Inside Jeans Country: American Eagle’s First-Ever Stagecoach Activation
American Eagle debuted its first Stagecoach activation, "Jeans Country," a denim‑themed desert experience that ran April 24‑26 in Indio, California. The brand attracted roughly 2,000 festivalgoers who explored photo‑worthy touchpoints, including a customization station, an Old West lounge, and a pocket‑prize wall. High‑profile guests such as singers Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman and actress Sydney Sweeney amplified the buzz, while exclusive customizable keepsakes spurred social sharing. The activation was supported by billboards and airport signage, extending its reach beyond the festival grounds.
How AI Is Reshaping the Web and Driving Audiences Toward Mobile Gaming
Generative AI is compressing search journeys, with about 60% of queries ending without a click, eroding the open web’s traffic base. LoopMe’s research shows nearly one‑fifth of users browse less and that publishers are reporting 20‑30% traffic declines, some as...
Pepsi CMO Takes ‘Omni-First’ Mindset for Prebiotic Cola Launch
PepsiCo’s chief marketing officer Mark Kirkham unveiled an “omni‑first” approach by launching its new Prebiotic Cola exclusively online through Walmart Connect on Black Friday 2025. The limited‑run sold out within 24 hours and generated 80% positive sentiment, giving the brand...
Liquid I.V.’s McLaren Racing Partnership Cements Its Foothold in Formula 1
Liquid I.V. has signed a multi‑year official partnership with McLaren Racing that runs through 2027, deepening its presence in Formula 1 after earlier activations at Miami and Las Vegas. The deal places the brand’s logo on pit‑crew helmets and Academy driver gear,...
POSSIBLE 2026: Industry Experts Dish On AI – And Other Trends To Watch
At POSSIBLE 2026 in Miami, ad‑tech leaders acknowledged that AI is shifting from hype to practical workflow integration. Executives highlighted how generative and agentic AI are accelerating campaign measurement and optimization while also adding new media‑buying complexities. The dialogue also focused...
Will OpenAI’s New Measurement Tools And Ads Manager Prove Its Worth As An Ad Channel?
OpenAI has unveiled a self‑serve ads manager and a conversion API (CAPI) alongside a cost‑per‑click (CPC) bidding option for ChatGPT ads. The new platform eliminates the previous $200,000 minimum spend, later reduced to $50,000, allowing smaller advertisers to buy directly...
3 Reasons to Embrace the Era of AI Slop
The article argues that communicators should embrace the AI era by treating artificial intelligence as a strategic partner rather than a content factory. It warns that mediocre writers who rely solely on AI risk becoming obsolete, while strong writers who...
Backstage With Chief Marketer: Chief Growth and Marketing Officer Esi Eggleston Bracey at POSSIBLE 2026
Chief Growth and Marketing Officer Esi Eggleston Bracey, a former Unilever CMO and two‑time Forbes World’s Most Influential CMO, spoke at POSSIBLE 2026 about her upcoming AMA Marketer of the Year award, cultural leadership, and the evolving role of AI....
What ‘Heated Rivalry’ Reveals About LGBTQ+ Media And Marketing
The HBO Max series “Heated Rivalry,” created by openly gay talent, demonstrated how authentic queer storytelling can captivate LGBTQ audiences. Despite the show’s buzz, advertisers largely shied away, offering only generic public‑service spots and a single auto ad. The panel...
What An Outdoor Retailer Learned By Replacing Pricey SaaS With A Newcomer
Backcountry, a leading outdoor‑gear e‑commerce retailer, partnered with ad‑tech startup FERMÀT to beta‑test its Commerce Graph platform, a pixel‑based analytics tool that maps customer behavior across channels. The solution quickly outperformed the retailer’s legacy SaaS stack, delivering heat‑maps, traffic‑source performance...
POSSIBLE 2026: Can AI Help Agencies Finally Break Down Those Silos?
At POSSIBLE 2026, Horizon Media’s chief product and data officer Domenic Venuto explained how the agency is using artificial intelligence to centralize media‑buying functions—from audience planning to measurement—so teams can collaborate on a single platform. By eliminating the lag between...
Zefr Builds A New Front Door For YouTube Buys
Zefr introduced Zain, an AI‑driven hub that lets advertisers create YouTube campaigns using plain English. The platform leverages the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Advertising Context Protocol (AdCP) to translate natural‑language requests into the API calls needed for campaign activation....
Liquid Death CEO on Building a Provocative Brand, Small Marketing Budgets and Super Bowl Ads
Liquid Death CEO Mike Cessario built the canned water brand on provocative, entertainment‑driven marketing, spending as little as $1,500 on a video that later earned 3 million views. The company now projects roughly $300 million in revenue while keeping video budgets under...
Alphabet Exceeds $100 Billion In Q1 And Its Profits Almost Doubled
Alphabet reported Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion, up from $90.2 billion a year earlier, while net income surged to $62.6 billion, nearly doubling the prior period. The rise stems largely from AI‑driven initiatives rather than workforce reductions, as headcount climbed back to...
B-to-B Dream Team 2026: Meet Pam Corcoran of CrowdStrike
Pam Corcoran, VP of Global Events at CrowdStrike, is highlighted in the 2026 B‑to‑B Dream Team for redefining corporate event strategy. She has expanded the flagship Fal.Con conference from 2,000 attendees in 2022 to over 6,000 in 2024, with a...
Built for the Generation That Won’t Sit Still
ShowUp Studios is launching a hybrid model that merges the speed of the creator economy with the craftsmanship of premium storytelling to capture Gen Z’s fragmented attention. CEO Carolina Lightcap says the company will debut strong intellectual property in Ibero‑America during...
Ready, Set, Upfront
Amazon is preparing its third annual upfront event in New York, joining Netflix as a digital‑first challenger to traditional broadcasters for premium TV ad budgets. The company will showcase a full‑stack offering that combines Fire TV inventory, Amazon’s e‑commerce shopper...
‘Bake It Till You Make It’: Inside Quicken’s Kid-Run Small-Business Campaign
Quicken partnered with agency Camp + King to launch a quirky small‑business campaign that casts children as frazzled founders, promoting its all‑in‑one finance app. The ads, such as a “cookie empire” and a “kid‑run car rental,” use humor to humanize...
Grubhub Surrounds Tax Day With $100K in Credits for Delivery App Fees
Grubhub launched a "Fee Return" sweepstakes during tax season, offering $100,000 in credits to 5,000 diners who proved they paid delivery fees in 2025. Winners received $20 in Grubhub credit, and the campaign ran April 6‑15, complemented by $10.40 off $50+...
PR Roundup: Benefits on the Chopping Block, Apple’s New Era and Health Information Overload
Zoom and Deloitte announced cuts to coveted benefits such as parental leave, PTO and IVF funding, sparking employee backlash and raising questions about talent retention. Apple revealed that Tim Cook will move to executive chairman while hardware chief John Ternus...
Advil Says Toss Expired Bottles, Buy New in Awareness and Purchasing Campaign
Advil launched "The Advil Exchange," a digital campaign that lets shoppers scan expired bottles to receive a $3 coupon for a new 18‑plus count product. The initiative, driven by a survey showing consumers keep an average of 13 outdated pain‑relief...
Raising the Bar: Redefining Inclusion and Authenticity in Unscripted Storytelling
Karina Holden, co‑creator of Netflix’s “Love on the Spectrum,” argues that inclusive unscripted TV must feel authentic rather than merely check diversity boxes. She describes a production model that prioritises participants’ schedules, duty of care, and long‑term agency, turning the...
Think You’re Not A Data Broker? California’s Delete Act Might Say Otherwise
California’s Delete Act now forces any business that collects and sells consumer data without a direct relationship to register as a data broker with the California Privacy Protection Agency. Starting August 1 2026, registered brokers must process deletion requests through the new...
Five Questions With Janice Kapner: Why Agility, Honesty and Alignment Are the Cornerstones of Modern Communications
In the debut episode of the “Five Questions With…” series, Janice Kapner, founder of Kapner Perspectives Group and former chief communications officer at T‑Mobile, discusses the pillars of modern corporate communications. She stresses that CEOs need agility to respond to...
Brands Want To Know How Well Their Affiliate Content Is Performing In The AI Age
Adobe is turning to Partnerize’s VantagePoint generative‑AI attribution platform to solve the attribution blind spot created by AI‑driven search. The solution, now enhanced with the Influence Compensation Lighthouse Program, assigns influence scores (HaloIndex) beyond last‑click and automates publisher payouts. Brands...
TV Marketing Matters for Branding Boost at Batteries Plus
Batteries Plus is leaning heavily on television advertising to lift brand awareness, dedicating roughly a quarter of its paid media budget to TV. For its 2026 "Experts in Charge" campaign, the retailer shifted to lower‑cost cable inventory, allowing more frequent,...
Brand-Trained Agents Can Give Marketers A Fuller View Of Their Customers
Envive, a commerce‑focused AI firm, builds brand‑trained chatbots that sit on retailer sites and pull insights from campaign, CRM and third‑party data. Its partnership with footwear brand Clove introduced a widget in July 2025 that now appears for about 95%...
What Happens When The Attribution Cartel Meets Advertising’s Halo Effect?
Browser vendors are collaborating on a new W3C standard called “Attribution,” which would shift ad‑effectiveness measurement into the hands of major platforms such as Google, Apple and Meta. While marketed as a privacy‑preserving solution, the proposal introduces a “privacy budget”...
From Small-Town Story to Global Hit: Inside Sullivan’s Crossing’s Winning Formula
Canadian drama “Sullivan’s Crossing” returns for its fourth season on April 20, after gaining traction on CTV and The CW. The series’ global breakout came when Netflix released it, propelling it to the No. 1 spot in the United States and No. 3...
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...
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...
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...
Hard Truths For Retail Media At The IAB Connected Commerce Summit
At the IAB’s 2026 Connected Commerce Summit, IAB VP Collin Colburn warned that retail media is entering a painful growth phase, likening it to a child’s potty‑training. He stressed that the market cannot support hundreds of undifferentiated commerce media networks...
Five Conversations That Will Elevate Your Measurement Practice
Event Marketer has partnered with the Experiential Marketing Measurement Coalition to launch a five‑part LinkedIn Live series that teaches event professionals how to measure impact across multiple dimensions. The on‑demand conversations cover measurement fundamentals, sponsor‑organizer value, data‑driven DEI, sustainability metrics,...
Why Optimum Launched In2 Network
Optimum is rolling out in2, a new national channel that aggregates News 12’s original series such as “Crime Files” and “Down the Shore.” The network, originally a tri‑state offering, will be available across Optimum’s 21‑state footprint and on Verizon Fios...
PNC Bank CMO on Leveraging Experiential to Rally Hockey Fans in a Growth Market
PNC Bank transformed its Dallas Stars arena plaza into a pop‑up barbershop, the “Mane St. Branch,” featuring a giant synthetic mullet and co‑branded hats. The two‑day activation distributed more than 20,000 hockey‑hair hats and sparked over 13 million earned social engagements,...
The Measurement Maturity Playbook: What CMOs Need at Every Stage of Growth
CMOs must align their measurement approach with the company’s growth stage, from basic CAC tracking at seed level to sophisticated, real‑time forecasting post‑IPO. Early‑stage firms rely on GA4 and channel‑level CPA to prove growth potential, while mid‑stage companies shift to...
Why CTV Is Becoming The First Real Test Of Agentic Advertising
Connected TV (CTV) ad inventory is expanding rapidly, but its highly customized deals clash with traditional real‑time bidding (RTB) workflows. Publishers must juggle premium placements, audience targeting, and guaranteed delivery across disparate systems, creating friction, slower cycles, and missed revenue....
Amid Crisis, Banana Ball Benefits From Uncharacteristic Serenity
Banana Ball’s nonprofit, Bananas Foster, was accused in September 2025 of spending 80% of its program budget on tickets and merchandise, prompting a potential credibility crisis. The league’s leaders responded with calm, providing detailed financial data, acknowledging filing errors, and...
Indie Agency Wpromote Dishes On How It’s Testing New Agentic SSP Tools
Wpromote is piloting Kargo’s Project Kera, a chat‑based, agentic SSP that translates campaign briefs into automated, cross‑channel media plans. The closed‑beta tool lets buyers upload assets, set goals, and receive a budget‑split recommendation across Meta, TikTok, CTV and the open...
Why X (Formerly Twitter) Remains the Ultimate Public Affairs Radar
X remains the premier upstream source for breaking policy and market news, delivering real‑time signals that can swing stock prices and regulatory landscapes. High‑profile examples include a deleted Energy Secretary tweet that moved oil prices over 10% and a Citrini...
Data Privacy At The Kitchen Table
Lawmakers are increasingly prioritizing data privacy as voters bring the issue to the kitchen table, highlighted by Delaware Rep. Krista Griffith at the IAB Public Policy & Legal Summit. The topic gained further traction at two Washington, DC privacy conferences,...
Mom App Peanut Aims to Legitimize Matrescence
Peanut, the social networking app serving 5.5 million active moms, launched a multi‑channel campaign to push the term “matrescence” into major dictionaries. The effort combined a New York Times full‑page ad, New York City out‑of‑home placements, and social media QR‑code petitions. Within a month...
How Samsung Ads And Crumbl Got Their CTV Campaign To Perform Like Social
Samsung Ads partnered with Crumbl for a seven‑week CTV acquisition push in Q4, delivering over 16,000 app installs and five‑figure revenue while achieving a 23% conversion rate that outperformed the brand’s social campaigns. The integration with AppsFlyer gave Crumbl transparent,...
The Agentic Marketplace Is Here. Where Does That Leave DSPs and SSPs?
Swivel and CTV platform Olyzon have teamed up to create an agentic marketplace that lets buy‑side and sell‑side AI agents negotiate ad placements through the open‑source AdCP protocol. The partnership enables advertisers like Pierre Fabre to run U.S. CTV campaigns...
DSW Aims to Acquire Young Customers Without Turning Away Large, Loyal Base
Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) is overhauling its merchandise and launching a new "Let Us Surprise You" campaign to attract younger, Gen Z shoppers while preserving its high‑spending, older loyalty base. The spring campaign, which began March 1, is already exceeding internal...
MLS CMO on Growing U.S. Soccer Fandom Ahead of World Cup
Major League Soccer’s chief marketing officer Radhika Duggal is using the 2026 FIFA World Cup, co‑hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, to amplify the league’s 30‑club stories and fan culture worldwide. The league is rolling out a story‑first strategy...
Why Scripps Is All In On Women’s Sports
The E.W. Scripps Company is pivoting to make women’s sports a core part of its portfolio, broadcasting WNBA, NWSL and PWHL games on its ION network and a new FAST channel. By leveraging its mix of local stations, national cable...
How Sony Electronics’ Creative Space Tour Acts as a Continuous Feedback Loop
Sony Electronics answered community demand for the Alpha 7 V by launching a 10‑city Creative Space On the Road tour, running from Feb. 26 in San Diego to Apr. 30 in Boston. The pop‑up experience uses a customized Airstream trailer where creators can test...
Crocs CMO on Microdramas, TikTok and Gen Z at Shoptalk
Crocs’ chief marketing officer Carly Gomez highlighted the brand’s focus on Gen Z at Shoptalk, showcasing a new micro‑drama series called “Charmed To Meet You” launched on ReelShort. The five‑episode, snackable story has garnered over 10 million views since its February 2026 debut...