Best Buy Wants to Be the Hub for AI-Powered Hardware Like Glasses, Laptops
Best Buy is repositioning itself as the go‑to retailer for AI‑powered hardware, from glasses to AI‑enhanced PCs, as its fiscal‑year revenue held steady at roughly $42 billion. CEO Corie Barry highlighted flat market share but pointed to rapid growth in emerging categories such as AI glasses, 3D printers, health rings and gaming handhelds. The retailer is expanding dedicated Meta AI product zones in 70 stores and promoting Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs, many of which are exclusive to its shelves. New partnerships with OpenAI and Google aim to embed AI directly into the shopping experience.
OpenAI Is B Building the Ad Tech Stack It’s Currently Borrowing
OpenAI is rapidly assembling an internal advertising infrastructure, hiring engineers, product designers, and trust‑and‑safety staff to replace its current reliance on third‑party vendors. In the short term it is partnering with Criteo and The Trade Desk to bring advertisers into...
How Brands Are Measuring Value Across the Entire Customer Journey
Advertisers struggle to monetize brand‑building efforts, with only 53% confident in ROI measurement. Amazon Ads introduced Long‑Term Sales (LTS), a metric that assigns monetary value to shopper actions across the full journey using its authenticated identity graph. LTS combines short‑term...
Yahoo Pauses IAB Membership Amid a Series of Quiet Cost-Saving Measures
Yahoo has paused its global IAB membership and withdrawn from several IAB board seats in the U.S., U.K., and APAC as part of a quiet cost‑saving campaign. The move coincides with broader downsizing of international operations, layoffs, and a strategic...
‘The Conversation Has Shifted’: The CFO Moved Upstream. Now Agencies Have to as Well
CFOs are moving upstream in the marketing process, joining planning discussions before budgets are set and demanding rigorous financial justification. Agencies such as VaynerMedia, Blue Chip, and Brave Bison report that finance teams now scrutinize contribution margin, LTV‑to‑CAC, payback periods,...
How Creator Talent Agencies Are Evolving Into Multi-Platform Operators
Creator talent agencies are abandoning the legacy deal‑brokering model in favor of multi‑platform operations that place creators at the core. Companies like Shorthand Studios and Night Media have demonstrated rapid audience growth and secured sizable funding, such as Night Media’s...
As Hold Cos Restructure, BBDO Reframes Client Relationships
Omnicom’s BBDO has created a global chief experience officer role to overhaul how it serves clients amid a wave of holding‑company mergers, AI hype, and industry distractions. The new chief, Daale Carter, is replacing traditional account management with a "business...
Agencies Grapple with Economics of a New Marketing Currency: The AI Token
Marketing agencies are confronting the economics of generative‑AI tokens as they embed large‑language‑model tools into campaigns. Tokens, which meter compute, can add up quickly—Coca‑Cola’s recent ad required millions of them—prompting agencies to devise new pricing structures. Some firms, like Merge...
WTF Is Meta’s Manus Tool?
Meta has embedded an AI agent suite called Manus into its Ads Manager, following a $2 billion acquisition of the Singapore‑based startup Butterfly Effect. The tool promises automated competitor analysis, audience research, campaign measurement and reporting across Facebook and Instagram. Early...
OpenAI’s Ad Push Begins, and The Knot Is Co-Piloting
OpenAI has launched a trial ad platform inside ChatGPT, enlisting The Knot Worldwide as one of its first brand partners. The wedding‑planning service is testing ad performance, brand‑safety protocols, and data insights while also debuting its own app within the...
WPP Is Betting Its Future on Getting Paid for Outcomes
WPP announced a strategic pivot toward outcome‑based agency fees, linking compensation directly to client sales and brand performance. The move is anchored by a pending global creative contract with Jaguar Land Rover that would tie fees to measurable results. WPP’s data platform,...
The Case for and Against Publisher Content Marketplaces
Content marketplaces are emerging as a way for publishers to monetize their articles and protect against AI scraping. Microsoft and Amazon are backing these platforms to boost Azure and AWS adoption, while licensing standards from groups like the BBC coalition...
As It Ramps up Push to Fund AI Bets, Meta Makes a New Play for Agencies
Meta has launched the Agency Growth Collective, a pilot program for independent agencies in the United States. The initiative replaces the traditional single Meta representative with a shared alias that routes communications to a rotating bench of specialists and offers...
In Fighting a Whistleblower Suit, WPP Put Its Own Account of Media Agency Trading on the Public Record
The $100 million whistleblower lawsuit filed by former GroupM CEO Richard Foster has resurfaced as WPP filed a motion to dismiss, attaching internal documents that reveal the scale of GroupM’s proprietary media deals. Foster’s 36‑page “Project Claridges” report shows that only...
WTF Is a Creator Capital Market?
Creator capital markets (CCMs) are emerging as a way for influencers to monetize future earnings through equity, revenue‑sharing tokens, or meme‑coins. Early platforms like GigaStar have raised millions by offering fans a stake in YouTube ad revenue, while crypto launchpads...
Omnicom’s Lack of Surprises in Its 2025 Earnings Is Both a Good and Bad Thing
Omnicom reported 2025 revenue of $17.3 billion, a 10% increase helped by the final month of its IPG acquisition and favorable foreign‑exchange effects. Media & Advertising accounted for 58% of revenue and grew 15.7%, while adjusted operating margins held just above...
TikTok Shop Reverses U.S. Shipping Policy Amid Merchant Concerns over Costs and Fulfillment Challenges
TikTok Shop has scrapped its planned deadline to force U.S. sellers onto TikTok‑managed shipping, keeping seller‑fulfilled logistics unchanged for now. The reversal follows merchant backlash over anticipated higher fulfillment costs, tighter margins, and inventory challenges tied to TikTok’s own warehouses....
‘Comment Sections Are Not Customers’: American Eagle Brings Back Sydney Sweeney Amid Celebrity Push
American Eagle has revived its partnership with actress Sydney Sweeney, featuring her in a NYSE bell‑ringing appearance after the controversial “good genes” denim campaign sparked backlash over perceived racial undertones. The retailer defended the ad, hired a crisis‑comms firm, and...
‘A Brand Trip’: How the Creator Economy Showed up at This Year’s Super Bowl
Brands turned Super Bowl suites into creator‑centric activations, inviting influencers to attend the game and generate content at a fraction of traditional fees. Agencies reported a surge in last‑minute deals, with suite rentals exceeding $1 million but delivering audience reach that...
From Feeds to Streets: How Mega Influencer Haley Baylee Is Diversifying Beyond Platform Algorithms
Haley Baylee, a creator with 10 million Instagram and 16.4 million TikTok followers, has partnered with Intersection’s LinkNYC to display her existing social videos on more than 4,000 free‑Wi‑Fi kiosks across New York City. The arrangement is exposure‑only, with no fee, and runs...
While Holdcos Build ‘Death Stars of Content,’ Indie Creative Agencies Take Alternative Routes
WPP announced another McKinsey‑guided restructure as its creative agencies continue to miss targets, with revenue at VML, Ogilvy and AKQA down 5.8% in H1 2025. At the same time, independent agencies dominated the Super Bowl ad slate, delivering at least 25...
With AI Backlash Building, Marketers Reconsider Their Approach
Marketers are pulling back on AI‑centric messaging as consumer trust erodes. While 82% of ad executives think Gen Z and millennials view AI‑generated ads favorably, only 45% of those consumers actually feel positive, widening a gap since 2024. Studies show AI‑created...