Advertising & PR

Human after all: how old school journalism is fighting back against AI slop

Journalists are prioritising depth over velocity, and PRs must adapt by focusing on high-quality research, human connection, and bespoke pitches to stand out from AI-generated content and low-quality online copy.

Editor's noteThe PR industry's reliance on AI-generated pitches is a liability, not a solution. Watch whether the shift towards subscription models and creator-led platforms leads to a renewed focus on high-quality research and human connection, rather than relying on AI to churn out generic content.

How to turn AI productivity gains into marketing ROI

Marketing teams can work faster with AI, but productivity gains don't necessarily translate to better business results. Workflows often remain unchanged, with AI-generated content facing delays in the review and approval process.

Quietly feeling unimpactful: How to kill common AI darlings in your writing

Words like 'quiet' and 'quietly' are often used in AI-generated writing, but can be imprecise and subjective, leading to vague messaging. They can be hard to avoid, but cutting them can improve specificity and clarity in communication. This can be achieved by restructuring and asking more questions.

The Missing Half: Have We Already Lost the Plot on AI Measurement?

Researchers are examining the limitations of current methods for evaluating AI's performance, suggesting a potential gap in understanding the technology's capabilities and limitations may have already been overlooked or underestimated.

What to do before buying a martech platform with AI context

Martech vendors offer context to help AI agents understand marketing rules and customer information, but this context is often already owned by marketing teams. Before investing in an AI platform, it's essential to clarify guidelines and approval processes.

Editor's noteBuying an AI martech platform is a bet on data quality, not a fix for poor processes. The real problem is that teams are still assigning tasks without clear guidelines, not that the AI doesn't know the rules. Watch whether the platform's implementation includes training on process documentation as well as data integration.

Balancing the right to life with free speech

A court has refused an injunction to stop media outlets publishing allegations against an individual, citing freedom of expression over the risk of suicide. The claimant's anonymity was maintained in the judgment. The court's decision was based on established legal principles and Convention rights.

Salesforce buying AI customer support company Cresta

Salesforce has agreed to acquire Cresta, a company that provides AI-powered customer support. The acquisition will integrate Cresta's technology with Salesforce's existing customer history and systems, enhancing customer interactions and support.

AI traffic drives 83% more traffic per visit

Adobe research shows AI-aided traffic generates significantly higher revenue and conversion rates for retailers, with a notable improvement in performance over the past year, particularly in terms of conversion rates.

Editor's noteAI traffic being 83% more valuable per visit is a symptom of a bigger problem: retailers' content is still not AI-readable. Watch the changes in Citation Readability Score as retailers adjust their content to match the AI-driven traffic, and whether that leads to sustained revenue growth.

If you don’t define your weakness, AI will

B2B companies are advised to clearly define their product's limitations to avoid AI-generated marketing that may misrepresent their offerings, as buyers increasingly use AI to find vendors and test their weaknesses.

AI can find patterns, but marketers must figure out what they mean

Marketers can now use AI to uncover hidden patterns in customer data, but turning these discoveries into effective marketing decisions requires human judgment, understanding, and testing to evaluate their relevance and impact.

Google search loses its free pass with buyers

Google search is no longer considered a low-risk advertising option, due to changes in its results page and automated buying tools affecting ad click-through rates and costs. Media buyers are scrutinizing Google's performance, questioning the value of increased ad spend. Advertisers are seeking answers to their concerns.

Editor's noteGoogle's free pass as a low-risk ad option is over. The culprit is AI-driven answers on the results page, which are cannibalizing ad click-through rates and making automated buying tools overpay for remaining slots. Watch the Q4 ad spend numbers to see if advertisers can justify the cost.

Media Buying Briefing: Overheard at Media Buying Summit: How AI is helping and hurting client relations and office work

Attendees at the Media Buying Summit discussed AI's effects on client relationships and office work, with agencies facing challenges in keeping up with the rapid adoption of AI tools and technology.

Woolworths' Christmas Campaign Celebrates "Most Tastiest Time of the Year"

Woolworths' Christmas campaign, created by Droga5 ANZ, features a unique Christmas carol inspired by customer suggestions. The campaign celebrates the festive season with a one-of-a-kind song. It is the agency's first work for the business.

Most marketers say AI works. Few can prove it.

A study by Metric Sherpa found that 92% of organisations with customer-facing AI report it meets expectations, but only 27% can prove this due to inadequate baseline metrics and tracking. Most teams lack clear success metrics and baseline data.

Amid growing tension over workplace AI, agencies have a window to reimagine staffing

Marketing agencies have largely failed to adapt team structures and job descriptions to the changing role of AI in media buying and marketing, with fluency in AI tools now a required skill.

Editor's noteAgencies' failure to adapt team structures to AI is a symptom of a deeper issue: the mismatch between job descriptions and the changing nature of work. Watch the career paths of staff who are fluent in AI tools, not just their job titles, to see if agencies are truly reimagining staffing.

The risks of optimizing SEO for AI over users

Marketers are optimising for AI search systems rather than users, repeating a historical SEO mistake. Research shows human-authored content outperforms AI-generated content in search rankings, highlighting the importance of human expertise in SEO.

Editor's noteMarketers' obsession with AI search visibility is a repeat of SEO's past mistakes. The real value lies in serving users, not just search systems. Watch whether Google's emphasis on user-centric content leads to a shift away from AI-optimization hacks and towards human-first SEO strategies.

6 mistakes to avoid with AI-powered performance marketing

Marketers must set clear business objectives for AI-powered performance marketing campaigns to avoid optimising for the wrong metrics and undermining growth. AI can efficiently optimise towards specific inputs, but the metric's value to the business must be considered. This distinction is crucial for achieving profitable, incremental growth.

Retailers are still figuring out how to tie AI goals to executive compensation

Ralph Lauren has introduced AI metrics as a factor in adjusting executive payouts, a move reflecting changing industry priorities. Retailers are still grappling with how to link AI goals to executive compensation. The shift highlights the ongoing challenge for retailers.

The Scoop: Marissa Mayer wanted to tout her new AI product. She painted a picture many found dystopian.

Marissa Mayer's new AI product, Dazzle, is a personal assistant that analyses a user's camera roll to provide insights. However, Mayer's use of Dazzle to describe her daughter and choose a party theme has been met with criticism and concern about the role of AI in parenting.

Editor's noteMarissa Mayer's AI product is a showcase for the tech industry's problem with paternalism, not innovation. The real issue is not Dazzle's features, but Mayer's willingness to outsource parenting to a machine. Watch whether the tech industry's response to criticism is to tweak the product or question the values it reflects.

What data and AI hide about your customers

Malinda Sandman, Typeform's global VP of Marketing, discusses the impact of AI on marketing, including the shift to a 'clickless' environment and the 'garbage in, garbage out' trap of AI tools.

Apple’s Safari crackdown pushes ad tech toward server-side solutions, but doubts remain

Apple's Safari restrictions have prompted publishers to shift advertising infrastructure to server-side solutions, with some adopting ID5's integrations and others supporting IAB Tech Lab's Trusted Server Framework, amid ongoing industry debate.

Braze gives Salesforce more speed — and more overlap

Salesforce's acquisition of Braze adds real-time execution capabilities, shifting focus from data possession to timely customer response. The deal marks a shift towards integrated, embedded Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) in the martech industry.

Editor's noteSalesforce's acquisition of Braze is a bet on real-time execution, not data possession. The deal's value lies in responding to customer intent in the moment, not in mastering customer data. Watch the adoption of embedded CDPs across the martech industry, as the shift away from composable CDPs becomes clear.

In Graphic Detail: What Apple’s identity block means for the ad money

Apple has blocked network access to companies that stitch together data to identify individuals across devices and sites, affecting ad tech companies including The Trade Desk and LiveRamp, and causing significant financial losses.

Anthropic’s ad bill is soaring, according to IPO filing

Anthropic's ad spend rose from $33m in 2024 to $147m in 2025, with a further $273m increase in the first six months of 2026, making up a small portion of its overall costs.

CMO AI Transformation Summit Digital Resource Package

Bluefish AI's Agentic Marketing Platform and Scrunch's Agent Experience Platform are presented as solutions for marketing leaders to navigate the AI-driven internet, including ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, to improve brand performance.

AI and the Changing Consumer Journey

Research by MMA and Knotch shows customers are increasingly using AI to research and decide on purchases before reaching a brand's website, with most of this activity going unrecorded in analytics and website data.

Why winning AI search isn’t enough to win B2B buyers

Winning AI search visibility does not guarantee B2B sales success. B2B buyers form opinions before sales contact, with 70% of the buying process completed independently, and websites must facilitate understanding, trust, and action within 78 seconds.

Editor's noteWinning AI search isn't a silver bullet for B2B sales. What matters is how easily buyers can navigate and trust your website, not just how visible it is in search results. Watch the average session duration, because if it stays at 78 seconds, it's a sign that your website is still a barrier to conversion.

Nick Angus: When it Comes to VFX, Time Decides When You're Finished

Nick Angus, a 3D supervisor, discusses the fundamentals of visual effects and his creative process in a series on LBB's The VFX Factor. He shares insights into crafting well-made visual effects. His work is featured in the series.

The Scoop: Etsy bans some types of AI content, says it’s become ‘top-three barrier’ to customers

Etsy has introduced new rules to prevent AI-generated content, requiring sellers to show human involvement in listings and prohibiting AI-made patterns and recipes to maintain trust and authenticity on the platform.

Editor's noteEtsy's AI ban is a hedge against commodification, not a genuine concern about authenticity. The real barrier to customers is the flood of identical, AI-made items that erode the value of human craftsmanship. Watch whether the platform's trust in human sellers translates to a reduction in AI-generated listings.

AI boosts discovery but reviews still seal the deal, new research shows

A survey by Feedvisor found that 16% of shoppers begin their product search on ChatGPT, but only 9% complete a purchase there. AI recommendations influence 5% of purchases, with most shoppers verifying prices on other platforms.

ChatGPT sends less than 1% of Google’s traffic

ChatGPT accounted for 0.62% of Google's organic search traffic, with referrals from other LLMs increasing this to 0.73%. Google still drives significantly more traffic, but ChatGPT visitors have a higher conversion rate than Google organic visitors.

Creator content shapes AI product recommendations

AI product recommendations are informed by creator content, including product reviews and firsthand experiences, which provide timely and relevant information to consumers. This content helps shape what products are recommended, influencing consumer confidence and purchase decisions. Marketers value trusted creator content for its importance in product discovery.

Target’s holiday push stresses affordability, exclusives and an AI assistant

Target is launching a holiday season campaign with over 8,000 new gifts, including many under $5, and a digital tool to help shoppers find affordable items and build wishlists. The retailer is also introducing an AI-powered assistant to aid in gift-finding. The campaign focuses on affordability and exclusives.

Editor's noteTarget's holiday push is a hedge against price sensitivity, not a bet on exclusives. The focus on under-$5 items and an AI assistant suggests the retailer is prioritizing affordability over unique offerings. Watch whether the AI's recommendations skew towards cheaper options, as that would confirm Target's strategy is driven by price, not prestige.

Curiosity in Action: My Time at Hoffman

A recent intern at Hoffman reflects on their experience, highlighting the value of curiosity and learning in PR, and the supportive environment at the agency, where they gained new skills and confidence.

Editor's noteCuriosity in Action: My Time at Hoffman is a recruitment brochure, not a genuine reflection on agency life. Watch whether the agency's training programs are accredited and whether the interns are paid a living wage, because that would settle whether the 'learning' is genuine or just a perk for cheap labor.

Chick-fil-A draws an AI line in the sand. Have you drawn yours?

Chick-fil-A's CEO Andrew Cathy stated the company will not use AI for voice ordering in drive-thru lanes, prioritising human interaction. This decision highlights the importance of defining where AI and human interaction will be used in organisations.

Indie agencies want The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP to acknowledge their buying power with negotiating leverage

Indie agencies are seeking negotiating power with The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP, citing high fees and limited flexibility to switch to direct deals, despite reaching spend thresholds and clearing monthly spend bars.

AI search is turning prompts into customer research

Users can now ask complex, specific questions to search engines, allowing brands to gain a deeper understanding of customers' needs and provide more tailored responses to individual circumstances, rather than generic answers.

Inside the post-Google playbook: Subscriptions, AI and team reorgs

Publishers are adapting their business models in response to Google's changing role, with some adopting subscription-based services and AI-driven content, and restructuring their teams to focus on direct engagement with audiences.

Editor's notePublishers' frantic rebranding as subscription services and AI-driven content is a hedge against Google's diminishing traffic, not a pivot to a new era of media. Watch the revenue growth of these new initiatives, not their press releases, because that's where the real test of their viability lies.

Forbes looks to Google AI pilot for insights as publishers seek value beyond the click

Forbes has joined Google's paid News AI pilot to test new content features and gain data on its content's performance across Google's platform. The partnership involves Google using 'enhanced' content to develop AI features, such as article overviews and audio briefings. Publishers receive citation data and insights.

Catch message drift before AI changes your meaning

A communications team's workshop revealed four key questions to consider when deciding whether to use AI: can it be fixed, whose voice is it, is it original, and does it build a skill.

AI and automation are driving 2027 comms budgets

Communications budgets are expected to remain flat in 2027, but investment in AI and automation is driving growth in some areas, with leaders seeking proof of return on investment and business outcomes.

AI and automation are driving 2027 comms budgets

Communications budgets are expected to remain flat in 2027, but companies are investing in AI and automation, with a third of leaders anticipating a modest budget increase, driven by these technologies.

Editor's noteFlat budgets belie a growth in targeted bets on AI and automation, but communicators are struggling to prove ROI. Watch whether the 22% who can demonstrate a documented improvement scale up their success, and whether the rest follow suit or get left behind.

The Scoop: Tons of AI-generated deepfakes are flooding social media. No one really seems to care.

Instagram is struggling to handle AI-generated deepfakes, with some accounts receiving thousands of likes despite being flagged as fake. Brands are choosing not to respond to minor incidents, prioritizing long-term reputation over short-term damage.

Adding AI or headcount won’t fix a marketing skills gap

A marketing skills gap can't be fixed by simply adding people or AI, as it's a problem of either a lack of skills, a lack of people, or both, requiring different solutions.

Editor's noteA marketing skills gap is a symptom of a deeper issue: a mismatch between the work's complexity and the team's training. Watch whether the organisation invests in retraining existing staff or hiring new talent with the right expertise, because that decision will reveal whether it's prioritising efficiency or effectiveness.

Reach CEO touts Google AI deal as a template, steps up pressure on OpenAI over scraping

Reach's CEO Piers North has signed a two-year deal with Google, allowing paid access to news content for AI features. He has also sent a cease-and-desist letter to OpenAI over content scraping, citing the Google deal as a template for future partnerships.

‘Don’t outsource your judgment’: Comms leaders on staying sharp in the AI era

Comms leaders stress the importance of human judgment in AI era, urging professionals to use tools but not outsource their unique perspective, and to push for strategic partnerships with business leaders.

Editor's noteComms leaders' warnings about AI outsourcing their judgment boil down to a simple trade-off: speed vs. nuance. Watch whether business leaders start to value the strategic input and critical thinking that communicators bring, rather than just treating them as order-takers.

In B2B, influencer marketing takes on a different look

B2B influencer marketing differs from B2C due to longer sales cycles and niche audiences, with B2B firms often struggling to get started, and requiring a more long-term partnership approach rather than direct-response plays.

Stories of ‘badass do-gooders’ are the secret weapon of UNICEF USA CMO and Top Women in Marketing Hall of Famer

UNICEF USA's CMO Shelley Diamond focuses on 'badass do-gooders' who deliver aid to children, aiming to update the iconic brand's image and bridge the gap between recognition and actual work.

Trust in ‘my employer’ is falling, according to Edelman report

Global trust in employers has fallen to 74%, down from 79% in August 2024, according to the Edelman Trust at Work report. This decline highlights the importance of people-centred change and internal communication in building trust during organisational transformation.

Publishers and buyers are rethinking how to create connections that drive performance in the AI era

Publishers and buyers are rethinking how to create effective connections in the AI era, seeking stronger ties to drive performance and maximize revenue, with a focus on transparency and direct supply paths.

Editor's noteDirect supply paths are a hedge, not a guarantee. The industry's shift towards transparency and collaboration is driven by AI's ability to optimize, not by a desire for stronger connections. Watch whether the increased focus on performance metrics leads to a trade-off in creative freedom.

Your AI visibility score may be hiding a problem

A single AI visibility score can hide two different problems: a brand's mention in search results and its citation as a source, with some brands appearing in one but not the other, according to a report by Semrush.

Google changed its content guidance. Don’t expect a reset.

Google has revised its content guidelines, placing greater emphasis on manual fact-checking and review of AI-generated content, and reiterating its stance against mass-produced, low-value content. This is not a new message, but rather a continuation of long-standing rules. Marketers are still waiting for a clear answer on how to regain lost organic traffic.

Publicis is selling directly to AI-anxious CEOs as it steps away from traditional pitches

Publicis Groupe is now pitching directly to CEOs, who are increasingly involved in the agency's work, due to their concerns about staying ahead of technological advancements and changing consumer behaviour.

Editor's notePublicis's direct pitches to CEOs are a symptom of the agency's reliance on client anxiety about AI, rather than a genuine solution to their needs. Watch the quality of work delivered, not the number of high-profile wins, because that's where the real value of these pitches will be revealed.

Media buys and mega partnerships: How the creator economy is splitting in two

The creator economy is splitting into two distinct groups, with large creators taking on agency roles and smaller creators being treated as media buys by brands, a trend driven by traditional marketing strategies.

New York Times, Observer, Economist, ITV News among 40 new members to join SPUR Coalition

The SPUR Coalition has expanded to over 40 new members, including major news outlets, to set rules for AI companies using publisher IP without permission and develop paid licensing agreements.

How MOps teams are restructuring for autonomous AI agents

Marketing organisations are reorganising their operations teams to work with AI agents, creating new roles such as system orchestrators and AI governance managers to oversee autonomous workflows and prevent errors.

Ad industry tallies early losses from Apple’s Safari tracking block

Apple's latest software update has blocked some major companies from tracking users for targeted ads, echoing previous disruptions in 2017 and 2021, which cost the industry billions. The move has left ad executives on edge, anticipating significant losses. The exact cost is yet to be tallied.

‘An important capability for us’: PepsiCo CEO on Publicis switch

PepsiCo's CEO Ramon Laguarta described the company's partnership with Publicis Groupe as 'an important capability' allowing for more data-driven investment, following the switch from Omnicom after three decades. The move is estimated to involve $1.9 billion in annual media spending. Publicis won the account without a formal review.

Editor's notePepsiCo's partnership with Publicis is a strategic bet on data-driven marketing. The move's value lies in its potential to unlock granular insights, not just a new agency. Watch whether Publicis can deliver on Laguarta's promise of more precise investment, and whether the partnership's benefits outweigh the $1.9 billion annual media spend.

Uber CMO on Aus Grand Effie Win: “Irrational, Fame-Driving” Creativity Pays Off

Uber's CMO Lucinda Barlow credits their Grand Effie win to 'irrational, fame-driving' creativity, a strategy Special CSO Celia Garforth describes as a 'rare act of strategic bravery' in the tech industry.

Why HIPAA compliance in martech goes beyond BAAs

HIPAA compliance in martech involves more than just business associate agreements, as it depends on the type of entity and the handling of protected health information, with other regulations also applying.

Editor's noteHIPAA compliance in martech is a nuanced issue, not just a contract to sign. The real risk lies in the handling of identifiable health data, not just who signs the BAA. Watch whether vendors can explain how they'll handle IP addresses and hashed emails, as that's where the compliance risk truly lies.

ITV’s generative AI ads feature attracts 16 new-to-TV advertisers in debut year

ITV's GenAI Ads Manager has attracted 16 new-to-TV SMEs in its first year, using AI-generated imagery for TV ad campaigns on ITVX, a platform with granular audience targeting options. The tool uses AI to reduce production costs and time. SMEs can upload brand assets to create ad spots within seconds.

Apple’s Safari ad tech blocklist sends publishers back to IAB Tech Lab’s Trusted Server

Apple's Safari update blocks ad tech companies, forcing publishers to consider IAB Tech Lab's Trusted Server to avoid revenue losses and maintain ad targeting capabilities. This move affects major players and has broader implications for the ad tech industry. Publishers are re-evaluating their ad infrastructure as a result.

OpenAI would like to remind marketers that its ads are for the good of humanity

OpenAI's VP Samantha Jacobson explained that ads on ChatGPT are necessary to make the technology accessible to everyone, with revenue generated from ads covering the costs for those who cannot pay.

Editor's noteOpenAI's ad-funded model is a classic trade-off between accessibility and personal data. Watch whether the company's claims of prioritizing consumer trust hold up as it scales its advertising business, particularly in the face of growing scrutiny over data collection and usage.

‘There’s nothing wrong with being a heritage brand’: How Revlon is updating its image by looking to the past

Revlon, an 87-year-old beauty brand, aimed to reconnect with both new and existing customers by revisiting its heritage and updating its image to appeal to a modern audience, according to its president of North America, Dana Medema.

Upfronts 2026: Amazon, Disney, Mail Metro Media, Netflix kick off season of pomp and circumstance

Major media firms, including Amazon, Disney, Netflix and Mail Metro Media, held events to present plans to advertisers. These presentations showcased upcoming content and new advertising technologies. The events focused on securing long-term commercial investment for the coming year.

The Scoop: An OpenAI spokesperson’s attempt to control the interview became the story

During an interview with Sam Altman, an OpenAI publicist intervened to shorten the discussion, specifically attempting to halt questions regarding AI’s impact on suicide. The intervention generated concern about avoiding a sensitive topic and ultimately became a focal point of the narrative.

Editor's noteA publicist's attempt to steer an interview away from AI's impact on suicide is the real story here. The intervention reveals a concern about discussing sensitive topics, and the consequences of prioritizing PR over substance. Watch whether OpenAI's handling of this issue affects its reputation in the long term.

Moloco Becomes First Ad Tech Company to Achieve IAB Europe Retail Media Certification, Marking Major Expansion of the Programme

Moloco attained IAB Europe’s Retail Media Certification, the initial Ad Tech firm to do so. The certification, announced at the Retail Media Impact Summit, validates Moloco’s measurement standards. This expansion increases consistency across the retail media supply chain.

Is TikTok the new Google?

Individuals are increasingly using TikTok for discovery, mirroring traditional search engine behaviour. Users seek video content and community feedback regarding products and experiences, rather than relying solely on written search results. This shift favours visual and interactive information access.

Editor's noteTikTok's rise as a discovery platform is a symptom of search fatigue, not a revolution in search. The convenience of video recommendations and community feedback is a trade-off for the precision of traditional search engines like Google. Watch whether TikTok's algorithm can balance relevance with the noise of user-generated content.

Treasure AI takes on two martech headaches at once

Treasure AI launched Personalization Studio, a tool for real-time website personalization, utilising unified customer data. The platform integrates with the Agentic Experience Platform and addresses the complexity of standalone personalization tools. The company also unveiled a new pricing model linked to performance metrics.

OpenAI ads visuals to ChatGPT ad

OpenAI is introducing visual advertisements within ChatGPT, testing this format initially in the U.S. TrafficGuard’s research revealed a significant proportion of ChatGPT ad clicks originate from bots, with rates up to 34%.

Irish Presidency Breakfast on Protecting Children Online hosted by MEP Nina Carberry

European Parliament hosts an event with EACA, CAN, and 5Rights Foundation to discuss safeguarding children online, emphasizing Ireland's role during its EU Council Presidency, and exploring industry's part in creating a secure digital space for youth.

TikTok’s ad network bet: More reach, more budget

TikTok has introduced its global ad network, allowing advertisers to extend campaigns beyond its platform to a vast array of premium apps, aiming to capture a larger portion of advertising budgets by leveraging its audience data for broader reach.

Editor's noteTikTok's ad network is a bid to corner more ad budgets, but it's a trade-off: advertisers get broader reach, but at the cost of transparency on which apps their ads appear on. Watch whether the ad network's performance metrics are made public, as that would be a key indicator of whether the extra reach is worth the loss of control.

OpenAI moves to make ChatGPT ads more measurable — and more visual

OpenAI is addressing advertiser feedback by introducing image ads for ChatGPT in the U.S., aiming to improve ad measurement and offer more diverse formats since the initial ad launches in February.

Gen Z wants ChatGPT: The fight comms has to referee

Younger employees favor ChatGPT over company-approved AI tool, with a significant portion of Generation Z opting for the former. Surveys indicate a preference for ChatGPT among Gen Z, challenging organizations to justify their chosen AI platforms. Strategies to encourage adoption include personalized communication, demonstrating benefits specific to job functions, and providing clear guidels for transitioning between tools.

From Swedish Retailer to National Powerhouse: IKEA’s 50 Years in Canada

At IKEA's milestone celebration in Toronto, Jordan Won Neufeldt converses with top executives about prioritizing customer needs and the heightened significance of cost-effectiveness, drawing on insights from the company's leader and marketing chief.

IPHA Shows How Irish Innovation Shapes Europe’s Health Future

During Ireland's EU Council Presidency, IPHA demonstrated the significant impact of Irish innovation on Europe's health sector, emphasizing the importance of cross-border scientific progress in shaping the continent's health future.

Editor's noteIreland's EU Council Presidency is a showcase for Irish innovation, not a launchpad for European health policy. The real story is in the cross-border collaborations that underpin the campaign's success, not the Presidency itself. Watch the EU's Horizon Europe funding allocations to see if Ireland's life sciences sector gets a disproportionate share.

In Graphic Detail: Where brands stand when AI agents do the shopping

Jellyfish tracked toy recommendations across assistants and found Alexa for Shopping pointed almost entirely to Amazon's own store, while ChatGPT drew on 24 retailers and Google's AI Mode on 37; Tinuiti found Copilot cites retail sites most often.

OpenAI’s measurement gaps are keeping ChatGPT ads budgets at test level

Seven months into selling ChatGPT advertising, OpenAI still faces agency complaints about measurement: conversions that fail to register or arrive a day or more late, click counts exceeding independent tracking, and no demographic or prompt reporting, keeping budgets small.

Amazon wants to own the long game in ad measurement

Amazon reviewed over two million June ad campaigns and estimates that about one-fifth of the value brands generate appears only after the usual seven-to-thirty-day attribution cutoff, using the result to promote year-long measurement.

Editor's noteAmazon's estimate of 20% of sales value appearing after the usual attribution cutoff is a demonstration of the limitations of short-term ad measurement, not a revelation of Amazon's hidden value. Watch the impact on ad spend when Amazon's year-long measurement becomes the industry standard, and whether brands are willing to pay for the privilege of counting delayed sales.

Kroger Study: Predictive Creative Scoring Leads to Real Ecommerce Outcomes

A study by Kroger, Vidmob, and MMA Global analyzed nearly 1,900 creative assets across Meta and Google's DV360 over a year, finding predictive creative-scoring models correctly forecast ecommerce conversion performance 81% of the time. Compliant creative saw up to four-times higher conversion rates at lower cost per conversion.

Editor's notePredictive creative-scoring models are not a silver bullet for ecommerce success. The 81% accuracy rate comes with a trade-off: compliant creative assets may be overly restrictive, stifling innovation. Watch whether the conversion rates hold as the creative assets' scope and complexity increase.

Salesforce buys AI customer research startup Listen Labs

Salesforce agreed to acquire Listen Labs, an AI-driven customer research platform that automates study design, participant recruitment, and interview analysis across more than 50 million panelists. The deal, reportedly valued near $2 billion, is expected to close in Salesforce's fiscal 2027 fourth quarter pending regulatory approval.

How Kroger, Giant Eagle and DoorDash are building their agentic AI assistants

Kroger, Giant Eagle, and DoorDash are each developing agentic AI shopping assistants that interpret shopping lists, recipes, and reorder patterns rather than relying on chatbot pop-ups. Kroger's tool blends retail media content into recommendations, Giant Eagle targets omnichannel conversion, and DoorDash emphasizes native in-app reorder prompts.

MMA and BCG’s 2026 CMO Inquiry on AI’s Real Disruption

A survey of about 60 CMOs by MMA and BCG, run May to July 2026, found AI vision scoring near 6 of 10, with governance, talent and workflows near 5. Agentic AI is projected to grow from 7 percent to 27 percent of marketing work, and 75 percent of CMOs say creative agencies cannot yet scale it.

At its flagship unBoxed conference, Amazon Ads collapses buying silos as AI takes a bigger role in media decisions

Amazon Ads used its September 29 San Francisco conference to introduce Full-Funnel Campaigns, spanning sponsored listings, display advertising, video, and streaming television in one buy, and rebranded its unified platform as Amazon Ads Agent. Analysts urge caution given government auction allegations.

MMA India's 101 AI in Marketing Use Cases

MMA India compiled a library of 101 practical AI marketing use cases from over 50 member companies, each credited to its originating firm. The collection builds on an AI maturity study conducted with EY and takes new submissions continuously.

Editor's noteMMA India's 101 AI applications in marketing is a collection of proven solutions, not a wish list. The value lies in its focus on what's already working, not what's possible. Watch whether the use cases are updated to reflect the industry's accelerating pace of AI adoption.

Language Fluidity in India: The New Rules of Multilingual PR

Indian brands including Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart are abandoning literal translation for blended Hinglish-style messaging that mirrors everyday bilingual speech patterns. PR and communications teams face new challenges, since automated translation tools erase the code-mixing nuance that makes such regional campaigns feel authentic to local audiences.

AI adoption stalls when internal comms waits

Hewlett Packard Enterprise's social impact lead Fred Tan argued internal communications teams must champion workplace AI tools early rather than relying on adoption mandates. HPE's ChatHPE reaches roughly 15,000 employees with an 89 percent satisfaction score, illustrating comms-led rollout success.

Editor's noteAI adoption stalls when internal comms waits, not because of tech, but because of a comms vacuum. The 89% satisfaction score for ChatHPE shows what happens when comms teams lead the charge. Watch whether other companies follow HPE's example and integrate AI into their comms strategies.

Media Buying Briefing: Stagwell’s chief AI officer explains why Palantir differentiates its data platform from competitors

Stagwell's chief AI officer John Kahan detailed how the holding company's Palantir-built data platform differs from rivals by staying platform-agnostic and using differential privacy to protect consumer information while preserving data utility for advertisers.

Agentic Ad Buying Gains Ground: IAB Europe Report Finds Over Half of Industry Expect Operational Scale Within a Year

IAB Europe finds 86% of digital advertising organisations now deploy AI, with nearly 60% raising investment and 78% building formal governance around it.

Retail Media in Europe: €32.7 billion by 2030, built on the strongest intent in digital

IAB Europe projects European retail media spend doubling to 32.7 billion euros by 2030, with AI-powered ads rising from 6% of the mix to nearly a quarter.

The Scoop: DoorDash bluntly admits ‘we screwed up’ in $131.5 million settlement

DoorDash agreed to a $131.5 million settlement with New York City over wrongfully underpaying delivery workers due to operational errors, the company admitted.

Marketo co-founder Jon Miller rethinks B2B marketing automation for the AI age

Marketo co-founder Jon Miller launched Phave to overhaul B2B marketing automation, replacing rule-based systems with AI reasoning built for multi-stakeholder buying decisions.

Future of TV Briefing: Inside The Wall Street Journal’s new shows strategy

Wall Street Journal created a new multimedia leadership role and reorganized its audio division to expand content across video and social platforms.

Editor's noteA newsroom reorganising around audio and video rather than text is a bet that attention now lives in feeds, not homepages. Watch whether the multimedia lead reports into editorial or into growth, because that reporting line decides which goal wins when the two disagree.

IAB Europe Appoints Sonia Carreno as next Chief Executive Officer

IAB Europe named Sonia Carreno, longtime IAB Canada president, as incoming chief executive, succeeding Townsend Feehan after her twelve-year tenure leading the European digital advertising trade association.

IAB sets new standards for agentic buying and measurement

IAB Tech Lab published AAMP 3.0, adding an OpenProposal protocol letting AI agents negotiate media buys, plus a draft contractual framework standardizing terms for advertising measurement and verification services.

Comscore data shows how AI discovery is splintering beyond ChatGPT

Comscore data shows ChatGPT's share of AI chatbot prompts fell from 70% to 50% in early 2026 as Gemini and Claude gained share, forcing publishers toward multi-platform optimization strategies.

Editor's noteA single-assistant optimisation strategy was always a bet on one vendor holding its lead, and that bet has now visibly lost. The practical consequence is that discovery work splits across several surfaces with different citation behaviour. Watch whether measurement tools catch up before budgets are asked to.

The Scoop: 3 national news outlets sue after being denied access to the White House

CNN, Politico and MS NOW filed suit after the White House revoked their journalists' press credentials without explanation, alleging retaliation for critical coverage and violation of due process protections.

Editor's notePress-credential fights usually stay procedural, which is why this one matters: three outlets going to court together turns an access dispute into a due-process record. For communicators the practical read is that White House access can no longer be assumed in a plan. Build briefings that survive losing the room.

What a Ticket to the MIXX Awards Europe Ceremony Actually Buys

IAB Europe previews its Mixx Awards Europe ceremony in Amsterdam, detailing what a ticket includes: campaign showcases, networking access, live category winners across 24 disciplines, and cross-market creative comparisons.

The case for and against retail media networks as brand-building channels

A trade analysis weighs whether retail media networks can build brands beyond conversion advertising, citing first-party purchase data and closed-loop measurement against high testing costs and shopper-team budgets focused on performance.

Ogilvy Australia Wins St John, Depicts Lottery Winner Enjoying Dream Home in 'Good Good' Campaign

Ogilvy Australia has won the St John account, launching a 'Good Good' campaign that depicts a lottery winner enjoying his dream home.

Editor's noteThe win adds a high-profile charity account to Ogilvy Australia's roster and tests whether aspirational, feel-good creative can shift St John's public image beyond emergency-service branding. Marketers should watch whether the lottery framing draws scrutiny given the charity's status, and whether ticket-sale or donation metrics follow the campaign's launch.

Rory McKechnie Joins TBWA\NZ as ECD

Rory McKechnie has joined TBWA\New Zealand as executive creative director, the agency announced.

Princess Tells Poolside Story, Narrated By Deborah Mailman, to Show Off ABC iview

Agency Princess launched a multichannel campaign for ABC iview, narrated by actor Deborah Mailman, filmed at a public pool to position the streamer as a hub for Australian stories.

Media Briefing: Overheard at the Digiday Publishing Summit, Sept. ‘26 ‘Google Zero’ edition

Publishers at Digiday's summit said declining Google search traffic will not recover, criticised opaque AI licensing deals, and described shifting revenue toward subscriptions and events.

Editor's notePublishers saying search traffic will not recover is no longer a prediction, it is a planning assumption, and that shift is the story. The same room criticised AI licensing terms it cannot see, which tells you the replacement revenue is not arriving from the companies that took the traffic.

Why WPP isn’t the biggest casualty in the PepsiCo-Coca-Cola-Publicis shuffle

Publicis won PepsiCo's global media account while exiting the Coca-Cola pitch, which WPP then secured; analysts say the shakeup exposes deeper turnaround risks at WPP.

HubSpot rebuilds its platform around AI agents

HubSpot unveiled a platform overhaul at Unbound26, centring Breeze Assistant to orchestrate specialised AI agents across CRM, marketing and sales tools, replacing manual tool selection with outcome-based automation.

Editor's noteEvery martech vendor announced agents this year; HubSpot has rearranged the product around one. Replacing tool selection with stated outcomes is a real change to how a marketing team works day to day, and it commits the company to a bet its competitors have so far only described.

Content & Connections - Meet the IAB Europe Team at DMEXCO 2026

IAB Europe will host sessions and a networking reception at DMEXCO 2026 in Cologne, covering retail media, digital advertising investment trends and a new report on AI adoption.

How Reuters’ dynamic paywall is boosting subscriptions and ads

Reuters' machine-learning dynamic paywall adjusts access based on predicted subscriber and ad value, growing subscriptions and advertising revenue at once while reducing unwanted bot traffic.

Google debuts ‘ad detection tool,’ letting marketers better assess ad experiences in Chrome

Google added ad-measurement metrics to Chrome's User Experience Report, tracking ad count, density, and network and CPU usage; independent ad platforms receive the same access as Google's own advertising units.

Channel 4 Sales to become exclusive partner for Paramount in UK

From 2027, Channel 4 Sales becomes exclusive UK advertising partner for Paramount's Channel 5 portfolio and pay-TV channels, taking over a 300 million pound contract previously held by Sky.

Editor's noteContract moves rarely lead a section, but this one redraws where a large share of British television money is sold. A broadcaster now sells a rival's inventory alongside its own, taking the business off Sky, and every media buyer's negotiating position for 2027 changes with it.

ChatGPT Ads are a tactical bet, not a platform strategy

OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads face plateaued user growth and heavy overlap with Google's audience; the company forecasts 100 billion dollars from ads by 2030 versus 180 billion from B2B products.

Who owns your AI agents after they launch?

Marketing teams deploy AI agents widely but lack clear post-launch ownership; research finds most organizations report unclear accountability for maintaining, monitoring and retiring agents, risking governance gaps.

What we’ve learned from the creator snafus at this year’s US Open

Credentialed creators disrupted play at the 2026 US Open, including flash photography during Naomi Osaka's match, prompting USTA scrutiny; marketers say better credentialing and briefing are needed.

Editor's noteCreator credentialing has been a quiet operational detail for years. It stopped being quiet when a flash went off during a point at a grand slam. The lesson brands should take is not that creators are a liability, but that nobody briefed them, and briefing is cheap.

OpenAI’s next ChatGPT ad format: click to chat, not to site

OpenAI is testing a ChatGPT ad format letting users click into a branded AI chat with a business agent instead of visiting an external website; Wayfair joined the pilot.

The answer to your martech problem depends on the problem

A CMO Council study of 988 martech stacks found revenue leaders do not consistently use more sophisticated tools, urging marketers to audit existing features before buying new platforms.

Google avoided (yet another) breakup… now comes the test of the ad tech remedies

Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the Justice Department's push to break up Google's ad tech business, instead ordering behavioural restrictions on its exchange and ad server, with a 30-day remedy filing.

The Scoop: Influencers draw the ire of tennis’ most prestigious competition

The US Open’s expanded use of social media influencers sparked backlash after content creation activities disrupted matches, prompting debate over balancing audience growth, brand exposure, and traditional tennis etiquette.

Editor's noteWe selected this as the lead story because it captures a growing tension at the heart of modern marketing: the pursuit of attention versus the quality of the audience experience. The US Open controversy highlights how brands, rights holders, and creators are redefining engagement, while raising important questions about authenticity, access, and the limits of influencer-driven promotion.

Everyone In Ad Tech Will Soon Have An AI Operational Layer. Are You Building Yours Or Renting Someone Else’s?

Ad-tech firms are moving beyond standalone AI tools toward integrated “AI operational layers” embedded within workflows, using connected business data to automate decisions, improve execution, and accumulate organizational knowledge.

Editor's noteMagnite and Raptive are already committing real capital and headcount to owned AI decisioning rather than licensing it, which turns this from a thought exercise into a live build-versus-buy window closing in real time. The harder cost the piece surfaces isn't the model itself but stitching together data scattered across disconnected ad-tech systems.

Adwanted brings direct mail and door drops into regional media planning tool

Adwanted has integrated direct mail and door-drop data into its regional media planning platform, enabling advertisers to evaluate mail alongside channels such as radio, cinema, publications, and out-of-home advertising.

Saatchi & Saatchi Wins Australian Retirement Trust Pitch

An Australian pension fund has moved its account to a new agency, which will now be asked to evolve the brand platform built by the incumbent it has just replaced.

Editor's noteAccount moves matter less than what happens to the idea left behind, and this one comes with an inherited brand platform the new agency has been asked to grow rather than replace. That is the harder of the two briefs, and it is usually the one that decides whether a win lasts.

What Machinima and Gaming Subcultures Tell Us About The Feral Evolution of Creative Instinct

A studio creative argues the industry looks for talent in far too few places, after a visual effects house referenced a montage he had cut as a teenager inside a gaming subculture.

Design on Display at Australian House & Garden's 2026 Top 50 Rooms Awards

An awards night at the Sydney Opera House recognised fifty rooms and the interior design and architecture practices behind them, from a magazine's annual survey of the field.

KFC Fans Trade Gold For Sauce in Pawnshop-Inspired Pop Up

A pawnshop-styled pop-up in New Zealand invited fans to trade gold for sauce, handled end to end by one agency across experiential, media relations, creative and content.

Editor's noteThe stunt cost little beyond staffing two days in Ponsonby, yet it borrows scarcity and novelty from Liquid Gold's earlier Australian frenzy to manufacture local buzz. The open question for the category: whether a pawnshop gimmick with no purchase requirement converts curiosity into repeat sauce sales once the store closes.

Shift 20, Bus Stop Films Formalise Partnership with 'The Full Frame'

Two organisations have formalised a partnership giving Australian brands one route to hire deaf, disabled and neurodivergent cast and crew, rather than each advertiser working it out alone.

Jim Ingram and Brad Collett Pick AUNZ's August Work of the Month

Two creative leaders picked their favourite Australian and New Zealand work of the month, drawing from three agencies, in a monthly selection run with the region's creative awards body.

Publicis Groupe NZ Promotes Jayde Hill to GM, People and Culture

A holding company has promoted from within to fill its New Zealand people and culture role, which its regional talent chief presented as evidence the internal bench is deep enough.

Gen Z Leads Australia's Physical Retail Revival as Chemist Warehouse Capitalises on “Friendfluence”

Platform research puts Gen Z store visits up forty-four percent year on year, with the local managing director arguing products are now found, checked and celebrated inside group chats first.

Editor's noteThe relevant signal for retail marketers isn't that Gen Z returned to stores, it's that they never left their phones inside them. Nine in ten shoppers using price-comparison or group-chat behavior mid-aisle means the purchase decision is still happening on a screen, just one synced to a physical location and a friend group.

Mark Molloy Directs Yacht Heist in 3 Minute Blockbuster For MLC

An Emmy-nominated director has made a three-minute heist film for an Australian superannuation brand, the centrepiece of a campaign running one hundred and seventy-one assets over eighteen months.

Uber CEO cites need for ‘simpler’ company in layoff memo; Tim Cook says goodbye to Apple employees

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced a workforce reduction despite strong results, Apple's Tim Cook wrote a farewell memo ahead of John Ternus's succession, and Meta dropped AI-usage metrics from engineer performance reviews.

Be prepared for unexpected reactions when sending change messages

Brooke Wilson of CVS Health told Ragan's Employee Experience Conference that internal teams must anticipate employee anxiety and personalize messaging when announcing organizational changes, rather than treating updates as routine.

Marketers say usage rights are driving up the price to work with creators

Marketers and creator-marketing agencies say undefined usage-rights terms and inconsistent pricing structures are inflating costs of creator partnerships, prompting calls for standardized contracts and clearer scope definitions before deals close.

Editor's notePrice disputes usually trail a market that has scaled past its contracts. Creator deals reaching that point says less about any one negotiation than about how fast informal arrangements became load-bearing infrastructure for brand budgets. Whoever drafts the next agreement is now writing rules a market has already outgrown.

Rapid AI changes mean GEO is a weekly job now

MarTech reported AI search summaries cut click-through to results to 8% from 15%, prompting SEO, PR and content teams to treat generative engine optimization as continuous weekly monitoring.

PR's earned media moment: Why AI is fuelling optimism, not fear

UK PR leaders report growing demand for earned media as AI-generated content proliferates, arguing agility, authenticity, and human storytelling now differentiate brands more than social metrics.

Editor's noteOptimism in a trade survey is usually noise. This one has a mechanism behind it: if generated content is abundant, the scarce thing becomes third-party credibility, and earned media is the only channel that supplies it. Whether agencies can price that is the open question.

How to find the weak point stalling AI adoption

Ragan's 2026 survey found 98% of communications teams use AI, yet fewer than 20% have integrated it strategically; an advisor outlines methods to diagnose the specific readiness gap stalling adoption.

Why your thought leadership keeps failing

PR Daily's Allison Carter argued genuine thought leadership requires executives to risk being wrong, citing Mark Zuckerberg's AI-optimism op-ed and Jamie Dimon's shareholder letters as debatable positions.

The clock is ticking on major green claims reform

The EU's Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition directive takes effect September 27, banning unsubstantiated eco-friendly and offset-based carbon-neutral claims, with fines up to 4% of turnover.

Editor's noteA deadline with a penalty attached outranks everything else in the section. From the twenty-seventh, unsubstantiated green wording and offset-based carbon-neutral claims stop being a reputational risk and start being a four-percent-of-turnover one, which moves the review out of marketing and into legal.

PR Stunt Watch: Low-flying planes, flirting billboards and a very expensive bar of soap

PRmoment's stunt roundup covered a million-dollar Dr Squatch scavenger hunt with streamer IShowSpeed, Airlink's disputed rugby-match flypast in Cape Town, and billboard sparring between two drinks brands.

Media Briefing: What to expect at the Digiday Publishing Summit, September 2026 edition

Digiday's September Publishing Summit in Key Biscayne convenes executives from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Axios on AI licensing revenue and search referral declines.

Why Qatar's F&B brands are outgrowing generalist PR agencies

Rachel Morris launched Morris Communications, Qatar's first PR agency dedicated to food, beverage and hospitality brands, arguing generalist agencies move too slowly for the sector.

Editor's noteSpecialist agencies appear when a sector's volume justifies one, so the launch is a market signal as much as a business story. The claim underneath it, that generalists move too slowly for food and hospitality, is a pitch, but it is a testable one.

Bring more of the leader into leadership storytelling

Brunswick's Jenny Westfall says leaders should choose storytelling formats matching their personality, citing a personal video series that outperformed other internal communication channels.

Future of TV Briefing: How strong are the fundamentals of the creator economy, really?

Digiday's Future of TV briefing examines signs the creator economy is cooling, citing data that half of marketers mispriced influencer fees and many now believe they overpaid.

Late Night Cravings Spark Wild Encounters for DoorDash Canada

DoorDash Canada and agency Hard Work Club released two surreal late-night films directed by Nick Ball, dramatizing delivery drivers' odd nocturnal encounters for the Nighttime's a Trip campaign.

Silverpush Partners with Happydemics to Measure Contextual Advertising Against Brand Performance

Contextual advertising firm Silverpush partnered with Happydemics to independently validate brand-lift outcomes, reporting early campaign results showing brand-image gains of 120% versus a 44% benchmark.

CARAVAN Signs with Little Bird

Charlotte-based production company CARAVAN, known for Nike and Meta campaigns, joined Becca Falborn's Little Bird roster for East Coast representation, expanding the two-year-old agency's production network.

Editor's noteRepresentation moves are trade news, and this one leads because of what it says about where production work is being won. A shop with Nike and Meta credits choosing a two-year-old agency for East Coast coverage is a bet on relationships over scale.

System1 & Advertising Association’s August Ads of the Month

System1 and the UK Advertising Association highlighted Dolmio, Kopparberg, and Dairylea as August’s most effective ads, citing humor, distinctive brand assets, and emotional engagement as key drivers of long-term advertising effectiveness.

3 steps for building a stakeholder map

Providence Health communications chief Alan Shoebridge outlined a three-step framework for building stakeholder maps, covering identification, one-on-one assessment and regular updates during annual planning.

Snickers Says Even Your AI Chatbot Isn’t Itself When It’s Hungry

Snickers has extended its iconic “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” campaign to AI chatbots, launching a digital candy bar called Hungr.AI that users can “feed” to chatbots when they give poor or bizarre responses.

Editor's noteA fifteen-year-old campaign line applied to chatbots, and it works because the joke was always about behaviour, not hunger. We ran it as the day’s creative lead because it shows how a durable platform absorbs a new medium without changing its idea. Watch whether the AI gag ages as well as the original.

Something Old, Something New; The Robots Aren’t Always Right

Retail media networks are evolving beyond Amazon-style playbooks to pursue new advertising budgets, while a CRM data study highlights ongoing data-quality issues affecting marketing performance and AI-driven workflows.

The Telegraph’s next podcast play: video, events and paid memberships

The Telegraph, now owned by Axel Springer, is expanding podcasts into video, live events and planned paid memberships after audience grew 161% and homepage video views more than tripled.

Spotify Takes Playlists to the Streets in Reactive Uncommon OOH

Spotify’s new“Playlist It” campaign turns user-created playlist titles into hyperlocal billboards across New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, celebrating playlists as a form of self-expression and connecting music culture to specific places and moments.

Editor's noteSpotify put users’ own playlist titles on billboards in the neighbourhoods they were made for, and it led Advertising & PR because the creative was already written by the audience. Hyperlocal out-of-home with copy the customer wrote is the whole brief done in one move. For OOH planners, relevance is cheapest when you borrow it from the people walking past.

Following Meta’s $17 Billion Settlement, Media Buyers Say: Don’t Touch That Dial

Media buyers expect Meta’s landmark teen-safety settlement to reshape digital advertising and platform practices, as new restrictions on teen engagement, notifications, and usage set precedents likely to influence social-media companies, regulators, and marketers.

Where Have All The Meta Employees Gone?; The Trade Desk Goes Agentic

The Trade Desk’s push into agentic AI with a new centralized interface, and efforts by publishers such as USA Today to restructure content for AI-driven discovery and consumption.

Editor's noteA roundup led the section for one item: The Trade Desk putting an agentic layer over its buying platform. If the interface starts making the trades, the agency planner becomes a supervisor of a machine. Beside it, publishers reshaping content for AI discovery. Together they describe where the next ad dollar gets decided.

AI won’t replace media agencies. It will redefine what clients value most

AI will automate executional media tasks, but agency value will increasingly stem from strategic judgment, transparency, accountability, and business impact. As AI commoditizes operations, clients will prioritize partners that offer trusted counsel and measurable outcomes.

Apple Maps Has Ads Now. They Might Not Be Terrible, but You Can’t Turn Them Off

Apple Maps is now showing sponsored business listings in the US and Canada. While the ads are relatively unobtrusive and privacy-focused, users cannot disable them, marking the end of Apple Maps’ longstanding ad-free experience.

USA Today Co. is reformatting content to attract more AI licensing deals

USA Today Co. is restructuring web content into machine-readable formats to win AI licensing deals and visibility in answer engines, while continuing to block most unlicensed AI crawlers by default.

Future of TV Briefing: Which agency team(s) should be responsible for YouTube Shorts?

As YouTube Shorts attracts greater advertiser spending, agencies are struggling to determine ownership between TV/video and social teams. The debate reflects changing media boundaries, campaign measurement challenges, and the platform’s growing importance within video strategies.

Dentsu expands and consolidates its commerce and retail media offering under new leadership

Dentsu reorganized its commerce and retail media unit under new brand-side hires, consolidating shopper marketing and media into one offering as US commerce media spend grew 25% year over year.

Australian OOH Industry Reports 6.5% Revenue Growth as Digital Share Expands

Australia’s out-of-home advertising sector reported first-half revenue of A$744.1 million, up 6.5% year over year. Digital formats generated 77.1% of income, highlighting continued growth driven by technology, measurement improvements, and expanding industry participation.

Editor's noteA category still counting on digital's takeover to carry growth reads differently once digital already accounts for three of every four dollars spent. Once that expansion is the baseline rather than the story, the real question becomes what keeps the category growing when the easy conversion is already finished.

Programmatic Gets An Agentic Brain

Butler/Till and PubMatic ran a fully autonomous, Claude-driven CTV campaign that cut supply-chain costs 80% and lifted impressions 40%, as agentic AI begins replacing manual DSP workflows in programmatic buying.

Editor's noteAutonomous media buying has been promised for years and demonstrated rarely. This is a run with numbers attached: an eighty percent cut in supply-chain cost and forty percent more impressions, which makes it evidence rather than a vendor claim, whatever one thinks of the sample size.

VIOOH Expands Programmatic DOOH Access in the US with Screenverse Partnership

VIOOH has partnered with Screenverse to expand programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising in the U.S., giving media buyers access to more than 38,000 screens and 7.7 billion monthly impressions across major markets.

WPP files to seal Foster complaint, arguing allegations ‘immaterial’ to case

WPP asked a New York court to seal parts of Richard Foster's amended $100m whistleblower complaint, arguing details of a Sony rebate probe are confidential and immaterial, ahead of a planned motion to dismiss.

Westin Hotels and Resorts Reclaims Sleep as Power in 'Own Your Mornings'

Westin Hotels and BBH Singapore launched “Own Your Mornings,” repositioning sleep as a source of power rather than passive rest, spanning film, OOH, and print across Asia Pacific markets including Japan and India.

How India’s Iconic Transparent Soap Bar Is Proving It Has ‘Nothing to Hide’

TBWA\Lintas built a campaign for Pears soap around its 200-year-old transparent bar, filming the factory process to position the brand's literal transparency as proof of quality and ingredient honesty.

Gummy Brands Fight It Out for Their Place on the Shelf

Gummy supplement brands are intensifying shelf competition as the category, projected to reach $40 billion by 2031, shifts marketing toward skincare-style rituals and daily habit-building rather than basic health claims.

Digest: Apple Trains Its own AI Model For China; Walmart Connect Adds Negative Keyword Controls For Sponsored Ads

ExchangeWire’s roundup highlights Apple developing a China-specific AI model with Alibaba’s support, Walmart expanding advertiser controls through negative keywords, and Experian fully integrating Audigent into its marketing services business.

Editor's noteA digest led the section because its three items belong together: Apple building a China-only model, Walmart giving advertisers negative keywords, Experian absorbing Audigent. Each is a large platform accepting that one global product no longer fits every market or every buyer. That is the pattern worth carrying into any regional media plan.

Performance Agency Chief Media Acquires 2 Firms to Beef up Amazon and TikTok Expertise

Chief Media, an independent performance agency, purchased Amazon consultancy AMZ Advisers and social specialist Reach Social, expanding e-commerce and TikTok capabilities for cross-selling to existing agency clients.

Nielsen’s The Ref, But Its CEO Says Buying DV Is About Playing Offense

Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao stated the company plans an acquisition to shift strategy toward offense after traditionally serving as industry referee and measurement provider.

By the numbers: Wall Street’s tough assessment of ad tech

Wall Street has negatively assessed publicly traded ad tech companies despite digital advertising market growth. AppLovin and Trade Desk experienced significant stock declines following Q2 earnings reports.

Silverpush Launches Global Contextual Podcast Segments for YouTube Video Ads

Silverpush announced a new contextual intelligence product enabling advertisers to reach exclusive podcast inventory on YouTube through video advertising campaigns.

Walmart’s Wall: Will The Vibe Deal Make It Meta, Or Another AOL?

Walmart's acquisition of Vibe positions the retailer as a potential walled-garden advertising platform, raising questions about whether it will achieve Meta-like success or face AOL-like obsolescence in the digital marketplace.

Editor's noteThe Meta-or-AOL framing is the right question, and nobody in retail media is asking it out loud. Walmart has the first-party data and the shelf; what it lacks is the daily habit that makes a walled garden worth walling. This ran because that gap is the whole bet. Watch the ad-load numbers, not the deal terms.

Hinge is getting into audiobooks now

Dating app Hinge released its first audiobook featuring authors writing about real couples who met on the platform. The audiobook expands the company's No Ordinary Love marketing campaign centered on authentic relationship narratives.

Editor's noteA dating app publishing an audiobook sounds like a stunt until you notice what it does: it turns testimonials into a format people give hours to. That is why it ran in Advertising & PR rather than as a curiosity. The measure to watch is whether the campaign line survives outside the audiobook.

Ad Tech’s Last Neutral Party Just Picked A Side

Publicis Groupe's $2.167 billion acquisition of LiveRamp raises concerns about the company's neutral position in the industry as a connector between competing agencies, brands and platforms for data and identity management.

Editor's noteIdentity infrastructure only works if everyone trusts it, which is why ownership matters more here than price. A holding company now owns the layer its competitors route data through, and the question for every rival agency is not whether Publicis would abuse that, but that they must now ask.

Netflix, get that man out of your billboard

Netflix's live-action billboard advertisement for The Last House has sparked public attention and discussion about the emerging trend of interactive, real-world promotional campaigns from streaming platforms.

Editor's noteA man living on a billboard is a stunt, and stunts usually earn a mention rather than a lead. This one led because streamers are moving promotion into physical space at exactly the moment digital attention is costing more. Watch how many of these get measured properly rather than counted in press coverage.

BMW's controversial Spider-Man advert could be even more damaging than the Jaguar rebrand

BMW's Spider-Man advertisement draws criticism and comparison to Jaguar's recent rebrand controversy, with both facing customer backlash over surprising creative decisions.

Editor's noteTwo premium brands, two creative decisions that surprised their own customers, and a comparison that is fairer than it looks. Jaguar changed its identity; BMW borrowed someone else’s. We led with it because the second mistake is easier to make and harder to notice from inside a marketing department. Watch the dealer reaction.

Lollapalooza 2026 Photo Tour: 10 Experiences from Chicago’s Grant Park

Lollapalooza 2026 attracted nearly 400,000 fans to Chicago's Grant Park despite rain and flooding. More than 45 partner brands created festival activations including Bacardí, Chase, Coca-Cola, Listerine, Motorola, Neutrogena, and others.

5 Ways PR Teams Can Optimize Visibility on Claude

PR teams should understand Claude's behavior to optimize visibility strategies, as the AI answer engine conducts thorough research before recommending brands and cites sources differently than competitors.