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.
Urban Company Says ‘We’re Here for You’ with Stories From the People of the UAE
Urban Company launched the ‘UC Heroes’ campaign in the UAE, featuring video testimonials from its service professionals and adding personalized thank‑you cards and fridge magnets to each appointment. The initiative also awards a ‘UC Heroes’ badge to workers, highlighting their resilience. By sharing authentic stories and tangible gestures, the brand aims to reinforce trust and emotional connection with customers. The campaign coincides with the platform’s expansion into wellness and teaching assistance services.
Instagram Adds In‑Reel Affiliate Tags, Boosting Creator Earnings
ICYMI: Instagram is rolling out the ability to use affiliate links to tag products in Reels. 🛍️ This removes friction that often comes with creators driving audiences to their link in bio or using comment automations to share affiliate links, likely...
The Art of Product Seeding: How Dyson and Apple Engineer the Perfect “Gifted” Moment
Product seeding—sending free or discounted goods to influencers—has become a low‑cost engine for authentic word‑of‑mouth. The article dissects how Apple and Dyson turn packaging into a theatrical experience that fuels viral unboxing videos. By treating PR kits as luxury gifts,...
Liquid Death and Pop-Tarts Team Up to Ruin Boring Adulthood
Liquid Death and Pop‑Tarts have launched a limited‑edition iced‑tea called Pop‑Tarts Carnage, flavored like Frosted Strawberry Pop‑Tarts and sold in Liquid Death’s death‑metal cans. The partnership is promoted with a chaotic ad that depicts bored adults turning into mischievous rebels...
What’s the Scrappiest Tool You’ve Built?
In this 1‑minute, 27‑second episode of Voices of Search, host Jordan Cooney chats with Celeste Gonzalez, SEO testing director at Rickeroo and founder of the LA SEO Meetup, about the importance of getting scrappy with existing data and building custom...
Teens Prefer TikTok for Reviews and News Over Snapchat
Pew Study about how teens are using TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat - Check out the parts about product reviews and news below "In fact, roughly six-in-ten TikTok users say they go there for product reviews. Fewer on Instagram and even smaller...
Publicis Groupe Middle East Appoints Chief AI Officer to Drive Next Phase of AI Transformation
Publicis Groupe Middle East has created a Chief AI Officer position and appointed Zachary Bambach to lead its regional AI agenda. Bambach, who spent over a decade at Epsilon and within Publicis, will oversee the integration of the group’s proprietary...
Turn PAA Questions Into Subheadings for SEO Wins
Most bloggers ignore this goldmine: “People Also Ask” (PAA) Every question in the PAA box is a ranking opportunity. Take those questions, turn them into subheadings, and answer them directly. Now your post is optimized for: • Featured snippets • More SERP real estate • Higher authority...
Can AI Read Your Homepage?
Adobe reports AI chat platforms drove a 269% year‑over‑year surge in referral traffic to U.S. retail sites in March 2026, with overall AI‑generated traffic up 393% for Q1. Its AI Content Visibility Checker found that 75% of retailer homepages are...
Orchestrate ABM Around Main Characters, Not Extras: Lessons From B2BMX
At B2B Marketing Exchange 2026, LiveRamp’s Ed Vander Bush and Influ2’s Doug Madey urged marketers to treat individual decision‑makers and hidden stakeholders as the main characters of ABM, not the entire account. They argued that synchronizing marketing and sales around real‑time...
The Identity Crisis Coming for News SEO
Google is experimenting with AI‑generated headlines and summaries that rewrite or replace news publishers' original titles, as seen in a recent test on The Verge. The move extends to Google Discover, which now auto‑summarizes headlines, sometimes producing inaccurate or misleading...
Milk for Life Now to Be Branded Under Flagship Upstate Farms Products
Upstate Niagara Cooperative announced that its lactose‑free milk, previously sold under the Milk For Life label, will now be marketed as part of the Upstate Farms family. The rebrand includes new packaging and logo but retains the same ingredients, nutritional profile and five...
The World’s Largest Ad Holding Company Just Bet Its AI Future on One Vendor
Publicis Groupe has deepened its partnership with Microsoft, creating a full‑stack agentic marketing platform that combines Azure cloud, Copilot tools, and Publicis’ Epsilon data and Sapient consultancy. The deal makes Azure the preferred cloud for Publicis and rolls out Microsoft...
Amazon MGM Leverages E‑Commerce Power to Market ‘Project Hail Mary’ at CinemaCon
Amazon MGM Studios showcased an integrated marketing playbook at CinemaCon, pairing its e‑commerce clout with theatrical distribution to amplify the $525 million worldwide run of ‘Project Hail Mary.’ Executives promised 15 new releases per year and an international distribution unit, underscoring...
Tinuiti Appoints Abbey Klaassen as CEO, Adds Bryan Wiener as Board Chair to Boost Growth for CMOs
Tinuiti announced Abbey Klaassen as its new chief executive, succeeding Zach Morrison after 21 years, and named Bryan Wiener chairman of the board. The leadership overhaul is designed to accelerate AI‑driven, data‑centric services for chief marketing officers seeking faster, independent...
Performative Culture Is Expensive. Presence Is More Valuable.
Enterprises are pouring millions into high‑profile stages, resort conferences, and social‑media amplification, treating visibility as the primary brand metric. At the same time, more than 60,000 media and advertising staff were displaced in 2025, with 100,000 projected for 2026, reflecting...
DIGIDECK Demonstrates the Organization-Wide Impact of Managed AI with Navi
DIGIDECK has deployed GrowthIQ’s Navi, a managed AI orchestration platform, across its sales and customer‑success teams. The system integrates Salesforce, Zoom, Google Drive and internal knowledge bases to deliver real‑time pipeline insights, coaching, and upsell planning. In Q1 2026 the deployment...
WPP Media Wins Strategic Media Mandate for KFC and Pizza Hut Singapore
WPP Media has been selected as the integrated media agency for KFC Singapore and Pizza Hut Singapore after a competitive pitch. The agency will handle media strategy, planning and buying, using its AI‑driven WPP Open platform to turn consumer insights...
How a Local Pizzeria Turned Curb Appeal Into a Viral Marketing Engine
Santo Sardo upgraded Super Sardo’s Pizza in Largo, Florida with a digital street sign that broadcasts witty, personality‑driven messages instead of static specials. The new display instantly attracted passing drivers, prompting them to stop, photograph, and share the content on...
5 Real Writing Rules Behind 1,200+ Posts
I've written 1,200+ social media posts in the last year. here are 5 writing rules I actually follow. none of them are "use hooks" or "add emojis."
We’re Ruining LinkedIn. Here’s How to Fix It.
The piece warns that LinkedIn’s feed is being flooded with AI‑generated posts, with Originality.AI estimating that more than half of longer articles are likely assisted by large language models. While AI can streamline writing, the author argues it is eroding...
Inside United Airlines’ ‘Mean Girls Day’ Campaign and the Pivot that Made It Work
United Airlines' social team built a Mean Girls Day campaign for Oct. 3, featuring actor Jonathan Bennett. When Taylor Swift announced a new album release on the same day, the team quickly re‑engineered the concept, weaving Swift’s buzz into the video...
Facebook's 2026 Rules for Reach & Relevance
In this episode, Michael Stelzner, Jerry Potter, and Facebook ads expert Tara Zerker break down Meta's 2026 updates that prioritize original short‑form video and crack down on low‑value reposts. They explain how Meta will use a content "fingerprint" to identify...
Winning Growth Comes From Intent, Not Mere Reach
Reach is a vanity metric dressed up as a growth strategy. Everyone's optimizing for impressions. The ones winning are optimizing for intent. Reach tells you how many people saw you. Intent tells you how many were ready. Those are not the same thing. Ran cold email...
Bray Leino Brings Home the Bacon with Mr Porky Win
Bray Leino has been appointed the new creative and media agency for Mr Porky, the UK’s best‑selling pork scratchings brand owned by Tayto Group. The agency previously delivered the 2021 “There’s No Matching a Scratching” radio and OOH campaign and...
As Online Ads Lose Impact, These Throwback Marketing Strategies Are Quietly Winning Attention
As digital ad spaces become oversaturated, brands are revisiting vintage tactics to cut through the noise. Direct mail, long‑form content, community‑driven initiatives, and physical media are seeing renewed adoption. Marketers are pairing these analog approaches with modern data targeting to...
AEO, GEO, SEO: Who, What & Why
Reza Moaiandin of SALT.agency explains that SEO, AEO and GEO are interconnected facets of AI‑driven search, not separate silos. He highlights a 20% adoption tipping point for generative AI that is compressing discovery, comparison and purchase into a single interaction....
The Next Phase of Mobile Monetization Belongs to Publishers Who Diversify
At Gamesforum Barcelona, PubMatic warned that relying solely on Cost‑Per‑Install (CPI) is no longer enough for mobile game publishers. E‑commerce and performance brands are shifting budgets toward outcome‑based advertising, growing faster than traditional user‑acquisition spend. Publishers must diversify revenue by...
AI and Grocery - US Giant Albertsons Gets Personal in Its Digital Intent
Albertsons CEO Susan Morris says AI‑driven personalization is the chain’s durable competitive edge. The retailer is leveraging its 15‑minute‑to‑120 million‑people store footprint, a robust loyalty program and a store‑based fulfillment model to blend online and in‑store experiences. AI tools such as...
Digest: Netflix to Refocus on Ads and Content After Warner Bid; IAB Sets AI Commerce Media Guidelines; WPP in Talks...
Netflix is set to report its first earnings since abandoning the Warner Bros. Discovery deal, highlighting a renewed emphasis on advertising and original content. The company projects Q1 revenue of $12.18 billion, up 15.5%, with ad‑supported tiers expected to generate about $634 million. Meanwhile,...
FTC Ruling Leaves Advertisers in the Dark over Brand Safety
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission ruled that major ad agencies—including Publicis, WPP and Dentsu—colluded to boycott platforms such as Elon Musk’s X, resulting in a settlement that prohibits restricting advertising on politically biased or motivated grounds. In response, the agencies...
How to Safely Manage Multiple Facebook Accounts Without Getting Restricted
Marketers and growth operators often need several Facebook profiles to run campaigns, but Facebook’s policy permits only one personal account per individual. Restrictions arise not from the number of accounts but from shared device identifiers, IP overlap, and repetitive behavior...
Day 6: The One Email that Makes the Sale (You Already Know How It Works)
The post reveals a repeatable five‑line email framework that turns a casual conversation into a high‑conversion sales pitch. Over a week of daily examples, the author shows how the same architecture—subject line, hook, story, offer, call‑to‑action—produces consistent engagement. A fill‑in‑the‑blank...
Points Are Meaningless. Are You Ready for Algorithmic Loyalty?
Loyalty programs that award the same points to every shopper are losing relevance as customers demand personalized incentives. Algorithmic Loyalty Platforms use machine‑learning to analyze purchase, browsing and redemption data, automatically adjusting reward type, value, timing and channel for each...
![[Guest Post] How Console Marketing Works](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/company-logo.png){kind=logo}
[Guest Post] How Console Marketing Works
Indie developers rely on Steam wishlists, but console stores prioritize day‑one organic visibility. Upscale Studio’s pipeline starts with direct pitches to Sony, Xbox and Nintendo, using tailored decks and exclusive trailers to secure manual features. A relentless daily content engine—two...
AI Answer Engine Drive More Effective Advertisng at Reach and Independent
Taboola’s AI‑powered answer engine, Deeper Dive, is now live on dozens of publisher sites including Reach, The Independent and Huffpost UK. The tool draws about seven million monthly users, with roughly one in six visitors asking questions, and delivers ad conversion...
The $9m Hair Growth Brand that Wasn’t Meant to Exist
Bouf, a hair‑growth brand built around a patented FGF5 protein, turned a two‑month trial into a $9 million business within its first year. Clinical tests showed a 20% faster hair growth rate, 44% more active follicles and an 82% drop in...
Apple News Revenue Helped BBC Science Focus Double Size of Team
BBC Science Focus has more than doubled its editorial team and monthly page views after focusing on Apple News and Apple News+ subscriptions. The platform now accounts for roughly 45% of the title’s digital revenue, delivering about $8.30 per subscriber per month...
How Meshki Is Winning over Americans with SEO and Storytelling
Australian‑born fashion label Meshki has leveraged SEO, storytelling and a strong social presence to accelerate its U.S. growth. The brand posted FY24/25 revenue of AUD 183 million (≈$131 million), up from AUD 121 million (≈$87 million) a year earlier. Celebrity endorsements and a dedicated "Trending" section...
Trend Micro Consumer Business to Operate Under TrendLife Brand Amid AI Shift
Trend Micro announced that its consumer business will now operate under the TrendLife brand, a move designed to address the growing AI‑driven risks facing families. AI‑enabled financial fraud cost roughly $442 billion worldwide in 2025, and a TrendLife survey of 10,000...
Top Trends Shaping Website Design in Cork for Modern Businesses
Cork businesses are overhauling their online presence by adopting mobile‑first, performance‑driven website design. The new approach weaves local SEO, purposeful minimalism, and Core Web Vitals into the site architecture from day one. Trust signals, accessibility, and content‑led layouts further align...
Audience Data Enrichment: Keep B2B Data Campaign-Ready
Audience data enrichment—updating contact and account records to stay current—is essential for B2B marketers because roughly 30% of contact information changes each year. Stale data inflates bounce rates, breaks segmentation, misroutes leads, and skews AI‑driven scoring models, costing firms an...
Measurement Biggest Barrier to DOOH Investment, Azerion Finds; It’s Partly a Perception Problem
Azerian’s February‑March 2026 study of 128 UK media planners reveals that while 68% have increased out‑of‑home (OOH) usage and 93% consider it vital to omnichannel strategies, 58% view measurement and attribution uncertainty as the primary barrier to further investment. The...
Young Jerks Brings Order to Complete Natural Products Through a Color-Forward Brand System
Young Jerks, a branding agency, created a color‑forward packaging system for Complete Natural Products (CNP), a family‑owned vitamin maker with hundreds of SKUs. The new design uses distinct color palettes to group product categories, improving legibility on crowded retail shelves....
5 Things Ecommerce Owners Need To Get Right Now
In this episode, the Hammersley Brothers outline five immediate priorities for e‑commerce owners, starting with pre‑building weather‑triggered campaigns to capitalize on unexpected climate events. They stress the importance of a year‑ahead event calendar—covering holidays, sales periods, and macro events like...
Hard Truths For Retail Media At The IAB Connected Commerce Summit
At the IAB’s 2026 Connected Commerce Summit, industry leaders warned that retail media is at a crossroads, noting the market cannot sustain hundreds of undifferentiated commerce media networks. The new IAB report stresses that future growth will come from tapping...
As RFPs Shrink, Multicultural Publishers Fight For Dollars With First-Party Data
Multicultural publishers are seeing RFP volumes shrink and referral traffic dry up, pressuring them to prove scale for advertisers. To counteract the reach gap, firms like Q Digital and AURN are adopting AdGrid’s Audience Accelerator, a first‑party data platform that...
LinkedIn Video Secured $100k Brand Deal—Post More
I video on LinkedIn landed me a $100k brand deal. I should really be posting more there.
Google Ads PMax Spend Trends Across Channels
Google Ads PMax channel performance report on the insights report that shows spend over time per channel https://t.co/1qbNeb12Tq via @AndrewLolk https://t.co/FE8snV6sFF
AI Cuts Keyword Research From Hours to Minutes
Would you rather spend 8 hours researching keywords manually or let Claude analyze 500 competitor pages in 3 minutes and find gaps you missed?