Pitchdeck: How Flora Sold Investors on Its $42M Plan to Build ‘the Next Adobe’
Flora, a creative‑AI startup founded in 2024, closed a $42 million Series A round led by Redpoint Ventures. The platform consolidates text, image and video generative‑AI tools into a single workspace aimed at professional creatives. Its early‑stage customers include Nike, Levi’s, AKQA, Lionsgate and Pentagram, and the company plans to use the capital to hire engineers and boost sales and marketing. Founder Weber Wong positions Flora as the “next Adobe,” targeting fragmented AI workflows in advertising and design.
ADWEEK to Debut the Super Bowl AI Influence Index
ADWEEK is partnering with AI‑search startup Emberos to debut the first Real‑Time AI Influence Index on Super Bowl 60 day, displaying the top seven advertisers based on their visibility in generative search engines. The index, embedded on ADWEEK.com’s sidebar, updates live...
Oakley Meta Readies Super Bowl Debut to Sell AI Glasses to Athletes
Oakley Meta is making its Super Bowl debut with a high‑profile commercial that showcases its AI‑powered performance glasses. The ad, created by Mother LA, features Spike Lee, streamer iShowSpeed, NFL star Marshawn Lynch and several Olympians, highlighting how the eyewear...
EXCLUSIVE: YouTube Overtakes Reddit as Go-To Citation Source on AI Search
Recent analysis shows YouTube has become the most cited social platform in AI-generated answers, surpassing Reddit. Over the past six months, large language models referenced YouTube in 16% of responses versus 10% for Reddit. The shift stems from YouTube’s rich...
What the Agentic Web Means for Brands
OpenAI’s launch of Atlas signals the rise of an agentic web where AI completes tasks and represents users, reshaping how brands are discovered online. Gartner predicts traditional search traffic could fall up to 25% by 2026 as AI‑driven intermediaries grow....
TechMagic: AI Ads, Data Center Labor, Skilled Trades, XR Training, and Spatial Web
TechMagic hosts Cathy Hackl and Lee Kebler examine how AI is transitioning from pure text generation to agentic, physical systems that act in the real world. They warn that embedding advertising in conversational AI threatens trust, while engagement‑driven metrics could...
ElevenLabs Enlists Liza Minnelli, Art Garfunkel, and Others to Create an Album of AI-Generated Music
ElevenLabs announced "The Eleven Album," an AI‑generated music project featuring legends such as Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel. The album is produced using ElevenLabs’ AI Music model, which synthesizes original compositions while the artists provide creative direction. The initiative rests...
Ex-Pinterest Marketer Andréa Mallard Named Microsoft AI CMO
Microsoft AI (MAI) appointed former Pinterest global CMO Andréa Mallard as its chief marketing officer. Mallard announced the move on LinkedIn, emphasizing AI’s transformative impact and the need for trustworthy technology. MAI, led by DeepMind co‑founder Mustafa Suleyman, recently rebranded...
TikTok Turns to Pixels to Show Advertisers What Happens Beyond Its Walled Garden
TikTok has introduced an Off‑site Performance Analysis tool that uses a tracking pixel to follow user actions beyond the app. Launched on December 24, the feature links organic posts, TikTok Shop activity, live streams, and paid ads to purchases on...
OpenAI Says It Is Bringing Ads to ChatGPT
OpenAI announced it will begin testing advertisements in the free and Go tiers of ChatGPT within the next few weeks. Sponsored messages will appear at the bottom of AI‑generated answers, clearly labeled and separated from the organic response. The ads...
The Proven Playbook for Cultural Relevance at Georgia-Pacific With Laura Knebusch
Georgia‑Pacific’s SVP of CPG marketing, Laura Knebusch, outlines a proven framework for keeping century‑old brands like Brawny, Angel Soft and Dixie relevant in a fast‑changing market. She emphasizes grounding any refresh in immutable brand fundamentals, using continuous consumer pulse checks,...
EXCLUSIVE: Former Perplexity Ad Exec Taz Patel Joins AI Video Startup
AI video startup Higgsfield has hired former Perplexity ad executive Taz Patel as vice president of platform partnerships. Patel, who joined this week, will report to CEO Alex Mashrabov and focus on converting self‑serve AI video users into formal agency...
Digital Glow-Up: Unilever Blends AI, Creators, and Culture to Build Desire at Scale
Unilever’s beauty division is overhauling its marketing by fusing AI tools, creator partnerships, and cultural insight to generate “desire at scale.” Selina Sykes details how the company built an AI‑driven content engine, the Brand DNAi framework, and digital twins to...
Bausch + Lomb’s John Ferris on Making Science Approachable
John Ferris, consumer president of Bausch + Lomb, explained how the company is using education‑led strategies to motivate eye‑care purchases before problems arise. He highlighted partnerships with eye‑care professionals as credible influencers and stressed the need to tailor brand content for AI‑driven...
For Brands and Agencies, AI Exits the Pilot Phase in 2026
AI has moved out of the pilot stage and is becoming a foundational layer of marketing for brands and agencies, according to insights shared at CES 2026. The technology now governs production, media buying, brand discovery, and consumer‑trust initiatives, shifting focus...
What a New AI Disruption Index Can Tell You About Your Brand’s Future
Moloco and BCG introduced the AI Disruption Index, a framework that evaluates 15 industry verticals on customer relationship strength and AI‑driven disruption risk. The model places travel, retail, education and news in the most vulnerable quadrant, while financial services and...
The Best AI Is the Kind You Never Actually See
Cadent has rebuilt its entire ad‑tech stack—audience platform, DSP and SSP—on a single, AI‑ready foundation, partnering with Google Gemini to embed intelligence at the core. Rather than layering AI on legacy systems, the company adopted a ground‑up approach that normalizes...
Apple Taps Google’s Gemini to Power Siri in AI Catch-Up Move
Apple announced a multi‑year partnership with Google to embed Gemini’s large‑language models and cloud infrastructure into its next‑generation Siri. The deal marks a rare collaboration between two historic rivals and signals Apple’s acknowledgement that external AI expertise is needed to...
As Adult Anxieties Around AI Grow, Lego Hands the Conversation to Kids
LEGO Education has introduced the “We Trust in Kids” campaign to give children a voice in AI education, unveiling new computer‑science and AI teaching kits for K‑8. The initiative is based on research showing 65 % of students feel excluded from...
72andSunny Will Build a Brand Around Qualcomm’s Compute Power
72andSunny has secured the agency‑of‑record role for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Compute platform, winning a competitive pitch that ends McCann Worldgroup’s eight‑year tenure. The creative firm will craft a global brand campaign that spotlights the chip’s AI‑driven processing power, with the first...
Google and Walmart Join Forces to Shape the Future of Retail
Google and Walmart announced a deep AI partnership at the NRF Big Show, enabling shoppers to buy Walmart and Sam’s Club products directly through Google’s Gemini chatbot. The collaboration also introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol, a joint effort with other...
Nvidia Hires Google Cloud Marketing Leader as Its First CMO
Nvidia has appointed Alison Wagonfeld, a longtime Google executive, as its first chief marketing officer, starting in February. The move formalizes Nvidia’s marketing function as the company deepens its role in the AI economy. Wagonfeld previously built Google Cloud’s marketing operation...
AI Steps Out of the Screen at CES. These 5 Things Stopped Me in My Tracks
CES 2026 showcased a dramatic shift as artificial intelligence moved from screen‑based software to tangible hardware. The four‑day show spanned 2.6 million square feet, hosted 3,500+ exhibitors, and attracted roughly 142,000 attendees. Among the highlights were AI‑powered robots, smart wearables, and...
5 Things the Ad Industry Can’t Stop Talking About at CES 2026
At CES 2026, ad‑tech leaders focused on five hot topics: the infrastructure needed for agentic advertising, the persistent draw of live‑sports inventory, accelerating agency consolidation, AI‑driven search eroding publisher revenue, and the evolving role of AI in creative production and media...
Omnicom Media’s Florian Adamski: Client Fatigue Is Fueling a ‘Renaissance Moment’ Across Media and Creative
Omnicom Media CEO Florian Adamski announced that the $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group has reshaped Omnicom, absorbing most of IPG Mediabrands. He described a “renaissance moment” driven by client fatigue, prompting a return to integrated creative‑media models. Adamski emphasized an...
From AI to Measurement: Disney’s Biggest Adtech Updates From CES
Disney announced a suite of ad‑technology upgrades at its CES Tech and Data Showcase, aiming to streamline CTV advertising through AI and self‑service tools. Highlights include an AI‑driven video generation platform that assembles brand‑compliant commercials, an internal AI planning system...
The Trade Desk’s Jeff Green Says 2026 Will Be ‘The Best Year Yet’ for the Open Internet
The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green told CES that 2026 will be the strongest year yet for the open internet. He said AI‑driven targeting and new measurement tools will lure brands away from walled‑garden platforms toward premium web inventory. Green...
Inside the Agentic Operating System Code and Theory Is Teasing at CES
Marketers are rapidly adopting AI, yet most have not re‑engineered workflows to capture its full value. At CES, Code and Theory unveiled The Machine, an agentic AI operating system that embeds automation and intelligence into existing marketing stacks instead of...
What Ads in LLMs Could Look Like by 2027
Panelists at ADWEEK’s CES 2026 forum warned that ads embedded in large language model (LLM) responses will appear by 2027. They envision paid placements, commerce links, and conversational prompts replacing traditional banner and link ads. Auction‑style pricing is expected to carry...
Havas Will Use AI to Redefine What Agency Work Is Worth
Havas introduced AVA, an AI‑powered, no‑code platform, at CES to centralize knowledge and automate agency workflows. The system gives every employee instant access to data, campaign results, and AI tools, aiming to boost productivity across the holding company. AVA is...
Equinox’s New Year Campaign Undercuts AI Slop With Human Portraits
Equinox launched its “Question Everything But Yourself” New Year campaign, juxtaposing absurd AI‑generated images with realistic human portraits to stress authenticity. Developed by Angry Gods and rolled out on Jan 5 across out‑of‑home, digital and social channels, the ads feature bizarre...
Walmart Opens Up Ads in Gen AI Shopping Agent Sparky
Walmart has begun serving ads inside Sparky, its AI shopping assistant, after a pilot last fall. The sponsored prompts appear when shoppers ask for product recommendations, and 81 % of Walmart customers have already used Sparky to check availability. Leveraging its...
Viant Raises Its Bet on AI as Digital Advertising Becomes More Fragmented
Viant has launched Outcomes, an AI‑driven campaign manager built on its 2024 Viant AI platform, designed to meet cost‑per‑action and return‑on‑ad‑spend goals with minimal human input. In a beta test against a human trader, Outcomes outperformed by 2.3× on CPA...
Read All of ADWEEK’s Year-Ahead 2026 Coverage
ADWEEK’s executive editor Alison Weissbrot released a year‑ahead outlook for 2026, highlighting AI’s deepening influence across advertising, media, and technology. The preview outlines six dominant AI trends, including intelligent agents that will reshape search, community engagement, and ad transactions. It...
In the Age of AI, Every Creative Needs To Think Like a Creative Director
Creative directors are becoming the most indispensable role in agencies as AI takes over routine execution. While AI can generate thousands of variations instantly, it lacks the human judgment to identify which outputs resonate. Directors bring taste, cultural insight, and...
EXCLUSIVE: Reddit Takes on Google and Meta with New AI Media Buying Tool
Reddit unveiled Max Campaign, an AI‑driven media‑buying platform, at the CES conference. The tool automates audience targeting, bid management, and creative optimization while tapping Reddit’s vast repository of community‑generated conversation data. By promising higher transparency, it aims to lure performance‑focused...
Prompt Shift: Top Consumer AI Trends for 2026 Reshaping Search, Shopping, and Creativity
Matt Britton outlines five consumer AI trends that will reshape how people search, shop, and create by 2026. AI is collapsing the gap between idea and execution, enabling individuals to produce content in hours. Generation Alpha, raised on omnipresent AI,...
5 M&A Trends to Expect in 2026, From Multibillion-Dollar AI Deals to Further Holdco Consolidation
2026 is set to eclipse 2025 as a record‑breaking year for tech, media and advertising M&A, with deal flow accelerating after a modest start to 2025. Total M&A volume reached $4.3 trillion in 2025, a 39% jump from 2024, and analysts...
What Keeps iFit Ahead of the Curve? Kirsten Spittel-Sloan’s Personalization Secret
iFit’s SVP of Marketing Kirsten Spittel‑Sloan discussed how the company stays ahead in fitness‑tech by investing equally across the marketing funnel, building a high‑trust adaptable culture, and leveraging AI‑driven personalization. She highlighted a multi‑layered consumer intelligence approach that combines social...
9 Brands That Doubled Down On AI in 2025
In 2025 generative AI moved from a peripheral experiment to a core business engine for leading brands, with companies like Unilever, Klarna, and Disney embedding the technology across product creation, marketing, and operations. The shift delivered dramatic cost cuts, faster...
Indie Agency Glow Dips Its Toe In Software Sales With Creator Vetting Tool
Glow, an independent social and digital marketing agency, has introduced CreatorView, an AI‑driven platform that vets influencers for brand safety and alignment. The move reflects a broader trend of agencies expanding into software sales as AI shortens product development cycles...
Media Executives Share Their Predictions for 2026
Media executives anticipate 2026 will shift from frantic AI experimentation to disciplined sorting of what scales and what doesn’t. They warn that AI‑driven traffic volatility will push firms to prioritize stable revenue models and audience trust. Human‑first storytelling and differentiated,...
