Agentic Web Arrives: 5 Key AI Search Shifts
The Agentic Web is Here: 5 AI Shifts I'm Discussing with Clients about AI Search - Marie Haynes https://buff.ly/VRW47KT
Organic Social Media Marketing Best Practices for Hotels in 2026
In 2026 hotels must treat organic social media as a strategic asset, focusing on consistent posting, deep audience insight, and high‑quality content. The article recommends three to five weekly posts, a monthly content calendar, and regular polls to refine messaging....
Balance Brand Identity with Performance-Driven Creative Testing
Brand Creative /= Performance Creative This is one of the biggest hurdles when working with brands looking to scale is they want things "on brand" but "on brand" typically doesn't convert as well as performance driven creative. You have to be willing...
Target Launches $20% Target Circle Bonus Car Seat Trade‑in to Lure Parents
Target is running a bi‑annual Car Seat Trade‑In event from April 19 to May 2, giving parents a 20% Target Circle bonus on new gear. The move comes as comparable sales fell 2.5% and revenue slipped 1.5% year‑over‑year, prompting the retailer to...
AI Virtual Assistant Texted 1.1M Wisconsin Voters, Logging 21K Campaign Conversations
Defend Our Courts and startup Convos rolled out an AI‑powered virtual assistant that texted more than 1.1 million Wisconsin voters in the April 7 Supreme Court race. The bot recorded 21,316 substantive conversations while the group spent roughly $84,000, highlighting a...
PepsiCo’s 15% Snack Price Cut Fuels 8.5% Revenue Rise and 27% Profit Jump
PepsiCo cut snack prices by up to 15% in February, sparking an 8.5% revenue increase and a 27% profit boost in the first quarter. The move, part of a broader “holistic transformation,” lifted North‑American food volume 2% and added roughly...
With 'The Mandalorian & Grogu,' Archer Meats Finds Its Big-Deal Moment
Archer Meat Snacks, a fast‑growing clean‑ingredient beef and turkey stick brand, has secured a 360‑degree partnership with Disney for the upcoming *Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu* theatrical release on May 22. The deal includes co‑branded packaging, a Disney+ ad hub, placements...
How to Optimize Your Website for Both Human and AI Visitors
Seer Interactive has launched a Human + Machine Design Testing framework that unites conversion rate optimization (CRO), user experience (UX), SEO, and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) into a single six‑week sprint. The approach tracks both human behavior and AI citation metrics, using...
Percona Launches Rebrand 'The Way Is Open' As the Company Marks 20 Year Anniversary
Percona unveiled a bold new brand identity centered on the mantra “The Way Is Open,” marking its 20‑year anniversary. CEO Peter Farkas framed the rebrand as a direct challenge to the lock‑in and price‑inflation tactics common in modern data‑infrastructure vendors....
Creator Economy Briefing: Target Scraps Creator Commissions, Coachella Exposes Brand Operations, and Instagram Returns to Affiliate Commerce
Target will replace its cash‑based creator commission program with a tiered points club on May 7, moving creators to earn gift cards and products. At Coachella, creators publicly revealed that brands over‑invited and dropped influencers without contracts, highlighting fragile internal workflows....
Reaching For More Reach
Multicultural media firms, traditionally serving niche audiences, are now bundling their first‑party data to sell audience segments across websites and CTV. This shift comes as they grapple with falling traffic, a hostile political environment, and waning brand commitments. Meanwhile, retail...
Reaching For More Reach
Multicultural media firms are repackaging their first‑party audience data to sell across platforms, a strategy born from shrinking RFP volumes and declining traffic. Publishers face political headwinds and weaker brand commitments, prompting innovative retargeting approaches. At the IAB Connected Commerce...
Search Evolves Into Agentic Manager with Gemini AI
This week we saw so many things get set up as we transition to a new era of the web - the agentic web. I did something different with my newsletter this week. I asked Gemini to look at the transcripts from...
CTV's AI‑driven ID Graph Fuels Full‑funnel Growth
Wow, @vibedotco hitting $227M ARR with +264% YoY growth tells you exactly where advertising is heading. CTV has finally cracked the performance code. Advertisers are shifting 30%+ of their total marketing budget into one channel, that level of conviction drives serious...
Can You Find Your Musical Soulmate At Coachella?
Heineken unveiled the Clinker, a smart band that wraps around its beer cans and bottles at Coachella, enabling attendees to sync streaming data and discover music‑taste matches. Festivalgoers link their Spotify, Apple Music or other services before the event, then...
OpenAI Begins Rolling Out Ads in Select Markets
OpenAI is rolling out advertisements to users on its Free and Go plans in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The ad placement is limited to these lower‑tier subscriptions, while Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education plans stay ad‑free. This marks the company's...
Superdrug Expands Omnichannel K-Beauty Offer as Demand Grows for International Brands
Superdrug has expanded its Korean‑inspired K‑beauty range to 400 stores across the UK, complementing a broader international beauty portfolio online. The retailer reports a 167% year‑on‑year surge in PDRN‑based anti‑aging products and strong performance from brands such as Equalberry, Seapuri,...
Google Ads Tests Direct Google Tag Manager Integration for Conversion Setup
Google Ads is piloting a new "Set up in Google Tag Manager" option that pushes conversion‑tracking tags directly into GTM, bypassing manual copy‑paste of IDs and labels. The UI adds a button in the conversion‑setup flow, prompting users to select...
The $5 Photo Shoot: How a Small Austin Jewelry Brand Stopped Waiting and Started Producing
A husband‑and‑wife jewelry brand in Austin used the AI image generator Nano Banana to create lifestyle product photos in seconds, paying only five cents per image. In one afternoon they produced over 40 new assets that previously required costly photo...
Why Bottom-of-Funnel Content Is Winning in AI Search
Google’s AI Overviews are siphoning clicks from traditional top‑of‑funnel (TOFU) content, prompting SEO teams to reallocate effort toward bottom‑of‑funnel (BOFU) assets. Marketers are now dedicating 60‑80% of output to comparison guides and listicles that answer high‑intent purchase questions. While overall...
Peloton Wants To 'Push' Users To Move With Joy
Peloton has launched its "Find Your Push" campaign across the U.S. and Canada, partnering with Toronto creative shop Division and Denim. The ad, directed by Bethany Vargas and starring Hudson Williams, showcases the Peloton Tread+ and more than 15 workout modalities,...
The Friday Checkout: Walmart’s Biggest Private Brand Is Finally Getting a Makeover. Grocers Should Pay Attention.
Walmart announced a comprehensive redesign of its Great Value private‑label line, the retailer’s largest store brand, marking the first visual overhaul in more than a decade. The update includes modern packaging, a refreshed logo, and a premium‑focused design to shift...
Edible Arrangements Entices Early Mother’s Day Buying to Ease Operational Bottlenecks
Edible Arrangements is leveraging shopper data to push early Mother’s Day purchases, offering targeted discounts to reduce last‑minute order spikes that strain its 650‑store franchise network. The brand is also revamping its mobile app with gift quizzes, reminders and a...
AI Cuts B2B Site Build From 8 Weeks to Days
What typically used to take 8 weeks took me a few days in 2026. In a today’s live AI session at 10AM PT, I’m sharing how I built a full B2B marketing site in 3 days with AI for a new...
Target the Right Patients, Not More, for Growth
Healthcare marketing is shifting from broad campaigns → pinpoint precision. Ty Allen from RLDatix explains how targeting the RIGHT patients (not just more patients) drives growth. Learn more: https://t.co/KJad77QKHj @socialclimb_1 #PrecisionMarketing #hcmktg
Leverage Competitor Success to Win New Prospects
Want instant credibility with a new prospect? Don't talk about yourself. Talk about their competitor. "We helped [similar company] solve [exact problem you suspect they have]." Now they're leaning in. Not because of you. Because of the fear of falling behind.
Clarity Over Cleverness: Simple Funnels Win
I've built 30+ funnels. Here's the pattern: Funnels that tried to be clever with complex psychological tricks failed. Funnels that were brutally simple and clear worked. Your customers aren't dumb. They're just busy. Clarity wins.
Minibinder Data for $149—Custom Assays Available
Get data on your minibinders for $149! Sequence in -> data out. Let us know other assays or protocols you'd like to see and we're happy to add to Ginkgo Cloud Lab.
Rediscover 1990s Search Engine Tips in Classic Guide
30 years ago, I published The Webmaster's Guide To Search Engines. I've dug up & dusted off my old HTML files to make the guide available again. Take a trip back to the '90s web & see tips for AltaVista,...
Jan 20 Google Update Cracked Down on SEO Spam
The unconfirmed Google update on ~Jan 20 this year was a bloodbath. I actually think Google did more to address common SEO/GEO spammy tactics on this date than they did with other recent core updates. This is a well-known brand website's...
Content Marketplace Explodes; Choose Stories Wisely
Off of one of our recent @CU_SPS_Sports pods; From #Substack And Beyond, The Supermarket of Content Has Never Been Bigger, If You Shop Wisely... #storytelling #sportsbiz https://t.co/FNLt8dCY3q https://t.co/dyMjmyVDAM
AI Erodes Distribution Moat; Brand Power Now Dominates
Distribution used to be the moat. AI leveled it. Now the companies with the strongest brands are pulling further ahead than ever, and everyone else is just adding to the noise.
Buzzy Creates Ten Ad Variations From a Single Draft
Most brands test one version. Because making more is expensive. Buzzy turns one ad into ten — like Photoshop for ad iteration. https://t.co/Q8z0GfVrGU
Paid Ads Can Scale to $50K MRR Fast
$0 to $50K MRR in 12 months. Team of 5. No content marketing. No complex funnels. Just PPC. Karel Papik says most founders dismiss paid ads too early. https://t.co/cYWDvmOcGB
Google Rolls Out Back‑button Penalty, Spam Reporting Overhaul, DSA Sunset
SEO Video recap: Google back button hijacking penalty, new spam reporting big change, Google Ads DSAs going away and much more https://t.co/V3NCVBwMVh